|
copywriting :: Internet Marketing :: Copywriting
Some Copy Tips From An Old Hand
The only way to keep up with the latest
about copy is to constantly stay on the lookout for new information. If
you read everything you find about copy, it won't take long for you to
become an influential authority. The information about copy
presented here will do one of two things: either it will reinforce what
you know about copy or it will teach you something new. Both are good
outcomes.
I
have been in the ad game for a long, long time. I have trained hundreds
of writers, and I’ve been responsible for moving of millions £ & $
in product worldwide. Here are just a few tips that I hope will help
you do a better job, and make a bigger name for yourself.
One.
Whatever copy job you are working on – brochure, mailer, sales
letter, press ad, website – always include a headline. A pertinent
headline. A selling headline.
This headline will be, or should be, powerful enough or intriguing
enough to draw your target into the compass of the body copy. If it can
do that, you are on a winner.
To put it simply, your headline should be a snapshot of your sales
message – a précis of your offer or promise. In other words, a headline
that says: Buy this product and get this benefit.
Two.
Always remember, people don’t buy products, they buy the
benefits of owning those products. A man doesn’t buy a sportscar
because it is precision engineered or aesthetically designed. He buys
it because of the ego-boost it gives him. It shows the world that he
has made it.
Likewise, a woman doesn’t by a cocktail dress by Camille of Paris
simply because of the cut or the exquisite stitching. She buys it for
the cachet that is attached to the label. She would probably look as
good in a dress from a High Street department store, but she wouldn’t
feel as good. And that’s the benefit.
Three.
Around 30% of all copy headlines are both useless and irrelevant.
The worst of them often take the form of puns or are re-workings of
current film titles or song titles. Puns are fine if they are
appropriate, which they seldom are. And the writer who tries to
demonstrate how cool he is by working his product message into a film
or song title is usually doing a lot for the sales of movie tickets and
CDs, but very little for his client.
The moral is this. State your sales proposition cleverly,
wittily, stridently or emotively, but never ever employ a device simply
because it’s the easy thing to do. If you can’t be original, at least
be positive.
Four.
If it doesn’t quack, it ain’t a duck. And if your copy doesn’t make
some kind of selling proposition, it isn’t advertising – it’s an
announcement. So many writers these days fail to understand that copy
is nothing more than salesmanship in print. They play with words for
the sake of playing with words. They lose sight of the fact that they
should be trying to sell something. Thus, copy must use the psychology
of the salesman; and it must say, right up front: Here’s what’s in it
for you.
Five.
Always be a little circumspect about experts who try to tell you how to write better copy. And that includes me.
End
Patrick Quinn publishes a free monthly newsletter, AdBriefing. Subscriptions are available at: http://www.adbriefing.com
About The Author
Patrick Quinn is a copywriter, with 40 years' experience of the advertising business in London, Miami, Dublin and Edinburgh.
Over the years, he has helped win for his clients just about every advertising award worth winning.
His published books include:
The Secrets of Successful Copywriting
The Secrets of Successful Low Budget Advertising
The Secrets of Successful Exhibitions
Word Power 1-2 & 3
He also publishes AdBriefing, a free on-line newsletter at http://www.adbriefing.com
When word gets around about your command of copy facts, others who need to know about copy will start to actively seek you out.
We hope you found the information on this page useful and will return often to browse
the many articles throughout our site. We will be adding new material on an ongoing
basis in order to keep our visitors up to date on the latest promotion and marketing
information and tools that allow so many marketers to earn a full time living on the
internet.
|
|
|
|
