The first step in writing a sales letter is deciding whether to sell to the entire universe of people who might be interested in your product, or to a small niche of people would definitely be interested in your product.

It's a tough choice.  On the one hand, you have millions of potential customers.  On the other, maybe a few thousand...or less.

Here's my advice.

Go for the small pond.

Why?  Less competition. You cannot be all things to all people. And so if you are thinking of selling laptops on your website, just stop right there. You will never be able to make a splash. Too many other sites out there.

Instead, concentrate on something like ultra-mobile PCs. Or better yet, ruggedized ultra-mobile PCs. Even better, ruggedized ultra-mobile PCs for use by surveyors doing oil pipeline maintenance.

There will be a lot less competition, so a lot more likelihood of you making a splash in the market. Sure, it's a smaller market, but that's OK.  Smaller is better, as long as you can dominate it.

Doesn't matter what the industry is.  If you specialize, you will be more successful.

If you are selling a diet program, then don't try to sell to every one who is trying to lose weight. That is just too big of a market. Try to sell to new moms who are twenty-something years old and are trying to lose the weight from their pregnancy in a 100% natural, supplement-free way. Or older men who are concerned about keeping the weight off in order to improve their golf game.

I mean, it could be anything. Well, not really.  There is one critical feature that your market must have in order for you to be successful.

The one feature is: they must have a desperate problem and be actively searching for a solution.

Now, think about this for a second.

You don't want to try to convince someone that they have a need for whatever you are selling. You want them to already know they have a need. And more importantly, they have to already be looking for a solution.

But wait! you're probably thinking.  That isn't marketing! Why do you need marketing if you've already found people who are searching for your product?

My friend, that IS marketing!

Half the battle is finding the right kind of customer.

Selling to these desperate buyers has a number of advantages for you:

* You can charge more
* You will have fewer complaints
* You will have fewer returns


There is a fantastic book called The Irresistible Offer that describes this concept in detail. In that book, this type of market is called a "thirsty crowd." That means a group of people who need - not want, but NEED - your product.


How will you know what your thirsty crowd looks like?

Easy.

Imagine the most highly motivated buyer for your product.

• Someone who is actively looking for what you have to sell.
• A person who is searching on Google, who is reading Craigslist, who is scanning newspapers and magazines, looking for the answer that your product provides.
• A person who asks his friends if they have ever seen a product that does whatever it is that yours does.
• This kind of person will read the headline on your sales letter and immediately recognize themselves in it.
• In fact, this person wouldn't even read your sales letter - he would scan the headline, understand that he needs this product, then click the "buy now" button.

Now fill in the following details about this kind of person. 

• What problem is he trying to solve by purchasing your product?
• Why would he be so desperate that he wouldn't even bother reading the sales copy?
• What kind of pain would he be trying to avoid in buying your product?
• What kind of pleasure is he trying to gain?

Your goal is to hunt down people like this no matter where they are, and bring them to your website.

You need to write your copy, your ads, even design your website for this individual.

You may find that there is more than one target for your product. What do you do then? Well, you could try to cater to both of them in one online sales letter and one campaign.  If you provide different paths for the different populations to find the most relevant sales messages for them in your website, you might be able to pull it off.

In other words, if you have a weight loss product whose sale pitch is different for men vs women, you could have a button that says "MEN click here" and another that says "WOMEN click here."

Problem is, those two paths have to be very obvious to your audience. They have to know exactly which path they should follow. And your sales messages had better not conflict with one another, because you know that some people will click the wrong button. You don't want to lose them if they read the wrong copy.

A better solution would be to simply have two website, each with a domain name and sales copy that are specifically targeted to a unique audience.