Next time you receive a sales call at home, resist the temptation to hang up immediately. Listen to how the caller pitches her product instead. You'll notice how the "best" cold-callers communicate benefits in an attempt to whet your appetite for their product.  

Benefits are essential to writing persuasively because they pull emotional triggers. For detailed tips on how to think in terms of benefits, visit http://www.copywriting-designers.com/free_tutorial.html. Then read the tips below for additional rules that lie at the heart of all persuasive copy.

Demonstrate how the reader can benefit from the product.

The key to being persuasive is in helping readers to picture themselves using the product.

Do this by spoon-feeding contexts where the product would be desirable or beneficial. This ad copy for kitchen furniture proves that even mundane objects can be simulated desirably:

It’s where there’s always space for an unexpected guest.

It’s where you’ll spread out the maps for your next adventure.

…and where you’ll reminisce over the last one.

It’s a hot bed of family gossip.

It’s much more than simply a table.

Be specific—use examples.

People respond to specific facts, concrete examples, and details of content. People tend to ignore anonymous opinion, empty expressions, and meaningless phrases.

Every time you find yourself giving ‘opinions’ about the product, ask yourself if you can cut them out or reinforce them with facts or concrete benefits.

Opinion                                                                             

Great writers 

Specific                                           

From Shakespeare to Hardy.

Opinion     

Informative articles 

Specific    

Articles include our obsession with celebrity, Rastafarianism, and three very different islands.

Opinion    

Stylish dresses                                           

Specific

Dresses designed by Jackobson, Ralph, and Lorreine

Opinion    

Innovative kitchen appliances 

Specific                 

Automatic bottle-openers, voice-activated microwaves, and solar kettles.

Opinion    

Experienced staff                                        

Specific

Our staff have a collective 120 years of experience working with brand managers like you.

Opinion    

Efficient machines      

Specific                              

Our machines will pay for themselves in just 5 months.

Be specific—quantify where possible.

Your product will look more desirable if you can quantify its features and benefits.

For example, a product that has brand new components will be desirable, but a product that has over 10 brand new components will be even more desirable.

Here are four ways you can quantify your points:

·        Say how many people have bought the product.

National best-seller—over 1,000,000 copies sold!

Thousands of secretaries all over the USA recommend the ZX hole-punch

·        Put a figure to your product’s features.

550 new words

A new low: only five patients to each ward

·        Quantify and elaborate on words such as NEW, MORE, and EXTRA:

100% NEW!

50% Extra!

10 NEW chapters!

MORE guidance, MORE practice, MORE reference

·        Tell the reader how long it will take for them to benefit from the product.

Self-sufficiency in as little as 6 months

A prize is won every 3 seconds

Use vivid words instead of clichés.

Novel words are more effective at conjuring an image than hackneyed words. Get into the habit of using a thesaurus—a good thesaurus will help you to be more inventive with your choice of words.

Cliché                                            Vivid

Money                                            Cash

Clean                                              Immaculate

Clear                                              Crisp

Cool                                               Frosty

Strong                                            Rock-solid

Slim                                                Slender

Fitted                                              Snug

Innovative                                       Breakthrough

Successful                                      Blockbusting

Includes                                          Bursting with

 End your copy sections with benefit statements.

The final sentence in each paragraph has particular significance, as it may be the last thing your reader reads before he or she loses interest in your publicity and puts it down.

One way to sign off is to wrap up the points imbedded in the paragraph with a final summarizing benefit statement—what does it all mean for the reader?

Example without benefit statement:

If you need treatment you will be given a choice of nearly 270 quality-assessed hospitals nationwide. Their facilities include private rooms, en-suite restrooms, personal telephones, radio and television.

Example with benefit statement:

If you need treatment you will be given a choice of nearly 270 quality-assessed hospitals nationwide. Their facilities include private rooms, en-suite restrooms, personal telephones, radio and television. So wherever you are you can rest assured you’re always within easy reach of comfortable care in pleasant surroundings that feels… just like home.

 Adapted from 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers

© Shaun Crowley 2008

Write like you are talking to a friend—address the reader as ‘you’.
Friendly-sounding copy really makes people want to read on. The easiest way to make your copy friendly is to address the reader personally. Pretend you are talking to just one person, someone you know who fits the description of your target audience.
Example:
You don’t need thousands of pounds to start investing with SureBank. You can open a lump sum or regular investment from as little as $20. And when you do, there are no upfront fees reducing your initial investment before it’s even started.

Avoid passive statements.
Being direct isn’t just about using the word you, it’s also about using the words we and us. Publicity that speaks in the first person can make the brand or company feel accessible and welcoming.

Passive
Your reservation has been booked.
Direct
We have booked your reservation.

Passive
A free bottle of wine will be given to everyone who opens an account.
Direct
Open an account with us and we’ll give you a free bottle of wine.

Direct the reader—use commands.
Command verbs are direct. They urge the reader to take action, and they also help you to get straight into the product’s benefits.
Examples:
Make sure your home looks stunning this Christmas with a seriously cool sofa …

Imagine a camera that reached out to wherever your creativity took flight …

Write the way the product would speak.
Imagine your client’s brand is a person. Would it be male or female? Sophisticated or no-nonsense? Understated or extroverted? Wise or enthusiastic? Once you’ve established who your product is, try writing the way it would speak.
Examples:
Seductive: With 34% cocoa in each piece, one is almost enough on its own. Almost.
Understated: Quality speaks for itself
Fun-loving: Pop a pack in your pocket
No-nonsense male: It does exactly what it says on the tin
No-nonsense female: Models wanted for fashion shoots. Must be visible when standing side-on. Please contact She magazine.

