The Art of Business: Add Writing to Your Repertoire
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Writing is a lot like the graphic arts: Anyone can do it, but few do it well. And like graphic art, writing is a craft best learned through study and practice. Like good design, good copy is most successful when it’s clear and fresh. If the message is a mess, the fickle reader will move on, and your good work, intentions, and your client’s money will be wasted. Here are a few steps to get started.
Step 1: Identify the Message
Your clients should have a pretty good idea of the target market and the distinctive attributes of the product or service they’re selling. If not, here’s a list of questions to help sharpen the focus:
- What’s the goal of this piece (for example, branding or call to action)?
- What’s the target audience?
- What is unique about the product or service?
- What is the competition saying, and why?
- What action do we want the reader to take?
Step 2: Sell Benefits, Not Features
Readers aren’t interested in products — they’re interested in themselves. Consequently, the focus of the all-important headline and the rest of the copy should be the reader, the reader, and always the reader.
Make a list of all the benefits the product or service offers, then create a mental picture of the typical purchaser. Which benefit is most important for that purchaser? Once you’ve decided, begin building your piece around the number-one benefit.
Step 3: Lead with Sizzle (But Include the Meat)
People like stories because stories contain that exciting, elusive element: drama. It’s up to you to find the drama in your product or service and exploit it.
Can you save readers precious time? Money? Think how best to dramatize the distinction over the competition. One caveat: Drama and theatre have much in common, but they are not synonymous. Your copy, while dramatic, should not be theatrical. The buyer is looking for the information; the drama should be subservient to the information and not vice versa.
It’s of equal importance to include as much information as possible, because buyers are really interested in information. Most bad copy fails because the writer is enamored with the sizzle to the point of leaving out the important stuff.
Step 4: Write and Rewrite
Just as with sketches, don’t be afraid to experiment with your writing, and be ready to throw ideas away. At this stage, quantity is the road to quality. In every attempt, strive to
- Attract attention with a headline or opening that grabs. Invoke a question. Pose a challenge. Make an appealing offer. Be intriguing, enticing, bold. Make people want to read more.
- Build interest with additional information and benefits. Add details that justify and enhance your bold opening.
- Make a compelling argument for your product, service, or point of view. Explain the value or advantages of what you’re selling.
- Persuade readers by explaining the benefits in their language. Answer the all-important question: “What’s in it for me?”
- Induce the reader to act promptly with additional information, a special offer, or a free sample, estimate, or brochure. Free is still one of the most important words in the copywriter’s lexicon.
- Provide a call to action by telling the reader what to do next, and by including an address, a phone number, or Web address so that action is easily taken.
Step 5: Cut Back the Brush
Review ads that compel you. Chances are the copy is so lean and clean that the ad is deceptively simple. You’ll be amazed at how many words you can cut simply by imagining that every word costs ten dollar. Bells and whistles don’t sell products, clean copy does. Good writing is free of the superfluous and redundant. Reread your copy with these guidelines in mind:
- Does every word carry its weight?
- Have I refrained from repeating myself?
- Have I used short phrases or single words?
- Have I avoided clichés?
- Have I used the active voice, not passive voice?
Step 6: Keep it Honest
Readers are bombarded daily with hundreds of messages. As a result, they’re skeptical and good at culling the truth from the hype.
Gain a reader’s confidence by focusing on a convincing argument, one that appeals to both the intellect and emotion. Keep it honest by avoiding outrageous claims and unsubstantiated information. Use adjectives sparingly. Compare examples of what you consider great copy with poor copy; often, the difference is that the poor copy has lots of adjectives.
Step 7: Take it for a Test Drive
Once you believe you’ve got something that works, show it to colleagues and friends, and gauge their reactions. If readers comment on the clever pun you’ve used, you’re in trouble. If they ask about the product or service, you’re getting close. Finally, have someone unfamiliar with the project read the copy out loud. Wherever he or she stumbles is probably where potential customers will stumble when they read it silently.
Whether you’re writing copy for your own marketing materials or for your clients, it pays to take a moment to learn the fundamentals.
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