4 Super Friendly Copywriting Tips for Beginners
A beginners guide to writing effective copy
A common thing we see these days, especially if you follow a lot of marketers on LinkedIn or belong to marketing twitter is the advice to learn copywriting.
Dave Gerhardt; CMO at Privy, lists this as #1 to #5 of the ‘top 5 marketing skills you should work on:’
So the question now as a beginner is ‘are there any easy tips for learning copywriting and mastering this skill (for free)?’ The answer is yes!
In this blog post, I’m going to share with you 4 super easy tips you can use to master and start practicing writing your own copy.
Let’s get into it!
4 Super Friendly Copywriting Tips for Beginners to Help you Write Banging Copy That Attracts, Converts & Sells Anytime and Anywhere
- Always start with audience research.
- Write eye-catching headlines.
- Adopt the AIDA formula.
- Use the principles of Influence.
By now you should know the difference between content writing and copywriting which is that unlike content writing whose main goal is to inform and educate, the goal of copywriting is to sell or evoke an action from your reader — sign up for your email newsletter, turn on your post notifications, buy your product, book a session, or simply click a button.
To write effective copy then — one that attracts, converts, and sells — you must be able to persuade people to act. To some people it seems like an easy task until they try to write their sales page or social media caption and get nothing.
I used to be that person who thought persuasion was easy and all about creating a solution to people’s problems and they’ll easily gravitate towards it. But what I know now is this;
It’s not the best product (solution) that wins, it’s the best salesman or copy. So unless you can show people their problem and that you understand it, as well as why they should desire your solution, nobody cares.
Here are the 4 copywriting tips/techniques you need to learn as a beginner:
1. Start With Audience Research
Have you ever read anything at all that you could relate to, it almost felt like the writer knew you personally? That’s the work of the greatest writing tip ever — audience research.
Before you put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, start here. Be like the late great copywriter Eugene Schwartz who ‘writes with his ears.’
How can you do this? Let’s assume you are a relationship coach who wants to land more clients.
You must be able to answer these:
- Who: Start with identifying who your target audience is. Newlyweds or persons who’ve been married for more than 10 years?
- Where: where do they hang out or talk about their issues? Facebook groups? Reddit? Twitter? This also helps you in knowing the best place(s) to push/advertise your product.
- What: Get to searching and perching (be a fly on the wall). Take notes of common things mentioned or complained about as well as the exact words commonly used in the description of certain problems.
- Why: why may they not be interested in your offer? Part of the things a good audience research gives you is insights into your customers’ fears.
Now you know your audience; you know what particular issues they have and need help with. You know their fears and possible objections they may have about purchasing your solution.
You also know how they speak, so adopt/steal their language and write to them. Not for them, but to them.
Effective copy is personal. Never general. Imagine one person, understand, and relate to them. Then write their solution.
By writing directly to a person, you are more empathetic and sincere than when you write to a whole bunch of people.
This is what audience research affords you; the gift of total knowledge, empathy, and readiness to answer all doubts your prospects may be having.
Always start here.
Extra Points On The Benefits Of Audience Research:
- 3 Reasons To Know Your Niche Audience (blog post).
- “The most effective copywriting starts in your reader’s head.” – Marie Forleo
2. Write Eye-Catching Headlines:
First impressions matter in life and also in copywriting. The very first thing anyone sees in your copy is your headline, and until you can grab readers attention to not only stick with you but read further, you’ve wasted time and effort on something nobody wants.
A good headline grabs the attention of your reader. It makes a promise, sets an expectation and a clear benefit to be gotten from you. A terrible headline could be the reason no one ever reads your copy.
To write better headlines read this, use this free tool to analyze your headlines for better results, and understand what David Ogilvy was talking about when he said
“On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
3. Adopt The AIDA Formula:
As formulated by advertising and sales pioneer E. Lewis this stands for attention, interest, desire, and action.
It represents the different stages of the sales funnel through which every client passes to the other:
Attention: this stage is where the prospect is made aware of their problem and are actively seeking to better understand what it is or solutions to solve it. This is the point where they go looking for you. You have to be able to grab their attention in the sea of other solution bearers.
Interest: now they are aware of you and your solution, but what can you do, what are you offering, what is special/different about you enough to make them stay and find out more?
In this era of ‘gurus’ and ‘specialists’ how do you stand out?
Desire: if you’ve come this far – secured their attention and piqued their interest in you – it’s clear that whatever it is you’re selling, they’re most likely to buy. At this stage they are yearning for your offer.
Action: seal the deal. How can they get it? You’ve shown that you fully understand their problems, you’ve shown how you plan on solving it, now how can they access it? Do they call you now, or book a time to call?
Remember copywriting is about selling and closing deals, not informing people, so tell them what to do next.
This is an example of a LinkedIn post I wrote using the AIDA formula. The goal was to get people to read this blog post of mine. So instead of just posting it with a link or a snippet, I decided to take things a step further by doing this:
Breakdown
A: call them by their name and they’ll answer – service business owners.
I: I held their interest by relating to their problems. I did this by talking about common issues they have which I had dealt with.
D: after letting them know I could relate to their problems, I told them of my successes. Clearly stated it out – 31.8% more income in just 3 months and without being overworked? Sis, gimme!
A: ‘read it here’ followed by a link to the article.
4. Use the principles of influence.
‘Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion’ is a book written by Dr. Robert Cialdini a professor of psychology and marketing who has dedicated over 3 decades to studying the mechanics of influence.