Get straight to the point.
Your reader will give your copy around 5 seconds before deciding whether to read on or put your publicity down. Your first few lines must introduce the product and get into your sales pitch. A common mistake made by copywriters is spending too long ‘warming up’ the reader before attempting to sell the product. Take a look at this example for a polythene printer:

Today’s packaging floors handle far greater numbers of machines including baggers, sealers, labellers and printers.

Today’s small packaging companies work under the constant threat of new, international competition, and need to think about how to integrate all areas of their business into one manageable floor space. Enter the new T-900 table top machine...

All this maybe true, but the person reading the copy will already know this. The ‘threat of international competition’ informs their daily activities, so reading statements like these is a waste of time. Chances are, the publicity will be trashed before the reader even gets to the product. This is what the copy should say:

The new T-900 is a table-top machine that will increase your output and cut labor costs at the same time. It can pack, seal, and label products in one simple operation—all at the touch of a screen panel—guaranteeing the most accurate packing and printing.

Address your reader as an intelligent individual.
Flattery is a good way to engage your readers, but it doesn't have to be overt. All good copy subtly makes the reader feel special. Your copy should address the reader as intelligent, important, honest, popular, or shrewd, so your reader feels confident in their decision to buy the product.

Instead of:
You probably don’t know that the new KTW3 is available interest free credit …
Say:
Most people don’t know that new KTW3 is available interest free credit …

Instead of:
Try our new headphones for 30 days and you’ll see how dramatically they reduce noise, how clean and full they sound and how comfortably they fit.
Say:
We don’t expect you to take our word for how dramatically our new headphones reduce noise, how clean and full they sound or how comfortably they fit. So we invite you to try them for 30 days.

Give the reader a reason to read on.
You need to sell your reader the benefits of reading your copy in order to complete your sales pitch and sell the product. That’s why one of the goals of each sentence is to persuade the reader to read the next. There are three common ways copywriters do this:

Throw in teaser questions.
Example:
Kiln told us their new carving knife can actually clean itself after use. Our first reaction… Surely that's not possible? Is it?

Promise an interesting nugget of information.
Example:
How can intermediate learners become better communicators in English? Ruth Ganes and Stuart Greenman put their views to the test on 200 students from 20 different countries. Their results were remarkable.

Whet the reader's appetite for the following material.
Example:
Over the page: How to double your turnover before you even switch your computer on...

Focus the reader’s attention on the product, not your writing style.
If you are writing ad copy, always remember that you are writing to sell, not to be clever, funny, zany, or entertaining. Humorous concepts can work very well if the humor is consistent with your message. But as a general rule, avoid writing your entire copy in a humorous style. Funny copy is only appropriate if:

• The humor reflects the product’s brand image.
• Your target audience will identify with the content and style of the humor.
• The humor is not likely to offend.

Adapted from 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers.

© Shaun Crowley 2008

Shaun Crowley has worked as a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant. He currently works as a communications manager for a major UK publishing company and is the author of The Freelance Designer's Self-Marketing Handbook and 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers and Other Freelance Artists.

That’s why the first job of your copy is to catch their attention with a killer line and a well-chosen visual that forces them to take notice of what your publicity is saying.

The following tips reinforce what you already know about creating attention-grabbing visuals, by showing you how to achieve attention-grabbing copy, as well as helping you to achieve copy and visuals that work together.

Use headlines.
Headlines have three functions:
1 To grab attention
2 To select the audience
3 To draw the reader into the body copy

My post on writing headlines includes 13 headlines that are proven to grab attention and draw the reader into the copy.

Support headlines with a visual.
As a designer, you specialize in using images to grab people's attention. Finding interesting visual ways to reinforce your headlines could give you an edge over less visual-oriented copywriters!

Even if your readers glance over the copy to look at the pictures, your choice of visuals should leave them with a fair idea of what the product messages are.

Include captions next to photos.
People normally scan marketing collateral before they decide whether to read it or not.

Your readers will look for sound-bites in the same way they might when scanning a newspaper.

Picture captions give you an opportunity to get your message across fast, and encourage a reluctant browser to read more thoroughly.

So when you include a photo or visual, ask yourself if it’s appropriate to complement it with a caption.

Order your messages ‘top heavy’.
Benefit-led copy attracts more attention than "me me me" copy—so put the benefits first!

Below are two examples of copy that say the same things. The first is ‘bottom heavy’, the second is ‘top heavy’. It’s clear which one grabs the most attention.

Bottom heavy copy
For over ten years, we have provided educational support services to the business community
With a proven history of excellence, you are guaranteed quality when you choose Markup for your in-house training needs. You’ll find your load lightened, your days freed, and your company more organized so you can spend your time increasing sales instead of training your staff. Leave the training to us, so you can focus on making money!

Top heavy copy
Markup in-house training lightens your load
Tired of losing sales because you’re constantly training staff? Have too much to do and not enough time to do it? Those are the situations where Markup professionals can help you regain control. Use Markup and you’ll find your load lightened, your days freed, and your company more organized—so you can spend more of your time increasing sales.

For over ten years we have provided educational support to the business community. With a proven history of excellence, you are guaranteed quality when you choose Markup for your in-house training needs.

Show the need and ‘get the nod’.
If your readers are agreeing with you from the very first sentence, they are more likely to read the rest of your copy. That’s why copywriters often create a need in the opening lines that the audience can identify with.

Example:
Unwanted noise is everywhere. The engine roar inside an aeroplane cabin. The blaring sounds of city streets. The annoying din of the office. Our new PeaceComfort Acoustic Noise Cancelling headphones let you escape it all. Put them on and slip into a safe haven – where you can relax and enjoy peace and solitude or listen to your favorite music.

