Winning Marketing Campaigns Depend On Killer Copy Writing.
No matter what media a marketer uses, the message must be right.
How do you know when it’s right? When it works. How do you know when it works? Oh, you’ll know. You’ll know. Something you want to happen, happens.
It may be tempting to depend on a fancy shmanzy look, “cool” graphics, catchy SFX, quick cuts, quirky gimmicks, but fundamentally “Content–or Copy– is king.” Today’s distracting clatter of clutter makes that true now more than ever!
Seven essentials to writing killer copy for any of today’s marketing media.
(1) Headlines. You’ve got to grab ’em by the eyeballs in two or three seconds. A powerful benefit-based, emotionally driven headline leads your copy. It must make a promise. Draw a picture. State a fact or ask a question.
(2) Customer-focused messages that speak to prospects one-on-one through stories, testimonials or examples will expand upon your headline. Just a brief emotionally charged paragraph will drive your primary benefit home, clearly summarizing what everyone wants to know: “What’s in it for me?” Helpful, quickly scannable information written in a user-friendly, jargon-free, easy-to-read format.
(3) Showcase credibility elements: a relevant statistic, expert endorsement or customer testimonial. I’m talking proof of what you say here.
(4) Unique positioning should always be up front in your copy if not the headline itself. It should be real and substantial, not frivolous or lame. It must clearly set your company product or service apart from competing products or services in terms of both uniqueness and value.
(5) Calls to action always appear a few times in effective copy. Each one helps take readers closer to doing what your want by repeating the headline’s promise or restating a key benefit that again compellingly answers “WIIFM”. Each call must specifically guide your prospect to act:
- sign up for a subscription,
- download a report,
- watch a video,
- post a comment or,
- make a purchase.
Remove risk in a meaningful way with each call too. Offer the action free or with a substantial guarantee. Add some urgency with a reasonable time limit.
(6) Search engine optimization is critical to all marketing messages today because so much of commerce is done online whether between businesses (B2B) or with a targeted consumer (B2C). Good copy weaves the most relevant SEO keywords and selling phrases into message elements: sales copy, tags, captions, links, etc. And it must read well on mobile devices because that is where Google is going.
(7) Design helps the copy shine. But it serves the copy, not the other way around. Good writers work with good designers to ensure all seven essentials support the work’s objective. They apply the same thinking in all media a campaign uses. The freshness of course matters, but not at the expensive of consistency—-of the message, language and making it easy for the reader to act the way you want.
Copywriters along with designers who understand and work together on these essentials are the main reason why marketing works. Their fees are worth every dollar they charge.
By Mike Hanson
The NO BS B2B Copywriter
Ce;/Text (416) 200-2430
