Entries Tagged 'copywriting' ↓

This was a question that was raised during last week’s online Q&A session on copywriting as a career with The Guardian.

Clean copywriting is very tight, concise, compelling sales copy – clever copywriting is there to impress.

Which is best?

As the Q&A discussion discovered, it rather depends on your audience. However as 99% of my copywriting work is commercial print or web based – I shall answer that question from my experience.

Short and sweet wins every time

When I’m approached to write sales copy (whether is for brochures, email campaigns, posters, adverts or SEO website copy) I follow a simple formula which is designed to have maximum impact.

We all lead busy lives these days; sales messages are everywhere – in newspapers, on buses, on the tube, on radio, TV, magazines, the internet…the list is endless. Considering the number of messages we are faced with on a daily basis of you want yours to get through it must be powerful and concise.

Because of this your message must be noticed, resonate with the reader, convince and compel them to take action.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it!

The winning formula

I mentioned earlier that I follow a formula to create clean and compelling copy. Before I tell you what that is you must remember one thing. Every audience you write for is going to be different. An approach that worked for one group of people may fall short of the mark when used on another group. So always bear your audience in mind when creating your copy.

So where do you start? Well, how do you normally read things? from the beginning, right? And what do you find at the beginning?

1. Headline

This is the hook that will get some interested in your copy enough to read it. If you get your headline wrong, your whole sales pitch will be lost. If you need inspiration read magazines, look through newspapers or check out the home page of Digg – that is a great source of inspiration.

However you create it, it must draw your reader in to the rest of your copy.

1. Beginning

Once your headline has pulled them into your message web, hit them with the main benefits of your product/service. Hit them between the eyes – tell them exactly what the product/service will do for them.

At the end of the day, your reader will only buy if they are going to benefit in someway – point that out to them immediately and your half way there.

1. Middle

Now you’ve shown them the benefits of your product/service their hand is poised over their wallet – but they’re not pulling out their credit cards just yet.

They may be interested in your product now, but you’ve got to make them want it. Help them visualise how amazing their lives will be if they had it. Make them want it by telling them supply is restricted or the price is going up soon or they’ll be amongst the first to won it, they’ve been specially selected…

1. Finale

This is it – they’ve grabbed their wallet, they’ve taken out their credit card…does it end there?

It will if you don’t tell them what to do next. The final step is to write a strong call to action. If you don’t tell them to buy now, call now or order now they won’t know what to do and will look elsewhere.

Headline + Benefits + Want Factor + CTA = SALES!!!!!

If you want your sales copy to work every time, keep it strong, keep it tight, keep it simple. Don’t try and be clever.

Sally Ormond – Freelance copywriter

Yesterday’s post announced the Q&A session I was asked to take part in for The Guardian today.

Well, as you can see, I am still able to type!

Loads of excellent questions were thrown at the panel covering all aspects of copywriting and how to get started in the industry. Not only did we manage (I hope) to help a number of the participants, I think we learnt a lot from each other too.

Find out what it means to be a copywriter

Starting out as a new copywriter can be a daunting experience. There are so many things to think about:

• Do I start as a freelance copywriter or get a job with an agency
• How do I find clients?
• How do I start my portfolio
• Do I need an online presence?
• Do I need any special qualifications?
• Are there any courses I can do?

The best way to find out how to get started is by asking someone already doing it.

Visit The Guardian’s forum and discover a few tips for starting out in the world of copywriting. If you can’t find the answer to your question here, drop me a line and I’ll do my best to help you.

Many of you know about me and my freelance copywriting business – Briar Copywriting. Well now you have the opportunity of learning a bit more about me.

The Guardian’s Careers Forum – Copywriting

On Friday 15th January The Guardian are running an online forum about careers in copywriting. So, if you are considering a career change or want to know about copywriting and how to get started, come along!

I will be amongst an esteemed panel of experts from the copywriting world. We have all come to the industry from different backgrounds so you’re sure to learn a lot from our experiences.

Visit the forum this Friday 15th January between 12pm and 3pm and post your questions to us.

It’ll be great to see you there.

Sally

Freelance Copywriter

Happy New Year!

This is it. The start of a new decade bla bla bla…

So, what are you going to do differently this year? Are you going to move your marketing up a level or will  you just be plodding along as usual?