Highlight the magic words.
There are certain words and phrases that are proven to catch attention. Use flashes and highlighting techniques with the following:

FREE
NEW
IMPROVED
EXTRA
MONEY OFF
SALE
MORE
TWO FOR ONE
BUY ONE GET ONE FREE
COMING SOON
GUARANTEED
WINNER
HOW TO…
DID YOU KNOW…?

Adapted from 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers.

© Shaun Crowley 2008

Shaun Crowley has worked as a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant. He currently works as a communications manager for a major UK publishing company and is the author of The Freelance Designer's Self-Marketing Handbook and 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers and Other Freelance Artists.

- Do you know what the key selling points are?
- Have you and your client agreed on a central message?
- Do you know exactly who you’re writing to—and what will appeal to them most?
- Have you listed the product’s key features and benefits?
- Are you clear on the aims of the promotion?
- Do you know what action you are asking the reader to take?
- Have you established a ‘concept’ or an ‘angle’ to direct your copy?

Are there any questions listed above that you can't answer? If so, go back and review the key answers your client gave you in the briefing meeting.

Ready to start? Use the following tips to help you structure your copy and avoid the dreaded writer’s block!

Start by laying out the basics
- What is the product and who is it for?
- What is unique about the product?
- What are the product’s most appealing features? What are the benefits of those features?
- What is the overall benefit of the product? What does it all mean for the reader?

Think about your reader
If your copy is looking uninspiring, try writing from your reader’s point of view. Think about who your readers are and what their needs are. Start by pretending to be a typical reader. Use your meeting notes to create a picture of his/her daily routines, motivations, aspirations, and fears. Try to incorporate the following into your copy:

- Identify and recognize the reader’s need for the product.
- Convince the reader that the product can fulfil that need (by talking about the relevant features and benefits).

Use A.I.D.C.A.
AIDCA is the industry-standard format for structuring a sales pitch. It stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Conviction, and Action.

Attention
Draw the reader into your body copy with an arresting headline and visual.

Interest
State the Unique Selling Point and show how the product meets the reader’s needs.

Desire
Communicate benefits to whet the reader’s appetite for the product.

Conviction
Prove the product’s superiority with statistics and testimonials to close the sale and make the reader feel he/she has no alternative but to act.

Action
Create a sense of urgency to encourage the reader to respond right now!

Don’t judge what you’re writing—just write!
The first stage of writing is to go into free-writing auto-drive! Strive for quantity over quality. Go back and revise later.

Don’t worry about whether your copy is good or not during the first draft stage—the only way to get 1000 sparkling words is to start with 3000 muddled words. Starting with short text and filling out with unnecessary sentences will make for woolly copy.

© Shaun Crowley 2007

Shaun Crowley has worked as a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant. He currently works as a communications manager for a major UK publishing company and is the author of The Freelance Designer's Self-Marketing Handbook and 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers and Other Freelance Artists.

There are two processes that that are crucial to finding an effective advertising concept: Identifying common traits amongst the target demographic; and brainstorming product benefits that respond to these traits.

The first thing a copywriter should do at the start of every project is get into the mind of the reader and strive to understand the readers' need for the product.

Identify the practical needs of your reader.
Your copy needs to engage the readers’ practical needs so you can provide a rational argument for buying the product. Here are a few examples of practical needs:

- To conserve space
- To limit risk
- To do a good job
- To improve quality
- To keep peers motivated
- To keep clean
- To stay healthy
- To save time
- To increase production
- To make work easier
- To save money
- To make money

Identify the emotional needs of your reader.
Your copy should also respond to readers’ deeper fears and desires. A product that helps someone keep clean is one thing, but a product that saves someone the embarrassment of BO is another.

Think about which of the following emotional needs are important to your reader, then show how your product fulfils those needs. Here are some common emotional needs that most products seek to respond to:

- To feel attractive
- To feel fit and healthy
- To receive acclaim
- To be liked
- To be appreciated
- To feel important
- To feel secure
- To feel relaxed
- To be independent
- To have more than others
- To have fun
- To gain knowledge
- To eliminate worry
- To save embarrassment
- To avoid feeling guilty
- To stop fear

Consider your reader’s emotional needs in business-to-business marketing.
People are generally expected to act rationally at work where every dollar must be accounted for. But it is a common misconception that business managers only have practical needs. Whether we are at home or at work, our decisions are always based on emotions to some degree.

For example, if a product helps a factory manager to improve the efficiency of his production line, he’s interested. But why?

Because if he increases line output, he receives acclaim from the company director and feels like a successful manager. That’s the real, emotive benefit!

Think in terms of benefits.
This is the golden rule for every advertising copywriter. In general, benefit-led brochures, adverts and websites are more successful than feature-led brochures, adverts, and websites—even those that are technically badly written.

Good copywriters have an eye for a potential benefit. It’s not a divine skill; it’s something you can pick up in a few hours. First you need to familiarize yourself with the differences between benefits and features.

Distinguishing features from benefits
A feature is factual. It describes the product by answering these questions:
- what is it?
- what has it got?
- what comes with it?

A benefit is emotional. It tells the reader what they will gain as a result of the feature.
- What does it do?
- What does it mean for me?
- It’s got X. So what?

