As the world of marketing continues to become a den of stiff competition in 2021, the necessity of creating engaging content has reached new levels. As a marketing agency, we are required to think ‘out of the box’ to show consumers that our client has the best product or service. This blog will teach you to do the same.
First, let’s define what copywriting is. Copywriting is text that is intended for advertising or marketing. The product, termed as copy or sales copy, is a written content that intends to elevate brand awareness and solely persuades a person or group to buy a particular product or service.
The road to successful entrepreneurship comes with fundamental knowledge of writing sales-oriented copy. At the very core, copywriting is another medium in a business marketing toolbox. A well-written copy can make or break an ad or marketing campaign. It will either have a positive return on Investment (ROI) or a negative ROI, and you’re in the drivers to seat that determines the outcome.
Copywriting comes innately to some people, but to the majority, it’s a foreign landscape of unfamiliar territory – which is a crazy concept considering that you’re bombard with copywrite on a daily basis. And the fact that you’re not aware of this copywriting being ‘thrown in your face’ is a key point in itself. Copywriting is about more than writing the hard sell letters which are usually offered by copywriting courses.
Well-polished copywriting doesn’t need to drown in bold typeface and capitalization. The message should have a sense of independence without leaving your customers hanging. Those who are using too many embellishments are guilty of not understanding the real core of what copywriting is. However, effective copywriting can be achieved in eight key points.
Highlight your product’s benefits
Understanding the benefits of your product is a simple roadmap to gain your customer’s attention. The benefit is the essence of your product to the customer. In other terms, the positive gain that the consumer will get from buying your products/service. It is then mandatory that you choose words that point out the reasons why the consumer should buy your product.
The key to this is having a total understanding of what your product has to offer. Only then you can set a direction where you and your customers meet halfway. After all, people don’t buy a Ferrari to have a “car”, it’s a lifestyle, an image. That’s why Ferrari’s adverts consist of a crowd steering in awe, often with the driver accompanied by a questionably younger model. Ferrari understands their audience, and likewise you need to understand yours.
Expose your competition’s weakest points
The field of business is an arena of a tough battle. You have to be strategic if you don’t want to lose the race. One strategy could be pointing out your competitor’s weaknesses. To do this, you have to research the product your competitor is offering and then list down all the aspects of their product you find to be inferior.
Be carefree to bring the competition to a rough level but make sure you do not go beyond reality. Remember, you are driven to work hard once you engaged yourself in the circle.
Acquaint with your audience
Your patience of knowing the preferences of your audience can save you from the brink of losing profit. Ads around the world cannot be seen by all. Each ad has a particular audience who will see it. It is the job of the marketer to know the proper placement of the ad for it to be effective.
For instance, an ad for a baby doll and stuffed toys are placed on a page for senior citizens, chances are, conversions will be low. They would love to see products that fit their taste. Before you avail of ad space, be sure it is rightly placed to secure the marketability of your product. A revolutionary advancement in the last contrary is the ability to target a specific demographic with Google Ads.
Use this to your advantage, use different copywriting to fit different demographics. A female buying a pram will place a higher priority on aesthetics and cute futures. While males will place a higher priority on reliability and structural integrity.
Researching the demographic profile of your customer gives you a benchmark to understand their preferences. Below is a list of examples of traits to aid you to start your demographic profiling initiative:
- Gender.
- Age.
- Ethnicity.
- Family Status.
- Income.
- Occupation.
- Interests.
- Geographic Location.
Use pronouns in second person
In writing your content, it is most effective to address it as if you are talking to your client. The use of the pronoun “YOU” or a second person point of view will create a tone that’s in a conversational manner. Do not talk about “we” or “them” but rather converse it in a way that will provide an atmosphere of inclusivity to your audience.
Understand your medium
Remember that the medium plays an important role in shaping the tone or mood as you write any copy. It’s essential to understand whether it will be placed in a local newspaper or on a billboard. Take note that these platforms are different from each other so be mindful of the proper words that will fit into the mentioned channels.
Furthermore, different types of marketing pieces require different types of copy. Remember to use every possible and suitable opportunity to connect your marketing messages to your customers.
Avoid overloaded Information
The key rule in copywriting is to always KISS the words (Keep It Short and Simple). You are advertising a product so it’s best to choose short words that are memorable to your audience. Using longer words will clutter the minds of your audience so they tend to forget the most important details of your product. Engagement is key, and waffling on creates disinterest, pretend your audience has ADHD and write accordingly.
Include a call to action
It is commendable for an ad to motivate the audience to undertake an action. Thus, a call to action is the level where customers are moved to act upon the suggestion of the advertisement or the marketing piece. Conventionally, it provides a sense of urgency around a message and yields further actions. An example of a call to action is when an audience is pursued to call the advertiser or visit his website because the deal is for a limited time, bonus points if you have a clock ticking down.
One effective way is to consider writing in the active voice, not in passive. The reason here is simple, copy written in an active voice becomes action-oriented in tone while passive voice puts a dull atmosphere to the ad as it does not speak of action. In other words, if you write a sentence in the passive voice, the subject of the sentence is the receiver of the action from the verb of the sentence.
Proofread
This is the most critical stage of copywriting. You will instantly lose credibility if you allow a simple technical error such as spelling or grammar to intervene in your advertisement, it is your goal to earn their trust after all.
Double your time looking into the unseen mistakes of your ads. Many professional copywriters ask a colleague to double check their work, you should do the same, two heads are better than one. Do not be impulsive on putting your ads on the market if it is not quality-controlled. Your ad becomes the face of your product, so it must be polished with attention to detail.
Quality copywriting can be recycled and reused. Even the experts test and refine the content they use, but having it written well the first time has a massive reduction in both time and advertising expenditure. Copywriting is easy when you understand its tricks. Do your research and allocate your time, it’s not a sprint – effective copywriting takes time.
