Copywriting is known as one of the most valuable skills to master in marketing and business.
So what is copywriting? According to Wikipedia, Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing.
Pretty simple right?
The challenge of copywriting comes in the change in rules and styles that go along with the progression of trends in society. Another barrier that you as a copywriter must workaround is that many people are inherently used to advertising, so coming up with new ways to entice your customers to take an action can be difficult. This requires large amounts of creativity to continue to entertain the audience without doing the same thing over and over again. Creativity though is only part of it, you have to be willing to work on the skills required to express that creativity. To help improve on some of those skills here are some helpful things to know to improve your copywriting:
1. It all comes down to the first sentence.
When copywriting there should only be one objective going through your head; how can I get my audience to read the next sentence. This task is harder than it sounds because in copy it does not matter where the person is in your writing, as soon as they lose interest they will stop reading. This is why getting that first sentence just right is so important because if that sentence is not powerful enough to real the reader in then the rest of the article is useless.
2. The perfect Headline
The headline is the first impression on the reader that tells them if they are interested or not. This small piece of your copy will be read four times more than any other part; that being said, it is important to make this part stand out from the rest. Some examples of types of headlines can be numerical based ones such as, “10 things to know about whatever”, warning headlines such as, “Warning: Read this blog or burn money on advertising”, or How to headlines such as, “How to write better copy to convert in 5 easy steps.”
3. Be clear with what you say
Copywriting is a special form of writing that is targeted at marketing and advertising. This means your writing can not be targeted to only certain skill levels of reading. Copy needs to be something that can easily make sense that keeps the reader’s attention, because of this a lot of good copywriters tend to write their copy at about a third-grade reading level.
4. Know your length
Long copy versus short copy comes down to is the person a technical buyer or just the average person. The average person will like short copy because it shows them the benefits to their desired products, without the long list of features that the product contains. On the other hand, Long Copy is for those that already know why they need the product but need to know the features included to know if this is the right product for them. Neither form is better or worse; it truly comes down to the audience you are trying to reach.
5. It’s all in the details
Writing is a detailed profession and is an art form because of it. By making small changes in words and phrases you can manipulate the way the person sees your product. Use of power words like “you”, “free”, and “new” has shown to be really effective in copywriting. People also respond better to verbs rather than adjectives in copywriting because they want to
see the action behind the product and not the fluff.
6. Confidence and Risk
No one buys products they think are going to break or leave them unsatisfied. That is why when we purchase products, we buy the products provided to us by companies that take the risk from us and place it on themselves; this is called a return policy. Having no fall back plan for the customer causes them to lose confidence in your product because it clearly shows you don’t have faith in either. Your business must have enough confidence in the product you are supplying that you are comfortable to take your product back if the customer does not enjoy it.
7. The offer
Everyone always wants more in life whether its friends, money, success, or possessions, and as a copywriter, it is your job to exploit that. The best way to do that is with an offer that no one could possibly pass up. All great businesses got to the place they are by providing an offer so good that no one could compete with them. This is how businesses function and the role of copy to get this offer to as many people as possible.
8. The two things that sell better than the rest
When people make decisions we do it based on our emotions and then logic. Make sure when you write your copy you include a lot of emotion in it. We recommend you start out with emotion in the headline and initial sentences and then follow up with logic in your main body.
9. What not to do
Copywriting can be done in a multitude of ways, but some ways are not as effective as others. People do not like to feel belittled in any way, so by using large words that no one understands or trying to sound smarter than the audience you actually end up pushing them away. Being truthful about your product and giving the customer all of the information is important because with one mix up your company could lose all the trust it has built up.
10. The audience
The single most important part of any form of copywriting is to keep the focus on the audience. The copy you put out is not for you or your business, so why would it be the focus? Businesses that listen to their audience and reflect that through copy can connect with the customer and gain their loyalty. Gaining loyalty with your customers not only brings back their business but more often than not results in them spreading the word about your company.
Copywriting is a skill that must be continuously worked on and studied to keep up with the ever-changing ways of the world. This blog only covers the tip of the iceberg but it is a great start to begin writing copy. If you are interested in looking at some other resources to help your copy I’d suggest checking out 5 Psychology Hacks to Activate the Amygdala and Influence Your Customers (In a positive way). I hope you found this helpful, and thank you for reading!
Contributor: Kaylor Hagerla
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