Copywriting is the art of strategically using words to convince prospects to buy a product or make use of a service. It is an important part of the marketing process in business and, especially in this digital age, encompasses many other facets of marketing too. Here are the top 10 copywriting tips for 2021:-
Know and Understand Your Audience
As a Copywriter, you are most effective when you can recognize your target market. This involves a great deal of research into the dynamics of visitors to your website and social media pages. Hence, analysis of their browsing and surfing habits, their ages, genders, locations and general interests is important. Take time to investigate tools like Google Analytics to assist you to understand your potential customers better. This will mean you can produce content that will keep your audience happy and looking for more.
Write with SEO in Mind
In many ways this tip is related to the previous one. Knowing and understanding your audience helps you to write copy that will assist them in finding what they are searching for. You are hence able to assist them in finding answers through the natural, strategic positioning of key words and phrases in your content. A tip within a tip though – don’t stuff your keywords in unnaturally as this will do more harm than good!
Make Use of Social Influence
How often have you visited a site and gone straight for the Reviews section? As humans, we’re social creatures and hold a fascination with what our peers are saying about, well, anything. It’s more likely that a potential customer will order based on a positive review from another customer than from an advertisement. A customer review on a landing page or an entire page of testimonials does marketing the world of good. Slipping in a mediocre review here and there does wonders for credibility too. People want to trust – just don’t overdo the bad stuff and keep the good stuff updated!
Use Psychology as a Selling Tool
“The Next 15 Customers will get…”, “23707 Happy Clients so far…”, “Free Shipping if you Order Today!”.
Customers always look for freebies and bargains and your powers of written persuasion will be enhanced by a little psychological stoking of their freebie fires. The lower the remaining sign-up numbers or the shorter the time frame for special offers, the more likely you’ll gain results. Humans don’t like to miss out! Use the psychology of numbers to advertise members or visitors, where the higher the figure you are able to use the better. Don’t over-utilize these tactics though, or you’ll find your profits shrinking rapidly!
Action Encourages Action
A key word for any copywriter is “conversion”. Whether it be viewing, subscribing, responding, ordering or buying, there’s nothing that thrills us more than seeing positive growth on campaigns, articles, posts or pages, and upward hit trends on websites. Use your talent with words to inspire action from visitors and use action words and phrases to enhance this even further. Paint word pictures that will have your audience doing instead of just thinking. Launch, innovate, design, create and produce are just some words that encourage action.
Converse with Your Audience
A personal touch is positive copywriting. Making your readers feel like you are speaking to them individually, and not just as faceless statistics, wins you a battle that many don’t. First person communication like you and your personifies a reader. Throwing in a few idioms can also bridge the divide between your audience and yourself. Create a comfortable read, and encourage readers to relax and enjoy visiting.
Don’t Over-Complicate Your Content
Simplicity is key to good copywriting. Remember that most users don’t stay in one spot for long so you must convince them to stick around. Use simple, clear fonts to encourage this and, if your content is technically-inclined, try to “dumb it down” with UX (User Experience) Writing. Create a comfortable environment for those not bothered to take time grasping a concept, rather finding a simpler explanation elsewhere . Clearly your customers govern the vocabulary on your site, so don’t treat an audience of engineers or programmers like laymen!
Write Headlines That Grip Your Audience
David Ogilvy (MBE), known as “The Father of Advertising”, once stated that “five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy. It follows that unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your money.”.
This statement emphasises the importance of a hard-hitting, short headline that hones in on your product, and some impactful words to boost it. Research has shown that headlines of ten words or less generate the most impact.
Don’t Use Weasel Words
Effective copywriters get their point across in a bold and confident manner so avoid using words like perhaps, could, maybe, might and try. If you’re saying something then say it, as opposed to only suggesting it. How can you expect somebody to buy your product if you’re not forthright enough to tell them why they should?
Include a Customer Quote or a Quote from a Leader in Your Field
An established customer base assists in growing it even further. As previously mentioned in point 3, potential customers are likely to believe the words of previous customers than any advertising jargon, so use this to your benefit in your copy. Use some relevant pieces of magic from an established leader in your industry – remember David Ogilvy (MBE) in point 8? There’s a reason why certain people are revered in industry, so utilize their expertise where you can, but not at the expense of your own uniqueness.
Copywriting is a demanding field and there is always more to learn. It can be difficult to keep up with all the tips and tricks available, as there are many. Incorporate a few of the top 10 copywriting tips mentioned in this article, and be confident that your copy will be enhanced and conversions will follow. Share what you’ve learned – even pathfinders in business grew from humble beginnings.
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