I recently had the opportunity to go through Ian Luries’ LinkedIn Learning video course on copywriting. The course provides valuable insights on writing powerful marketing copy.
Overview of Marketing Copywriting
In these video tutorials, Ian Lurie begins by describing that he views copywriting as the “persuasive communication to get achieve desired outcomes from the readers or viewers” (Lurie, 2014). He describes that good copywriting includes writing that grabs attention, is a handshake with the viewer and is visually creative. He then mentions that to achieve the desired result through the CTA, the copy must deliver significance and a return on time invested to the targeted niche.
Ian continues his lecture by describing how all copywriting consists of elements of three classes: collateral, medium and style (Lurie, 2014). Collateral consists of the building blocks that the message consists of, while the medium is the form of placement. Style is how that message is being delivered to the target audience. There are many forms of styles can can be effective to achieve a marketing objective. Teaching is a commonly used method aimed to educate the audience on the advantages of a product, however, their other methods such as straight sell, laughter, hard selling or the scare tactic also work effectively (Lurie,2014).
When writing marketing copy, following best practices such as blocking out time solely for writing, being free of distractions and keeping your workspace clean and organized will greatly assist in your overall effectiveness.
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Writing Copy
The fundamentals of actually writing effective marketing copy begin with the software tools necessary to actually get the work done and avoid losses through backups. The importance of making a plan about the target audience and the types of collateral and style that will be most effective, can’t be understated. We learn that initially, getting all your thoughts down on paper by free-writing is an effective way to begin because it gets your creative ideas on paper which will set you up for success before moving onto your first draft. Here you can choose the style and collateral and will want to focus on writing the core of your marketing message first before the introduction or conclusion.
Lurie describes some general rules to follow as a copywriter including:
- always address the reader,
- quality writing is more important than quantity
- sarcasm does not translate well and should be avoided
- you should aim to demonstrate to the reader why they need what the marketer is selling and turn their need into a desire
With the rough draft complete, the next step is to move into polishing it by having a second set of eyes review and help with editing and proofreading. Some common pitfalls are “wordiness” in the writing that causes the reader to lose engagement.
Over the next few lessons we learn many more tips about structure that successful copywriting follows, beginning with the headline. It should be clear, concise and avoid any form of mysteriousness or fear mongering. They should also be A/B tested to see which preform best as they are the first thing the reader will see and is critical to catching and holding their attention. Finally, we learn about the structure of copywriting online. The specifics on number of words per line, lines per paragraph, line and paragraph spacing ratios, use of bullet pointed list, typography choices and sub-header use are all mentioned in how to create effective copy.
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Rewriting Existing Copy
Lurie provides his views about the challenges of re-writing someone else’s copy and best practices. He states that you should not completely re-write the copy but instead focus on simple improvements without changing the structure. Re-writing is not ideal because you don’t know the audience as well as the original writer and it takes far more time. Instead focus should be placed on editing and seeking to removing “wordiness”.
There are differences with online copywriting which places heavy importance on readability. Because readers have a harder time reading long form copy online, we the copy needs to be broken down to shorter paragraphs with use of sub-headers. These principles apply as well to online product descriptions but should also include a clear CTA.
When it comes to copywriting for social media, Lurie states that things are a little different because of the social engagement of the posts. He mentions that best practice is to write like a conversation you would have with a friend. Sincere, kind, brief and enjoyable. He mentions that long form copy is not as effective and that posts should be paired with a relevant picture and non-stock photo to maximize effectiveness.
Conclusion
With a better understanding of effective marketing copy, I can now put my skills to the test in the market. By creating different versions of marketing copy in my Facebook ads, I can conduct A/B split testing to see which versions will resonate more with my target audience. For example, when I’m marketing to B2B clients, I can test an ad with the teaching method versus the scare method. Once I have a method that performs better, I can copy-write different versions using that method and then A/B test those copies to find a single message that truly resonates with my target market.
References
Lurie, I. (2014, May 30). LinkedIn Learning. Learning to write marketing copy. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-to-write-marketing-copy/welcome?u=2109516
Berkley student learning centre. (n.d). Bloated language aka wordiness. Retrieved from https://slc.berkeley.edu/writing-worksheets-and-other-writing-resources/bloated-language-aka-wordiness
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