If you’re not used to writing, doing your own writing can seem a bit like doing your own dentistry. However, there is nothing mystical about writing copy: all good copy is based on sound psychology and common sense. Anyone can write a copy. Yes, even you.
Writing your own copy at least part of the time has many benefits. You’re not dependent on someone else’s schedule, for example, and if you want to change a web sales page, you know exactly how to do it. Best of all, once you have basic writing skills, you’ll instinctively know if copying what someone else has written will work for your business.
Just follow the four steps in this article to become your own copywriter and get great results.
1. “What response do I want / what do I want people to do?”
The first step is to look at the product and write down what you want people to do as a result of reading your copy, or watching or listening, if you’re writing audiovisual copy.
Maybe you want people to:
* Call your business (if the copy is a lead generation tool);
* Purchase a product (if the copy is direct sales, direct mail, or web copy);
* Join their mailing list (tip: offer an incentive, if you want people to join your list).
Write what you want people to do in one sentence and paste it on your computer monitor. It is vital that you have this in front of you. You’ll be surprised how often you read your copy after a day or two, and find that you’ve missed the main point of your copy.
2. “Who is my ideal client?”
Ask yourself who is your ideal client; don’t say “everyone”.
In general, the more closely you can target your copy, the more successful it will be. So if you’re writing a web sales page, you can write multiple versions of the page to act as landing pages for your pay-per-click advertising, all targeting different customers.
3. “What does your bell ring?” Choose an emotion to evoke with your offer
The goal of any copy is to evoke an emotion, and the more successful you are in doing so, the more successful your copy will be.
With your ideal client in mind, think about how they spend their day. He works? he is retired? Married? What does he love to do? That annoys?
Once you’ve locked on to an emotion (pride, anger, desire, jealousy), buying your offer will alleviate that emotion.
You can learn to evoke emotions with your copy; emotions are the subtext of all advertising.
Watch a few minutes of TV commercials to see how it’s done, or read magazine ads and ask yourself what emotion you’re feeling. You may be surprised. Advertising is clever, and the best advertising forces the target audience to act, completely unconsciously.
4. Build Trust and Credibility: Offer Testimonials and References
The final step in copywriting is building trust and credibility with your copy.
This is usually done by offering a guarantee, testimonials, and references. Much of the “brand” advertising by large companies is done solely to build trust and credibility – this is the underlying purpose of branding.
So there you have it: four steps to take to write your own copy and get great results. If you follow these steps, you will write copy that is equal to the copy written by the best copywriters.