Entries Tagged 'copywriter' ↓

Neil Stoneham of Voxtree has kindly agreed to allow me to re-post his blog The Importance of Good Copy” on Freelance Copywriter’s Blog.

In it, he takes a good look at why good copy is so important for your business and why a professional copywriter is worth his or her weight in gold. Take it away Neil…

Here is a transcript of the forthcoming article I wrote for the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce magazine “Business Matters”:

Image, it seems, is everything in this day and age. Most of us go to some lengths to look good within a business environment, all with the express intention of dazzling our clients and creating a positive first impression. Same with the way our company is presented – we all want a good logo, flashy brochures and a smart-looking website.

So, what’s wrong with that? Nothing. Image is important, no doubt.

But it can all count for nothing if we neglect the necessity of good copy. As a copywriter myself, it pains me to see businesses splash out on a pristine, beautiful website, only for it to read like a third-rate student essay, replete with bad grammar, awful spelling and some unusual turns of phrase! It’s a waste and, at its worst, an insult to the intelligence of any prospective client.

Even less serious offenders can turn away potentially important sales by failing to write copy that is concise, persuasive and easy to read. After all, if you don’t sound professional, it may unintentionally suggest that your business is less than professional too.

A professional company cares about what it says as well as the way it looks. And it’s a proven fact that strong copy, written to draw people in and keep them hooked, is massively more effective than something bland or badly written.

Some of you may be worried now that your own copy is not very strong and that you ought to do something about it. Perhaps you’ve thought about it for a while but not got round to it. Well, here are a few pointers to help improve your copy so that it turns your core message into sales.

1. Make your text lively and persuasive
Many people feel the need to adopt a formal tone when describing their product or service. This can, however, fall flat and bore clients if you’re not careful. Today, most people accept a conversational tone as part of business patter and can be a boon if promoting something creative and quirky. If you are not sure, the best policy is to keep it neutral.

Remember, too, that you are selling. Clients are only really interested in how your product or service can be of benefit to them. Sounds obvious but it’s amazing how many businesses spend too much time ‘bigging themselves up’ at the expense of providing information that is actually useful.

2. Accuracy is key
We rarely pay attention to good grammar, spelling and punctuation. In some modern contexts (social media or texting, for example) it may even seem unnecessary. Bad grammar, spelling and punctuation, on the other hand, stand out a mile. It looks sloppy and unprofessional. Even with the best will in the world, a few demons regularly stalk our copy – “their” instead of “they’re” and “your” instead of “you’re” are some of the popular ones. Get your copy checked by someone with a good knowledge of these things before you put it online or, worse still, send it to the printers.

3.    Keep text concise
The phrase “Too much information” may have other connotations these days but is still relevant to sales material! When presenting the details of your product or service, tell us what we need to know and no more. Many technical aspects of your product, for instance, may seem important to you but can be tedious for all but the most tech-savvy geek to plough through. Also, get the point. Websites that spend the first two paragraphs detailing your company’s history could drive your potential client to the ‘back’ button and they’ll be away before you’ve told them a thing about what you do.

A word about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) here. Don’t buy the myth that reams of keyword-heavy content will bag you a high ranking. The next generation of Google will filter this out and reward good quality content that is actually read and shared.

4.    Avoid jargon and clichéd ‘marketing speak’
Unless you’re aiming your material at people solely within the same technical field, cut the jargon. Otherwise, it will alienate your clients and possibly lead to misunderstanding. Similarly, most smart people can see through ‘marketing speak’ these days, so treat people with respect and avoid phrases like this:

“When You succeed, we succeed with You. When you dazzle your CLIENTS, we dazzle ours.”

This was actually used by a company and guaranteed that a high percentage of potential clients were confused enough to go somewhere else!

There are, of course, many other issues that distinguish good from bad copy, so it’s worthwhile using a professional if you are serious about getting the words right. After all, it could make all the difference when generating that next big sale.

Over to you

Thanks Neil – so what do you think?

Can you come up with any other ideas why good copy is so important?

Perhaps you’ve seen some particularly good or bad examples?

Leave a comment below, we’d love to hear from  you.

This is going to be short and sweet, but what do you reckon?

Should your copy be humorous?

Is there a place for it?

Well, before you can answer that you really need to think about your brand.

You’ve worked long and hard to create a particular image, so before you decide to use a touch of humour in your next marketing campaign, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is it really funny?

