ing: The 14 most important copywriting skills every marketer needs //
We are surrounded by great copy. You can find great copy everywhere. Not only in Nike ads and billboards but also in emails, posts on social media, and on those charming little sandwich boards that line city sidewalks.
All these words are powerful for business. These words generate traffic, leads and conversions. It’s the same for sidewalk sandwich boards as well as seven-figure advertising campaigns.
How do you create copy that converts?
After a decade in professional writing, I have found that some copywriting skills are fundamental to choosing words that motivate action. This is true whether copywriting forms a large part of your work or you just dabble with it. Here are the skills I have learned over the years. They’re listed and ranked, with importance at first.
If you master these skills, your copy can do great things for your company. If you’re anything like me, writing copy will be a blast.
1. Curiosity
The most successful copywriters that I have ever read, are not always the best writers. They are people who are genuinely interested in understanding how something works and want to share it with others.
David Ogilvy, the famous adman and entrepreneur, was the epitome for curiosity. He was obsessed with learning everything he could about the products and people whose money he made.
Curiosity fuels all the other skills on this list. You’ll be more empathic if you are curious. You will want to know about marketing strategies. You’ll also be an amazing interviewer.
You can also use the curiosity of your audience in order to increase awareness.
Curiosity is the most important skill for copywriting.
2. Empathy
Copywriting requires empathy because it allows us to understand what the customer is going through and how we can help them.
You won’t say that a family vehicle has the latest entertainment system if you have a bit of empathy. You’ll instead say that it’s got “enough entertainment to keep everyone entertained so they won’t ask, ‘Are we there yet?
Molly Maids understands it. They use powerful words such as “chaos” or “stress” in order to understand the busy parents who are trying to keep it together over school break.
Most people are born with empathy. You can improve the skill by practicing.
3. Goal setting
It’s easy when writing to get caught up in fun phrases or overuse of alliteration. It’s important to keep in mind that copywriting is by its nature a process with a goal. You may want to raise awareness about your brand, or get people to click on a button within an advertisement.
Copywriting will help you reach your goal.
Without it, your copywriting skills will not align with the marketing goals of your organization. You may be writing copy that targets the wrong kind of customer. You might write copy aimed at clicks, when you really need new customers.
Goal setting is high on the list because it determines what you will research and how you will write your copy.
4. Understanding marketing
I have yet to write copy that wasn’t part a larger strategy. The more I know about other disciplines, like PPC or Social Media Marketing the better I can write copy to make these initiatives successful. Understanding marketing is the fourth most important copywriting skill.
Here’s an illustration. The concept of sales funnels is a fundamental marketing concept.
It was easier to write copy when I knew how customers move through a funnel. This was particularly helpful when I started writing copy for email marketing. I stopped trying convert everyone and instead educated and entertained people who weren’t yet ready to purchase. Open rates increased and subscriber churn decreased.
5. Copywriting: The four Cs in action
Clear, credible, concise and compelling are the four Cs of good copywriting. Your copy will improve when you apply these principles.
It is important to know how to order the four Cs.
This is what I think:
The copy should always be clear.
Your message must be understood by the reader. Make sure your message is clear.
Copy should remain clear to maintain credibility.
The copywriting must build trust. Include customer stories, mention award winners, etc. Show that you are good at what your do.
Be careful that these additions do not muddy your message.
The copy should be brief, but still clear and credible.
It’s not much time for you to make your point. Cut any phrases or words that do not serve this purpose. You don’t need to eliminate so many words, however, that people can’t understand what you’re saying.
Copy can be compelling, as long as the copy is still concise and credible.
The copy needs to inspire people to act or think. Use power words, an urgency or analogies to make your point.
But there’s a fine line between persuasive and aggressive. If you don’t want to lose credibility or make it too long, then cut it down.
6. Simple explanations of complex issues
In marketing and education, there’s a term called Explain it Like I’m Five (ELI5). It’s important to simplify complex subjects and make them understandable for a five-year old. This is a very useful skill to have as a copywriter, since you are often the translator for technical people who make products and non-technical users.
You can use ELI5 in many different ways. Use a conversational style, copywriting formulas or bridge sentences.
