Copywriting Fundamentals
1. Solve A Problem
Your number one goal as a copywriter is to persuade your prospective buyer to purchase your product or service. The number one question any copywriter should ask themselves is, ‘How am I going to do that in the most effective way?’
The answer is to show your prospective buyer that the product or service you’re writing about solves a problem for them.
2. Build Relationships
The key to creating a truly sustainable business is to focus on building relationships between you and your prospects. You can do this by showing them that their goals are the same as yours.
This has two key benefits. One is that you will get more long-term rather than one-off customers. The other is that you are more likely to get referrals.
3. Stories Sell
Telling a story is a great way to make a connection with your prospects. Good stories are remembered and shared, and inspire people to action. Your stories should reveal things about yourself that will lead to people knowing, liking and trusting you.
Make sure you show yourself as a hero, not a victim. People want to see scars, not wounds.
4. Values and Beliefs
Our values and beliefs colour our perceptions. A good copywriter needs to know and understand what their target audience thinks is important and how they view themselves and their place in the world.
Values and beliefs determine our actions or inactions. Good copy validates reader values and beliefs, quickly building a high level of trust – thus creating a buying atmosphere.
5. Features Vs Benefits
A feature is ‘batteries included’. A benefit is ‘the product is ready to use as soon as you open it’.
Good copy should talk about both. But the most important thing is to show how a benefit can lead to a good result – my son is happy because he can play with his toy right away.
6. Authenticity Matters
Because consumer trust is hard to gain, honesty and integrity really matter. People want to see authenticity – and the way to infuse authenticity into writing is to show vulnerability and be consistent.
Don’t be afraid to show your personality. Make your humanity visible. This is just as
important as the product or service you’re selling.
7. Show Your Vision
Don’t forget that the customers you’re writing to are all about WIIFM (What’s in it for me?). So, your vision should be completely customer-centred.
Answer these questions: How are you going to solve their problems? What positive outcomes can they expect to get? How will their lives be better because of what you’re selling?
8. Be An Authority
Establish yourself as an authority by showing your expertise. What makes you special in your marketplace? Tell how clients are eager to use your service or products.
Write about some of your triumphs and success stories. Focus on what you’ve learned and how these lessons can help your readers. This will put you in a position of power rather than need.
9. Conversational Tone
Imagine you’re talking to a friend face-to-face. Your tone will be more authentic and intimate, and the reader will then be able to relate to you as an actual person.
Conversational English (writing to people as individuals, not as a group) is the language of copywriting. If you try writing to everyone, you end up writing to no one.
10. Make A Swipe File
A swipe file is a collection of high quality copywriting examples. Having a swipe file is beneficial because it gives you an opportunity to improve your writing technique through studying other writers.
It can also provide templates, which is especially handy when you have writer’s block. Swiping isn’t plagiarism. Don’t copy other people’s writing – learn from it, be inspired by it.
11. Research Rules
When you’re conducting research before writing a piece, don’t just find out about what your competitors are doing. Find out about the consumer – and show empathy for them.
Convince the reader that you understand what they want – what they think about, talk about, worry about. If you do this, the reader will feel a connection, feel that you care.
12. Unique Selling Point (USP)
A USP needs to make your product or service stand out from the crowd and also be something that’s of value to your customers.
Whether it’s something like overnight delivery (FedEx) or delivered in 30 minutes or it’s free (Dominos), your USP is the reason why people do business with you rather than someone else.
13. Call To Action
You need to make it clear to your audience what you want them to do after they read your copy. Make a booking? Request an eBook? Provide their contact details?
Calls to action like these are one of the most important components of copy because then you can achieve the ABC of marketing – Always Be Closing.
14. Provide Value
When a prospect considers buying your product or service, they’ll ask themselves this question, ‘Is what I am going to receive worth what I have to give up in order to get it?’ You need to persuade them that the answer is ‘Yes!’
You can establish value through one or more of the following: best cost, best product, best service.
15. Using Your Subconscious
After you’ve finished your first draft, take a break. This will give your subconscious time to go over what you’ve done so far.
This incubation process allows your knowledge and experience to recombine thought elements in an optimum way.
Then when you come back to complete your piece, you’ll be in a position to produce your best work.
