Of course, we’ve come a long way since then. The horse-and-buggy has retired, and so has the 200-page mail catalog (except at IKEA.) But basic lessons in capturing a lead’s interest continue to inform how copywriting is done.
When you work with a digital marketing agency, one thing you invest in is the team’s combined expertise in copywriting. Excellent writing comes from understanding your customer’s needs, your capabilities, and where the two unite.
If your business is online, you need copywriting. Professional copywriting.
Manage These Two Factors And You’ll Be On The Road To Copywriting Success
Every copywriting task is limited by two factors:
- The hard limits placed on your text by the platform you’re using
- The soft limits of a user’s attention and investment in a message.
Text
On your own website, you have all the space you need to tell the story you want. You don’t need to worry about column inches or page limit: In fact, long-form blog content can be much more effective than short content for search engine visibility.
But – a lot of the most valuable copywriting isn’t performed on your own website.
Two of the best advertising platforms in the world are Google Ads and Facebook. Using Google Ads, you get to write two headers of 30 characters each. That’s about ten words. On Facebook, you get about 90 characters of text per ad (close to 13 words.)
That’s not much. Used well, though, it can do wonders for your lead generation and sales.
Attention
The much bigger problem for most copywriting projects is users’ limited attention.
Web visitors who come to your site for the first time have usually never heard of you before. They have a specific question they want to answer or problem they want to solve – which we call the pain point. Finding out about you isn’t even a consideration.
The most effective copywriting does three things quickly:
- Show readers that they’ve reached the right place to deal with the question or problem.
- Make an emotional connection with readers to give them an incentive to keep reading
- Introduce the value your business has to offer (usually in response to the pain point.)
These principles need to come together in a way that works for your buyer persona, offering, and the strengths you bring to the table – they’re the foundation every copywriting project is built on.
The Secret Sauce That Makes For Sizzling Web Copy
Even if you’re not a wordsmith, you can still learn to think your way through the creative choices that make good copy shine. Plus, doing so will help you get the best work out of a writing team.
These factors are where the rubber meets the road on copy:
1. Determine Who Your Buyer Is
All marketing should start from who your customer is – and not just any customer, but your best customer, the person who drives your business forward and gets really excited about your brand.
This kind of true enthusiasm won’t come from everyone. It’s the stuff long-term business relationships are made of. It leads to referrals as well as thriving communities that generate buzz.
So, before you can put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) you should start with a detailed buyer persona. A buyer persona is a written record that centralizes details about a certain buyer.
This starts with basic qualifying info, like industry, budget, location, and job title. However, you should try to humanize the buyer with as many details as possible – hobbies, goals, and more.
2. Identify The Pain Point
Web marketing makes finding the pain point easier. All you have to do is look at the search terms that lead users to your site and you know what was on their mind at that moment.
You’re also able to approximate where they are in the buying process:
- Fact-finding early in the process (Awareness stage).
- Actively looking for solutions (Consideration stage).
- Comparing options for a final choice (Decision stage).
From a long-form blog post to a short Google text ad, your copywriting project needs to line up with the right buyer stage to be relevant to a user in a split second. Otherwise, they tune you out.
Find The Emotional Hook
No matter what kind of product or service you offer, there’s emotion behind it.
How a product makes you feel goes a long way to determining whether you buy it. Many times, people will make a purchasing decision based on emotions and then justify it later on with facts.
Finding the right emotional message for your brand is a journey of discovery. When you infuse your copy with the positive emotions associated with the lifestyle your customers want, you’ll draw them into seeing your brand as an important part of reaching their goals.
Today’s consumers want to work with companies who make them feel like they are living their values. Make sure you know exactly what yours are and you make that clear in your copywriting.
Bring It All Together
There’s one more step – but you’ll have to hear about it in person to see how the magic happens.
New York Ave brings some of the most creative (and effective) copywriters to your project. Contact us today to discuss your needs.
