January 30, 2009
If you're involved in marketing for any business, acquiring some copywriting skills should be at the very top of your learning list.
Assembling the right words in the right manner is a big part of marketing.
Understanding it should be a part of what you do in your network marketing business.
Regardless of whether your job or duty is to be a copywriter, understanding it is still crucial if you're a marketer.
As a copywriter, you'd likely be writing copy for an advertisement, brochure or some other marketing piece designed to sell or influence behavior.
If you're direct response copywriter, your primary objective is to write copy that yields a specific response or action.
If you're person who simply becomes good at copywriting, but doesn't actually write ad copy for a living, you'll find that skill comes in super handy when you need to tell a compelling story or make a point in written form.
And…yet again, the desired result is what?
Almost all copy is written to serve a reason, including: to entertain, inform, educate, persuade, influence or sell.
It serves a very specific purpose…or at least should, if a measurable, quantifiable result is desired by the writer.
So…all in all, copywriting in almost every form is designed to MOVE people to some type of desired action or experience.
What's the purpose of writing if the people reading what you wrote aren't moved?
If you suck at writing, your result will mirror you. It'll suck.
There won't be any result, except wasted time.
And…unless you are selling vacuums or other devices I cannot mention in this post, it'd be a good idea for you to not to suck it. One of the greatest skills you can acquire in business is being a better writer. It will serve you well in blog posts, articles, ads, website copy, sales letters, or any other written correspondence you may experience in your life.
Have you ever sent an email with an attempt to persuade someone or make specific point?
Most people have. And., having solid copywriting skills would serve well even in one-to-one contact. By the way…how you write to one, is how you'll write to many. Remember that as you read this.
Writing is an essential skill that needs to be developed. It will boost your readers, your viewers, your sales, your success…and your bottom line will boom as a result of you mastering this skill.
Take some time to STUDY great copywriting and great copywriters.
Well…don't exactly steal. I take that back.
But…you can certainly SWIPE it.
Stealing…if that's what you are doing is flat out plagiarism. And…you can be stuck in a Turkish prison for doing that. Not really, but I wouldn't want to go there.
So, what's the difference between stealing and swiping?
Stealing is when you take their exact words or copy and claim them as your own, not giving any credit to the original writer. If you took a paragraph from this post and didn't change a word, claiming it as your own without giving credit, that would be considered stealing.
SWIPING on the other hand, is different. Swiping is this. It's seeing something really cool, interesting, attractive, attention grabbing…or whatever other descriptive word you'd use to describe it, and then using the IDEAS or CONCEPTS that you got from that “special something” you read, and formulating your own writing based on what you thought was cool. Phew. Long sentence.
If you see something that grabs you, save it.
File it away and create your own SWIPE file for future reference.
I have both an online and an offline SWIPE file…dating back to many years ago in newspapers that have now turned yellow because they are so old.
If you wanted to be good at writing copy, you'd study good copywriters.
I've always loved writing. So…going out and studying what other good writers did was of interest to me. For anyone blogging, writing ad copy, producing marketing materials…or simply “marketing” in general, this should be at the top of their list.
Some of the greatest copywriters and direct response copywriters in the world, both dead and alive…in no particular order (they are all greats), are:
Gary Halbert: Check out The Gary Halbert Letter
John Carlton: You can see John's Blog here.
Gary Bencivenga: Gary Bencivenga's MarketingBullets.com
Dan Kennedy: Dan Kennedy is a master at Direct Response Copy Writing.
John Caples: He wrote a great book called Tested Advertising Methods
David Ogilvy: Widely hailed as “The Father of Advertising wrote an amazing book called Ogilvy on Advertising
Eugene Schwartz: He wrote a book called Breakthrough Advertising
Those are just a few of the greats. Just reading their books, blogs and perusing through their sites you'll find powerful ideas that inspire you.
There are handful of blogs I read and follow that are great resources for anyone wanting to know how to be a truly great copywriter.
CopyBlogger.com has really great article titled:
13 Good Ideas from 13 Dead Copwriters
On the Market Copywriter Blog, there's a Top 100 List which is pretty cool:
100 Top International Copywriters and Content Bloggers
On Inbound Pro, you can read this great little article as well:
8 Big Lessons from the World's Greatest Copywriters
At Quicksprout, you'll find The Definitive Guide to Copywriting
So…other than me sending you on your merry way all over the Internet, what can you learn in this post about how to be a truly great copywriter?
