According to a report published by Nielson Norman Group, readers only consume 20 percent of the content on a page. So, whether you are a small business owner or you have an established business, you need to put immense emphasis on your marketing copies.
Essentially, copywriting is crucial for business’ marketing endeavors. Well-written copy can make or break a marketing campaign.
Well-crafted marketing copies can be achieved with some amazing strategies which have been discussed below.
1. Identify your audience
An effective copy highlights the needs of the target consumers and elaborates on why the featured product or service is the ideal solution. But before that, you need to know whom you are addressing.
To detect who your target audience is, try creating several user personas. This means you need to carry out some research, check the groups of people who are already using your product or service, and understand what they have in common.
In this case, presented below are some of the characteristics that might apply to your hypothetical consumers:
- Location
- Socioeconomic status
- Age
- Marital status
- Job title and industry
2. Elaborate on the benefits
“When writing a copy, don’t forget to include the benefits of the product/service you are offering” opine Sam Kruger, a marketing assignment writing expert from Essaygator.com. Benefits are everything the consumer should experience by using your service and comes with an emotional value.
For example, instead of just stating the features of a smartwatch, you can add how it will keep your heart rate and calories in check while looking stylish. This makes buying the product more enticing and justifiable as they can get a fair idea of exactly what they’ll experience.
Similarly, you can highlight the pain points that consumers may be facing. Continuing with the smartwatch example, you can mention that they won’t have to worry about overlooking their fitness goals anymore or compromising on their personal style.
3. Maintain a sense of urgency
Imagine you are shopping and there are at least a hundred items left to what you are looking for. In this case, you won’t be in too much of a rush to procure the item.
Now, if there were only several of them left, you’d definitely not hesitate to pick it up before it goes out of stock. This is what we call urgency, and it is easy to use in copywriting.
Stated below are a few things to consider, in this case.
- Showing how many units are left of a product if it is low on stock
- Declaring that a sale is almost over
- Saying a coupon only valid until a specific date
Strategies like these induce urgency in consumers. It makes them feel like they must take action now, or they may miss out.
4. Maintain a sense of exclusivity
Everyone loves feeling special. This is the thought that goes into the branding of luxury companies. If you buy a product from them, you are part of an exclusive group.
Not all businesses can maintain exclusivity, but here are some ideas to explore:
- Having a ‘members-only’ area of a website.
- Branding your product as one of a kind
- Selling limited edition products
- Presenting a private newsletter
5. Using proper formatting
If you ever come across a blog or article with just blocks of text, you probably took a few scrolls and left. Without appropriate formatting, the content becomes difficult to digest.
It also makes it inconvenient to find the answer you need and understand what the article is going to discuss. So, while copywriting some good formatting rules are:
- Use bullet points and lists for effective organization.
- Include header tags to break down different sections within the content.
- Write the keywords in bold letters in every paragraph.
- Incorporate useful links to other resources.
- Add video or images.
6. Write compelling headlines
According to industry pioneer David Ogilvy, for every five consumers who read a headline, only one of them looks at the main body of the copy. This seems a rather dismal statistic, but this indicates the importance of having strong headlines to urge the readers to click.
Having said all that, you can make your headlines more effective by following these four ideas.
- Tug at the reader’s emotions.
- Try to be specific.
- Tell the reader what he/she will gain from the product, service, or copy.
- Include your targeted search term.
7. Keep your copy clean and concise
After you write your first draft of the copy, read it out loud once or twice. Also, you can ask someone else to read and see if they decipher the message and the call to action.
As you edit, omit unnecessary words and focus on concrete ideas. Check if you can cut your text down to 30-50 percent of what you started with.
Also, add bullet points and subtitles to make it simple to read. This makes your copy convenient to skim through since most readers prefer scanning a page before deciding whether or not to read all the information.
8. Use a conversational tone
The act of writing is essentially a conversation between the author and the reader. It is not simply an act of getting ideas onto paper; rather, it is a conversation that takes place after a piece of writing is completed.
So, the copy you write is a conversation between your business and your prospective consumers.
This is why it is imperative for your copy to be as conversational as possible. You should include words and phrases you would use in everyday conversations and write in a way you normally speak.
Don’t think you need to sound erudite when you write. This will put your readers to sleep and make you come across as arrogant and self-absorbed.
9. Write with SEO in mind
As technology advances and businesses learn more about how people search, search engine algorithms evolve, and change their priorities.
There was a time when you could optimize a page just by using your target search term as much as possible, but those days are history. (Now it is known as keyword stuffing, and that practice is now frowned upon)
Today, search engines encourage high-quality content that resonates with readers. To create superior quality content that is also optimized for search engines, you need to consider:
- Find out what your consumers are searching for.
- Write an appealing meta title and description to draw your users in.
- Pay attention to what your competitors are doing.
10. Include a call to action (CTA)
The objective of any advertisement or marketing piece is to evoke some kind of response from the audience who watches it. A call to action is the aspect of copy that conveys to the audience how you want them to respond to your advertisement or marketing endeavor.
Typically, the CTA fuels the sense of urgency around a message and offers suggestions on what to do next. For instance, a call to action might urge the audience to call the advertiser or visit their website.
Adding a CTA is definitely the most important aspect of effective copywriting. It is essential that you make it convenient for your audience to act on your advertisement or marketing message.
11. Devote enough time for proofreading
It is critical that you proofread the copy perfectly. One of the simplest ways to lose credibility in copywriting is to allow grammatical or spelling errors to peak through in your advertisement or marketing pieces.
Consumers tend to translate carelessness in ads into carelessness in products and services. It is necessary for businesses to produce professional copies, and that means their copy has been proofread multiple times and is error-free.
Winding it up: Copywriting Techniques for Remarkable Copies
Keeping these ideas in mind when you write will enhance the quality of your copy, making it simpler for your audience to understand and respond to your marketing campaign. Thoughtful copywriting will ultimately result in your success as a business.
Sienna Brown is a senior marketing professional for a distinguished firm in Australia. Altman has earned his MBA in marketing from Murdoch University. She’s also an academic advisor for MyAssignmenthelp.com.
