In recent years, copywriting has become one of the most in-demand skills. If you’re wondering why, it’s because any business and brand can benefit from a person who writes good-quality copy. Plus, it’s also one of the easiest skills to learn. Anyone can be a copywriter without having to graduate with a degree or undergo intensive training. If you’re new to the industry of copywriting, it’s understandable if you don’t know where and how to begin. You can start by understanding what copywriting is and how it works. This beginner’s guide to copywriting is all you need to get started.
Table of Contents
- What Is Copywriting?
- Factors To Consider In Great Copywriting
1. The Importance Of Creating A Good Headline
2. Audience Awareness
3. Your Message Must Be Clear
4. Quality And Grammar
What Is Copywriting?
Copywriting is the process of writing articles for marketing purposes. It’s a marketing language used by businesses to draw readers or consumers to purchase a particular product or service. The primary purpose of copywriting is to indirectly persuade the readers to take action that would benefit a specific brand. It may encourage them to sign up for something, purchase a product, or achieve other types of conversion.
Copywriting also comes in different forms. Brochures, blog content, advertisements, social media content, or web pages can fall into copywriting. However, copywriting isn’t only concerned with how written content looks. It’s about producing an excellent copy that’ll successfully and positively represent your brand image. This means that copywriting not only sells products but also lifestyle and emotions.
Beginners guide to copywriting
Factors To Consider In Great Copywriting
Now you know why great copywriting skills are essential and in-demand to businesses nowadays. Freelancers have resorted to copywriting as their trade and source of income. As a beginner reading this beginner’s guide to copywriting, check out some more tips here to help you secure your first copywriting job. To help you get started, here are some points you’ll need to know to guide and help you become one of the great copywriters in the industry:
1. The Importance Of Creating A Good Headline
Moviegoers are often enticed to watch a particular film in movie theatres due to its catching and captivating title. The same goes for copywriting. You need to know how to craft a good and compelling headline for your article or writing piece.
The headline is the main title of a newsletter, article, or other forms of content you’ll be producing. It’s the very first thing that a reader sees and is one of the most critical aspects of copywriting. In creating a headline, don’t treat it like it’s just a phrase or string of words. It’s the headline that makes the reader decide whether to read your content or not. If you’ve produced a poorly written and boring headline, it’ll be difficult for you to attract the audience to read the actual article.
There are a few ways you can produce a good and captivating headline. Some of these include:
- A hanging statement, making the readers curious about what you’re about to say next
- Utilizing people’s emotions
- The use of action words, numbers, or figures
In creating your headline, make sure that it conveys a sense of urgency, uniqueness, and usefulness at the same time. Some readers may not open an article if your headline was something they’ve read before. So, take your time to formulate a headline that’ll captivate your target audience anytime.
2. Audience Awareness
Before you start writing any word of your content, you need to know who you’re writing for. Are you writing content for athletes, working moms, or social media marketers? You need to understand that each content you write will differ depending on your target audience. It’ll be a waste of time to write an informal and casually-toned article for a business page. On the other hand, teen readers will find it boring to read an article too formal for the topic they’re reading.
Aside from that, you also need to know where you’ll distribute the content. For instance, when writing content for your subscribers, you no longer have to write a quick introduction about your business or brand since these subscribers already know who you are. Otherwise, all the introductory parts will be too redundant and boring for them. Meanwhile, if you’re writing content for potential clients and subscribers, it’s only essential that you include a brief introduction to your brand.
The whole point is to avoid trying to target everyone and instead, create different content for each of your audiences. Doing so will only compromise your content’s quality. Eventually, you’ll lose more potential readers in the future.
3. Your Message Must Be Clear
Now that you have an eye-catching headline and you know which audience you’re writing for, it’s time to start writing the main piece—your content. When you write, make sure you’re not only putting in a few facts about the subject. One of the best ways to get your message across is by telling a story. Tell a story in a way that’ll make your audience read more and reach for more pages. Even in the technical field, creative copywriting is always encouraged to keep your readers engaged despite how complex the subject is. This beginner’s guide to copywriting is a good start regardless.
Aside from telling a story, make sure your overall message is stated concisely. One of the copywriting strategies for successful content marketing is getting across your message clearly and persuasively. When clearness and persuasion are there, there are more chances that your target audience will turn into conversion.
4. Quality And Grammar
After you’ve produced a good headline and a clear content message, you need to spend time proofreading your work. An article with grammar and spelling errors will have an adverse effect on your content’s quality. Once your audience discovers grammatical errors in your piece, it creates a negative impression of your product, or worse, your whole brand. Thus, avoid rushing your work and try running it through editing tools. Reading your content loudly will also help you spot clunky words or sentences. Check it multiple times before putting it live.
You can also ask someone to proofread your content for you, if necessary. Better yet, get an editor to work with you. Regardless if you’re a new or a seasoned writer, you’ll still commit mistakes with your writing from time to time. After all, no one’s perfect. So, have someone check and edit your work, no matter how confident you feel about it. It’s better to catch your mistakes sooner than wait for a reader to see your errors.
The Bottom Line
Like every other skill, the best way to get better at copywriting is through constant practice. Not every piece you write will have the best quality, but it’ll keep getting better each time you practice. Even if copywriting comes to you naturally, it’ll still take a lot of hard work. But as long as you keep to the tips outlined in this beginner’s guide to copywriting, you will soon see positive results.