Copywriting For Beginners
It’s inspiring watching friends seize the day and start up their own business. But it also creates a huge number of tasks and there are many new skills to learn. I was wondering how I could best help and since copywriting is my area of expertise I decided to pull together a simple guide to getting started. You might find it useful too.
Your vision for the business.
It sounds lovely in your head but you’ve got to get it down on paper at some point. Even if it is just a series of words or phrases to start off with, find the words that sum you up and you have taken the first step towards building text for your promotional material and advertising. Try a mood board and add words. Do you have a name yet? Try using words from your board in various combinations.
Focus on your unique selling proposition.
Which of these phrases or slogans sum you up? Are there a bunch of words that really encapsulates what you do? If you are a concierge service maybe you could go with ‘We Save You Time’. The British Department store John Lewis is ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’. It works as a tag or slogan but also tells us something about their philosophy and what they stand for.
Mind your language.
When you start crafting a basic advert or promotional flyer keep your language simple, direct and flowing. Read it out loud. Would an 8 year old understand it as this is the level of attention we give to this kind of stuff in our busy lives? Check your grammar and spellings and then check them again. Get someone to proof-read for you. It would amaze you how many intelligent business people become blind to the mistakes in their own prose.
Call to action.
Have you included a call to action?
What do you want people to do once they have read your leaflet? Do you want them to pick up the phone, visit a web-site or enter a competition? Tell them what you want them to do and then make it really easy for them to do it. Give them all the information they need. Once they hit your website you can wow them with all kinds of extra information and added value. That tutorial is for next time.
