What are words worth?
What are words worth? WordsWordy Rappinghood, Tom Tom Club
If you want to connect with your audience on social media, persuade and influence your market and sell more, using use copywriting to market your business (and maybe a few images), this article is for you!
Words are all around us and they do make a difference, especially when they are in the hands of a skilled copywriter.
Good copy tells a story, creates a picture in the reader’s mind and takes you on a journey, identifying problems, and leading to the solution only you can provide.
Now, becoming a skilled copywriter takes years and years of practice, but here are a few shortcuts that will help you get started and improve the structure of your written content (including blog, email, letters, website, social media posts) and your audio and video content.
Enjoy!
Shortcut 1 : Decide who you are talking to, and the perspective you want to adopt.
Best way to decide on who you are talking to is to create your “avatar”, which is basically a description of your perfect ideal client. This is one of the first things we do with our clients in our marketing campaign review.
There are 5 basic perspectives or “voices” that you can use in writing copy, each of which has an upside and a downside…
“I” based copy is very useful when you are telling your own story, and can help to build expert status and authority.
“I” based copy is essential for telling your story.
Over-use of “I” based copy can sound egotistical and unengaging.
“You” based copy is very useful when you are building rapport and helping your audience identify with the story you are telling.
“You” based copy tends to be very engaging and shows empathy and makes the reader feel like you understand him or her and their challenges or problems.
“You” based copy is essential for selling.
Over-use of “you” based copy can create difficulties in articulating the solution to the problem which you provide.
“We” based copy is used to create an “Us vs. Them” storyline, which can be useful if you are “going against” a competitor or an alternative product.
“We” based copy is essential where you are creating a shared goal or purpose and creating bonding or affinity.
Over-use of “we” based copy can make you seem like you are one with your client and remove the space between you and your client. This is not useful when you come to make your pitch.
“They” based copy is useful if you are creating an opposition in your copy.
Downside is that you may not make a compelling enough case to win the argument you made against your imaginary competitor.
“He, She or It” based copy is useful when you are creating or describing a case study.
Downside is that you may find it difficult to delineate what you did to help your client achieve the results in the case study.
Shortcut 2 : Decide what you want to say and the picture you want to paint in his or her mind
Imagine you are having a conversation, one to one with your ideal client.
The best copy is conversational and draws you in, like you are having a confidential chat.
What do you want to say to your potential clients and what image do you want him or her to create?
Ideally you want your reader to imagine enjoying the solution you provide.
Shortcut 3 : Create a headline with a great hook
Probably the most important part of your written content is your headline.
This is where you draw the reader into your story.
I recommend writing out at least 25 headlines for your copy, until you come up with one that clicks.
Read your headlines out loud, and see if they make you want to continue reading.
Shortcut 4 : Create sub-headlines or questions
I generally aim to break an article down into 5 or 7 pieces.
Make the headline, sub-headlines or questions stand alone so the reader gets the gist of your message just by reading the sub-heads.
For example…
How to use copywriting to market your business
Decide who you are talking to, and the perspective you want to adopt
Decide what you want to say and the picture you want to paint in his or her mind
Create a headline with a great hook
Create sub-headlines or questions
Create a clear call to action and fill in the detail
Shortcut 5 : Create a clear call to action and fill in the detail
Now you need to create a clear call to action.
Here is the call to action I use at the end of all my blog posts…
Get in touch to fill in the detail.
That’s all folks!
Warm regards
Graham
