Is Your Copywriting Too Wordy? If So, You Could Be Frustrating Your Audience

I saw this recently in an article about copywriting:

‘However, before you begin your copywriting venture it is essential to know the basics about copywriting so that you can channelize your creative skill in the right direction and open the doorways for millions to flow into your treasure house.’

Channelize? Open the doorways for millions? (Learning copywriting basics will deliver millions? Really?) Your treasure house?

High-impact copywriting is succinct AND avoids the use of colloquialisms (e.g. treasure house). If I were hired to edit this paragraph, this is how it would look:

‘However, before beginning your copywriting career, learn the basics. Knowing the essentials is vital to writing captivating content, thereby opening additional channels of revenue.’

Although the first version is colorful, it requires readers to work to understand its meaning.

Too much work = disinterested reader

When your audience has to read and reread your content to gain understanding, their frustration level increases and instead of intriguing them, you lose them… maybe permanently. If you’re trying to build your marketing list, establish yourself as an expert or increase sales, obviously losing a reader won’t deliver the results you desire.

In copywriting, every word must pull its weight. Words are used strategically and chosen specifically to deliver the most impact. Writing isn’t an accidental business activity. Your efforts must be smart, focused and speak effectively to your market… as succinctly as possible.

So, how do you do that?

Here are 7 insider copywriting tips for writing and editing highly-effective, targeted marketing content:

1. Know your target market before writing anything

2. Use fewer words for your first draft (you can always add more later, if necessary)

3. Create an outline. Make each point, provide a brief explanation and move on

4. Avoid words that don’t ‘pull their own weight’

5. Review content with a keen eye for brevity (and be aggressive with the delete button!)

6. Review content asking yourself how to say something more effectively with fewer words

7. Review content for all words-or strings of words-that aren’t widely understood or causes your reader to ‘work’ to understand the meaning (e.g. colloquialisms, vernacular terms, idioms, or jargon)

Implementing these 7 tools is a solid foundation for copywriting that accomplishes your marketing goals.