Power to the Copywriter

The headline, body copy and call to action are all vital elements within the freelance copywriters marketing arsenal – but they are not the be all and end all of copywriting.

To help you get your message across strongly you’ll need to utilise various tools such as:

• Subheadings
• Captions
• Call outs

Sub headings

There is nothing worse than being faced with a solid wall of text. I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid and had to choose a new reading book, what I found inside the cover was a big factor in making a choice. If I was immediately presented with page after page of small solid print, I’d put it back on the shelf and find something easier.

Well the same thing happens in your readers head. If they visit your website or open your brochure and hit a wall of text – they ain’t gonna read it!

Your sub headings should act like a sign post. At a glance your reader should be able to see what your web page or brochure page is about. They can then use the sub heads to read the sections most relevant to them.

They help break up the text and add that all important white space into your pages.

Captions

I’m sure you know what a caption is without me pointing it out to you – but I will anyway. The caption is the brief line of text that accompanies a photo, graph, drawing etc.

You caption should serve 2 purposes:

• Identify what the illustration is
• Link the illustration to your copy

By the second point I mean if it is a photo of someone using your product, describe to your reader what it is showing. If it’s a chart, again explain what it means i.e. 85% of people asked expressed a preference to Miracle Clean compared to the leading brand.

Callouts

At times you’ll have information you want to stand out. The use of callouts comes into play when you don’t want to interrupt the flow of your text or the information is so damned important you’ll want to draw special attention to it.

This can be done using:

• Bursts
• Callouts
• sidebars

What’s the difference?

A burst is generally a colourful graphic that attracts your readers’ attention to a particular point. It can be for a special offer or to emphasize a special feature:

A callout is usually a section of text, in a different font or colour, often designed to come across as a ‘stage whisper’. They are not quite so in your face as the burst and can be used to give customer quotes, important information, or important reminders:

A sidebar is a column or box of copy set to the side of the main text area. They can be used to house longer sections of copy which may be a list of features, a case study or other information that couldn’t be shown in the main text area (such as shipping details):

A copywriter has a number of tools they can use to create interest and hype around a product. By utilising these 3 features you can compliment your text to produce something that is powerful and compelling without being overly wordy.