Perfecting a humorous campaign takes time. But you do have to remember that not everyone finds the same stuff funny.

Just because you’re humour makes you roll on the floor laughing, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will have that effect on everyone.

2. Oops

Not only do you run the risk of creating something that, for many, is not funny, but you could also end up causing offence.

Poking fun at certain people could land you in an awful lot of hot water.

3. Kill not cure

As I mentioned earlier, you have taken a lot of time and energy getting your brand’s image just right. If you’ve spent time and money creating something that’s renowned for its quality, seriousness and soberness and then put out an ‘amusing’ marketing campaign, you could turn off a lot of people very quickly.

The moral is…

At the end of the day, it’s a brave marketer that goes for the humour angle on a whim.

Make sure you look at your brand, your product and your audience before you start thinking comedy. After all, you want your customers to be laughing with you, not at you.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter

When companies write their own copy, they tend to fall at a couple of hurdles when it comes to its effectiveness:

• It’s full of we
• It’s a blatant sales pitch

The first point is covered in this very sanitary blog post, so this post will concentrate on the second.

How do you convince your reader to buy something without being blatant about it?

Before I answer that, let’s take a look at the problem itself. When you’re writing about your own business, you’re keen to get across every last detail to your reader.

You want to tell them all about the features (sadly forgetting the crucial benefits) and then you’ll proceed to tell them it’s amazing, brilliant, superb and fantastic in varying font sizes, colours and turns of phrase.

The problem with that is the reader will instantly recognise your sales pitch and if there’s one thing people don’t like, it’s being sold to.

So if you want to get them to buy from you, you’ve got to be a bit more cunning than that.

How to sell without selling

As a copywriter, I use 3 techniques to get around this particular problem. Each one will help you sell your products or services without the reader recognising an in-your-face sales pitch.

Let’s take a look at the first…

1. Storytelling

As kids, we’ve all grown up listening to stories. We naturally warm to them, listen to them and learn from them, which is why it’s such a powerful way to communicate the benefits of your products or services to your readers.

By reading about a situation and how your product helped someone, will sell the benefits to your reader without them realising they’ve just been sold to.

That’s because they have seen how your product/service works within a given scenario and how it benefits the user.

Placing it within a content they can relate to, is a powerful way of selling without obviously selling.

2. Testimonials and case studies

Whether you use a testimonial from a client, or use their story as part of a case study, because it is a real life story, your reader will read it and take more notice of it than anything you write.

After all, the authors of the testimonials have no incentive to lie about your service, so they are seen as trustworthy insights into your business.

Another powerful way to use testimonials is by video. There are a few people who take the view that testimonials can be written by anyone and where’s the proof that the person sighted is the person who wrote it. But if you have a video testimonial, it will tend to blow the sceptics out of the water.

3. Teaching

Does teaching really work?

Of course it does.

Whether you offer a free sample, video ‘how to’, or an offer, these all act as bait to get your reader hooked.

People love something for nothing, and if it means they get to see how great your product or service is first hand, they are more likely to buy from you.

Over to you

Do you use any other techniques to avoid the ‘hard sell’ approach?

Perhaps you’ve had particular success with one of the above. If so, leave a comment below, I’d love to hear from you.

Can you really tell whether copy is good or bad just by looking at it?

The answer is yes and no.

It rather depends on what the copy is, what it’s meant to do and what form it takes.

For example if it’s SEO copywriting and it’s very obvious what the targeted keyword is, like in the example below…

…then it’s pretty safe to say it’s bad copy.

The problem is a section of text can be very well written (grammatically correct and no spelling errors) and yet, from a sales perspective, it’s about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

That’s why it’s not always easy to spot bad copy.

It’s probably easier to look at this from a different angle and think about what makes good copy.

The traits of good copy

Luckily there are 5 characteristics that good copy has. No matter which format it’s written for or what it’s trying to sell, good copy will always:

1. Grab the readers’ attention immediately
2. Be clear and unambiguous
3. Answer all the readers’ questions and so counter any buying objections they may have
4. Build trust and rapport with the reader
5. Motivate the reader into taking a specific action through a strong call to action

What it comes down to is this – copy is written for a purpose (generally to sell something) but if it doesn’t fulfil that purpose it’s not doing its job.

Selling through text alone is difficult. You don’t have the personal contact with the customer; you can’t think on your feet to counter their buying objections and you can’t shake their hands.

Your copywriting has to do every thing:

• Inform
• Build trust
• Convince
• Convert into a sale

That’s not an easy thing to achieve.

