When you think of advertising, what comes to mind? Is it billboards splashed along the highway on your way home from work? How about social media posts available at your fingertips? Both are prime examples of advertising, but one thing ties them together.

Copywriting is writing that is done to sell a product or service and can be done across any platform. For copy to pull a campaign together, it should be three things:

1. Short

When writing copy, you absolutely need to make sure it is short, concise and to the point – everything this sentence isn’t. Compare the two sentences:

By eliminating all repetitive words and adding more intentional language, we get this sentence:

Both sentences mean the same thing, but one is better for marketing. To put it simply, words matter. The fewer words you use, the longer your audience will pay attention to your ad.

2. Visually Appealing

Copy very rarely works alone. Most often, it works with visual elements. Because of that, copy should be visually appealing. Typically, this means keep it short, but another way to do this is to incorporate alliteration.

Compare “the right choice” and “the clear choice.” Both have the same number of words – even the same number of letters. “The right choice,” though, is extremely generalized. “The clear choice” can be more specific depending on the type of campaign and would work well for an eye doctor. It’s also memorable because of sound repetition – “clear choice” has the subtle mnemonic device that “right choice” just doesn’t have.

3. Interactive

Copy should connect you with your audience. Novice copywriters will rely on the word “you” to do this. Experienced writers, though, use their words to create scenarios the audience can relate to.

When you read this advertisement we designed for Black Hawk Memorial, what comes to mind? For me, it’s baking cookies with my grandma. It could be playing catch with your dad. The phrase “a memorial is a memory” means something different to everyone, but it relates to everyone who has lost a loved one.

Creativity in copywriting might not come as easily as visual concepts. Fear not – that’s where Impact Marketing comes in. Contact us at 319-232-4332 or at impactmt.com to jumpstart your next advertisement project.

Sources:

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/good-copywriting-practices-list

https://www.articulatemarketing.com/blog/what-does-a-copywriter-do

https://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/copywriting-content-marketing-0648681

https://www.copypress.com/blog/7-copywriting-tips-marketing-professionals/