Aug
Writing Copy
With the rise of technology, the copy, or text, on your website does more to encourage or discourage potential customers from choosing your business. Kim T. Gordon, Marketing Coach at Entrepreneur.com offers five suggestions to business owners writing any sort of copy – from a website page to a brochure. Here is a brief summary of her tips:
1. Write one-to-one. Imagine you’re sitting at a table directly across from your best prospect, looking him in the eye and discussing how you’ll meet his individual needs. To increase your marketing response rates, address your prospects on a personal level, as if you were having a one-on-one conversation.
2. Make your message “outer-directed.” As you write your materials, make a practice of changing most of the sentences that use the words “our” and “we,” to revolve around the words “you” and “your.” Outer-directed language has much greater appeal. For example, you’d change “We provide on-call 24-hour service,” to “You’ll get reliable, on-call service 24 hours a day.” See the difference?
3. Lead with benefits. Consumers are so inundated by media that multitasking is the norm. Every marketing communication with a prospect must grab interest immediately or be overlooked. What do your unique prospects want most that you can provide in a way that’s unmatched by your competitors? Lead with that benefit in your headline or first paragraph, and use the body copy to detail the features that explain how you’ll deliver the promised benefit.
4. Follow the rules of engagement. Use straightforward, down-to-earth language, and write in the vernacular of your target audience, including their use of any buzzwords. The best copywriting isn’t flowery prose. It’s direct and to the point, uses an active voice and often creates mental images using words.
5. Provoke a reaction. Have you ever noticed that many marketing materials open with a question? Ads of all kinds, and direct-mail and sales letters in particular, use questions as headlines, opening sentences and throughout the body copy. Questions provoke answers, keeping prospects thinking and engaged with your message. Get the idea?
Read the full article at Entrepreneur.com.
