Copywriting: This is a Powerful Way to “Sell” with Writing!

Whatever promotional media you use, whether it’s physical like pamphlets and billboards, to digital ones like Google ads, you need to learn copywriting. Because copywriting is the key to attracting sales through writing.

What is Copywriting?

Copywriting is a writing technique that aims to get the reader to do something. For example, if you are looking to increase sales, you can use copywriting to get potential customers to click the “buy” button. In the age of multimedia, learning to Copywrite is still considered important. Apart from writing, this method is also applied to create video scripts and podcasts. In addition, copywriter skills are expressed in various marketing media, including text on landing pages, blog articles, emails, newsletters, social media posts, headlines and meta descriptions in Google search results, paid ads on Google and social media as well as titles and YouTube video description.

What are the Types of Copywriting?

Here are 5 types of copywriting that you need to know. Let’s see the explanation below!

• Direct Response Copywriting

Direct response copywriting is a type of copywriting that serves to get a direct response from consumers. Examples include directing readers to click the CTA button, subscribe to ebooks, share content, and so on. Usually, this type of copywriting is used on landing pages, homepages, social media ads, and so on.

• Marketing Copywriting

Marketing Copywriting is copywriting that focuses on offering products, providing consumer solutions, and conveying product benefits. So, the end goal is to convince consumers to buy your product or service. This type of copywriting is usually found on email marketing and the homepage.

• Brand Copywriting

Brand copywriting is a type of copywriting that serves to convey the image and brand identity. In addition, this type of copywriting can be a differentiator for competitors’ brands. One form of brand copywriting is usually a slogan or brand tagline. This type of copywriting is often posted on logos and “about us” pages.

• SEO Copywriting

SEO Copywriting is copywriting that aims to attract consumers’ attention and position content on Google. So, the copywriting that is written must also meet the rules of SEO. Usually, SEO Copywriting is used on product descriptions, landing pages, and product categories.

• Technical Copywriting

Technical copywriting is a type of copywriting that serves to provide an in-depth understanding of how a product or service works. Usually, this type of copywriting is often used in health, beauty, and technology products.

6 Steps to Make Great Copywriting!

Now surely you want to know how to make interesting copywriting, right? The way is easy, here are six steps that you must master when learning copywriting.

1. Learn about Your Product or Service

Without recognizing the products, services, or content offered, you will not be able to market them well. This is why product understanding is an important part of learning copywriting. Now, after learning about what you’re selling, it’s a good idea to write down the information you get in the form of a description. This is done so that later you have a reference in the writing process. To make it easier for you to create product descriptions, try asking yourself these three things:

• What’s Unique about the Product?

Ideally, every product (and service) has a unique selling point or USP. That is, the product has a uniqueness that is not found in its competitors. For example, you want to market herbal facial soap. Even though there are many other herbal facial soap manufacturers, your product is 100% free from animal ingredients. This is the element you can use as a USP.

• What are the Features?

Besides being unique, your product or service must have some features, right? While not all of them need to be mentioned in the copywriting text, it’s a good idea to write down these features in a list so that they are easy to remember when needed. From the example of the herbal facial soap, you can mention the specific ingredients as a feature. For example, the soap is made from lemongrass leaf extract.

• What do Benefits Consumers get from These Features?

If you only mention the features of a product, the audience will not necessarily understand the benefits. Therefore, you also need to explain the advantages of the existing features. For example, mention that the lemongrass leaf extract in your soap not only gives it a natural scent, it also prevents acne breakouts.

2. Understand Audience Needs

Knowing your audience is no less important than understanding your product. Why? Because the essence of copywriting is not about your profits, but the benefits they get when using the items you sell. In addition, you also need to understand your audience so that you can create marketing texts that sound personal, aka right on target. If you can do that, it is guaranteed that many people will be interested in buying from you.

Well, the first step that needs to be done to learn about the audience is to provide surveys to existing consumers. This can be done easily if you have previously obtained their email address. Thus, all you have to do is send an email that invites consumers to fill out a survey.

In the survey, several questions must be included so that you can understand consumers as much as possible, including:

“What attracted you to our products?”

“Have you ever used a similar product?”

“How was your experience using it?”

Depending on what you’re selling, you can also ask more personal questions such as the following:

“Tell me about yourself (age, place of residence, amount of income)”

“What is your profession?” or “What business are you in?”

“What everyday challenges can our products solve? What hasn’t been solved?”

“What would you like to be able to achieve in your job or business?”