Benefits are verbs
The best way to condition your mind into thinking in terms of benefits is to approach the task linguistically. A benefit is always an action. So when you’re trying to find a benefit, start with a verb. Here are a few examples:

- Improve ( ‘Calculate improves your child’s Math results’)
- Help ( ‘The pen that helps you see in the dark’)
- Stop ( ‘Sure-dent stops decay’)
- Start ( ‘Start making real money, now!’)
- Feel (‘Feel like you’re ten years younger’)
- Be (‘Be the success you always dreamed of’)

It’s a benefit… but is it persuasive?
To help you identify your most persuasive benefit, elaborate by using linking phrases such as which means that... until you have found your most persuasive benefit. The following example proves the point.

How a simple toaster can help you get that BIG promotion
1. The new XYZ toaster tells you when your toast is just right
2. (which means that…)
you don’t need to waste time checking your toast
3. (which means that…)
you can spend breakfast preparation getting ready for work
(which means that…)
you’ll be able to take that early train each morning
5. (which means that…)
you’ll impress your boss with your new-found time-keeping skills
6. (which means that…)
you’ll be next in line for that big promotion

Sure, this benefit is far-fetched, but you see how it works. Just use “…which means that…” until you get to the heart of the product’s premise.

(Try my tutorial for more help with brainstorming benefits, and to see how you can use benefits to write effective self-promo material to sell your design service.)

Benefits satisfy needs
To identify a product benefit, think about your reader’s practical and emotional needs, then say how the product responds to that need.

Emotional benefits are best
Emotional needs are more powerful motivators than practical needs. If you can only think of practical benefits, continue using "Which means that…" until you touch a nerve:

E.G.
Feature: The new Vintage has rear-bumper sensors...
Practical benefit: ...which means you can park in the tightest of spaces with ease...
Emotional benefit: ... which means you can take your car downtown with confidence
(need: to feel secure, to be independent, to eliminate the worry associated with driving)

Should you always highlight benefits?
In brochures or catalogs where readers may want to compare features and statistics, it may not be appropriate to increase your word count with benefit-oriented copy. However, in most cases benefits should be spelt out clearly. Even if you think your readers already know the benefits of a given feature, remind them.

In summary, winning copy-concepts are built around the copywriter’s understanding of the reader’s need for the product, and an ability to define a clear product-benefit that fulfils those needs.

Get the idea? Then see how you can put this into practice by reading 13 copy-design concepts that sell, or take a look at my book 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers.

© Shaun Crowley 2007

Shaun Crowley has worked as a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant. He currently works as a communications manager for a major UK publishing company and is the author of The Freelance Designer's Self-Marketing Handbook and 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers and Other Freelance Artists.

More important than writing skills are your questioning skills. Ask your client the right questions and you’ll leave your briefing meeting with a clear understanding of the product's sales message. Know your sales message, and your job is half done; you just write it in plain English.

A sales message is the one thing about the product that customers will find most appealing. In short, it is your ‘reason-to-buy’.

Agree a persuasive message with your client and your copy is likely to be effective—even without stylistic frills, clever turns-of-phrases, or lashings of wit.

Of course, to be a great cpywriter, you need to have an engaging style, and that can take years of practice to develop. But you don't need to be a born Shakespeare to write ad-copy that fulfils its basic job: to sell.

The fact of the matter is: even the most well-written advertising copy is useless if the writer hasn’t communicated a clear reason why the reader should buy the product.

The importance of the client meeting
Quite often, copywriter clients have no idea what their product's sales message should be. Even more often, clients have assumed a sales message that hasn't been properly challenged and deconstructed.

It is therefore the copywriter's first task to extract as much information as possible, and to evaluate this information in order to establish a clear, relevant, and sellable message with the client.

The time you spend with your client is crucial. Only your client knows what customers like most about the product. Only your client understands what the brand means to customers, and how it should be presented in marketing communications. And of course, only your client knows what the aims of your copy are.

But... Your client is unlikely to tell you everything you need to know unprompted. You need to ask the right questions before and during your client meeting, so you can make good use of your time together.

Here is a quick checklist of discussion objectives for your meeting:

Understand the product.
Remember that you are not an expert on the product, so don’t be afraid of asking questions that may appear overly simple. You may stumble upon false assumptions or unique aspects of the product that your client has failed to recognize.

Understand your audience.
Identify the general demographic of your typical reader (e.g. age, gender, occupation, etc), as well as psychological demographic and any behavioral commonalities (daily routine, ways of using the product, etc).

Know the purpose of your copy.
Before you start writing, you need to be clear on the aim of the promotion so you know what kind of action you are asking the reader to take.

Understand how the item will it be read.
Identify the context in which your copy will be read. This knowledge may be useful when you think about the length, tone, and presentation of your copy.

Find out what marketing strategies the item responds to.
Although unlikely to inform your copy directly, you should be aware of your client’s business goals, as this knowledge will help you to communicate with your client more effectively as you discuss the sales message.

Find out what has worked in the past.
Take a few minutes to go through past publicity with your client to find out what has worked and what hasn’t. If the target audience responded well to a particular type of product message, there may be no point in reinventing the wheel.

Make a features and benefits table with your client.
If you only take one set of notes away from your client meeting, make sure it’s a complete list of product features and corresponding benefits.

Gather case study examples, facts, statistics, interesting stories, and testimonials.
You’ll need concrete facts to back up all your points when you come round to writing your copy.

Agree on a USP.
A Unique Selling Point (USP) is an appealing aspect of the product that is only true of that product. As you discuss the product’s features and benefits, make a point of enquiring whether they are unique.

Agree on a sales message.
What is the one thing about the product that the target demographic will find most appealing?

In my next entry, we’ll look at how you can connect with your audience through your prose – one of the key secrets of writing persuasive, sellable copy.

© Shaun Crowley 2007

Shaun Crowley has worked as a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant. He currently works as a communications manager for a major UK publishing company and is the author of The Freelance Designer's Self-Marketing Handbook and 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers and Other Freelance Artists.

