Entries Tagged 'copywriting tips' ↓

One of the most vital aspects for any individual or company looking to boost their profile is getting involved with social media. Since starting out as a freelance copywriter I’ve embraced social media channels to ‘get my name out there’, offer advice and drive business my way.

But if you’re a newbie, where so you start?

There is a social media language that many find impenetrable – what do you do? Should you Tweet, Facebook, go with LinkedIn? Once you have set your profiles and accounts up, what then?

Well to help you get started I found this great post on socialmediaexaminer.com on How to Create Your Personal Social Media Brand which features a video interview with Mari Smith, author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day. Mari talks how to create yourself as a brand and how to monetize your personality on social media.

By watching the video you’ll learn how to build your own brand equity with social media plus some amazing tips for both the self-employed and people who work for large companies.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this video:

• Why you need to carve out your position and brand equity
• How to start branding yourself on social media if you don’t have any brand equity online
• Why you need to use your name on social media
• How to brand yourself on your Facebook business page
• How Mari brands herself and what she does to craft the brand she represents

So grab a coffee and take a look – it’s only takes about 6 minutes.

Whether you’re starting out and setting up an online presence or looking to create some new marketing materials, your success will be determined by their content.

Is your message engaging? Does it really give the reader what they want? Does is make them say “Wow, I really need that. How do I buy?”

Because that’s what it comes down to – the words you use have to attract, convince and convert.

I can do that…can’t I?

As well as working with individuals and companies directly, I also work with a number of graphic and web designers. When talking to them we always end up having the same conversation—they often find it hard trying to convince clients of the need for professional copywriting.

Why?

Well their thought process follows this pattern:

I have a limited budget…

I don’t know who to do HTML so I need a web designer…

Design is not in my skill set so I need a graphic designer…

I have no idea where to source great images from so I’ll pay someone else to do that…

Writing? Hey I can write I’ll do that myself.

Big mistake

So what happens next?

Someone in your company gets lumbered with the task of writing your sales copy. Here’s the problem:

• It is unlikely they have experience in writing sales copy
• They take ages to write it because they don’t have the time which holds up the whole project
• The finished copy tends to fall into the category of ‘it’ll do copy’

It is very difficult to write about your own company because you’re too close to it. To write effectively you have to distance yourself from your business and write it from your customers’ point of view. Your readers want to know how your product or service is going to benefit them. So your copy must be written for your customer.

What a copywriter will do for you

When you hire a professional copywriter they will get to know you, your business and your product/service.

They’ll put themselves in your customers’ shoes and create structured copy that addresses their needs, sells the benefits and talks to them directly.

Your website copy will be optimised for the search engines so it will attract targeted traffic. The content will convert those visitors into buying customers. And the copy will tell them what action they need to take to buy your product.

Your brochures will sell not just inform. They will convince the reader your company is the one they should deal with. No longer will they be used as a mat for their coffee cup.

Your case studies will entertain, inform and sell. Your press releases will engage and attract new business. Your email marketing will be opened, read and acted upon.

Does that really sound like a waste of money to you?

Yes we can all write, but creating eye-catching, compelling and powerful sales copy is a difficult skill to master.

So next time you are looking to create a new website or piece of sales copy, don’t try and go it alone. That piece of writing, whatever form it may take, will be the first impression the reader gets of your company – hire a professional and make sure it’s the right impression.

Don’t gamble with your company’s image.

Search engine optimisation is vital for today’s online businesses.

If you want to be found you have to make your website as visible as possible and the only way to do that is through a strong SEO strategy.

More and more companies are realising that PPC is find for short a term push (if you have the budget for it) but unless you have seriously deep pockets, it’s not a long term solution.

A winning SEO strategy

If you want to be an SEO winner you’ll need the following:

• A well-researched list of keywords
• A well designed website structured inline with your identified keywords
• A professional SEO copywriter on board who really knows what they are doing
• An ongoing link building strategy

But whatever you do don’t try and go for fast results. SEO is a slow burning entity. You won’t get overnight results but if you work at it constantly you will be rewarded by lasting high rankings that will bring a continuous stream of targeted traffic to your website.

What to avoid in your SEO strategy

I came across a post on Seomoz the other day entitled “32 SEO Tactics to Avoid in 2011” which gives you a run down of ‘black hat’ techniques that should be avoided at all costs.

Have a read through and make sure you’re strategy is above board. Also take a look at some of the comments—it is a post that generated a lot of debate about SEO.

