You may not have a professional copywriter on hand to help you with that project that just landed on your desk.  You may not be the best writer.

No problem.  There are just a few key concepts that gives your marketing or web copy that extra bit of zing to get results.

Be Direct
Too often, when someone is tasked with a project to be published, they load up the thesaurus and attempt to type a novel.  You want to impress, right?

Stop that.  Let folks know exactly what you offer.  And be quick about it.  They don’t have time to ponder your talents as a wordsmith.

Example:

• A) “At ACME Motors, we pride ourselves on showcasing the finest selection of sophisticated luxury vehicles for the discriminating tastes of automobile aficionados.”
• B) “Drive Home Your Luxury Dream Car Today”

ACME Motors sells nice cars.  In example A they seem to flatter me, implying that I might be a car connoisseur, which is nice.  But what are they offering?  I’d much rather take option B and drive home my luxury dream car today.

Keep in mind that in all these examples, the best option could potentially be different, depending on YOUR company.  For example, if ACME’s best customers are a pretentious bunch, then maybe a variation of option A works.  This is important for the next point.

Know Thy Customer
Your marketing copy is like having a conversation with your favorite customer, the person who happily buys all your products.  Who is that person?  What do they like to do?  What do they view online?

More importantly, what are their problems, their concerns?  Can you help them?

Write to that person.  If you can’t win over this star customer, then you’ll bore the rest of us and soon you’ll just be talking to yourself.

It’s All About Me Me Me!
That’s who I’m looking out for.  Me, the customer.  And I’m not really interested in what your company does behind the scenes.  Please let me know what YOU can do for ME.

Here’s another ACME scenario:

• ACME Freight has kept pace with developments to build a strong foundation for the business moving forward into new areas of shipping and a new age. ACME Freight is one of the world’s most successful transport and logistics organizations. We have offices in New York, London, Dubai, Shanghai and Sydney. We understand that we must continue to strive for the highest standards of quality, excellence and value in an increasingly competitive market to deliver the highest standard of logistics for our customers.

Did you make it to the end of that without falling asleep?  The copy is proud to use the words “we” and “our” but unfortunately none of us are interested.  ACME Freight should use variations of “you” instead to say what they can offer me, me, me, the customer.

• Having trouble getting your shipments cleared in customs? From door to door, ACME Freight takes care of all the hassle for you and ensures that your shipments arrive safely and on time.

I feel better already.  I don’t want to fill out government paperwork and follow up on orders.  ACME Freight will do it all of me.  I don’t care where their offices are.  I am happy that they are solving MY logistics problem.

Break Up Large Blocks of Text
People on the web skim over text, they don’t read all of it.  Even printed documents barely get a glance these days.

Instead of an ocean of words try using:

• Bulleted lists.
• Short paragraphs (even as small as one sentence!)
• Meaningful sub-headers.
• Key words in Bold or

Use a Call to Action (CTA)
After using the above tips your copy is starting to look appealing and you’ve successfully addressed your customer’s needs.  Now what?

Let your reader know exactly what to do next.  Your CTA should:

• Be direct.
• Create urgency.
• Convey value.
• If there is a process, show that it’s easy.

Imagine these two examples are email links to a website:

• A) Click here to sign-up for Additional Marketing Copy Tips
• B) 2 Days Only: Get 10 Bonus Marketing Copy Tips ($29 value) for Free

In both cases I want to capture your email information by offering more marketing copy tips.

Example A appears to provide simple instructions, and yet “sign-up” sounds like a process—too much work.  “Additional” is ambiguous; how many do I get?  I also prefer to drop “click here”, a leftover from the early days when we didn’t know where to click.

Example B tells you exactly what you get: ten bonus tips—normally priced at $29—for free and I have two days to take advantage of the offer.  I’d better get them now!

Here is the Real CTA
If you found any of these tips helpful, please like and share.  Thank you!