If you're an independent consultant, sole proprietor, or small business owner and struggle with writing your own marketing copy, these quick tips will help you produce clear, solid copy that gets read by your prospect.
Although you won't become a superstar marketing writer (only lots of studying and writing practice will do that), using these simple tips and strategies will help give you a leg up on much of your competition, especially if they're writing their own materials, too.
Ready to power-up your marketing copy? Here we go!
Be clear on your marketing objective. For example, if you're writing a brochure, what exactly do you want that brochure to accomplish? Aim for one purpose per marketing piece. If you're unclear about your marketing objective, that confusion will show up in your copy.
The reader comes first (it's not about you, it's about them). Know your reader. What are their needs, wants, interests? What solution does your product or service provide for their problems and concerns?
Focus on benefits, not features. This is one of the most important elements of strong copy. Many businesses make the mistake of talking about features rather than benefits. Benefits capture the reader's attention. Benefits explain what a product or service does for the prospect. People are always looking to see what's in it for them. If you find yourself writing about features, ask yourself, "So what?" The answer to that question will lead you to the benefit for your prospect.
Focus on information and solutions for your target market. Educate your clients. Stay away from hype and over-the-top promises. Be careful about using too many exclamation points.
Use powerful headlines to grab the reader's attention. Headlines stating a benefit often capture interest quickly.
Learn to write like you speak. Use a conversational tone and avoid formal and stiff language. Forget using "corporate-speak." Nobody likes to read that stuff. You can use sentence fragments and begin sentences with "but" or "and." Please use proper punctuation. If you're unsure of the correct way to use colons, semi-colons, parentheses, and other punctuation marks, look it up in a reference book.
Keep it simple. Check the readability statistics to make sure your writing is at an eighth grade or below reading level. Use the Help feature in your word processing program to learn the reading level of your copy.
Although you won't become a superstar marketing writer (only lots of studying and writing practice will do that), using these simple tips and strategies will help give you a leg up on much of your competition, especially if they're writing their own materials, too.
Ready to power-up your marketing copy? Here we go!
Be clear on your marketing objective. For example, if you're writing a brochure, what exactly do you want that brochure to accomplish? Aim for one purpose per marketing piece. If you're unclear about your marketing objective, that confusion will show up in your copy.
The reader comes first (it's not about you, it's about them). Know your reader. What are their needs, wants, interests? What solution does your product or service provide for their problems and concerns?
Focus on benefits, not features. This is one of the most important elements of strong copy. Many businesses make the mistake of talking about features rather than benefits. Benefits capture the reader's attention. Benefits explain what a product or service does for the prospect. People are always looking to see what's in it for them. If you find yourself writing about features, ask yourself, "So what?" The answer to that question will lead you to the benefit for your prospect.
Focus on information and solutions for your target market. Educate your clients. Stay away from hype and over-the-top promises. Be careful about using too many exclamation points.
Use powerful headlines to grab the reader's attention. Headlines stating a benefit often capture interest quickly.
Learn to write like you speak. Use a conversational tone and avoid formal and stiff language. Forget using "corporate-speak." Nobody likes to read that stuff. You can use sentence fragments and begin sentences with "but" or "and." Please use proper punctuation. If you're unsure of the correct way to use colons, semi-colons, parentheses, and other punctuation marks, look it up in a reference book.
Keep it simple. Check the readability statistics to make sure your writing is at an eighth grade or below reading level. Use the Help feature in your word processing program to learn the reading level of your copy.
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