Improving Your Copy Writing – Part 1
For successful copy writing two elements need to be employed. The artistic side and the scientific side. When both these elements are understood and used effectively, copy should become inspirational and practical at the same time.
The artistic skills used within creating copy make it a crafted object employing style, experience and honed workmanship. The scientific development of writing copy includes development, experiment and assessment of the results.
With marketing and advertising copy, both sides of the balance need to be apparent within the thought processes behind the writing exercise. Being creative and experimental can offer a piece of literature that is a joy to read, but unless it persuades someone to follow the call to action and make a purchase or hire a service, then it has not done its job correctly.
Factual Copy
Factual copy presents information to the reader in a straightforward and non personal manner. The times when factual copy is required, are where the reader is looking for plain answers to plain questions. This is where the copy needs to be free of conversation, storytelling or humour.
Factual copy offers a solution to the readers enquiry and anything extra becomes a barrier to achieving that resolution, adding frustration and irrelevance.
Telling a Story
One of the most reliable ways to grab the interest of your reader is to provide information in the form of a story. A story that describes people, their challenges and resolutions are always a compelling read.
We all enjoy hearing a story. A story that describes interesting people, heroic people, people that we can relate to and how they confronted a challenge and overcame difficulties. In marketing the problem of the story is usually, coincidentally, resolved by the particular product or service which you are promoting.
Each basic story is created within the following structure:
- Introduction to the character, and how their otherwise normal life was interrupted by events and circumstance.
- A challenge needs to be met, how does your character overcome conflict.
- Conversations between the main character offer insights to the inner monologue and provides further explanation to the dilemma.
- Conclusion to your story will provide a solution to the problem. Your marketed product brought about these desired results and offer a solution that your reader can also find their way to achieving.
It is important to research your target audience so that the character and their dilemma is relatable to the potential purchaser of your product.
Create a Conversation
Conversational copy includes the reader by addressing them directly. You will present the information to your target audience as if you are having a face to face conversation.
A conversation includes asking a lifestyle question, offering advice and comparing your own experience in addressing a similar problem. A good idea when creating a conversational copy is to record a real conversation which you can later transcribe in order to capture the nuances of dialogue.
Engage with your Reader
A great technique for encouraging your reader to engage with your content is by encouraging them to use their imagination and create a scenario in their mind based on your suggestions. Asking the reader to imagine the perfect life, stress free travel or the perfect holiday help them to discover their dream scenario.
From this position, good copy can develop their imaginary life and introduce products or services which can help them achieve their dreams.
Extended Copy
Sometimes the advantages of a product that you wish to promote cannot be summed up in short punchy sound bites of copy. Once you are able to hold the readers attention, you can slowly provide further evidence as to why your services are a benefit to them.
If you can anticipate potential questions, it is better to address them first within your copy so that a favourable response can be presented at the first opportunity. Writing long copy offer you the direct attention of the reader for as long as they are interested so you can place more beneficial information in front of them.
Another technique of the extended copy presentation is to leak it in smaller, more easy to digest sections on a regular basis through an email marketing campaign.
The Balance of Poetry with Sales Copy
Hard hitting sales techniques persuade the consumer to invest in your product or service whereas the clever wordplay creates a memorable advertising copy that will help you recall the product and become intimate with its values.
The poet needs to be creative but remember that the aim of the marketing strategy is to sell. The salesperson needs to keep their killer instinct whist offering an engaging style to connect to the reader.
An Address from the Management
The management level of a business often remains lurking in the background pulling strings and pushing for sales without much direct contact with the consumer. A useful strategy for engaging your business with the people who buy your products is a communication from the founder of the company to the public.
Within a CEO communication, it is important to show that the organisation is here to benefit the customer and not simply focused on profit maximisation. Offering a friendly and approachable contact to the customer shows that you are working to share the benefits of your product on a level playing field and are prepared to meet your customers half way.