Three simple copywriting techniques that will seriously improve your advertising.
As a small business owner you know that raising awareness of your product or service is key to your success. That’s probably one of the reasons you follow Gladstone BizNetwork and are increasing your Twitter followers.
But what next?
You need to advertise!
And if you own a small business perhaps you write your own copy.
So if you have five minutes to spare here are three simple copywriting techniques written especially for Gladstone BizNetwork followers.
And be warned, if you’re not already using them, they have the power to seriously improve your advertising – whether that’s your website, flyers or sales letters.
But first a reality check.
You know it already – people are busy.
This means we don’t give advertising the attention we give a gossip magazine, the sports pages or a great book. And that means your message has to work really hard to get noticed, and even harder to get read.
So as promised here are three ways to help entice your reader along.
- Write a killer headline:
Your headline is arguably the single most important part of your advertising.
Brian Clark – founder of Copyblogger agrees “On average, 8 out of 10 people will read a headline,
but only 2 out of 10 will go on to read the content”.
Think about Goldilocks – she quickly moved on from mummy & daddy bear’s stuff but settled down to baby’s which was “just right”.
Tabloid newspapers understand this too and excel at writing headlines – just look at how they draw your eye and compel you to read on… And that’s their job.
Here are some proven ideas to get your headlines turning heads:
- Know your target audience, step into their shoes and write directly to them.
- Feature your most important benefit.
- Try using a list – they usually work. For example “Five easy steps to better health”, “Three simple ways to seriously improve your advertising”.
The next step is to…
2. Answer your customers’ most pressing question – “What’s in it for me?”
If you do this you will dramatically improve the readability and appeal of your advertising.
And here’s why…
Honestly – the only thing a customer wants to know is “how will your business benefit me?”
So you have to tell them – clearly.
And that means talk less about features and more about benefits.
An easy way to pinpoint benefits is to link them to common human drivers – things we are all motivated by. So if your product / service can make people richer, prettier, wiser,
safer, have more time etc. get this message across in your advertising.
And another thing.
Are you writing about what interests you or what’s important to your customer?
Words like we, us and I are not customer friendly.
But the word “You” is one of the most powerful words in advertising, as are variants like yours and yourself. Change the emphasis in your advertising and see the difference
this makes to your results.
3. Call to action – tell your customer specifically what to do now.
So you’ve attracted their attention with a killer headline, and convinced them that they want your
product / service. They are ready to act…
Make sure you tell your readers exactly what they need to do.
It won’t come across an impolite.
Remember when we read advertising we are pretty preoccupied. The more precise you are, the more likely readers will respond.
So tell them to “buy now”, “ring your number”, “click here”, “complete this form” etc.
A more detailed call to action will get a better response rate. It should entice customers to act now rather than wait until later (when in the meantime they may forget or decide not to buy).
So there you have it,
three powerful but simple techniques you can try. Let’s revisit them.
- Write a killer headline.
- Tell the customer how your product / service will make their life better.
- Be clear about what you want your customer to do next.
And remember persuasive writing takes practice – and good writing takes time.
But if you get your words right your business will reap the rewards. Because better words have the potential to make you more money.
And if you want a hand finding the right words for your business, consider hiring a professional copywriter. They will use these techniques and many more to ensure your business is pitched “just right”. Thanks for reading.
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About the author:
Georgina El Morshdy is a freelance copywriter writing as Gem Writing (A Gladstone BizNetwork member).
If your small business needs hard working words for your website, leaflets, press releases or sales letters – contact Georgina on Twitter @GemWriting or georgina.elmorshdy@yahoo.co.uk.
And as a thank you for reading this blog, Georgina will write Gladstone followers a 500 word sales letter or press release for the special price of £60. But hurry. This offer expires on Sunday 14th August 2011. So to get your words working as hard as you do contact Georgina @GemWriting today.
(GemWriting in partnership with the Gladstone BizNetwork)
