Copywriting… develop the skill, or recognise it in others.

Copywriting is the art of writing copy. Bet that surprised you! Copy is the written content of a document, article, advertisement, brochure, and so on, that complements the graphics, layout, and photographic content, if any.

It doesn't take much imagination to realise that copywriting covers a variety of writing styles to suit the topic being written about. The copy for a travel brochure is going to be couched in terms and mood far different to a that of a technical article.

Some copywriters are skilled in a particular type of writing, so if you are going to hire a copywriter make sure of two essential things

Firstly you need to have clearly in mind the result you want the copy to achieve. Is it general information, advertising copy, direct response copy, or a combination of these requirements.

Secondly, with the style of writing you want now identified, be sure to see samples of the work from the copywriters you are thinking of hiring. You will then be able to judge if the finished result is likely to meet your expectations.

What is essential in a piece of copy

Whether you write the copy, or you use the services of a hired or contract copywriter you should accept nothing less than the highest quality of writing.

Make sure the grammar is correct, the spelling is accurate and the format or layout makes the copy easy to read.

Spelling may require an arbitrary decision. For example, I tend to use English spelling rather than American. The target market for your service or product may encourage the use of a particular manner of spelling, but whichever is used, be consistent.

The reading competency level in Australia is generally taken to be year 9 standard. Make it harder than that and you are likely to lose part of your potential readership. The exception of course, is if you are promoting your business to a highly educated market.

Even so, simple, clearly written language is the most effective and is rarely, if ever, criticised by even the intellectuals in society. It gets your message across very effectively when you keep to the KISS principle - Keep It Simple Stupid! Then you will be sure to reach the widest audience, with the greatest comprehension of your message.

Once you have your copy, is that the end of the matter?

By no means do you have the finished product yet! How so? Well a good copywriter knows that the reader dictates the best result by means of their response to your invitation to call, buy, or make enquiry. Whatever you want them to do after reading the copy is your measuring stick to judge its effectiveness.

The way to find out what gets the best reader result is to test variations of what is written. This technique is particularly adopted regarding advertising copy, when the change of a word or two can get a spectacular improvement in results.

There are techniques and software that assist in constantly tweaking the copy in a strictly controlled manner, and the result of the changes are recorded or measured. The best version is then tested against the next variation to see if there is further improvement in results. And so on.

Can you answer this question?

To round out this summary of what to look for in order to produce good copy, I'll ask the question… "Do you have a written Mission Statement and a Unique Selling Proposition(USP) developed?"

From these two defining elements of your business will come the short, pithy, to the point elements that you will attach to your stationery to enable your clients and prospect to immediately determine why they should do business with you.

To continue with this subject of copywriting, I invite you to investigate the topics for specific stationery items included in this section of the site.

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Copywriting, how you can apply the skills