In today’s content driven world with myriads of platforms, businesses, channels and creators, it is integral to have the skills to make your content stand out. One way to do this is by brushing up on your copywriting skills. All good businesses are able to produce content that is engaging and resonates deeply with the audience. The businesses that struggle to do this often tend to lose out on engagement in big, irreparable ways. Although mostly employed for ads, copy writing is a skill that goes much beyond. Since it holds the ability to persuade the reader to take a desired action. Let’s take a look at how to improve copywriting skills:

 

Basics, Personalization: Of course, the first step to any copywriting is knowing the basics of good writing. It should be effective in its messaging and have sound grammar, structure and word choice. The most important step in making your copy writing effective is to cater it to the reader. It should feel personal and palpable. The reader should resonate with it and it should evoke a desire within the reader to stay connected with that feeling. Moreover, It should be instantly familiar to the reader through branding and use of consumer psychology.

 

Short and Clear: Keep the writing short, clear and to the point. Transitions between certain topics should seem natural and flow with ease. Know what words to use. Make sure to include every call to action and information that is required. Keep it simple and direct. That comes across most straight-forward and honest. Get rid of all the extra, unnecessary information that is only confusing and misleading for the reader.

 

Open with a Bang: Your opening statement or headline needs to be a killer! It should be short, sweet, clear and concise. It can be playful and catchy too. The only must have for this is for it to be eye catching and attention grabbing. Other than the aforementioned, there is plenty of room to play around and get creative and clever with exciting word play. The first opening line should be simple enough to remember and catchy enough to make it stick out. It is also the most read and visible part of the whole copy. Thus, you should give special thought to the process of coming up with the appropriate headline.

 

Use Copywriting Techniques: Use scientifically proven, literary techniques like the AIDA Formula, The Slippery Slide, The Inverted Pyramid formula and The Bucket Brigade. A brief description of all is provided below:
AIDA Formula: This stands for, Attention (ensuring that your target demographic takes note and attention of the copy) Interest (creating target’s interest in the copy) Desire (Introduce how your product can benefit your reader) and lastly, Action (Tell them what to do next)
The Slippery Slide: This works like a slide. Your headline should suck the reader in. Next one should do even more so. Next one even more so. And so on. Like the reader is going down a slippery slide unable to not get sucked in.
The Inverted Pyramid: This technique is usually employed by reporters and journalists. It states that the most important information (who, what, when, where, why, how) go to the top, the details in the body, and other general background info in the very end.
The Bucket Brigade: This is a technique to keep people reading from one sentence to another by linking them with a colon ‘:’. The name of this technique originates from the olden days act of people passing buckets among one another in villages.

 

Keep Practicing: In order to be a successful copy writer, you need to keep practicing. Writing and reading more and more is a sure-fire way to improve word memory. Moreover, find inspiration from other writers and constantly strive to outdo yourself. Keep editing! The more you edit the clearer your copy starts to get. Break big copies into small chunks, and further into bullet points if necessary. Seek to continually improve your skills and get better and better at your craft. Get inspired by other copy writers whose work you enjoy and respect. Be part of a writing community.

To conclude, copy writing is an exceptionally valuable skill that serves many different purposes for different businesses, depending on the requirement. The goal of a successful copy is to not only convey the message to the reader but to also persuade them to take a desired action. This is the mark of a successful copy. Due to the changing nature of the world, ongoing evolution and constant innovation is required by all creatives to make their content stand out. Thus, a copywriter should aspire to always think outside of the box and push certain outdated boundaries further.