Freelance copywriting is what makes sales literature and websites make the reader take action. So all those brochures, websites and emails you receive would (probably) have been written by a freelance copywriter.
They really are the secret weapon of marketeers. You see it is their creativity that makes an advertisement memorable or a website readable.
Watch this short video so get an essence of what a freelance copywriter could do for your business.
If a freelance copywriter is to build rapport, create a bond and be interesting all at the same time, they have to be positive.
There is no bigger turn-off in the land of sales writing that a piece that starts of being negative.
Would you want to read a letter that was constantly negative?
No.
That is why copywriters will always (wherever possible) try and keep their readers happy by offering them good news and happy endings; they keep their writing positive.
By steering away from negative words and phrases your copywriting will automatically take on a positive feel. It’s not exactly rocket science.
To illustrate this point, I have listed below a few negative phrases that you may have come across and their positive equivalents:
Negative Positive
Don’t delay Hurry
Don’t forget Remember
Your money back if you’re not satisfied Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back
There’s never a better time to… Now is the ideal time to…
I’m sure you’ll agree it makes quite a difference.
The title of this blog probably needs a bit of explanation before I am ‘virtually’ pelted with stones by the world’s copywriting population.
I don’t mean to infer that every freelance copywriter (or in-house copywriter) is aesthetically challenged. But rather that they understand the value of plain talking.
More often than not, as people grow and mature, they like to try to sound clever by using big words; words that make them feel intelligent. That’s all well and good and our school teachers were always pushing us to extend our vocabularies, but when it comes to copywriting you should resist the temptation.
In sales writing you are trying to connect with your reader therefore a great place to start is using basic, simple and clear language.
Here is a list of 10 words that you might be tempted to use and their simplistic counterparts:
Disseminate Spread
Residence House
Procrastinate Delay
Grandiose Showy
Innumerable Lots
Investigate Look at
Prevent Stop
Construct Make
Implement Carry out
Obtain Get
This should be applied to any sales writing, whatever tone or voice you are using. Even the most powerful business people on earth are human and would much rather read something simple than waste their time having to look up the meaning of every second word.
What do I mean by keeping your copywriting active? Well, I don’t mean filling it with adjectives which simply increase your word count without actually adding any value.
Still not sure?
Think back to the best years of your life – your school days (well, apparently they were the best years of your life, although I’m not entirely sure that applies to every single year of my academic youth). What did your English teacher constantly bang on about?
“Verbs are ‘doing’ words”
Like a stick of rock, if you cut open a copywriter (not that I am suggesting for one second that you should) those words will go right the way through them.
Just as they were in fiction, verbs are important in your sales writing. They drive your writing; they make it active and vigorous. Copywriters love verbs.
But there is a tendency in some in-house copy to turn perfectly good verbs into nouns.
I think an illustration is required:
Nouns
“Our specialization is the provision of high quality IT solutions“ (10 words, 55 characters)
Verbs
“We specialize in solving IT problems” (6 words, 31 characters)
I think that speaks for itself. So remember keep your copywriting active – it will have a much greater impact.
Ask your client exactly what they mean by ‘snappy copy’ and the response is usually:
“Erm…you know…snappy…punchy…that sort of thing.”
Very insightful.
In order for a copywriter to create powerful copy, they need to utilise power words. These are very basic, simple words that don’t require defining or explaining. Your reader should be able to connect with them immediately.
You want to see some examples? OK. Power words are things such as:
Love
Hate
Cash
Care
Best
Crash
Worst
Win
Lose
Huge
Risk
Fizz
Once a copywriter has created a first draft, their next job is to read through the copy and clear out all the flabby worn-out words and replace them with something more powerful. Of course, the choice of words is going to depend on what you are writing and who you are writing for.
If you are still unsure of what I am getting at, I have listed below some worn-out words and given a powerful alternative.
Worn-out Powerful alternative
Cost-effective Cheap
Impact negatively Hurt
Optimal Best
Upgrade Boost
See how much ‘snappier’ the power words are? They will give you copy far more impact.
