You can read my first collection of copywriting tips here.
It can be tempting to think of copywriting as magic: some kind of mystical art only mastered by those willing to dedicate themselves to the craft.
In reality, the only things that you need to dedicate yourself to are some basic ideas and a lot of time to refining your headline and body.
So, let’s look at some more basics for copywriting.
Know Your Audience
Most copywriting tips hinge on this. You can know how to write copy, but if you can’t write copy to the people who are hearing it, you won’t succeed.
If you don’t know what motivates, thrills, or frightens your target audience, you can’t sell to them. The way you fix this is by conducting research: who buys your product? What else do they buy? How do they think? What makes them appreciate this product in the first place?
Once you know your audience, you can speak to them with more genuineness and it won’t sound like a bad sales pitch.
Focus on Experiences
It can be tempting to have your audience compare prices between you and your competitor. But savings is only one consideration taken into account by the consumer. You might have the least expensive quality product on the market, but you’re less likely to sell it if you can’t connect it to a positive experience.
So, counter-intuitively, the best thing to do is not to sell it based on its price point. There’s an old stand-up routine about the guy who went with the “Cheapest Lasik surgery in town!” and walked away with… less than stellar eyesight. So, don’t sell based on price!
Track Performance
Copywriters learn as they go and figure out what works best by doing. Field testing your copy is great, but you can’t always wait to determine its effectiveness to a total degree.
Sometimes the best you can do is to put it out there, see how it does, and make a note of it for next time. As long as you keep track of it, your copy will improve.
Don’t Hide Problems
No one has a perfect product that everyone agrees they need. There will always be people that have concerns or objections.
Meet those concerns head-on. If you don’t address these concerns, even potential concerns, it will seem like you’re hiding them. And if you aren’t perceived as trustworthy enough to address their concerns (in addition to recognizing that those concerns exist in the first place), why should they trust you enough to buy it?
Don’t Describe; Tell
Instead of focusing on descriptions, tell us what the product does. When you’re selling yourself, don’t describe yourself; tell us what you’ve done.
“Jim is adventurous, outgoing, and loves dogs,” tells us nothing of what kind of value Jim’s created for himself and others.
“Jim has traveled the world for his cooking blog, started three companies, and worked on electric generators with MIT,” tells us a lot more about Jim!
Use Effective Words
Several words are more likely to elicit a positive response when your audience reads it, no matter who your audience is!
Their name is probably the most effective. When you’re sending an email marketing campaign, this is as simple as a merge field, but in personal correspondence, you can use it more personably.
Though it seems cliche, it’s cliche for a reason, words like “free,” “instantly,” and “new” are likely to generate more positive leads. “Free” will always get people interested (which means you need to be careful about how you use it in your campaigns!).
“Instantly” speaks to the need for instant gratification, and “New” feeds the desire for novelty. While novelty can be a powerful motivator for products, it isn’t something that should be stressed when marketing for the brand at large. Given the choice between a cheaper product by an unknown brand and a more expensive product from a brand you know has been around a while, which are you more likely to choose? The safer option is to go with the established brand offering a new product.
Wrap Your Pitch In Something Interesting
Would you rather read a technical manual or a novel?
No shame if you choose the manual, but the majority of people are drawn in by stories. The worst history books are just collections of facts, but the best ones weave a tapestry that the reader wants to hear out to the end.
Thus, copywriting is storytelling. You don’t need to create a whole world like J.R.R. Tolkien, but you should make it interesting to your prospect. Pitches are easily ignored, but stories are more likely to get read through.
If you can wrap your pitch up in something captivating, you can grab people’s attention and bring them along for the ride.
This fulfills the number one rule of copywriting: Get the first sentence read.
Copy Length
How long should your copy be?
The answer entirely depends on what you’re trying to sell. Luxury products, products your audience didn’t realize they need, etc., will all need long and interesting copy to make your audience feel like they’ve been given reasonable information to act on.
Whatever you do, your copy should be as long as is necessary. No longer. Don’t mince words, don’t give unnecessary or irrelevant information, and most importantly, get to the point.
The Most Important Tip
Use words that are effective. Don’t try to be brilliants and come up with new rules: look at what’s worked before. Be mindful of what doesn’t work anymore and understand how people think.
Final Thoughts
Marketing isn’t all glamour. It’s extensive research, finickiness that would drive anyone else mad, and reworking over and over until you find the thing that works. It’s a delicate mix of personability and textual cold-calling that’s hard to master.
But if you put in the time and effort, you can come away with something that’ll turn heads, make your audience interested, and generate solid leads. The only thing to do now is to get at it.