According to him, these 6 principles are key (and tested) ways to easily influence your buyers to take the required action.
They are:
- Scarcity:
Ever seen any of these:
A promotion that talks about all these wonderful things, access to amazing resources, and for a good price. Then after getting you excited and hyped, you see ‘available to only members.’
Or your favorite skincare brand just came out with a quarantine package of all your favorite stuff but it’s ‘limited stock. Only available to the first 5 persons to order.’
Yeah. There’s a reason brands do this. Because people like access to limited or exclusive stuff. It makes them feel special, rare, like they won by being able to own or belong to something not every Jerry and Oge has/can get.
The sense of urgency scarcity creates in our minds makes us want to spend the money now if not we feel like we’ve lost out. If there’s no sense of urgency, then there’s no desire to spend because we feel like that thing will always be there.
Note: while this is an excellent way to sell out, never lie by creating false scarcity. Dishonesty is a very quick and easy way to destroy your brand’s reputation.
- Reciprocation
Tit for tat. Scratch my back I scratch yours. One good turn deserves another.
That’s it.
Your clients/prospects will be more willing to perform whatever action you ask if you’re able to guarantee them something in return.
Example: ever seen brands ask you to refer them to others, in return you get 10% of whatever income they get from your referral?
Or, have you ever visited a website and they offered you a free consultation or a beneficial e-book in exchange for your email address? Something like this:
That’s a much better way of growing an email list than asking people to ‘join’ or ‘subscribe’.
- Social proof
People are more likely to trust you and buy from you if you can show them that others have used your product/service and were satisfied than if you just tell them to buy because you’re ‘certified and the best.’
Social proof increases trust and reduces the fears prospects may have about working with you.
See an example of how I leveraged social proof in selling my writing service
And how some other brands are doing the same:
Now, if you’re writing your copy but have never had any clients (as is expected of a beginner copywriter) and you’re asking ‘how do I leverage social proof without any past clients?’ Do any of the following two:
How Do I Use Social Proof As A Beginner Without Any Past Clients?
- Make prospects a bold promise they can’t and won’t want to miss out on: The whole point of social proof is to show expertise and increase trust in your brand, by making a bold promise such as ‘you get your money back if this doesn’t work for you’ you’re eliminating all fears prospective customers may have about wasting their money. I know you may not like it, but honestly if you plan on doing good work, you shouldn’t be bothered.
An example of such is this money-back guarantee Jacob McMillen offers on his Copywriting course.
2. Display your process: you may not have worked with any or many clients in the past, but you can show preparedness and ability to perform by clearly letting prospects know what every step of your journey together is going to look like. This eliminates surprises and increases expectations.
Like this:
- Authority
Who are you more likely to take fitness and nutrition advice from? A person like Coach Cass who’s an experienced fitness coach and health & wellness consultant, or me who fluctuates between a week of total commitment to veggies and sit-ups then 3 weeks of a sleep-Netflix-jelly doughnuts routine?
The expert right? Not this person:
The same goes for your copy and marketing. People including you, are most likely to trust and buy from the person who has shown/built the greatest authority in a field than those who haven’t. People will pick who they believe will give the most value for their money.
This is why websites need to have updated blogs. It’s why people like me display our certifications (even if it’s 1) on my LinkedIn. It’s why brands like U1 Group use a headline like this
As a beginner, you can leverage this in your copy by simply sharing your unique story of what makes you stand out from the rest.
For example: I am a writer and have been writing stories since I was 4. That’s 19 years of creativity and writing experience I can share in a way that exudes a passionate skill and attracts people to me.
Highlight a unique quality or ability of yours.
- Likeness
You, just like me and your prospective customers are most likely to buy from friends or people/brands we like than enemies, strangers, or robots.
Robots in bold because that’s what a lot of copy seems to be written by. Zero emotions. Zero character. 100% ‘buy from us.’
The persons or brands we like are the ones who relate with us as humans. The ones who write copy in a language you understand. The ones who take out the time to make you laugh. The ones who make an effort to show they care.
See both copies below, which email did you and everyone else on your timeline complain about constantly receiving, and which one is more personal, human and makes you chuckle?
- Consistency and commitment
If you can get a person to commit i.e say yes/agree to a proposal of yours, there’s a high possibility of them buying from you.
For example, if you’re selling a business course to struggling entrepreneurs that asks ‘are you ready to begin your journey to a steady 6 figure business?’ instead of simply ‘begin your journey to a 6 figure income’ there’s a greater chance that the question will work better than the statement.
This is because not only does it require an answer from your reader which makes your copy seem conversational, it makes them read further because now after answering yes, they’re naturally curious to know how to.
Think of the excitement you get screaming and replying to your favorite artiste ‘Yesss’ when they ask ‘ARE YOU READY??’
I must tell you that, you don’t need to include all 6 principles of influence in your copy.
Pick and use as appropriate. Just as no one likes a constipated bowel, so does no one like constipated copies.
At the end of the day, after reading your copy it should be clear who you’re addressing, what it is you’re selling, how your readers can benefit from it and how they can access it.
Now it’s your turn.
What have you learned from this post? And which technique are you excited to try first?
Will you like the ability to write words that do all the hard work, bringing home the money while you Netflix & chill?
I have a beginner’s writing workshop coming up in July that will teach you just how to do that. Fill this form instantly, to get added to the waitlist.
