Entries Tagged 'copywriting tips' ↓

Each new project brings with it many challenges. But one of the most crucial aspects you will ever face as a freelance copywriter is the defining and setting out of your goals.

The starting point for any new piece of work is to ask yourself what the purpose of the document you are about to write is. If you are writing a sales letter it is important to remember that what you are about to create will replace a personal visit or conversation with the reader. Therefore it must achieve what a salesman would achieve face to face.

Your goal would be any number of things including:

• Making a sale
• Getting opt-ins for your email list
• Getting someone to open an account with you
• Increase a customer’s spending with you
• Renewing a contract
• Agreeing to a meeting

Whatever it is you must ensure that it is the goal that drives your writing and not your creativity.

Writers are creative by nature so it can be all too easy to let your alter ego get the better of you. How do you know if you’ve gone over the top? If , when you read it, it makes you smile; you want to show it to everyone with a big grin on your face shouting from the roof tops ‘look how clever I am’, ditch it.

Take a look at it and ask yourself if it will persuade the reader to buy. If your answer is ‘no’, scrap it. You are not in the running for the ‘Most creative sales letter’ Oscar, you are trying to achieve the goal you have been given by your client.

As a copywriter I like my work to inspire, entertain and inform my readers so they can make the right buying decision for them – that obviously being the particular product or service that I happen to be writing about.

However, as in the slightly distorted words of Jane Austin, ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a reader in possession of a sales letter, will be in close proximity of a rubbish bin’

Why? Because people don’t like them. They see them as an intrusion and believe that their only benefit is that they can be recycled and made into something more useful.

It doesn’t matter how long you spend writing that letter, if it is unsolicited it is unlikely to be read. Therefore you need to find yourself a brilliant freelance copywriter who can grab your reader’s attention by writing the best sales letter known to man.

The quality of your letter begins even before you have opened a new blank document. Let me ask you a question; before you write do you sit down and work out a plan? You would be surprised at the number of people who don’t. Think back to your school days, I bet your teacher always told you to plan your essays and when you finally took that advice your grades began to rise. So why not do the same for your sales writing? Let’s face it writing without a plan is rather like wading through treacle.

Remember, whatever you write must evolve around your reader. Think about:

• Who am I writing to? – this is your ideal reader, you know, the image that is now in your head
• What do I want to say? – focus on your reader’s needs not yours
• How much space do I have? – know your word count before you start
• How do I want to come across? – friendly, approachable, authoritative, unbiased…
• What’s my deadline? – always important to know
• What do I want to achieve?

The last one is the holy grail of your letter. Is your letter designed to make your reader change their mind about something? Do you want to motivate them into an action? Do you want them to buy something?

Your plan is taking shape. You know who they are, you know what you want them to do, now you can tell them why your product/service is right for them and what it will do for them (the benefits) and you know how to tell them what to do next (call to action).

If you are time-limited it is tempting to skip the planning stage and dive in – be warned, you will do so at your peril and your letter will be turned into a paper cup. Of course there is one way that you can save yourself the time it takes to plan and execute a brilliant sales letter – hire a copywriter!

Sally Ormond

Weren’t the Spice Girls ‘pop-tastic’?

OK, they weren’t to everyone’s taste, but they were right about telling people what they want.

Confused? Read on, I promise it will all become clear.

If you have been involved in the making of a product or service, you probably think it is the best thing since sliced bread. You have nurtured it from the initial brain storming sessions through to its infancy. You were there smoothing out the troublesome teenage problems until a fully matured product emerged. In fact you are so close to it, all you can see are its features and that will be all you want to talk about.

I’m not saying that’s a bad thing because we all want to know what something can do. But to produce great copywriting you must understand that what the potential reader/buyer wants to know is how it is going to benefit them. What is it going to do for them? Why should they spend their hard earned cash on your particular product or service?

For example, you have made a pair of football boots, your sales copy reads like this:

–         They are made from a unique leather

–         They have titanium tipped studs

–         The come in a range of colours

–         They mould to your foot

What is your reader going to think? Shall I tell you? They’ll say ‘so what?’ turn over the page and start reading the latest celebrity gossip.

Now if you sold them on the basis that by wearing your football boots your customer would become a better football player, that is a benefit. The features will help your buyer rationalise their buying decision but it is the benefit that will get him to pull his wallet out.

You see, I told you those Spice Girls knew a thing or two about freelance copywriting. Just remember, if you want your readers to buy ‘tell ‘em what they want, what they really want.’

This is a question that often divides people in the copywriting world.

As a copywriter I am used to blank expressions from people when they ask what I do. It is one of those professions that can be shrouded in mystery. It is quite nice at times to be viewed as mysterious, but for the sake of this article, I shall enlighten you.

In simple terms, a professional copywriter is a business sales writer. It is their job to produce persuasive copy for brochures, leaflets, sales letters, websites etc.

I like to think of myself as the G.I. Jane of the marketer’s arsenal, but with more hair.

Grab one of your brochures or check out your website; if you were honest, are these marketing materials really performing as you would want them to? Is your website copy drawing traffic to your site and is it the right kind of traffic? Do you get quality leads from your brochures?

Basically what I am asking is, are you frustrated by the lack of success of your marketing efforts?

If the answer is ‘yes’ then you need to find yourself a good freelance copywriter. They will work with you to produce effective copy that will increase your sales, create continuity in your marketing and therefore create an image of trust and credibility in the eyes of your customers.

Many businesses don’t go down this route because they think it is too expensive. But just think for a moment. How much of your time have you spent trying to write good copy? Surely your time would be better spent doing what you do best?

Good writing will pay dividends. The initial outlay will be recouped several times over by the increased sales. Just think about that for a moment…makes sense, doesn’t it?