Overview of Marketing Copywriting
Copywriting is one of the most important first parts to help show your business, cause, organization to the world. This is the first thing most people see when interacting with your company, and they invest their time into reading it. Make sure you are telling an interesting story or narrative that will get people hooked on learning more about your product and if it is right for them.
Different types of copywriting can be classified in different ways by collateral, medium, or by style. Under a form of collateral is the brochure. This isn’t just a physical brochure, it could also be a great website. All it needs to do is show a clear goal and focus of what your company does. This is the most common form of copywriting and something most people in the industry do commonly.
Writing Copy
Before getting right into the copywriting process, a good copywriter needs to have not only a proper environment to concentrate in but a plan as well. This does not need to be a super elaborate plan and should only take about thirty minutes to complete. It incorporates already completed research and any other insights you have collected about your company and the target audience behind this piece of copy.
While writing makes sure you address the reader. When using “you” instead of impersonal pronouns like “one” it feels more engaging to the reader and will result in a higher success rate. Also, make sure the copy is brief and all the mud is cleaned up.
Part of this is not using certain vernacular or cliches like I just did there with “mud” being used as understanding or comprehension. Your copy should take into account who might see this, there are so many second language English speakers out there. This happens especially on the web, if they don’t understand your copy, that is a lost customer.
Headlines can be the absolute bane of any copywriting project. Although it is tempting, make sure you do not use mysterious language. As stated before, people are investing in your product with their time first. Don’t waste it. Be clear and to the point with what your copy is about. The headline is an introduction to the product or service not a caption to the copy.
Writing copy for the online environment or for print is very different. There are so many options in the online channels, you need to keep your copy easy to consume for readers. Keep the paragraphs to only 5-6 lines and a max of 13 words per line. The scannability of your copy is important because that is what people often do before reading the content.
Writing for Various Media
The differences in certain media and the key qualities to emphasize are important to take into account. For print, context is key. As a copywriter for print copy, you have to evaluate and balance what else is being presented around the copy. Typically, the image is what draws the audience, the headline is what holds them, and the copy is finally what keeps them reading and engaging with your material.
For Print - remember to keep it to a minimum of:
6 lines per paragraph
20 words per line
1.6x the space between the paragraphs
Print is almost completely permanent. If it is printed in a magazine it will be permanent for someone reading it today, tomorrow, months, or even years down the road. The final important step for print copy is a call to action. This has to be something that will clearly set the reader on the right path for the next steps in engaging with the company.
Online copy has some built-in challenges like humans struggling to naturally read large amounts on a screen. This causes a form of attention deficit with different content on a site. As an online copywriter, you can’t necessarily control where your copy is being seen or read like print. With this, it is crucial that your headline passes the blank piece of paper test. Again, you do not know where your content will be seen, it is very important your audience can tell what the copy is about from the headline.
For Online - remember to keep it to a maximum of:
13 words per line
6 lines per paragraph
4 paragraphs before a break (image or some other media or quote)
A huge advantage of online is its flexibility. You can edit it and relaunch it, which also leads to being able to test different versions of your copy on smaller audiences to figure out the best approach. Since your reader is already online when engaging with your content, links are a built-in advantage. For webpage’s and their product descriptions, it is a great approach to go with an active over past tense voice. This keeps the reader primed for a call to action. Highlight and separate different features into subheadings and make sure it all comes into a single call to action.
Social media copywriting also emphasizes better with an active voice. Make sure you are having fun with it while not being offensive. Treat it like a conversation with a friend, and keep it brief. The best engagement time over time is with photos. It is very important they are as original as possible and not stock.
Conclusion
A long-time friend of mine opened a cafe downtown in 2019. I have been helping her out with web, eCommerce (launched during covid), and point of sale systems since the beginning. She has been doing all the social media and grew the Instagram account to almost 6000 followers without spending a dollar, which is impressive. The website though has always fallen flat. It is a bit basic and is really there as a link to an online order form, for customers to get basic info (hours, address, etc) and links to social media accounts.
Going through these video lessons, I have definitely started to look at marketing copy a lot differently. I really want to develop a strong call to action for the website with my friend and spruce up the copy with the same fun voice she has had success with on the different social media channels. When we are doing a sale online, I should use it as an opportunity to have fun with the different bakery selections in relation to the event we are selling for.
References
Lurie, I. (2014, May 30). Becoming a great copywriter - Learning to Write Marketing Copy Video Tutorial: LinkedIn Learning, formerly Lynda.com. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-to-write-marketing-copy/becoming-a-great-copywriter?u=2109516