I realized that freelance web-designers who can consult with their clients on copy as well as design can forge themselves a powerful business advantage. That’s why I have collected a few tips for helping you articulate your advice.

Writing headlines that sell
Headlines provide attention-flitting site visitors with an immediate gauge as to the relevancy of the site, and help designers to unify the "voice" and the "look" of the website.

A good headline should seduce site visitors. It should grab their attention, and convince them that the information on the page is worth investigating. Read my post on writing headlines for a selection of conventional techniques.

Writing website body copy
There may be times when you need to revise the website body copy as well as the headlines. Where do you start?

First, evaluate the existing copy by asking the following questions:

 Does the copy get to the point quickly?
 Is the copy shy about the offer or incentive?
 Is it easy to respond to?
 Does the copy overcome every objection to replying, leaving the reader with no choice but to act?
 Does the copy use simple words?
 Does the copy use active language (does it address the site visitor as ‘you’)?
 Is the copy broken down into simple sections and bullet points?

Next, revise the copy using the following tips to help you.

Make the text really simple.
People read 25% slower on screen, so keep your sentences and paragraphs ultra-short. Highlight key words to make the messages jump out. If the website is offering something, make sure the offer is simple and transparent—and be clear about what you are asking people to do if a response is needed.

Include important messages before the fold.
Anything that appears ‘above the fold’ is immediately visible when the webpage opens. Site visitors will use this information to make an instant decision as to whether the site is useful to them—they will only scroll down if you have successfully grabbed their attention and aroused enough interest in the product. Do this by being upfront with your offer and product benefits.

Allow for wandering eyes—break up your messages with copy boxes.
People don’t follow regular paths when they read a webpage, they muddle through. Use boxes and columns down the side of the screen to present multiple messages or sound-bites.

Be economical with visuals.
Research shows that text is more likely to catch people’s eye than images when browsing online.

People are online to save time, so respect it.
Website visitors are restless. They spend more time scanning and clicking than reading, and they expect quick progress once they have decided to make an order. Your copy must:

 Shout the offer—most people are looking for something free, first, or forbidden.
 Be specific—the first 5 words must have meaning.
 Make the news stand out—don’t bury your message.
 Signal where to go—make the actions visually clear, ensure the click-through paths follow a logical sequence, make sure visitors can go straight to the key information, and above all, don’t ever ask your reader to think!

Speak to the individual, not the audience.
Try to personalize your web-copy as much as possible. Build a picture of your readers. Are they likely to be familiar with the product on offer? Are they likely to be regular Internet users? Are they in regular communication with your client’s company? If the answer is yes, integrate that knowledge into your copy to make your reader feel more connected and understood. If you don’t know, give visitors a choice of avenues so they can access more targeted information (as explained in Part 1).

For example, you could include links to detailed product information, company news updates, and guided ordering instructions for people unfamiliar with using the Internet.

I hope you found the tips in these two entries useful – and that next time you receive a brief that could benefit from a little cyber-wisdom, you’ll feel confident enough to evaluate the concept and propose changes to the copy.

For more copywriting tips, visit copywriting-designers.com.

Shaun Crowley has worked as a freelance copywriter, marketing consultant, and communications manager for a major UK publishing company. He is the author of 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers and Other Freelance Artists and The Freelance Designer’s Self-Marketing Handbook.

© Shaun Crowley 2007

That's why website copy is often inter-dependent on the website layout. And because the two are uniquely unified, the traditional copywriter-designer dynamic isn’t always an effective partnership, especially if the copywriter is inexperienced in writing for the web.

Over the next two weeks we’ll look at some of the things web-designers can do to make their client's website copy work more effectively.

To sell or not to sell?
If you are designing a website that requires copy input, your first task is to decide on the function of the copy. Is it to improve the navigation of the site? Or is it to sell the company’s products or services?

If the copy is a signpost to content located elsewhere on the site, it should be stripped down to short descriptions and links, summarizing the essence of what’s on offer and allowing visitors to access what they require fast.

If the copy aims to sell, it should ‘talk’ to the individual visitor, and motivate the visitor to click through to the next stage of the buying process—be it a direct sale, enquiry, consultation, or free trial.

The art of selling online
Persuasive, benefit-driven copy is essential when selling any product or service, offline and online. But the traditional direct approach to advertising (“here’s the product, this is why you should buy it”) is not geared to online selling. Website visitors expect to choose their own route to the information most relevant to them when evaluating a product.

That’s why product-selling websites work best when they marry sales-inducing copy with an element of choice. www.37signals.com is a good examples of this in action—a hard-sell approach, disguised by relinquishing control to the visitor, allowing the individual to select their own features of interest.

But even if the sales intentions of the site are softened, persuasive copy is essential for holding the visitor’s interest in the product, eliciting desire to buy the product, and encouraging the visitor to take some kind of action. In my next entry I’ll offer pointers for writing and structuring copy that enables you to do this.

© Shaun Crowley 2007

Shaun Crowley has worked as a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant. He currently works as a communications manager for a major UK publishing company and is the author of The Freelance Designer's Self-Marketing Handbook and 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers and Other Freelance Artists.

The moral of this story is twofold: firstly, if you can find a good copywriter, don't be shy about proposing you work together more often. Buddying up shouldn’t be difficult – copywriters relish the chance to work alongside designers, as this effectively doubles their chances of finding work.

Secondly, copywriting is probably the best way of expanding your design business and moving from 'freelancer' to 'full creative agency'.

But like so many things in life, you only get out what you put in. To work as an effective team, you will need an awareness of what makes good copy, just as you’d hope your copywriter has an awareness of what makes good design.

