If you think of a piece of copy, the main elements that you’ll immediately think of are the headline, body copy and call to action.
These are all very important aspects of any piece of copywriting, but they aren’t the be all and end all. There are other elements that a freelance copywriter can use to get their message across to the reader.
To get your copy noticed it has to stand out from the crowd. There are so many marketing messages out there today, if yours isn’t conspicuous it will fade away into the background noise. But to help get your message noticed you can use three very useful tools:
- Subheadings
- Captions
- Call outs
Sub headings
When you were a child and chose a new book to read, if you opened the page to be faced by a solid page of text, did you put it back? I know I did. Solid text is not attractive – it looks as though it’s going to be hard going and therefore is unlikely to be read.
The same goes for your copywriting. If a reader lands on your website or picks up your brochure and immediately sees row upon row of text – they ain’t gonna read it!
The use of sub headings will make your text easier to digest. They will act as little sign posts, showing your reader what information is where so they can dip in and out at their leisure. It will also generate more ‘white space’ on your page which makes it more attractive to the eye.
Captions
Captions are the short pieces of text you’ll find that accompany a graph, photo or drawing. They serve 2 purposes:
- The identify what the illustration is
- The link the illustration to your copy
Linking it to your copy helps the reader make sense of your image. For example, if the image was of someone using your product, your caption would describe to the reader what the picture was showing. If it was a chart, it would explain its meaning – such as: 85% of people asked expressed a preference to Miracle Clean compared to the leading brand.
Callouts
Call outs help you emphasis pieces of information. They are great for when you don’t want to interrupt the flow of your text. Also, if the information is so important you’ll want to draw special attention to it.
To do this you can use: bursts, callouts and sidebars.
What’s the difference?
A burst is a colourful graphic that attracts your readers’ attention to a particular point. These can be used to show a special offer or perhaps to emphasize a special feature:
A callout is a section of text, often in a different font or colour, designed to come across as a ‘stage whisper’. They are frequently used to give customer quotes, important information, or important reminders:
A sidebar is a box of copy which is set to the side of the main text area. hese are ideal when you need to include larger sections of text without it interrupting your main body copy. They are ideal for customer testimonials, quotes, shipping details, statistical information etc.
So as you can see, a copywriter has a number of tools available to them which can be used to create interest and hype around a product.
Using these three features will compliment your text and simplify your message. The result will be a clear sales message enhanced by eye catching features which will help convince your reader to buy.