Copywriting: how to persuade with words
New marketing strategies such as Content Marketing or Inbound Marketing have caused writing to have another meaning apart from entertaining or educating.
We can affirm that in marketing the main objective of writing is to convince the target audience of something, it might be buying a product or service or convincing of an idea. This is where copywriting is born.
However, with the popularization of these strategies in recent years and a society more critical of what buys and believes, this art has became more complicated and brands now have to manage to transmit useful and valid information to their target audience, and not convert their messages in just propaganda.
What is copywriting?
We can define the concept of copywriting as the set of techniques and practices used to produce written texts that persuade readers and generate a purchase movement or obtaining a lead.
We must bear in mind that copywriting is a discipline that covers different areas of a business, and that therefore, the way of writing the texts and the copywriting techniques used will change depending on the format and the target audience.
How can we get to write persuasively?
Although there are people who are born with the art of selling with words and others who studied the best techniques to be able to do it naturally, there are some principles of writing related to marketing that should be known and that we recommend always applying.
- Know well and connect with your audience
The society is nowadays very critical of the messages and the tone they perceive from the brands, so the power has taken a turn and is now in their hands. Due to this, the brand communications should be aimed at what our target audience wants to hear, to create a relationship with them and to solve a need they may have.
Therefore we must be very clear to whom we are addressing and what is our objective with this message.
- Start your message with an attractive title
The title is undoubtedly the first text that the reader will notice and make an effort to understand. If this title is not attractive and does not have a hook, we will lose the attention of our reader, who will not continue to be interested in reading the rest of the text.
Some tips for an attractive title are:
- Short message
- Concise and clear message
- Positive tone message
- Faithful message with the content of the text
- Use a familiar style with your audience
It is important that in the body of the text that you want to offer, you get close to your target audience.
A familiar style does not mean a colloquial style, but that you adapt to the language of your target audience. Using examples, adding tips or speaking in the first person adds personality and warmth to the message. As we mentioned before, copywriting does not consist in making propaganda but in transmitting information.
- Use keywords to attract attention
There are words that always attract people’s attention and others that, on the contrary, generate rejection. Depending on our audience and objective we must use one or the other.
Some of these words can be: exclusive, unique, quick, limited, complete or easy.
- Add a Call to Action
Even if your message has all the characteristics that we have discussed and is accompanied by a visual image, you need to communicate to your audience what they should do.
If for example you want them to continue reading your content, ask them to subscribe. If you want to know them better, ask them to comment on the post. If you want to capture leads, ask them to contact you.
What are the uses of copywriting?
The copywriting itself has different modalities as well that will make the words and the way of using them vary:
- Copywriting in advertising
The texts in advertising are probably the first ones that come to mind when we think of marketing + words. We will all remember a brand with the slogan they use. Brands can go for a more fun messages that make the reader think, or more simplistic messages that give a clear first impression.
- Copywriting in Content Marketing
Content Marketing is a technique focused on the creation and distribution of relevant content, such as articles, ebooks and posts on social networks. Therefore, it is important that the copywriter is aware of what he is talking about and uses language that is understandable to the reader.
- Copywriting in SEO
SEO is the set of actions and techniques used to improve visibility in search engines. Rather than using keywords with a high number of searches, it is necessary to think in more detail and develop a good SEO Copywriting strategy. We leave you an article that explains it in more detail here.
In general, it is important that the copywriter has knowledge of what he is talking about, knows who his message is directed to and knows the tone and form he should use to capture the attention of his audience.
Likewise, experience and traceability will help the brand to know which strategy and words attract the most attention and generate the results it wants. Knowledge in this sector is key.