Fortunately, the essential copywriting tricks are fairly straightforward and can be defined into a set of pointers, or “things to watch out for”. That is what I attempted to record in this set of entries, which I hope you find useful when you need to evaluate your copywriter’s prose (or your own prose, if you decide to try writing yourself).

In the previous two entries, we discussed how you can assess if the copy responds to the client’s brief, how well it communicates the product’s key sales message, and how convincing it is at selling the product.

In this last entry we’ll look at the aspects of copy that give advertising a polished and attention-grabbing edge. They are:

- Ensuring the copy is engaging and easy to read
- Ensuring the copy inspires an eye-catching design

1. Ensuring the copy is engaging and easy to read

Do the messages of each section lead on from each other?

Ask yourself if the copy keeps to a coherent voice. If the sections of copy focus on different points, ask yourself if they are connected sufficiently in order to keep the sales pitch smooth and flowing.

Some phrases can help you link sections of copy together, so that the messages lead into each other (e.g. That’s not the only way product X helps you… Product X goes one step further… There are more reasons to look at product X… And that’s not all… That’s just the start… So here’s the deal… Here’s how it works...)

Does the piece work if the reader only looks at the headlines and visuals?

Just as the body copy should keep to a flowing style, so too should the headlines and visuals. Headlines should grab attention and draw the reader into sections of copy. But they should also work in isolation, summarizing each section of copy – so that if readers skip the copy, they still get exposed to the key sales messages.

In long copy items, headlines and visuals work best when they build up to form a ‘product story’. That way a reader can skim-read for gist. If particular headlines grab attention, the reader can pick out the respective sections of copy that interest most, rather than having to read everything. This makes the piece more approachable and manageable for a glancing audience.

The ‘AIDCA’ model can help you determine whether the order of the information revealed in the headlines and copy sections is appropriate:

The first headlines/visuals should grab Attention.
The next headlines/visuals should spark the reader’s Interest in the product
The next headlines/visuals should elicit the reader’s Desire for the product
The next headlines/visuals should foster Conviction to try or buy the product
The last headlines/visuals should call the reader to take Action towards buying the product.

For example, the headlines at copywriting-designers.com, extracted below, tell the story of the ebook offer. Even if you don’t read the copy, you still get a sense of the product story. Can you see how the headlines follow the AIDCA sales approach?

Headline #1:
You’re the perfect person to offer a copywriting service

Headline #2:
So how do you get started as a copywriter?

Visual:


Headline #3:
Practical tips just for you…You won’t find this book anywhere else

Headline #4:
Buy 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers now—and take advantage of this special discount price of just $37

Does the copy ‘speak’ directly to the reader?

Friendly-sounding copy makes people want to read on, and primes them to become more receptive to the sales message. The easiest way to make copy friendly is to address the reader personally as ‘you’.

Example:
You don’t need thousands of dollars to start investing with SureBank. You can open a lump sum or regular investment from as little as $20. And when you do, there are no upfront fees reducing your initial investment before it’s even started.

Being direct isn’t just about using the word you, it’s also about using the words we and us. Publicity that speaks in the first person can make the brand or company feel accessible and welcoming.

Passive:
Your reservation has been booked.
Direct:
We have booked your reservation.

Passive:
A free bottle of wine will be given to everyone who opens an account.
Direct:
Open an account with us and we’ll give you a free bottle of wine.

Notice that direct sentences starting with a command verb are more engaging than sentences starting with a pronoun or noun. For example:

Make sure your home looks stunning this Christmas with a seriously cool sofa …

Select from over 400 entertainment options, including blockbuster movies …

Imagine a camera that reached out to wherever your creativity took flight …

One of the main causes of dull and distant copy is the copywriter being shy about using the words ‘you’ or ‘us’, or not using direct commands that urge the reader to take action.

Is the copy succinct?

As you read the copy, check that it communicates just one idea per sentence, and just one point per paragraph.

Copy is easy to read when sentences and paragraphs focus on just one thing at a time. Copy is difficult to read when sentences and paragraphs ‘fire multiple tennis balls’—the reader doesn’t have time to take in one thing, before being asked to digest another.

If the copy appears too dense, suggest that your copywriter break up longer sentences and paragraphs into shorter ones that deliver the message step-by-step, like this copy does:

Free trade sounds like a great idea. But if it’s not between equals it doesn’t work. Yet free trade is often forced onto poor countries through trade agreements and as a condition of aid and debt relief. This means their growers and producers are overwhelmed by powerful international competitors and unprotected fledging industries are destroyed.

Trade justice is a better way. Put simply, it means the world’s poor nations should have the right to choose for themselves the policies that will help them trade their way out of poverty. (…)

Can the copy be shortened?

Ask yourself how quickly the copy gets to the point. If it takes a paragraph before you get to the crux of the message, ask yourself how necessary that initial paragraph is. Be ruthless. If you don’t need a section of copy, remove it when you drop it into design.

Cut out any unnecessary adjectives, adverbs, and clichés (e.g. contemporary, flexible, hands-on). Unless backed up with evidence, descriptive words like these rarely motivate readers.

If your copywriter uses sub-headings, make sure your headline summaries don’t repeat existing sentences of copy. If they do, ask your copywriter to scale down.

Can you shorten words and simplify phrasing?

If you find yourself tripping over the sentences as you read the copy, see if you can cut down on syllable length by simplifying long words.