What are your thoughts? Can you think of any more traits you find in good copy? Why not share them here along with any shocking examples of copy you’ve come across.

This is a guest post written by Tom Albrighton, a freelance copywriter and founder of ABC Copywriting. He writes regularly on copywriting issues for the ABC Copywriting blog.

Of all the ways to obtain source material for your copywriting, interviewing must be one of the easiest and most productive. A half-hour phone chat or meeting with a client can easily generate enough material to write a thousand-word brochure, or develop a really strong tagline. But you have to do it right – so here are a few tips for getting the most out of interviews.

Preparation

It’s always worth writing a set of questions in advance. Even if you end up wandering way off topic, they’ll provide a useful structure to your interview and help you remember the points you want to cover.

Interviewees are reassured when you send them questions in advance, particularly if they’ve never been interviewed before. They can also spend some time thinking about their answers, or getting hold of data to back them up. (In my experience, material promised during the interview itself often fails to turn up, obliging you to chase your interviewee, which is awkward.)

Kit

Give yourself the best possible chance of hearing every nuance of your interview by investing in some decent recording kit.

For in-person interviews, I use a good-quality tape recorder. It’s not advanced but it gets the job done, and I like the reassurance of seeing the reels revolving. You might prefer to use an electronic recorder – certainly, having the interview as an MP3 is handy.

For phone interviews, I use a device called the THAT-2, which is connected between the handset and the phone (so you need a phone with a plug-in handset). You can connect it either to a tape recorder or to your computer, where you can record with an application like Audacity.

For quick and easy transcription of MP3s with iTunes on the Mac, use something like Sizzlin’ Keys, which lets you play, pause and skip backwards and forwards using keystrokes. Personally, I always use headphones, to get as close as possible to the original experience.

Questions

For copywriters, interviews are about exposition, not inquisition. You’re looking to get your interviewee to open up and give you everything they’ve got.

To achieve that, ask open questions, which typically begin with either ‘what’ or ‘how’. For example, ‘what does this product do?’ or ‘how will this service benefit customers?’

Listening

In person, it’s important to physically signal your interest by making eye contact, leaning forward attentively, nodding and so on. But that doesn’t work on the phone, so it’s worth making little affirmatory interjections like ‘mm’, ‘yeah’, ‘uh-huh’. ‘sure’, ‘right’ or whatever works for you, so the interviewee knows you’re still listening.

Don’t be afraid to ask for more information if you need it. Many interviewees feel self-conscious when talking for a long period, particularly if they are natural introverts. Reassure them that you’re still interested by saying ‘Can you tell me a little more about that?’ or something similar.

Make sure everything you say is oriented towards getting the interviewee to express themselves, rather than impressing them with your knowledge. Even the cleverest observations must be suppressed – this isn’t about you.

Reflecting

Sometimes, people get hung up on making a particular point that’s very important to them. Signals include rephrasing it again and again, or using more than one example to explain it. To show them you’ve understood, rephrase the point and say it back to them, starting with something like ‘So as I understand it, what you’re saying is…’

I also find this a very useful way to capture potentially useful phrases that come to me while people are speaking – for example, metaphors that might liven up the finished copy. By throwing them into the conversation, you make sure they’re in your recording.

Digressions

Sometimes, interviewees ramble badly, leaving your intended topic far behind. This can be frustrating, but you just have to wait for your chance to gently guide the conversation back on course.

The classic problem for copywriters is getting the client to think about customer benefits rather than the features of the product or service they’ve created. But sometimes, people just have to get all that feature stuff out of their heads before they can translate it into benefits – so give them some room.

Only interrupt the interviewee as a last resort – if you’re running out of time, say, and don’t have what you need. If you talk over them by mistake, say ‘sorry, go on’ and let them have the floor.

Wrapping up

Always thank the interviewee for their time and, if appropriate, give them the opportunity to review and approve what you write. Some people will ask for this up front, as a condition of being interviewed. In my experience, 95% of people will rubberstamp what you write. But be prepared for the exception who takes the opportunity to rewrite the whole thing – badly.

Transcription

When you transcribe, don’t be afraid to either (a) use the interviewee’s words verbatim or (b) chuck them out and use your own. People sometimes use the perfect phrase in conversation, but would never write it down – your job is to give them the authority to use it. Conversely, people’s own pet phrases might be completely inappropriate for the task at hand – but, after all, that’s your job!