Good Copy, Not As Easy As It Looks

Ernest Hemingway, George Bernard Shaw, John Marquand and Stephen Vincent all tried their hands at it and gave up. And even Aldous Huxley said it was easier to write a decent sonnet than an effective ad.

Writing good marketing copy is no easy, breezy walk in the park. And there are plenty of people who have tried to spin great marketing tales and failed miserably. Oh sure, there are plenty of people who call themselves copywriters, but that doesn’t mean they are any good at it.

Marketing writing is a specialized skill. One that requires the talent to stop prospects dead in their tracks, change their mood--and move them to action: to buy, order, call now or learn more. If you’ve got the skill set, you can write compelling copy just as well for a conveyer belt as you can for a frozen TV dinner. So what exactly is this mysterious skill set that the brilliant copywriters possess?

A good copywriter - 

• Knows how to dive into any business and identify its unique selling propositions (USPs)

• Draws out the key benefits of the products and services and presents them in a whole new light
• Asks questions about the target audience, your message and what type of response you want
• Says the more information you can give them the better
• Shows real interest in what you’re selling
• Demands the time he/she needs to think their approach through
• Isn’t so in love with their own writing that they can’t take constructive feedback
• Knows the power of good copy comes from rewriting
• Is a master of the formula--headline, problem/solution/ benefits/usps, call to action, etc.

Side Note: Chris Garrett wrote a great blog post about the importance of really knowing who your target audience is, check it out.

And that’s a wrap for today. May the copywriting force be with you.