Copy writing 101 says HEADLINES are mediocre? Don't matter so much? Something you think about later or give no thought to at all?
Hell no. In copy writing kindergarten, we learned that what you say in your headline and first few sentences presupposes your result
Every copy writing course I've ever taken, every book I've read on the subject, focuses significant time on the importance of an attention getting headline.
Most People ALWAYS judge a book by it's cover. Think about it…when you are perusing the bookstore looking for a really cool book, what makes you buy it? The TITLE. First and foremost, people DO judge a book by it's cover. What the book says either speaks to you or it doesn't.
“The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything.” – David Ogilvy
When it comes to writing copy, your HEADLINE or Subject Line (if email) is the first thing people see. If your headline is either boring or doesn't apply to them, they won't read it. So, it makes perfect sense to spend some time THINKING about your headline, since it has such a huge impact on whether or not people click on it.
I'm going to quote David Ogilvy a few times in this post. Here's another one that cuts through the clutter on the importance of headlines:
“On the average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy. It follows that unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your money.” – David Ogilvy
Simmer on that one for a bit. It ought to get your mind brewing on how much time you invest in creating a headline that works.
I don't mean that literally, unless you are writing something that will be read by someone who only speaks that language. But…I do mean, speak in their language. People buy things from people they like…and are like them. Your ability to influence or persuade is deeply impacted by how well they relate to you.
David Ogilvy…told you I was going to quote him several times, also said this,
“If you are trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think.”
One of the great authors of our time Dale Carnegie wrote this, “People aren't interested in you. They're interested in themselves.”
Makes sense that your copy would be speaking to them, in their language and the things that interest them the most, don't you think?
Knowing your specific purpose and desired end-result should be at the beginning, not the end. A bad start leads to a horrific finish.
Think ahead before you write.
What do you want this to do?
How do you want them to feel?
What specific action, if any, do you want them to take, and when?
Don't bother writing a single word unless you know exactly what you want your copy to do.
“Decide the effect you want to produce in your reader.”
— Robert Collier
If you're actually selling something, it helps to actually show and/or demonstrate exactly what it is you are selling.
How many times have you been to a fair, Costco or any other place where people can demonstrate their product doing what it does best?
Don't just talk about it, show people how it works.
You might be wondering how in the world do you “show” people something in your copy. Ahhhh….you ready?
Copywriting isn't just for paper and pen or computer to be written and read by someone using their eyes to read. A lot of copy you may write could be for VIDEO, where they actually SEE you delivering the copy you wrote.
In that situation, you could very easily show or demonstrate whatever it is you might be selling.
Whatever you write, whether you put it on a blog or put it on camera, make people remember it.
Try this on for size. You want to be so good with your writing that people don't want to throw away your ads. What if you were that good? How would your business be then?
“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” – Leo Burnett
It should go without saying that writing with integrity and telling the truth works best. But…as Seth Godin says, “All Marketers are Liars.” That's a book worth reading.
Even though he wrote that book, it doesn't mean he's telling you to do it. In fact…read it. You can get it here: Book: All Marketers are Liars
Advertising Legend William Bernbach puts it succinctly,
“The most powerful element in advertising is the truth.”
Try watching Late Night TV, and you can learn a TON about persuasive copywriting and demonstrating products that sell. Ron Popeil is a legendary “pitch man” who has sold things like his Popeil Pocket Fisherman way back in the day or his Showtime Rotisserie which has now sold over $1.2 Billion.
The Snuggie, ShamWow, BowFlex, Total Gym, P90X, and ProActiv have sold billions and billions of dollars on television…all of them have superb copywriters who have created the scripts that sell those products.
If writing ad copy, you absolutely need to make sure that you are giving a clear and concise call to action.
What do you want them to do after reading your ad?
Multiple choice calls-to-action do not yield the kinds of results that a “clear, concise and easy-to-understand” would.
There's so much more to talk about on the subject of becoming a truly GREAT copywriter. But…at least this will get you moving in the right direction.
Study it. Learn it. Apply it. Test. Re-Test. Rinse and Repeat.