With the answers to the questions above, you can create a picture of your target audience called a buyer persona. The product description, this description is also used as a reference.

3. Define Captivating Headlines

Eight out of ten audiences will only read your title or headline. This means that you need to be able to come up with a title that grabs your attention. There are three proven tricks to turn a mundane-sounding title into a catchy one:

• Mention the Benefits You Offer

You certainly don’t want to lose potential customers, right? One of the reasons for this is the unclear title. For example “Easy Ways to Save Work Time”. The headline is short, but the reader will not immediately know what he will get from listening to the entire text. Try changing the title earlier to “Work Finished 2 Hours Early with These 7 Tricks”. The title is not so short, but the reader can immediately understand the benefits.

• Make Readers Want to Buy Immediately

Generally, consumers don’t want to turn down profits. Discounts, for example. However, just including the discount in the headline is not enough. For maximum effect, you can indicate that the discount doesn’t last forever.

• Include Percentage

In addition to benefits and limited offers, another element that is no less powerful for capturing attention is percentages. Especially if the numbers are odd. Why is that? With a percentage in your headline, readers will be more interested because there are specific results that can be obtained from you. For example this title: “11 Tips to Increase Website Traffic by 37.5%”. If the headline is simply “Tips to Increase Website Traffic”, the number of people who are interested in clicking on your article, ad, or landing page will not be much.

4. Support Headlines with Attractive Leads

For those who are in the forefront, the headline or title must certainly be able to attract the audience. However, people are not necessarily interested in listening to your article, newsletter, or landing page further after clicking on the title. For this reason, an attractive headline needs to be supported by an interesting lead or opening paragraph. Here are a few ways you can create leads that are hard for readers to refuse:

• Show Empathy

As we mentioned earlier, copywriting is about your audience. Therefore, this concept also needs to be used in leads. The trick is to empathize with the reader. Open your leads with these three sample phrases to build a connection with your audience from the start:

“Have you ever experienced this? [continue with a short story about audience issues]”

“You certainly know how [X problem] can be very disruptive to activities. Fortunately, [product X] can handle it with [solution X]”

“We understand that [X issues] may interfere with your activities. Therefore, you need [solution X]”

• Start with Facts

As in any type of writing, data, facts, or quotes from a trusted source can be used as a lead opener. You can use the following phrases to make your leads sound credible and capture the audience’s attention:

“[Company X’s] research this year shows that…”

“[Technique X] is proven to increase revenue by X%, according to [Company X’s] study.”

“It has been proven that [platform X] is still the number one solution for…”

• Make Audience Curious

The audience must of course be intrigued to want to read your text to the end. This can be done with a simple invitation at the end of the opening paragraph, such as “Intrigued by how? Check out this article!”. In addition, you can also make the audience curious at the beginning by providing surprising facts. For example: “It is undeniable that [element X] is beneficial for the body. However, did you know that [element X] has a negative impact ?”.

5. Write Quality Copy

Although headlines and leads are an important part of copywriting techniques, you should not forget the main part of the writing. In copywriting, this section is called copy.

There are several formulas you can use to write quality copy, including:

• Use Simple Words and Sentences

Have you ever seen marketing media, be it landing pages, sales emails, or advertisements whose language is difficult to digest? Not. If you can’t, you can outsmart it by writing sentences of different lengths in one paragraph. In this way, the audience is guaranteed not to get bored easily reading your writing.

• Write for One Person Only

One of your goals in learning copywriting is to create text that sounds personal. So that the content is more relevant to the target audience. In other words, place readers as your only audience. Examples areas in the following paragraph:

“Want to increase your team’s productivity? If yes, [bureau X] is your solution. With more than ten years of experience, we can help your sales force to get more customers.”

• Don’t Just Mention Features

A copy of course must discuss the product that you offer. However, don’t just get hung up on the features of the product as you write this section. Instead of just mentioning features, you can underline the benefits that can be obtained from them.

• Take advantage of the Subheading

You can use subheadings to make it easier for readers to find these points. In addition, the subheading is also useful for breaking long text into small parts. Thus, the text also becomes more readable.

6. End with Persuasion

To create a call, you need to use a call-to-action or CTA. This is a button, banner, or form that contains a command for your audience. On digital service websites, for example, the CTA used is usually something like “Start Now” or “Register Now”. However, your CTA should not just encourage your audience to give their commitment. At the same time, provide benefits to the audience.

The call-to-action element at the end of your marketing media shouldn’t just be ordered in your favour. Also, provide clear benefits to potential customers or audiences.