Freelance Copywriting, marketing and social media tips

It’s not the first time I’ve addressed the subject of how to write clear copy and it won’t be the last.

Why?

Because of all the terrible content I see.

One point a lot of marketers miss is that good copy is simple.

Working as a copywriter, it amazes me how often clients expect their copy to be a literary masterpiece that makes them look super intelligent.

Communication is all about clarity. Your message must be simple and so should the language you use to convey it.  And don’t even get me started on the pedants who love nothing more than to scream and shout at the slightest divergence from what they class as correct English usage.

At the risk of causing an uprising I would like to point out how, over the years, English has evolved. It’s changing all the time (whether you like it or not) and if you want your copy to resonate with your readers you’re going to have to get with it.

That doesn’t mean you can ride roughshod over basic grammar rules, but if a slight deviation helps you get your meaning across…

Anyway, back to the point. Simple language will always win when it comes to copy. So here are a few basics to bear in mind.

1. Stop using big words

Once upon a time, usually during your teenage years when you were desperate for people to start treating you like an adult, you would use ‘big’ words to make yourself look intelligent.

The problem is if you use that approach in your copy you’ll lose readers like there’s no tomorrow.

Always use the simplest form of language to get your ideas across.

2. Keep things brief

Have you noticed how journalists always use short sentences? They make the story easy to follow, but having said that it’s always good to mix in a few longer ones too – variety will keep your reader interested for longer.

The same can be said for paragraphs. Make sure they’re no longer than 2 or 3 sentences.

Why?

Huge blocks of text will scare your readers off (remember those tedious novels you had to read in English Literature and their page after page of continuous text?), whereas short paragraphs look far more inviting and readable.

3. Front heavy

Eh?

Your readers like to get the information they need quickly, so by placing it at the start of your sentences (headlines, sub heads etc.) they will get the important information even if they skim the rest.

4. Cut to strengthen

When writing your content you will add extra words that aren’t needed – for example “get to the point as fast as possible” is more powerful when written as “get to the point”.

A lot of the extra words will be modifiers such as fairly, totally, very etc. Again, they don’t add value to your copy so cut them.

The same goes for sentences that use “if/then” and “in order to”:

• If you want glossy hair, then our latest smoothing shampoo if ideal for you
• Want glossy hair? Try our smoothing shampoo

Once you’ve written your first draft, read through and cut any words that don’t add value.

5. Metaphors and similes

Both of these help add the important emotional connection to your writing. They help your readers see, hear, taste and feel what you’re talking about.

When used effectively they will multiply the impact of your words, lodging them in their brain, making your message very difficult to forget.

How about you?

Do you have any other writing tips you’d like to share?

What favourite tricks do you use to get people to take notice of your copy?

Leave a comment below.

Author: Sally Ormond

Let me give you a clue.

“The number of ideas to use in an ad should be odd – and three’s too many”

Timo Everi, Hasan & Partners Helsinki

I couldn’t put it better myself.

The key to any form of marketing is clarity (of course it also has to be persuasive, but for the purpose of this post, clarity wins through).

If you want your reader to be 100% clear about what you’re telling them you can’t bombard them with umpteen messages at once.

A classic example of this is a sales letter.

Years ago, a client wanted a sales letter. We agreed terms and I got to work. After a while he had a brain wave; by getting me to include 2 products within one letter, he would only have to pay me once to sell twice as much.

Wrong.

Trying to squeeze two ideas into one letter merely dilutes its effectiveness. To have any sort of effect you must concentrate on one idea and exploit it to the max.

Maintaining the focus of the reader is essential. If you present them with one idea, they can follow your reasoning and benefits. But if you start telling them one thing and then add “…we also offer…” they’re suddenly all at sea.

Powerful copy focuses on just one idea:

• It shows the reader how they will benefit from that one idea
• They’ll understand how their life will be enriched by that one idea
• They’ll be left with no other choice than to buy into your idea

What at first might seem a financially driven ‘smart’ move will only end up with disappointing results.

Regardless of what piece of marketing you’re creating:

• Stick to one idea
• Focus your message on your reader
• Show how they will benefit
• Tell them how to buy

Author: Sally Ormond

OK, I’ll admit it. Despite being ‘active’ on Google+ for a while, I still haven’t got to grips with it yet.

How about you?

Are you making the most of it?

Probably not.

My lack of Google+ knowledge got me searching for some answers. I wanted to know how to link my Google+ account with my other social media accounts. After all, it’s relatively easy to link the others up, especially with flexible tools such as IFTTT. There had to be a similar solution for Google+.

My search took me to SocialMediaExaminer and their post about 3 Google+ tools that take your marketing to a new level.

