Ten steps to sensational copywriting you can take right now

In a noisy world, every word, phrase and sentence you write needs to sing. This means your copy must be pitch perfect.

I’m often asked what a copywriter does, usually by my dad, who as a builder by trade has never really been able to get his head around how words can earn you a living.

I would pick up the nearest item with a label on it and tell him: “See those words? That is copywriting.”

In fairness, that answer does copywriters a disservice, because I’ve oversimplified it massively. The real answer is far broader, almost universal in scope and covers every piece of commercial literature you might set your eyes on.

I haven’t always been a copywriter. I frowned upon it once, when I was working at a newspaper. I always viewed copywriting as an easy option. How hard could it be, banging out a few sentences about a random product?

How wrong could I be? Copywriting is a craft.

Entering copywriting from a journalism background can have its disadvantages. A misguided sense of superiority on the part of the journalist is just one of them. Another is that you are expected to know what you are doing, when in fact it’s as if you’re learning another language.

I’ve now done this long enough to be able to share some points that will make your copywriting sing. Some you will know, maybe others you won’t. All are worth thinking about.

Let me share them with you.

1. Know your product: This sounds obvious, but it’s astonishing how often this is overlooked. A proficient copywriter will gather every piece of information they can find that might help them shape their words. Within this knowledge will be the one thing that will make that product a must-have.

2. Put yourself in the mind of the customer: What would they ask about your product? What could they care less about? Are you targeting a specific market? If so, does this industry sector tend to demand technical detail? How can you connect with the customer and persuade them to shop with your brand?

3. Let your copy marinate: Ernest Hemmingway famously stated that “the first draft of everything is shit,” and that applies to copy. Write, then step away, move onto something else, overnight if possible, and approach it with fresh eyes. I will guarantee you will write a second draft.

4. Check your facts, grammar, spelling: Yes, those fundamental aspects of writing that seem to be regularly overlooked. Except they’re not. Someone is judging you on this and asking themselves what kind of product you’re trying to sell if you can’t even spell.

5. Have passion for your product: This will go hand in hand with having an intimate knowledge of it. The more intimate you become with your product or service, the better your prose will be. Take time to acquaint yourself, experience it, live it.

6. Edit, hack, hone: Save your 3,000 word essay. Believe me, your customer has neither the time nor the inclination to take a rambling journey through the history of your product. They want to know what makes it great and how that applies to them. Period. Be economic with your words.

7. Feature, benefit: In that order. Tell the customer something interesting about your product, and then how it will improve their lives. And repeat.

8. Zhuzh it up: As a former marketing boss was always fond of telling me. Add some spice, make your copy pop. And don’t be precious. You are a mercenary, writing for money. If the boss wants more zing, give it some.

9. Write for the common man: Also applies in journalism, where you are told very early on that your writing must be understood by everyone, from a duke to a dustman. Simplify and talk plainly.

10. Think globally: We exist in a global marketplace and you don’t want your copy to literally be lost in translation. Avoid terms peculiar to your region, anything colloquial, and all slang. It won’t translate and worse, you might even offend.

I’ll leave this at ten points for now, but I could go on. The most important takeaway is that you are in a unique position to influence someone into taking notice of your client through your writing. This is a powerful and responsible position to be in. You are a persuader.

Now, go write some copy.

Never underestimate the power of a great image

Velobici’s Modernist Thermal campaign was shot in Cornwall. Image: Chris Puttnam

When was the last time you flicked through a magazine or scrolled a website and paused to read anything that wasn’t accompanied by an image? If you did, I would wager it was a tiny piece, maybe a sentence. A filler.

You probably don’t remember what that sentence was about, or the brand, if any, it promoted.

The human mind is tuned to recognise images. It processes the information contained within them with incredible speed and accuracy. This is an evolutionary instinct from our days as hunter gatherers, searching for food. Words on the other hand, are cutting edge technology from the perspective of the human mind, and some of us still don’t know how to read.

So when it comes to getting your brand message across, the image is king. It is therefore astonishing that so many brands still fail to appreciate the value of an image when it comes to transmitting a message. In the era of ecommerce, when so many customers are to be reached online, desperate to spend their money, the lack of quality images can cost sales.

Images when engaged in public relations are no less important. Many would argue they are more so, when you consider an image in a publication could be an individual’s introduction to a brand.

Yet time and again, brands fail to grasp this. Press releases are distributed with low-res or poorly shot images. On one occasion recently we heard of a brand that thought it could distribute a release announcing a new product with nothing more than a CAD to support it visually.

“Journalists are time poor and inundated with press approaches. They do not have time to request images”

Journalists are time poor and inundated with press approaches. They do not have time to request images from brands, and often their deadlines will not allow it. Failure to distribute a press release without a bank of accompanying images will more often than not result in failure of the campaign.

One glossy magazine journalist we spoke to rejects more than 50 press approaches per day on the basis of poor images. Without even looking at the release.

The solution to this is obvious. With every press release you send, or ask your PR company to send, ensure it is accompanied by a bulging media kit. In this kit should be a selection of images for every eventuality; location shots, product shots on white backgrounds, mannequin or model shots, and of course everything in a decent resolution and with the option of both landscape or portrtait. For multimedia, add a short video.

Don’t cut corners by providing shots used elsewhere on your ecommerce site because the journalist isn’t in the business of providing you with an advert. They need exclusive images, produced at the shooting stage which will not appear commercially. The same goes for video. In other words, if you are using an image on your site, you shouldn’t consider it worthy of distribution to the media.

Brand owners will balk at this additional layer of faff, but the bottom line is, that if the necessary images aren’t available, the campaign isn’t ready. Launching without them is premature and will result in diluted impact.

It is an unfortunate fact that many campaigns are launched with few or no image assets. In the rush to make an announcement, the long, drawn-out process of collating images is considered too costly and time consuming. The result, time and time again is the failure of the campaign. At best it is received by the media with a slow clap, at worst a shrug.

To make matters worse, even the inclusion of a comprehensive media kit won’t guarantee you coverage. That decision ultimately rests with the editor.

But by taking the time to provide everything a journalist needs, you are increasing your chances of coverage and potentially placing yourself ahead of the competition.

And in this cut throat fight for media attention, you need every trick in the box.