In today’s world, online marketing for most types of businesses simply cannot be conducted without the wonders of professional copywriting. That being said, copywriting is no walk in the park. It requires proficiency in a number of key skills. From understanding the material to having a very wide and versatile vocabulary. Here are a few tips you can use to improve your skills as a copywriter.
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Get The Foundation Right
It is pointless to believe that one can be a good writer in any shape or form without reading. The best place is to start with topics that interest you personally. All while regularly perusing the type of copywriting you are interested in working on. If you are into taglines, brand profiles, advertising language take screenshots of them and save them on your phone.
Another part of building a foundation for a career in copywriting is to read books related to copywriting, Preferably ones that will enhance your vocabulary and include exercises. It is important to focus on style and tone. The best copywriters have their own. As a beginner or amateur, you can develop a signature style and structure with practice. If possible, enlist the help of a professional copywriter who can check your work initially and tell you how to improve it.
Practise, Practise, Practise
Excellence is acquired with practise. Any expert will tell you that you need to put in the hours to get the results. Effective and impactful copywriting changes consumer opinions. It is a massive weapon in any company’s marketing sector. Some writers believe that practising handwritten copywriting, such as sales letters as opposed to typing, helps unclog the writer’s block.
Rewriting great sales promos, posts, sales letters, and articles is a great idea for practice. Pick styles you admire and practice rewriting them. Get yourself a thesaurus and start rewriting blog posts and articles using synonyms.
Analyze, Elaborate, Reason
Much of the scope of copywriting deals with purpose. Why is the writer writing the way he\she does? What is the purpose of this piece of writing? What does the writer want to achieve with this message? Identifying the purpose and tailoring the writing to fit, is almost as important as the quality of the writing. One of the main reasons why copywriting is a necessity is because of the ‘call to action’. Which is essentially convincing a consumer they need to invest in certain products or services.
Furthermore, a ‘call to action’ is achieved not just by words but also by visual elements such as colour, bold letters, and other graphics. When you are reading professional copywriting make notes on the aspects you think make it unique. This type of analysis can go a long way in helping you improve your own writing.
Get Free Feedback
Contact editors, copywriters and blog writers to access and give notes on your work. If you don’t know anyone who is willing to help you out, there are many platforms where you can submit your work that will provide free feedback such as Medium.com. Always take criticism as constructive.
Apart from writing platforms like this, you can also submit to sales pages where feedback might be more specific. Idealistic writers think they can just write an e-book and get right to selling it but there are often multiple steps between the sip and the cup and seamless editing is more important than one might think. For that reason amassing as much feedback as possible is vital to achieving a certain standard in your copywriting. If you think your reading and writing skills would benefit from help from a tutor then you can always consider English tuition.
Know that copywriting varies according to where it’s going to be used. Brochures are different from social media marketing (such as on Instagram and Facebook) and email marketing is different from promotional e-books for example. You might find you are able to carve a niche for yourself and have a talent in a particular form of promotional material.
Time Matters More Than You Think
Did you know research indicates that the fastest copywriters are the ones that are retained the most and have the highest earnings? Promotional materials in particular are always time-sensitive for obvious reasons. Every business is competing to launch and promote their own products and each blog and website owner wants to be ranked higher in search engines. It is a continual race with impactful copywriting right in the middle of it so when practising always try to time yourself as this will add to your value later down the road.
There are various techniques of time management especially when it comes to working from home that is particularly helpful such as having 45 minute work sessions (or any predetermined amount of time) and then having a break to stretch your legs and relax your mind. Regular breaks help avoid extreme fatigue and help you be your creative best. Time-saving techniques such as using templates or ready-made ideas online for each circumstance and then improving on them are helpful as well if you find you haven’t garnered the required speed yet.
Language tricks are a great timesaver. Not to mention small seemingly unnoticeable changes like using contractions, converting to active voice instead of passive or using a synonym generator. This can all drastically improve the result without too much time and effort.
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