Copywriting is salesmanship in print. If you can write a simple email message that achieves the results you expect, you can write a marketing copy that will sell your product or service.
There’s only one idea you need to keep in you mind when writing an advertising copy: if your buyers cannot understand your message, they won’t respond.
In this article let’s look at five simple tips in which will help you to improve all your copy, by improving its clarity.
1. Have someone else read your text
After you’ve finished creating the copy, have someone else read it. Often what’s on the page is not what you meant.
Just ask the reader: “do you understand this?”
Then ask him to tell you the text’s message is in a simple sentence.
If he can do that, you know your writing is clear and easy to understand.
If you find that your audience hasn’t understood the copy, you can use a similar process to rewrite it. Just write, in a simple sentence, exactly what you want your customer to do. Keep that sentence in front of you as you rewrite the copy.
2. Eliminate jargon
“Jargon” is vocabulary which is particular to an industry, and is not in common usage. All industries have jargon, but you should avoid using jargon in your copy.
There is a simple reason for this. Jargon is sometimes used to deliberately mislead, and this makes many people inherently suspicious of advertising which contains jargon.
3. Eliminate $100 words
Use simple words. Common use words are easy to understand. Don’t use “$100″ words. $100 words are those which very few people understand. Remove them and use simpler ones.
The reason you should use words which are as short and simple as possible is that most people aren’t paying attention when they’re reading your advertising message. They’re just glancing at it. If they can understand your message when they’re thinking of other things as well, you have a greater chance that they will pause and will read the copy with more attention.
Using simple words is even more important if you’re writing audiovisual copy. When you’re writing for a DVD, a speech, or for a short video on YouTube, use short simple words.
4. Plan it before you write it
Plan your copy before you write it. If you plan, not only is your text easier to write, but it also ensures that no essential parts of the message go missing. You’d be amazed at how often phone numbers and addresses and other vital information are left out of copy.
5. Deliver offers which have punch
After the headline, the most important part of your copy is the offer.
Since you’ve taken so much time over the copy all your hard work is wasted if the offer isn’t good enough. Make your offer extraordinary. The best copy in the world can’t sell if the offer is not good enough.
So there you have five tips which will help you to improve your copy by making it clearer. Implement these tips and you will see your conversion rates go up.