You probably ask yourself, I’ve written articles before in college or at school. How hard can writing short persuasive paragraphs be?
Although that might be true. It is important to remember that technical and academic writing serves a different purpose than marketing. For this reason alone the components that make up copywriting are different.
In this blog I will introduce you to the 5 elements you require to excel in copywriting for beginners.
1. Research, Research, Research...
No I dont mean use google scholar and refer to some researcher from the early 2000s. What I mean is research your or your client’s target audience.
While your clients may have information about their target through data analytics and email signups, further research is required to know how to write copy that sells among hundreds of other competitors.
The way to do this is by putting yourself in their shoes. Hence by asking yourself, what problem am I having and how can this specific product or service fix said problem.
You might ask yourself, what if my product, or my client’s product doesn’t fix a problem? This is where is it important to know that everything and anything can fix a problem. A painting can solve the problem of a bland living room, a graphic card can improve a computer’s performance, a dancing coach can help you light it up at parties, so on and so forth. Lets go back to the painting example. One way to figure out how to market a product is by using search engines like Google and Amazon. Both Experienced and beginner copywriters use these engines
Where To Search?
- Google Search
- Udemy
- Amazon
An easy way to understand potential audiences is to check what they are searching for. Lets say you or your client are selling men’s hygiene products. Beard oils, shaving creams and the like. Well if you search beard oil on google search and you scroll down to the very bottom, you will find the most common questions and searches people have explored on google. For this example we get :
- Beard oil for patchy beard
- Best beard growth oil with no side effect
- Best beard oil for growth and thickness
Just with three examples you can find what problems people are facing when using beard oild and how beard oil can fix some of these problems.
Amazon is similar in this regard. Search for Beard oil products and click on the results with the most reviews. Reading the reviews of customers you can quickly find out about their needs, problems, what to pursue and especially what to ignore when marketing a product or service. Master your research habits and you will elevate yourself from Copywriting for beginners to Copywriting for experts.
2. Perfect Above the fold
Did you ever as yourself why newspapers are folded in a specific way? That’s because they are always folded to only show the “Above the fold” section first. Hence the section that has the most most entertaining news and grabs the reader.
This is no exception to the newspapers though. Any piece of Copy must have an attractive “above the fold”. This section usually contains the headline, subheading and a call to action button. Understanding the “Above the Fold” is critical for copywriting for beginners and experts alike
This is the deal breaker in most copy. you have to remember that people are bombarded with hundreds of ads on a daily basis and they are wired to just scroll down. A good headline is a scroll stopper, and if utilized well can be the first step for a conversion. The elements for a good above the fold are the follow:
1-Clear Headline: Do not be a salesman with your headline. Instead be as clear as possible. What is the product, and what does it do?
2- Subheading: Elaborate on the headline with further short explanation on the purpose and main benefit of the offering
3- Call to Action: Beginner copywriters sometimes ignore the importance of the CTA button that directs the reader to a specific page. Make sure that the button is specific. Try to avoid “Learn more”, and “Contact us”, and try using “talk to our representative”, or “explore services” instead.
3- Benefits vs Features in Copywriting
Put aside the fact that you are reading a copywriting for Beginners post and imagine that You are walking into a car dealership. A salesman approaches you and says:
“You have a keen eye! This model is four wheel drive, has soft suspension, Pirelli tires, and 400 horsepowers”
This probably doesn’t mean much to you unless you are a car fanatic. Hence, you probably wont be sold. Lets instead imagine the following scenario at another dealership:
” You have a keen eye. This car is four wheel drive which means it has extra traction on all terrains. It also has soft suspension to mute all those bumpy roads and make your ride way more comfortable. The car also has 400 horsepower which means you wont be losing any races anytime soon!
More adjustments
In the 2nd example the salesman states both features and benefits. If you want to take things to the next step you can explore competitors and state how your offering differs from them. Make sure to state at least 5 benefits in your ads.
This is also the opportunity to let the Picasso in you to come out!
If you are writing an email ad, a landing page, sales page, website, or even a Facebook post ,make sure to use pictures, and infographic. Elements like these will make your copy more attractive and hone your copywriting skills.
4- Follow ups techniques in Copywriting
11% conversion rates are considered extremely high in this industry especially in landing pages. You can use multiple methods to track said conversions, interactions and number of visitors on your website. The most important thing to remember is that you wont achieve said rates on your first try and most probably will require multiple editing sessions to your copy in the beginning.
Lets say that your email copy is only achieving 3% conversion rate. Do not get bothered by that and try to adjust your page in a way to increase the rates. In this particular example try to understand the customer needs more, change subject line to attract more customers, change the structure of the email, make it more attention grabbing, make it more personalized…
For example the difference between standard and interesting subject lines in dramatic.
Standard vs interactive Subject lines.
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5- Let Us Help You!
All that is covered in this blog is just the tip of the iceberg. Copywriting is a careful built bridge. If built with strong foundations can lead many customers to you, and increase awareness of your offerings. If not, it can be a huge waste of time and money.
That is why it is often a good idea to hire a copywriter or an agency to boost your ad campaigns while focusing on other core business operations. We at Prime Management Solutions will provide you with experts who are tailored for your need! So don’t hesitate to contact us for any questions about our offerings, or check our services: