7 steps to great marketing copywriting
The following 7 steps to great marketing copywriting is a handy checklist to help you produce great copy for all your marketing and business material. Just put your creative writing hat on and let the words flow…
- Before you start writing anything, set yourself an objective which clearly states what you want your marketing copy to achieve. It could
be to drive traffic to your website, or encourage people to sign up to your newsletter. Set yourself specific goals that you can easily measure. - Who is your target audience? It’s important to have an understanding of the people you are communicating with in your marketing copy and the more you know about them, the better. This will also help set the tone for your writing. Depending on who you’re writing for and the product or service you are promoting, write in a tone and style suitable for your target audience and the product or service you are promoting. Should it be casual and friendly or more formal and conservative?
- Write a strong, attention grabbing headline that acts as a hook and encourages your audience to read the rest of the copy
- Include features and benefits. The feature describes what the product does and the benefit describes what it can do for your readers. Benefits focus more on appealing to people’s emotions so make sure you tease these out in your copy. Talk directly to your audience and tell them how good your product or service will make them feel, how it will change their lives, make them stronger, richer, healthier, etc.
- Use active, engaging and persuasive copy in your marketing material that will keep your audience’s attention from beginning to end. Be careful not to ramble in an attempt to get all your messages across – sometimes less is more.
- Include your USP (unique selling point). Give people reasons to buy from you rather than going to the competition. Tell people what makes you different and why your product or service is so great.
- Write calls to action. At the end of your marketing copywriting, make it clear what you want people to do. It could be to sign up to your newsletter, call a Helpline for more information or visit your website. Don’t leave people hanging – a strong ending is as important as a strong beginning!
As a final tip, don’t forget to proofread your copy to check for grammar, spelling mistakes, punctuation, typos, etc. The last thing you want is to produce a great piece of marketing material that has a costly mistake in it. It’s probably a marketer’s worst nightmare!
If you’re looking for some inspiration with your marketing copywriting, give me a call on 0411 889283 or send a message via the Contact page.