Posts Tagged ‘copywriter London’

  Hey, I’m a copywriter so I know exactly what my audience wants, right? All they want is an incredible offer and they’ll be putty in my hands. If real life was like that it would be amazing and my job would be very easy. But sadly in the real life creating copy that sells isn’t quite that easy. Sometimes there is a problem with your sales pitch—they simply don’t want to buy your product. You can’t lead a dog of a tablet… Well that’s a well known saying in my house anyway. I have two dogs—one very large chocolate Labrador that’ll ...

  If you are scratching your head trying to come up with the answer to that question, I can confirm it is not… “Once upon a time…” (Just in case you were wondering) Copywriting is sales and marketing writing. It is designed to persuade the reader to buy a product or service. But when I asked ‘how does copywriting start?’ I was thinking more about the process a copywriter goes through. So what do you reckon? Copywriting begins when you start writing? Or… Copywriting begins when you get an assignment? It begins from the very first phone call, email or conversation with ...

Remember this guy? Our old English teachers may have taught us a lot at school, but for many the ghost of English lessons past has curbed their ability to write compelling and powerful copy. Why? Usually it’s because as soon as their writing starts to flow, a little voice mutters in their heads. It’s the voice of their old English teacher - “No slang! No sentence fragments! No Contractions! No colloquialisms!” Well I’ve got news for you Mr English Teacher, these are all perfectly acceptable in the copywriting world. Here are a few examples to illustrate: Sentence fragments Apparently all proper sentences should have a subject-verb-object construction. But in my opinion,  if they communicate complete thoughts, they are a perfectly acceptable tool for a writer. “Get your copy of About the Home today. Full of tips and secrets. ...

Every freelance copywriter will know that every new project brings with it a whole new set of challenges. Which is why it is vital that, before you start anything, you clearly understand the goals of your project. If you know where you need to end up, it will be a lot easier to get there. One of the first questions you should ask your client is what is the purpose of the project? For example, if you are writing a sales letter it is important to remember that what you are writing is going to replace a personal visit or face to face conversation. Whereas face to face a salesman can make eye contact, gain clues from the customer’s body language and counter objections as they arise, your letter can’t do that so the ...

What do the Spice Girls and copywriting have on common? Not an awful lot other than the girls know how to: “Tell ‘em what they want, what they really, really want.” Where as most of the sales writing produced doesn’t. If you’ve tried to save money and produce your own marketing copy I can guess what it looks like. Let’s go through the process you probably followed. You’ve been involved with your product or service since day one. You therefore think it is the best thing since that fantastic Space Dust stuff that crackled on your tongue (I loved that as a kid, didn’t you?). It was you that smoothed out the wrinkles and tweaked until it emerged as a finished article. You are so close to it, your writing was all about ...

Let’s get one thing straight from the start – a copywriter writes to sell. Pure and simple. Of course, their sale writing also has to be interesting enough to make someone want to read it in the first place. That’s all well and good, but how can you ensure your reader will actually buy your product when they land on your website? Well, there are no guarantees – everyone is different and their motivations for buying are different therefore no one can guarantee sales. But what you can do to maximise your chances is to put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Imagine yourself browsing the web. You come across a web page. It looks quite attractive, it has some good images, the copywriting is persuasive but your not completely sold on  the fact that ...

What is the one marketing mistake I see companies making time and time again? It’s all over their website, brochures, leaflets, email marketing – in fact every piece of marketing spiel they produce. Give up? They talk about themselves. Who’s doing the buying? I know you think the world of your company and its products and services, bit to be honest, your customers only care about what you’re going to do for them. A few days ago a sales flyer appeared on my mat along with my post. Normally I don’t bother reading things like that, but this one was particularly colourful and had some good images on it which were quite eye-catching, so I thought ‘why not’. After reading the first paragraph I realised ‘why not’ – the only thing I learned was that this particular window ...

  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 ...

If you’re not a copywriter but want to write some sales copy, where do you start? Well, the best place is with your reader. Your reader will be doing the buying so make sure their needs are placed before your own. That means forget great swathes of writing about how great your company is – your reader doesn’t care – and focus on what your reader wants. But, there’s more to writing sales copy than creating benefits orientated copy. Even the way you structure your payment offers will have an effect on the number of sales you generate. I’m not talking about a choice of payment methods (cheque, PayPal, credit cards etc.), but whether you let them try before they buy, buy now pay later etc. 6 sales boosting payment options You need to ...

Being a great freelance copywriter isn’t all about putting your fingers to a keyboard and creating magical copy that makes everyone go “ooooo” and “arrrhhh” when they read it. Actually that’s the last reaction you want. Your readers shouldn’t even notice your writing – it is the product or service you are writing about that you want them to focus on. Writing “invisible” sales copy is quite an art. Can you hear me? Have you noticed how many sales messages you are faced with every day? From the moment you crawl out of bed you are bombarded by messages. They are on the news, the radio, buses, TV, in emails, on the internet….I could go on forever. Your sales message has to break through all that background noise and grab your readers attention. It ...

Can you write in such a way as to create an emotional bond with your reader? Now there’s a question for you. You can probably guess that I am going to say “yes you can” otherwise this will be one of the shortest blog posts in history! Building rapport with your customers is something that requires a bit of work and a lot of thought. I wasn’t born a copywriter, this was one of the many skills I have learned. It’s easy to connect with someone face to face, but when it comes to the written word things get a little trickier. Show you care “Hey. I’m hired to write sales copy not get emotionally involved with my readers.” Well if that’s your attitude then perhaps copywriting isn’t the career for you. A ...

