Key takeaway
Use a 70/30 marketing-to-sales ratio in your copy: spend 70% answering why me, why you, and why this, then use the final 30% to pitch the offer — the framework used to launch 3 products and serve 8 clients.
Updated : Refreshed with a key takeaway summary and an FAQ section for clearer answers and AI-search visibility.
When we talk about selling, there’s no escaping the conflict of “marketing or sales”.
To the layman, they sound the same.
But they are not.
In fact, these two schools of thought are often at each other’s throats.
Let’s break them apart before we continue, shall we?
If I am to explain Marketing in one sentence:
Marketing is the act of pulling prospects towards you.
The part-and-parcel of a marketer’s job is to understand customer needs, identify customer persona, and influence customer perceptions.
The job involves a lot of educating prospects towards a certain topic and establishing the brand identity of the company.
It is generally a long term strategy and more often than not, results aren’t apparent.
On the other hand, we have Sales:
Sales is the act of pushing to close a deal.
Sales people go out and convince people to buy.
They do whatever it takes to close the sale and to get that agreement signed.
It focuses on getting prospects to take action.
Now, as you can see, one is to pull and one is to push.
Have you realize how they are crucial to each other?
Push without first pulling, and you annoy the customer.
Pull without pushing, and nothing happens.
Coming back to the main topic of this site, as a copywriter..
Do we market, or do we sell?
It is my utmost pleasure to tell you that copywriter does both, at least most of the time.
As a copywriter, our job is to get our prospects to take action, and prior to them taking action, ample education is necessary.
I understand.
We want money.
And we want it fast.
When a product is launched, we want to see the ROI as fast as possible.
And trying to sell too hard is the biggest mistake anyone can make.
You need to consider the fact that they don’t know your product.
They don’t know what it does to them.
They don’t know you.
And that’s why you are here.
You are here to learn how to sell hard with your writings.
All good?
Good.
We have now established the fact that copywriter markets and copywriter sells.
People don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want.
And it is the copywriter’s job to make them want what they need.
By educating them.
Let’s take sales letter copywriting as an example.
Sales letter (or sales page) is one of the most common copywriting on the internet which focuses on direct-response.
Yes, that means immediate response.
Whether it is to get them to buy or subscribe to your free ebook immediately.
When writing sales letter, my favourite ratio to sell hard-but-not-too-hard is a good mix of 70% marketing and 30% selling.
I did not come up with this myself.
This is actually a very general rule of sales communication.
The rule says a prospect should do 70% of the talking during a conversation, and the sales person should only do the 30%.
In another way, the sales person is actually doing more listening than talking.
Why is this effective?
Because it makes them feels heard and understood.
And I have come to understand through my own experience that the same rule applies in the world of internet marketing.
Marketing is about understanding your target audience, and only by understanding your target audience can you educate and persuade them to buy your product.
70% of the marketing contents will be to establish the following a few WHYs.
Why me? Why you? Why this?
- The why me attempts to capture attention towards the problem and promise a solution.
- The why you establishes your credibility by stating your position and experience as an authority in solving this problem.
- The why this educates on how this solution transformed your life and how it can can help transform theirs. This is the part where all the advantages and benefits (hint: benefits, not features) are introduce to the prospect.
When you are done explaining all of the above to the your prospect <link to how to identify your target audience?>, you have already done most of the marketing side.
And then you have ONE last question to answer.
[quote align=”alignleft” name=””]Why now?[/quote]
This is where you pitch them your offer, your bonuses, the price, availability, guarantees.
By following the 70/30 marketing-to-sales ratio, I have successfully launched 3 digital products of my own (more to come) and 8 different products and services for my clients.
Naturally, this is just a rule of thumb, but this is no way a must to follow.
(I didn’t even keep count whether they were 70% or 72%)
Another aspect that determines the marketing-to-sales ratio is..
What is the main purpose of this advertisement?
Of course, there are also the cases when you don’t require direct sales response.
For example, you’ve managed to achieve a stable level of income and now, you are shifting your focus from a service provider to a market authority.
That’s when you need to brand your company and not just sell.
That’s when you need brand copywriting instead of sales copywriting.
Your advertising objective has shifted from closing sales into brand awareness.
Think Nike.
Think Coca-cola.
Notice that there’s no call-to-action in each of the acts.
They are both established, instantly recognizable brands, which is why they don’t need to remind you to buy.
All they need to do is keep your emotions towards their brands intact.
In this case, 100% marketing, 0% sales.
Inspiring?
Do not fall into traps thinking you should go 100% marketing (branding). For the rest of us, we simply do not have the luxury to only brand and not sell. Even rich internet marketers like Anik Singal, Peng Joon, and the likes still need to close deals at the end of their speech.
100% sales without providing value (marketing) is a no-go as well. You will come out as a salesy person that only has your head full of yourself. No one wants to buy from such a person.
Whenever you are in doubt writing a sales copy, 70/30 is the way to go.
FAQ
What is the difference between marketing and sales in copywriting?
Marketing pulls prospects toward you by educating them and shaping perceptions — it’s a long-term strategy. Sales pushes people to act and close the deal. A copywriter does both: the 70% marketing portion covers why you’re credible, what problem you solve, and how your product transforms lives. The 30% sales portion presents the offer, price, bonuses, and guarantee. Push without pulling first and you annoy people; pull without pushing and nothing happens.
How do I avoid sounding too salesy in my marketing copy?
Follow the 70/30 rule: before asking anyone to buy, spend most of your content answering three questions — Why me (the reader’s problem), Why you (your credibility), and Why this (the benefits of your solution). Only after that education do you move into the pitch. This mirrors effective sales conversations where the prospect talks 70% of the time and the salesperson listens and responds.
When should a business focus on branding instead of direct selling?
Only once you’ve built an established, instantly recognizable brand — like Nike or Coca-Cola — can you shift to 100% marketing and zero direct selling. Those brands sustain emotional connection without calls-to-action. For everyone else, pure branding without a sales component wastes budget. Even well-known internet marketers still close deals at the end of their content. Until you reach that brand-authority level, the 70/30 ratio applies.