In a recent post, How Do Your Work Out Your Customers’ Needs? I looked at why you shouldn’t assume your customers think the same way you do.

The post generated several tweets asking for tips on how to discover what your customer wants.

The simple answer is ask them.

They are your bread and butter and are better placed than anyone to tell you what they need from you or why they don’t feel you’re the right supplier for them. They are also best placed to tell you how they use social media.

So what’s the most effective way of communicating with them?

1. Ask them

Many believe conversation is a dying art so why not resurrect it by speaking to your customers?

Scary thought isn’t it?

Chatting to them will help you discover why they bought from you or why they decided not to. How they found you, what social media channels they use etc.

Whether you come into physical contact with your customers or not, it’s simple to strike up a conversation. Pick up the phone and make a courtesy call to make sure they were happy with your service. While you’re chatting ask them what they liked best about your product/service, what they liked the least, what could be improved, how they first heard about you, do they think using social media would strengthen their standing with customers. In fact ask them if they realised you were on Facebook/Twitter—would they use those channels to communicate with you etc.

2. Newsletter

If you want to conduct a spot of market research and already send out a regular newsletter, add in a short survey and offer a prize or discount to those who complete it to encourage them to help you out.

The questions can be tailored to discover whatever you need to know about your service, products, website, staff etc.

You could also ask them about their social media habits to find out where they ‘hang out’ to make sure you as a company are utilising the right channels for your marketing and monitoring. And of course always include your links to your Facebook or Twitter accounts so they can interact with you.

3. Case studies

We all love a good real life story and that’s where the mighty case study comes in to its own.

Ask one of your recent customers if they would be willing to be the subject of a case study – they’ll be flattered you asked them and you’ll get great publicity from it.

Through the case study you’ll discover what their problem was, their motivation behind approaching you for the solution, how they perceived your service and their feedback on the whole process.  Plus you can discover how they first came across you.

Whether you write it yourself of get a professional copywriter to do it for you, the humble case study is a great promotional and research tool.

4. Feedback

So simple and yet often forgotten.

Once you’ve sold to someone or missed a sale, ask for their feedback. Ask them why they bought from you, or why they decided to go elsewhere.

Ask them where they first heard about your company (if you sell online you could always add this question into your order form to help you discover the most effective advertising channels—whether that’s through Google search, Facebook, Twitter, advertisement etc.)

Taking the time to ask your customers for their feedback also shows you as a company that cares. Yes, it helps you in the long run to improve service, your products and to discover where your customers are hanging out but it also shows that you listen.

5. Test the water

When using applications like Twitter and Facebook try running competitions to see what reaction you get.

Interaction through social media will highlight how your customers are using it. Plus competitions will boost your profile and you can monitor how successful each channel is through the number of entries. You can also grasp an idea of the demographics of social media users by looking at the entrants/comments you receive.

So if you want to find out where your customers’ are hanging out the simple answer is to ask them.

What do I mean by calm copywriting?

Well let me first tell you about what prompted me to write this post.

I took my eldest son to the Orthodontist this morning. The Orthodontist is a lovely chap and comes from Eastern Europe…somewhere. Anyway, after making my son’s next appointment we got in my car to head back to school when I mentioned that I might get his father to take him in for the next appointment as I might not have my car that day.

My son looked at me in horror and said “no, you can’t do that. You know what dad’s like, he’ll try and talk in his European English so the Orthodontist understands. It will be soooo embarrassing!”

The ‘European English’ my son is referring to is the good old fashioned British way of communicating abroad – s-p-e-a-k-i-n-g   v-e-r-y   s-l-o-w-l-y  a-n-d   l-o-u-d-l-y to make sure our European cousins can understand us perfectly.

Admittedly it usually ends up either offending or reducing people to hysterical laughter.

So how is all this related to copywriting?

Well there’s a lot of ‘European’ copywriting about too.

We’ve all seen the landing pages which comprise of different sized fonts, bold colourful words and truly awful graphics. And this isn’t just confined to landing pages you can also come across it in emails, sales letters and websites.

Does it give the reader confidence?

No.

Does it engage, enthral and sell?

No.

Instead it annoys, switches the reader off and encourages them not to buy.

Rather than relying in brash sales techniques like these, use your words carefully and let them do the selling.

Keep your text uniform (other than your sub headings), calm and persuasive. It will have a great effect; make you appear more professional and approachable.

Remember your reader isn’t an idiot. They will see through all the frills, fonts and colours. If you want to be taken seriously, write seriously.