How does asking questions strengthen your copywriting? Humans are naturally curious creatures. From an early age we learn to questions – why? If you have children you’ll know what I’m talking about! If you were in a sales position with your customer physically in front of you, it would be easy to keep their attention. You can maintain eye contact, you could take them to a side room to chat undisturbed, you can use body language and intonation. But what happens when you’re not in front of your customer? What happens when you have to communicate to them via a brochure, website or sales letter? Don’t panic – it can still be done. As a freelance copywriter I use a simple technique to stimulate a ‘conversation’ with reader even though you are not physically ...

Article marketing is an excellent way to promote your business and elevate yourself to expert status within your field. With that comes trust and increased sales - but it doesn't happen over night. As it is one of the cheapest ways to market yourself, it seems mad that so many businesses shy away from it. Getting started The hardest part of article writing is getting started. How do you come up with ideas? When you have the idea, how do you start the article? If it's any comfort, once you're over those hurdles you'll get a great feeling when you've finished it. One reason many people put forwards as an excuse not to write articles is that they don't think their writing is good enough. But remember, it's only an article - you're not trying to bag ...

Before I get going let me get something off my chest... KEEP YOUR COPYWRITING SIMPLE! That's better. If there's one thing I hate to see it is web copy, or any kind of sales copy for that matter, that is littered with jargon. Why??? Sales writing must be accessible to everyone who reads it so please don't cram it with jargon or long winded words and sentences. There are no prizes for the longest word I'm sure I'm not alone when I recount the number of times I have sat down to read what I thought was going to be an informative article, sales brochure or website only to be bored to tears. The sad thing is I probably didn't even get past the first few sentences. As a copywriter, the most important thing to remember is that ...

  You may have spent hours putting together a pretty advert which is very informative. Great - I'm sure you're very pleased with it, which you should be assuming you weren’t hoping to make any money from it. But I have a feeling the main reason for going to all that trouble was to make money so you may have a problem. You've just blown your marketing budget on a nice piece of paper that won't sell. The copywriting (or sales writing) on your advert is there to perform 2 functions – it tells your reader what your product is but it must also be persuasive enough to make them buy it. Not always an easy combination to achieve. ...

All  freelance copywriters understand what is required to get their readers to do what they want. It isn't some dark mystical secret but rather the skill of getting inside their heads to understand what makes them tick. Psychology is a big part of the copywriting process. The real key to effective copywriting is understanding how your reader feels, what they are looking for in life and what problems they are looking for solutions to. It might sound daunting, but it is easily achieved. The first step is to put yourself in the shoes of your reader – why would they want the product you are selling? What will they get out of it? What problem could they have that would be solved by it? Don't guess because you'll get it horribly wrong - ...

  The world is becoming more and more virtual every day. As a website copywriter it is my job to help you to create an engaging website that's interesting, relevant and converts visitors into customers – no pressure then! You might think your website already satisfies these criteria, but it is worth reading on just to check. I'm sure you've come across many a website that has been unreadable. I’m not just talking about dodgy copy that has been over stuffed with keywords, or bad translations of foreign sites. What I'm getting at is those sites that are literally unreadable because of the layout and colours. I ...

  Copywriting is sales writing. Therefore as a freelance copywriter it is my job to make my  client's marketing materials (whatever form they take) sell. All too often companies marketing efforts fail miserably because they just describe rather than convince the reader to buy the product or service. It is vital that your copywriting converts your readers into buyers otherwise you'll end up with an ever increasing marketing spend with nothing to show for it. And that's not a good place to be.  How your copywriting can boost your sales Great sales writing takes practice and a bit of know-how. Below is a list of techniques you can use to get your ...

  OK, you're right, copywriting isn't just there to make someone buy. You might want them to call you, visit your website or book an appointment. But if your aim is to get your reader to buy, how on earth can a copywriter know how to make that happen? The life of a freelance copywriter would be much easier if we were all fitted at birth with a little button that could be pressed to make us open our wallets. To narrow our search down for that illusive trigger let's clarify what definitely won’t make people buy - clever marketing. It doesn’t matter how pretty your ad looks, how witty ...

Finally you've reached the final stage of the AIDA saga. The past few articles have shown you how to grab your readers’ attention, get their interest, and create a desire for your product. Now all you have to do is get them to take action. The best way to get your reader to take action is through the use of testimonials. These are a fantastic motivator and a tool that every freelance copywriter should have in their writing armoury. Avoid the temptation edit client testimonials. They may contain the odd grammatical or punctuation error but this is exactly what you want – it makes them real. Another way is by offering free samples, statistics, a free trial or money-back guarantee. If you have the option of using these why not use them all or a combination ...

My previous two articles have looked at how to attract attention and interest so now we are onto the 'D' of AIDA - so just how do you create a desire? Any sales person will confirm that getting someone to interested in something is one thing, but to get them to want it is entirely different. That's because what we actually want makes up only a small percentage of the things we are interested in. As a freelance copywriter I always keep one thought in mind whenever writing for clients - when someone wants something they’ll convince themselves that they really need it. Bring the product to life You need to use words to create a picture and make your readers 'see’ what their lives would be like with your product. Play on their emotions. Will they appear ...

Following on from my last article, we're now going to discover how you can attract your readers' interest in what you are selling. How do you do that? Well, your reader has a problem – they are feeling stressed, bored or unfulfilled. It's down to you to find a way to tie your product to their problem as the solution. A metaphorical arm around their shoulder Freelance copywriters can be described as counsellors. We have to be able to show our readers that we understand how they feel. We then we promise to take the problem away - all  they have to do is buy your product. The golden rule here is to make sure you write about the solution not the problem – negativity won't help your case. Think about this question - ‘How will my reader’s life be ...