Intro to Copywrting
So you’ve got a product, and you’ve got an audience. Now you need a message to unite the two. This is where copywriting comes in. Copywriting is the process of scripting messages that convey a particular selling point of a product or a brand attribute to a particular audience, in the voice of the brand in question. Think of it like writing lines for a character in a movie.
Proper marketing is part science, and part art. Copywriting falls mostly into the latter, but is not without its share of calculation. As Jef Richards said, “Creative without strategy is called art. Creative with strategy is called advertising.”
Good creative is driven by good strategy. Think of thorough audience and brand understanding as a shortcut to writing effective copy. You can do a lot of guessing about what might be a good message-audience fit, and find out by executing lots of copy, but that is expensive and inefficient. The right way to approach the problem is to do your homework.
To get you ramped up more quickly, consider these things when crafting your message strategy (I repeat, when crafting your message strategy, not your message, yet).
- How big of a purchase decision is this?
People approach the decision making process differently for products that require a lot of thought than those that do not. Would making the wrong purchase choice be high-risk for your customer? If the answer is yes, then the consumer is probably doing a lot of research about which product is best for them, best reviewed, has the best specs, etc. Products like this usually sell on a rational basis, appealing to technical information. - How much difference is there between products in this category?
Let’s be honest. Cigarettes are cigarettes and deodorant is deodorant. There is truly not much appreciable difference between different brands in these categories, yet people form fierce loyalties to Old Spice and Camel nonetheless. The reason for this is pure branding. Where differentiation is low, sales are predicated upon projecting a certain image or aura around the brand that consumers identify with, and want to buy into. If you find your product here, look to emotional appeals. - Does the product help someone solve a problem?
It should. That’s the reason most products were invented. Even if the problem and solution are abstract or tangential, selling the product is going to be a process of telling a story about how there was a problem, and then there was a product, and now there is progress. Good brand narrative is like a horoscope; people will read themselves into it, love/aspire to it (or hate it and buy your competitor, but forget them anyway!), and turn it into their actual future. Help your consumers self-actualize purchases of your product.
Writing good copy calls for a fair amount of thought before the pen hits the pad, both strategic and creative. Put in the time to decide what kind of framework your copy will take, and stick to it. It will keep your messaging on point, and if your aim was true, the advertising arrow will fly right to the target.
To learn more about writing copy for digital marketing and advertising, check out PreHack, and download your free Intro to Copywriting Guide.