subject: The 3 Best Copyrighting Tips [print this page] It is the science of using words to sell or to influence someone or a group of people to take an action or a decision. It's literary persuasion. In other words, it tells a story and/or communicates a message which shall eventually get a prospect to buy something.
You, as a copywriter are, in effect, the salesperson. Since you're not in person, you need to be an even better communicator than a traditional salesperson would need to be. You cannot interact with them or use their body language to modify or improve your presentation.
If you have no copyrighting experience, the best way to learn is to study existing copywriter. You could look around booth online and offline to find out some publicity or most likely sales letters. If you decide to look online, search for marketers selling in the area you're interested in and get on their mailing list. If you find yourself about to buy something from one of these mailing lists, you should obviously pay particular attention to how you arrived at that situation where you buy or almost did. What was it about that site or that letter that hooked you up? Compare those sties or e-mails that bore you or that don't hold your interest. Was it too wordy? Did it have a bad subject line that didn't draw you in? As you study other existing marketers, keep those things in mind.
Stories are important in copyrighting. They entertain and engage the reader and deliver your selling message in a way that is less intrusive, almost subliminal. There's no need to fabricate a story. There's always a story behind why you got into whatever business you're in. That's of interest to people who you're trying to convince to buy your product. It personalizes things, gets them to see you as a human being and not just someone trying to sell a product.
Another important form of story is the testimonial. Invariably, you'll have customers who send you anecdotes of the success of your product in their particular application. It endorses your product and it comes from someone other than you. If someone tells you that they enjoyed your product or service, ask them to put it in writing so you can use it to build trust with potential customers. People will usually say yes. Better yet, if there's objective, scientific proof to support your product, make sure that is prominently displayed. You want objective third parties to do the selling for you. If you do it all first hand, people will be inclined not to believe you. When you bring in others, you enhance your believability and increase the chances of a new customer buying your product.