Multi-syllable Latin-based words can usually be replaced with shorter Saxon words, as shown in the following list:

Complicated - Simple
Information.............Facts
Demonstrate.............Show
Regarding...............About
Immediately.............Now
Construct...............Make
Regulation..............Rule
Conversation............Talk
Discover................Find
Commence................Start
Gratis..................Free
Continue................Keep
Encourage...............Help
Majority................Most

If the copy is still difficult to read, check for complicated syntax. Phrases that use advanced tenses tend to feel clunky and read more slowly.

Clumsy syntax
It wasn’t until we had filtered through your comments did we realize what we needed to do to improve X.

Simple syntax
We looked at your comments. We saw how to improve X.

2. Ensuring the copy inspires an eye-catching design

Does the format lend itself to an attention-grabbing design?

Copy and design go hand-in-hand when it comes to advertising. That’s why a good copywriter should have an awareness of visual presentation.

The most effective advertising concepts unify a copy-based idea and a design or format-based idea. If your copywriter offers copy only, with no suggestions for the overall look or functionality, ask him or her to give this some thought before resubmitting.

If you are working on off-line collateral, try to get your copywriter into the habit of suggesting visuals – ideally finding samples from photo archives to guide you. You may not agree on the choice of visual, but at the very least the suggestion offers a starting point for brainstorming.

Has enough thought gone into the presentation/hierarchy of the copy?

Research suggests that people often subconsciously scan a page of publicity momentarily before they decide to read it properly (Source: Eyetracker.co.uk).

The eye naturally settles on the top-left section of a page, then wanders down to the bottom-left part of the page, then up and across to the middle-right. Website visitors often scan website pages in a similar way.

Your copywriter should offer you guidance as to which headlines, visuals, copy sections, and flashes should have the most prominence. Then you can set out the copy so that the important messages catch wandering eyes.

You also need guidance as to which sections of copy should be larger, and which headlines should stand out more – so you can set out the copy in a way that prioritizes key messages for skim-readers.

If your copywriter submits more than one headline and visual per page, ask what one message the reader should be left with, so you can emphasize the most important sentences and paragraphs through different design treatments.

Is there a strong headline/visual concept for the front cover?

If you are working on print collateral such as brochures and leaflets, the front cover should be strong enough to stand out from a pile of other brochures, and encourage people to pick up and read the item. Has your copywriter provided you with a headline/visual concept idea that inspires you?

Your copy ‘concept’ can be defined as an engaging way of communicating your sales message through copy, design, and format. Concepts work best if they pull on the audience’s emotional strings and/or present the product in a way that makes it appear desirable.

Before you start to work up the front cover visual, ask yourself if your copywriter’s ideas fill a recognized need amongst your target audience (this is information you should have noted when you took the assignment - see How to brief a Copywriter Part 2). If the idea fills a need, or the benefit is well-focused, the chances are the concept will work.

There is another reason for asking your copywriter to work up a good front cover concept. If you can provide your client with a visual that works well, it may have other uses as an advert, banner, or conference poster – which could encourage your client to develop the idea further. What starts as one brochure could turn into a much larger assignment.

Has enough thought gone into the presentation of the product?

If you are promoting a product (as opposed to a service), remember the old marketing maxim of 'product is hero'. If the reader goes away remembering just one thing from the item, it should be the product.

This seems fairly obvious, but it’s easy to fall into the trap of neglecting to show the product in your collateral. People want to see, evaluate, and test what you are trying to sell them.

Make sure the copy offers appropriate opportunities to show-case the product. Also ask yourself, is there enough room to show the product at a decent size. There may be too much copy – if so, your copywriter will need to scale it down.

Summary:
I hope this list of pointers offers a good starting point for helping you to evaluate copy.

Some of the pointers are quite prescriptive, and not everything will apply to the same assignment. At the end of the day, evaluating copy is often about making judgement calls. What works and what doesn’t work isn’t always black and white.

But the tips I have revealed over the last few weeks should help you identify advertising copy that does its job – to sell your client’s product. These posts are intended to help you articulate your concerns to your copywriter, if you feel the copy is not doing its job.

After all, if you want to expand your design business by hiring a copywriter, the quality of the copy is your responsibility in the eyes of your client.

© Shaun Crowley 2007

Shaun Crowley has worked as a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant. He currently works as a communications manager for a major UK publishing company and is the author of The Freelance Designer's Self-Marketing Handbook and 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers and Other Freelance Artists.

The best copy unifies one key product message.

That doesn't mean the copy is ineffective if it lists a range of different features and benefits. Rather, the overall concept and structure of the copy should revolve around just one selling proposition.

Why only one? Because in most cases, your reader will remember just one thing. Advertising copy cannot attempt to convey the same amount of information as a book chapter or a newspaper column. It must assume the reader is not actively reading, but rather, passively glancing.

For example, whenever we read an advertisement in a newspaper we are usually aware that the copy is trying to sell us something. We forget about what we read in the ad in order to focus our attention on the meaningful stuff around it—like the news story on Iraq, or our favorite weekly column.

So if the audience remembers just one thing about the product, in the context of encoding so much additional information surrounding it, the ad can be considered a success.

To increase the chances of your audience memorizing the lead sales message in your item (be it an ad, brochure, or website), you must ensure it is clear and attention-grabbing. As a rough rule, your message is clear if you can express it in a succinct sentence.

Once you have established your lead message, your copywriter will be in the best position to provide an attention-grabbing concept, with wording to communicate the message in an engaging way. That’s why it’s vital you establish the message with your client, as explained in How to brief a copywriter (Part 2), and explain it thoroughly to your copywriter.

Assuming both you and your copywriter are clear about the lead sales message, here a couple of tips to help you evaluate its presentation.

Is the copy accurate?

