Marketing Copywriting

Overview of Marketing Copywriting

Copywriting is strategically persuading potential customers in order to sell something to them. Writing copy is used to achieve an outcome by communicating a call to action to its readers. A marketing copy is often the first thing a potential customer will encounter, thus the page must grab a reader’s attention and maintain it. Both content and visual creative are important to grab a reader’s attention and it can have a profound effect on the message (Lurie, 2014). Delivering significance by marketing copy is important, it appeals to the writer’s target audience and provides value to those readers.

There are three typical copywriting classifications, collateral, medium, and style. Examples of collateral would be brochures, direct marketing, posters, scripts, one-liners, and product descriptions. Mediums for copywriting can be online, print, video, radio, etc. and are used as channels to deliver the message. Finally, styles of copywriting to deliver a company’s call to action can be to teach their audience about the company and its offerings, be a straight shot (what you have, why your company is the best), be a hard sell, incite laughter, or be a scare tactic.

Writing Copy

When writing a copyright, it is good to have a plan or an outline of what you plan to write. The first thing to consider is the intended audience. Second, list potential collateral. The last thing to consider in a copywriting plan is a list of styles for the intended audience. Consequently, a plan is not necessary to start copywriting. The best way to start writing is to just write anything that comes to your head. It helps with the thinking process and also gives you an idea of what you will eventually want to write about. Thus, when it comes to writing the first draft you should start focusing on the intended audience and consider what style and collateral will be used. At this point in the writing process, it would be best to avoid all distractions and to set a timer to put together the first structured piece of content (Lurie, 2014). The most important part of the draft, however, is to get your thoughts down and structures so that you have a sense of what you’re writing and why (Lurie, 2014). 

Some general rules and tips for marketing copywriting are:

• Addressing the reader in your writing
• Remembering that customers are not algorithms and appreciate quality writing and
• That sarcasm and subtly should mostly be avoided (be direct!).

Consequently, when polishing the draft there are also some general rules to follow as well. First, have someone help you polish your draft, even reviewing can be sufficient in helping your polish your copywriting draft. Second, edit before you proofread your copy. Editing requires you to reorganize, reword or modify your writing. Thus, checking spelling and grammar before editing can make your efforts redundant. Third, try and edit your copywriting into an active voice. Fourth, avoid bloating your copy with too many unnecessary words that can be shortened (i.e. “for the reason that” can simply be shortened to “why”). The fifth rule is to make your copy clear and concise and avoid clichés and vernacular. Finally, when proofreading you should not entirely rely upon spellcheckers and grammar checkers.

“Headlines should be driven by your copy and not the other way around” (Lurie, 2014). Headlines are important as they inform and grab the attention of readers. Thus, it should be considered later in the copywriting process. There are five rules to writing headlines.

1. Do not make a headline mysterious as it rarely works. Instead, try a Blank-Sheet-of-Paper Test on your headlines.
2. Avoid fear-mongering headlines.
3. Use a few formulas to find the right headline (i.e. Don’t compromise on [blank], how to [blank]) or include a testimonial in your headline)
4. Write lots of headlines.
5. Remember headlines are not captions, they are a preview of the content and a pitch to your audience (Lurie, 2014).

Since headlines are difficult to write and are important to the success of your marketing copy, it is best to test your headline. A direct mail splitting test can be performed to test the effectiveness of your headline. Some tests that can be run are Google Consumer Surveys of with your headlines, running your headlines through Google Adwords, sending emails with the headlines. Another test to consider is building a landing page to see which headline is more popular.

“Reading a full page of copy may be the first micro-conversion by a customer before they buy from you” (Lurie, 2014). Therefore, in order to get readers to continue reading a full page of copy, it is sometimes necessary to sell the page. One way to capture the reader’s attention is to provide a fun summary and entertaining content along with it. Another way is to give clear-cut bullet points of what the reader is going to see. Lastly, another option is to simply tell the reader to continue reading. 

When writing for print (offline copy) there are a few rules.

1. Your copy tends to be set in a larger context in print. Therefore, the entire page has to pass the Blank-Sheet-of-Paper Test.
2. Since a print copy is permanent and tangible it will be difficult to change once it is written and printed out. Therefore, proofreading and editing are essential in print copy.
3. Imagines should take the lead on a print copy. Images are what sells a print copy.
4. Have a clear call to action on your print copy. Listing your website or phone number on the print copy will allow the potential consumer to find out more information about your company.
5. For text layout, Lurie recommends that you have no more than five to six lines per paragraph, have no more than 15 to 20 words per line and use at least 1.6 times as much space between paragraphs as between lines (2014). 