7. Interviewing as a detective
Columbo is an old detective show. The title character asks the suspects, “just one more time” until he knows exactly what happened the night of the crime.
Interviews aren’t interrogations. When you ask a subject matter expert a question to uncover the full picture, it’s not an interrogation.
8. Applying psychology
I regret not pursuing a minor in psychology. I don’t want to learn how to hack into people’s minds to make them buy more. To better understand the way people process information, and to write better emotional ads. Any copywriter could benefit from this skill.
Instead of enrolling in formal classes, copywriters should learn about specific psychology principles and then practice folding them into the copy. You can also study examples of emotional copy.
9. Prioritizing as a journalist
Do you know the inverted Pyramid? In Journalism 101, it was one of my first concepts. It’s a way for reporters to place the most crucial information at the top and add supporting details below.
Other communication disciplines call it BLUF (bottom-line up front).
It’s useful for creating Google Ads, and for anything that is optimized for small screens. The majority of your message will be below the fold.
10. Checking your ego
Early in my career, I realized that ego was the enemy of good copy.
Copywriting is first and foremost a team activity. When people of different backgrounds work together, the best results are achieved. This means you should be open to new ideas and perspectives from people with different backgrounds.
You may have to delete some of your favorite copy. It’s not flattering to call it “killing darlings.” This means that you remove really good copy that does not match the tone of the piece.
You’ll often have to write something bad before you can get to something great. As I began writing, I would pound on the keyboard and aggressively hit the backspace key. I’d then try a different angle by pounding the keys harder. I eventually learned to let the bad versions flow, even though it hurt my pride. It is always possible to edit it and make it better.
11. Understanding SEO basics
SEO is important, even though we’re near the bottom of the ranking. Even in this age of AI powered everything and zero-click posts, search engine result pages still drive a significant amount of traffic. People are often searching for the products you sell.
Copywriting is a skill in itself. You must know , how to find and use keywords in your copy. Also, you should be familiar with things such as page structure and alt tag. SEO copywriting takes some time to master but is an important tool in the marketing arsenal.
These 9 tips for SEO copywriting can help you rank your pages high on Google and Bing.
12. Value-based marketing
Years before I began writing, I learned about FAB (features, advantages, benefits) during a sales class. The class’ goal was to help us understand the differences between a feature of a product, how it can benefit a customer (advantage) and why this will improve their life (benefit).
To make a product relevant and valuable, it was important to highlight its benefits.
A spring-loaded wringer, for example, could be a feature of a mop. It is easier to remove dirty water from the mop head. We’d like to lead with “less effort, quicker cleaning.”
13. Keep your eyes on the details…
My first job as an adult was a sales manager at a large chain of retail stores. The phrase we used to put up new displays and stock shelves was, “Retail is Detail.” Although the rhyme is no longer relevant, it is still a valuable skill when writing copy.
Paying attention to details is not just a matter of pride. Businesses with grammar and spelling errors on their websites lose twice as much than those without these mistakes. Google Ads that contain typos receive less clicks, and they cost more per click.
14. While being comfortable enough to ignore grammar rules
Grammarly, chatGPT and other tools make it easy to get the grammar right. It’s not difficult to go against the rules if it benefits your copy.
In her book Everyone Writes the great Ann Handley said, “I encourage to break these rules in writing and make those mistakes–but only if it makes your work more readable and clear.”
Use your grammar and spell checkers. Learn from what they correct. When the chance arises, blurring grammatical boundaries can help you write better copy.
Learn copywriting from the pros
Copywriting is not just for professionals. Anyone who writes emails, sales flyers, or presentations for their job will benefit by learning how to do it more effectively.
Here is a quick summary of the top copywriting abilities that marketers should master:
- Curiosity
- Empathy
- Goal setting
- Marketing Knowledge
- Copywriting: The four Cs
- Simple explanations of complex issues
- Interviews
- Applying psychology
- Prioritizing information
- Checking your ego
- Understanding SEO
- Value-based marketing
- Attention to detail
- Breaking grammar rules
There are many ways to learn. You can start by using these 10 copywriting resources. These resources cover formulas and emotional copy as well as power words.
The post Ranked – The 14 Most Important Copywriting Skill Every Marketer Needs first appeared on WordStream.