It sounds obvious, but a key task when reading through copy is to question the accuracy of the messages. Pretend you are your client as you read through. Would your client agree with the treatment of the copy? Do the claims hold up? Can they be reinforced with hard evidence or examples?

Is the most appealing information presented first?

To answer this, you’ll need to question who the copy is aimed at. Refer back to the meeting with your client, where you asked questions that helped you to understand your target reader (explained in How to brief a copywriter, Part 2).

Then ask yourself this: does the copy respond to the target reader’s needs? Based on what you know about the target reader, which aspects of the copy will be most appealing? If important messages are embedded in copy, can they be elevated?

3. Ensuring the copy sells the product

The job of advertising copy is ultimately to sell the client’s product or service.

Some recent commentators argue that this aim has become less defined in recent times, because the traditional hard-sell approach (“here’s the product, this is why you should buy it”) is no longer effective.

While this is true, even the softest sell requires copy that encourages the reader to take some kind of action towards buying the product. The aim of advertising remains the same even if the means of getting there changes over time.

For example, multi-stage campaigns have grown in popularity because they break down the sales process into subtle stages.

In multi-stage campaigns, the first round of marketing items may not be intended to sell the product at all—but rather to act as a ‘teaser’, grabbing the audience’s attention so they remember the product or the style of the promotion. This will always be reinforced with further items to deliver the sales message, and subsequent marketing activities that directly ask for the sale.

Make sure you are clear on the stage of the selling process your item appears in. Refer back to the aims of the item you agreed with your client (as explained in How to brief a copywriter Part 2). Then read with this in mind: What’s the aim of the item? Will the copy persuade the reader to take the required action? (Or does it prime the reader for the next stage of the promotion?)

Does the copy demonstrate a need for the product?

In some cases, especially where the product solves a particular problem, the copy may need to clearly spell out that problem—otherwise the reader may respond: “So what?”

Even if the need is obvious, readers often need to be reminded. Elaborating an obvious need elicits the reader’s agreement, providing a positive platform on which to introduce the product. This is a standard sales trick that’s also at the heart of good copy.

Does the copy give a flavor of how the product works?

If the copy has successfully engaged the reader’s interest, it follows that the reader will want to know more about the product.

If you are selling a product direct (i.e. the copy is inviting a one-off purchase), information-rich copy will be required. The reader will want to know exactly what he or she is buying, how it works, what all the components do, what applications it has, how durable and cost effective it is, and if the product is guaranteed.

However in most cases the copy will be offering a free trial or sales consultation where interested readers can access more detailed product information later on, voice objections, or check out the ins-and-outs of the product. In these cases, the copy should do just enough to give a taster of how the product works to encourage enquiry.

Ask yourself if the copy has the right amount of detail to motivate action. Too much unnecessary information and the reader will switch off; not enough information and the reader will be left unconvinced.

Does the copy show the product’s uniqueness?

It’s not always easy to pin-point a product’s unique features, especially if it competes with several similar products. But without a Unique Selling Proposition (USP), the reader will have no reason to choose the product over other cheaper or more established competition.

Refer back to the USPs you noted in your client meeting (as explained in How to brief a copywriter Part 2). If you and your client identified an indisputable USP in which the product can be described as ‘the first’, ‘the only’, or with a superlative such as ‘the cheapest’ or ‘the most durable’, make sure this fact is prominent within the copy, and that the USP of the product is fully demonstrated.

If the product appears to have no unique features, the copy needs to work even harder. The most appealing features should be presented as a solution to a clearly stated need, and there should be plenty of benefits to reinforce the desirability of the product.

Is the copy benefit-led?

“Persuasive” copy is copy that presents the reader with benefits to product features.

So for example, twin-pack packaging is a feature of the salad I buy. On its own, that feature isn’t enough to convince me it’s worth buying. But supported with a benefit: “Keeps salad fresher for longer”, persuades me it is more valuable than a single-pack competitor salad of equivalent weight.

Benefits increase the selling power of the copy. Unless it is appropriate to present product information in a ‘facts and stats’ format (common in catalog copy or in collateral for technical products), benefit-led copy always works best. As a rough rule, each section of copy should include at least one benefit.

The most persuasive benefits are those that are targeted to the reader’s individual needs. So for example, a turbo-injection car may provide one set of prospects with a feeling of power and prestige. For others, a turbo-injection car may specifically provide confidence when overtaking out of tight spots.

The benefit your copywriter identifies should respond to the specific needs of the target reader. Think about the demographic of the audience and evaluate the benefits in the copy. Are they the right benefits? Will they touch a cord with these particular readers?

(For help with identifying benefits, take my tutorial for writing a self-promo mailer.)

Are claims and adjectives backed up with examples, facts, statistics, or testimonials?

Benefits make products desirable. But desirability isn’t always enough to convince the reader to take action. Benefits need to be supported with evidence to make them credible.

As you read the copy, put your sceptic-hat on. If you feel any of the claims in the copy are likely to be challenged, insist that your copywriter add facts, testimonials, or examples to back them up. If you haven’t already canvassed specific evidence from your client, you or your copywriter may need to follow-up to get what is needed.

Is there a prominent call-to-action?

Persuasive copy means nothing if it doesn’t subsequently ask the reader to do anything.

The copy should ask the reader to take some kind of action—just as a salesperson would obtain commitment from a prospect after revealing interest for the product.

The type of “action” depends on the stage of the selling process the item sits within. Your client may want readers to book a sales visit in response to reading the item. Or go online for a demonstration. Or apply for a free trial. Or even to make a direct purchase.

As you read through the copy, ask yourself if the copy will convince readers to take the desired action. Is the call-to-action prominent enough to attract wandering eyes? Is it clear what the reader is being