For sharing your posts, it looks at Chrome Do Share and Friends+Me. As I don’t use Chrome I thought I’d check out Friends+Me. It is fairly easy to set up giving you different scheduling options, the option to selectively publish posts and it allows the integration of tracking links. The free option allows you to link 2 social media accounts and there are various paid options to link more.

That’s all well and good, but how do you know whether your Google+ posts are being effective? Well, that’s where their third tool comes into play.

Steady Demand provides analytics for Google+. It shows you what’s working on your page, graded using 3 criteria: post length, mentions and hashtags.The pro version of the tool analyses the activity on your Google+ business page.

All in all, these 3 tools will give you the edge when it comes to using Google+ as part of your marketing strategy.

Thanks SocialMediaExaminer, another informative post.

Author: Sally Ormond

Are you as sick as I am of politicians?

It doesn’t matter who’s in Government, it’s always the same old, same old.

Political programmes are all about point scoring with the usual response to any question being:

“Well we inherited the mess from the previous Government”

It’s all “they did this” and “they did that” when asked about current policies. We all know what they did; we want to know what you’re going to do.

The problem is, regardless of how persistent the interviewer, a straight answer is never given because they are more intent on highlighting how bad the previous lot were.

You’re probably wondering what this has to do with copywriting, well quite a lot actually.

The one thing that should never be in your copy

How do you convince your customers you are the company for them in your marketing materials?

I’m hoping your response is to show them the benefits of using your service or product, the excellent service you provide and that you’re a trustworthy, dependable company to deal with.

But, there are still come companies who opt for the ‘easy’ option.

They think that by putting down their competitors their readers will think: “Wow, they’re right, all those other companies are really bad. Isn’t it great they pointed that out to us.” It’s perceived as being ‘easy’ because they don’t have to think too hard about what they do, or find a way to convey it in words.

But by trash-talking your competitors you’re really saying “we don’t actually have anything positive to say about what we do, so we thought it would be easier to tell you how bad everyone else is to make us look good.”

The problem is it doesn’t make you look good. All it does is show you have nothing to offer.

If you want to gain trust, you must show your company is honest by highlighting what you can do for your customer. Your words must persuade them you are the company they want to deal with. If you just harangue your competitors, they’ll walk away.

Perhaps if our politicians took this advice the country would have more faith in them.

Your takeaway

The dos and don’ts of copy are simple:

• Do write about the benefits
• Do write to your reader
• Do focus on the needs of your reader
• Don’t slag off the competition

This is a guest post by John Terra. He has been writing freelance since 1985, and routinely checks his online reputation. He apparently shares the same name with a Belgian folk singer.

It seems like everyone’s online these days, and everyone has an opinion. Those opinions, if positive, can help your business, but otherwise, a negative critique could damage your bottom line. Here are five apps for keeping tabs on that important online reputation. Your online reputation is a crucial element in the ongoing process of making your business stronger and more prosperous.

Me On The Web/Google Dashboard
Let’s start out with something free and easy to find. Just sign in on Google and go to the Dashboard. Click down to “Me on the Web” and get acquainted with the options. You can conduct searches for yourself, and, more importantly, set up e-mail alerts when new information about you appears online. It’s free, and simple to use. This is quite possibly one of the best ways of keeping track of your reputation if you’re not interested in making too big an effort.

Naymz
This site offers a score that measures your reputation with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and includes factors such as social influence, transparency, and what your peers’ opinion is of your business. As far as the score goes, Naymz is reminiscent of Klout. Naymz provides you with the means to manage your online reputation. Naymz is free of charge.

Boardreader
With so many message boards out there, who has time to read them all? Hell, who’d want to!? And yet, you want to see if your business is being talked about, right? With Boardreader, you can search across online discussion boards to find out what’s being said about a website, business/company name, or even just a topic. Boardreader doesn’t cost anything to use.

Whos Talkin
Yes, as in “Look who’s …” This app is great for monitoring your online reputation strictly within the province of social media. In other words, you won’t get any other search results; just ones found on social media sites. Just plug in your name or business and conduct your search. What’s even better, you can get a browser search plug-in for your search bar, and a gadget for iGoogle, so that you don’t have to keep going back to the Whos Talkin website in order to execute a search. Whos Talkin is free.

Reputation.com
Though the company offers monthly fee-based services for monitoring your online reputation, there is also a free element. By entering your first and last name, you can get a report that shows what you look like to people who search for you online. Call it the online equivalent of taking a glance at yourself in the mirror.

All In All …
Your online reputation is too important to just let it plod along, unattended. Use one or more of the above apps to keep your name clean, and avoid the disastrous financial reversals that can result from unchallenged negative comments.

Photo Credit: booleansplit