I work in a shared office, where the inane jabbering of my “colleagues” intelligent discourse of my peers can be distracting. To block out this God-awful noise charming chatter I use noise-cancelling earphones and Spotify playlists. I recently created a Spotify playlist of upbeat instrumental music. Lyrics often distract or confuse writers wrestling with words, hence the lack of vocals.

Anyway, here it is. Feel free to listen along, or don’t. 🙂

Music to write copy to

Great copy looks outward, addressing the needs, cares and desires of the reader (the customer).

There are two stages to achieving outward-looking copy.

Stage one

The first stage is to accept that people don’t care about companies, or products*.

People care about themselves. People love to hear about how your company can help them, or save them money, but they don’t really care about how you design software, or structure your company, or hire staff, or floss your teeth.

Stage two

Now we can get on with looking outward…

It’s important that copywriters know their clients. And most copywriters do this well. We sit down with our clients and interrogate them, finding out everything we need to know about the business.

But those copywriters are only doing half a job. The business is only one half of the picture. The most important thing to consider when writing copy is the customer – your client’s client.

So when you speak to your clients, be sure to ask about their clients. Find out as much as you can about the people who will read your copy. Who are they? What do they want? What do we know about them and their needs?

And be wary of your client’s draft copy (if they provide it) because it’s likely to be littered with boring details like company structure, procedures etc. You need to weed this stuff out. Replace it with interesting, benefit-led copy that appeals to your reader’s deepest desires.

*There are exceptions. There are always exceptions.

Good copy is communicative, and good communication happens when there’s a rapport between the communicators. You can build rapport with your readers by creating a cordial atmosphere.

Here’s how you can write copy and make friends:

– Have respect. Friends respect each other. Don’t patronise your reader, or try to hoodwink them. Give it to them straight.

– Remember your readers are human. Your reader is an individual, a human being just like you. So address them directly.

– Be nice. You might be selling enterprise communication solutions (WTF?) but you don’t have to spout jargon.

– Be helpful. How can you help your reader? What information might benefit them? What links could you offer them to make their life easier?

– Use nice, friendly words. ‘Killer’, ‘eliminate’ and ‘destroy’ may seem appropriate when describing Mrs Crumbles Kiddie Café, but there are probably nicer words you could use instead.

Drivvel.com, the website that gathers the best copy from around the world, needs your help.

Are you…

– a copywriter, a designer or someone who works with words?

– interested in creating a community?

– able to give a little time to the Drivvel project?

Drivvel needs:

– a few regular posters to add great copy that they find (or write)

– help spreading the word

In return for your support you will be able to influence the direction of Drivvel and feature prominently on the site as part of the team. If you’re interested, please email info@drivvel.com

Thanks!

Easy is an important word for copywriters. It’s a word we can use and it’s a word we can heed.

Be easy

Your readers are more likely to follow your instructions, or be tempted to buy or vote, if you make it easy for people to respond.

Your copy must be easy to read, easy to understand and easy to act on. As a copywriter you must work through the ramifications of your words. If you’re asking readers to enquire by email, are you making it easy for them to do so?

If you’re giving instructions, are they correct? Have you tried following your own instructions? Is every other part of the business and website correct, and as you describe?

Lead your reader down an easy path, free of obstacles.

Use ‘easy’

Easy is also a brilliant word to use. People love it! It’s short, optimistic and encouraging. So never shy away from this humble, yet powerful, word.

People are busy. So get to the point.

This advice is so obvious and so commonplace that I hesitated to include it in this series of blog posts.

BUT… I realised that people often lose sight of what is really meant by this advice, so here’s my view:

1. Great copy gets to the point immediately, not just ‘quickly’.
2. Great copy puts the point first, at the start of the first sentence.
3. Great copy doesn’t let you miss the point, or allow it to get buried in a deep sentence.
4. Great copy doesn’t waste words on welcomes, greetings or platitudes.
5. Great copy doesn’t state the obvious.

As all good journalists know, you should tell people what you’re going to tell them, and then tell them what you’re going to tell them in more detail. Begin with the big point, the sexy whizz-bang nugget of fun that your reader wants to hear about. And then explain why your thing is better than competitors’ things.

Copywriters easily get wrapped up in rules, and lose sight of a fundamental part of good writing: being interesting. It’s no good offering benefits, writing actively and compellingly, addressing the reader directly and appealing to their deep-seated desires if your words are boring.

‘Being interesting’ is a vague challenge. What is ‘interesting’ anyway? There’s no simple answer to that question, but I think interesting writing can be defined as:

• Energetic – free of tired clichés and full of the writer’s energy. If you feel flat and miserable writing about something, that mood may carry over into your copy. Sometimes using a slightly unusual word or a familiar phrase (a cliché!) is enough to make copy interesting
• Different – sometimes being weird is all you need
• Appealing – it’s easy to write interesting copy if your clients have interesting products
• Humorous – making your reader smile is a good thing, though it’s tricky to get right
• Resonant – chime with your reader’s experience to get them on your side
• Honest – bullshit-laden copy is rarely interesting
• Timely – give people the right information at the right time. The question of timing and ordering content is one of the trickiest bits of being a copywriter. What should you say first? And then…?
• Appropriate. Similar to being timely – make sure your copy is also relevant to your reader. Help your readers determine if your content is appropriate for them with clear signposts and labels.

This is a quick follow-up on my blog post, “Where do copywriters go for inspiration?“…

The website I had in mind when I wrote that post is up and running, and a few keen copywriters have been adding examples of copy.In a few weeks, once the big wrinkles have been ironed out, we’ll go public!

So what’s this website for?

• It’s a place for copywriters to share great copy. Scratch that. It’s a place for anyone to share great copy. Anyone interested in building a better web, or anyone interested in marketing and advertising, can share great examples of words in action.
• It’s a place for copywriters, web workers and marketing types to find inspiration
• It’s a place for copywriting to be discussed and considered
• It’s a place for copywriters to show off their own best work – and maybe even find clients

If you like the idea of having a dribbble for copywriters, send me your email address.

In this blog post series I consider some of the finer points of copywriting – the little things that make a big difference; the tricks and touches that lift copy and make it more persuasive, better at selling and more likely to create a good impression.

How to write active copy

Great copy is active, not passive. Good copy is about doing things, and the strongest, clearest way to explain an action is to put the actor centre-stage.

Here are some examples of the passive voice getting in the way:

“There are first-class web design skills at Digital Solutions”

“More surfaces can be covered in less time with Whoople Paints”

“We were awarded the FML Award for 2011 by Spoxk Magazine”

Put the actor first, at the focal point of the action, to create sharper sentences. Here are the same sentences in the active voice:

“Digital Solutions offer first-class web design skills”

“Whoople Paints cover more surfaces in less time”

“Spoxk Magazine awarded us the 2011 FML Award”

Active vs passive

Writing in the passive voice isn’t always wrong, but the active voice can make your copy more direct and clear.

Groupon has a distinctive way of communicating. Their copy is often discussed in favourable terms and the business seems to be doing well. However, I think their copy could be better.

Here’s an email I received recently:

My main objection with Groupon’s attempts at humour is that (in addition to being lame) they get in the way of communication. A space that might have told me where the gym is, or what equipment they have, is given over to wordplay. A space that might have told me about the treatments offered by the spa is full of rambling nonsense.

Groupon’s copy is not copy, it’s a surreal dump of teenage wit. To find out the details on those deals you have to click the link and visit the website. But I shouldn’t have to – it could have all been there in my inbox.

Humour is welcome, but it should have some connection to the offer – and it should not take the place of informative content.