Lack of context from content being lifted from your page, short attention spans from readers and different forms of technologies your readers view your copy from are challenges for writing copy online. However, the advantages are that online copy is editable, testable, and your online copy can be available on multiple channels. In order to avoid the disadvantages previously listed, Lurie recommends that you have no more than 13 words on a line and no more than five or six lines per paragraph in order to retain the attention of your audience and make it easier for them to read your copy (2014). Lurie also recommends that an online copy have “no more than three to four paragraphs without a subhead, or an image, or something else to break up the page” (2014). Furthermore, lists should also be bulleted or numbered, the headline should pass the Blank-Sheet-of-Paper Test, and links should be used when it is helpful. 

With copywriting, the focus is on words. However, another dimension can be added to copywriting if you also focus on letters and lines. Thus, a basic typography rule is to make your copy easy to scan as, “people spend more time and convert better on a well-formatted broken-up page” (Lurie, 2014). Typography helps make your copywriting efforts not only look good but also makes it easier for your readers to follow along. 

Rewriting Existing Copy

Completely rewriting someone else’s marketing copy is not a good idea for three reasons:

1. They didn’t ask for you to do that
2. You don’t know the content matter or context like the original writer does
3. You probably don’t have the time to rewrite all of it 

Therefore doing a high editorial rewrite would be a lot better than starting from scratch (Lurie, 2014). Instead of rewriting an existing marketing copy, it is best to look for improvements that can be made. If there are structural issues with the copy, discuss it with the original writer. Other tips Lurie gives for editing an existing copy is, shortening wordy sentences, edit the copy in an active voice, and proofread the original writer’s work (2014).

Rewriting an existing online copy has its own challenges as you must edit for online readability. Lurie suggests clarifying your call to action, writing in an active voice, using subheadings and lists or bullets when necessary for easier readability and make sentences more concise where possible (Lurie, 2014). The same suggestions from Lurie can be used for rewriting copy for a product description. With rewriting copy for social media, Lurie has 7 rules to help your rewriting efforts:

1. Enjoy it (have fun with it)
2. Don’t be offensive
3. Be sincere and tell the truth
4. Keep the message brief
5. Pair words with images (keep their attention!)
6. Use active voice
7. Address the reader

Reflection

I found that the copywriting tips from Lurie were very informative. I had never considered how visuals from images and both the aesthetic from the text can have a big influence in how I, as a consumer, will be drawn to what the writer is conveying to me. Marketing copywriting is truly strategic as it is about being very calculative in your writing efforts in order to retain your reader’s attention. How you style your copywriting efforts is a new concept to me, but I can now see the benefits of how typography can have an effect on your message and writing efforts. I definitely have a new found appreciation for numbered and bulleting lists as I have seen how makes it easier to scan and read a text. Consequently, I have seen how it provides a good break from paragraphs and sentences.

Furthermore, Lurie’s video on, “Learning to Write a Marketing Copy” has helped me understand how it will affect my social media marketing efforts. For example, in the picture below, Shoppers Drug Mart (my current place of employment) has used a marketing copy on Twitter. It has an image that keeps their audience engaged with humor, informs the user to use sunscreen and then has a link to their sunscreen products as a call to action. It encourages the user to explore more and find out what sunscreen products they can purchase at Shoppers. The call to action with the link in Shopper’s tweet also directs consumers to their website to discover more about what the company offers. These are things that I would never take notice as to how strategically the company has written and planned out the tweet. 

In my opinion, the brevity and the humor Social Media posts are how consumers like me will stop and take notice of what the company is trying to tell me. It makes me consider how I want to style my marketing copywriting efforts someday. Social Media is a massive platform with millions of tweets and post every day. Therefore, in order to stand out and capture the attention of my audience, I can now see the effort and strategy that is necessary for marketing copywriting on Social Media platforms.

References

Lurie, I. (2014, May 30). Learning to write marketing copy [Video file]. Retrieved from Lynda.com: https://www.lynda.com/Marketing-tutorials/Marketing-Foundations-Social-Media/567790-2.html