With the noughties behind us and the teenies stretching before us, now’s the time to review your marketing messages on your website, brochures, newsletters, emails etc.

Don’t go stale

Picture this: Monday morning, you drag yourself out of bed and stagger down stairs. You open the bread bin only to find a hard, stale piece of bread which is slightly green around the edges.

Do you:

a) stick it in the toaster because no one’s ever died from mouldy, past its best bread (yet)

b) chuck it away and find some fresh bread to eat

I’m guessing you’ve gone for option b).

Why? Because the bread is out of date, stale and lifeless.

So if you thought that was a pretty obvious choice to make, why do you leave your website copy and brochures untouched for months, years and (God forbid) decades?

Keep up with the times

Your marketing message will become just as stale as that piece of bread.

The copywriting in your original message was undoubtedly strong and compelling, but even copywriting can’t stand the test of time. You move on, your customers move on, priorities and products change – so why hasn’t your copy?

If you don’t keep your copy updated and relevant you might as well not bother marketing – and we all know what a pickle that’ll get you in to. I wrote a post a while back called 4 Resons Why Copywriting Services Work in which I used a famous example to illustrate why your marketing should continue:

During the depression of 1929-33(ish) Kelloggs in the USA (whose cornflakes were a health food at the time) continued to promote as heavily with adverts, posters etc as they had been doing before that. By the time the depression was over there were no other breakfast cereals that anyone had heard of and Kelloggs achieved almost instant market domination, a position they’ve held ever since.

Time verses profit

I can hear you all now shouting that you don’t have the time to start reviewing and rewriting all your marketing materials. Well, for starters, you don’t have to do it all in one go. Prioritise – start on your website first if that’s the first contact potential clients have with your company.

If you don’t have time, invest in the services of a freelance copywriter – yes, it will cost you but you’ll save time because a) you don’t have to write it yourself and b) because you won’t have to rewrite it because it will work first time because copywriters know what they’re doing.

Using a professional will help you save money and make money – think of it as an investment. You hire new sales people to generate more leads so why not hire a copywriter to produce copy that will generate leads and convert them into buying customers?

Take a look at your website and borchures – ready for a makeover? Start 2010 the way you mean to go on – lean, mean and ready for action.

I started out as a freelance copywriter nearly three years ago. During that time, not being the greatest face to face networker in the world, I have utilised the power of social media to drive my business forwards. That’s great if you ‘get’ social media but if the likes of Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and the myriad other websites leave you cold, it can all seem like a total waste of time.

The down side of social media

If you don’t know what you are doing, social media could quite easily be the death of your business. Sound extreme? Well, it’s true.

You can spend hours playing with your Twitter account, Facebook Fan page and all manner of other forums and networking sites, but if you don’t have a clear strategy you’ll be heading for trouble.

Many people associate being busy with being profitable. But if your ‘busy-ness’ comes from the fact you’re spending hours sending out useless tweets rather than going out meeting and greeting and getting deals signed, you’re going nowhere fast.

Your social networking is there to compliment your traditional face to face networking. They should go hand in hand.

Social media for local business

Because it’s on the world wide web many people see social media as a platform for global networking. Yes, it can be that if you want, helping your company reach parts you never thought possible. But it can also be very effective on a local level too.

Networking events aren’t always the most targeted way of meeting new and valuable contacts or clients. Most of the time you never quite know who you’ll meet. By using the power of online networking you can change all that.

Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

Start a local group online

Use sites such as LinkedIn or Facebook to start local discussion groups. This is a great way to get in touch with other local businesses and share ideas.

Hold a meetup/tweet up

Get together with your online local networking groups. Find tweeters from your area and arrange a Tweetup. This is a great way to firm up those online relationships you’ve already started.

Facebook targeted ads

If you have a Facebook fan page (here’s my freelance copywriting page – feel free to become a fan, it would be great to see you there) use Facebook’s targeted advertising service to get your name in front of local prospects.

Google local 10 box

If you’re not already there, get yourself listed in Google’s local 10 box and get yourself in front of people looking for local businesses like yours.

Above all, if you’re using social media make sure you have a strategy and stick to it. Plus compliment your online activties with going out meeting and greeting.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter