Over the last two weeks, I have emphasized the importance of focusing on your target marketing, what they have for hot buttons and pain points and how your copy needs to be centered on the solutions they need.
So once you have gone through the pre-writing process (with thorough research) and you embark on the act of writing marketing copy, I have a tip for you. It involves passive and active sentence structure, something you likely haven’t even given a thought.
Do you ever wonder where an idea starts and how some grow while others never take root and die a fast (or slow) death?
Even if you think you have the greatest idea (or greatest product or service for that matter), it means nothing unless its intended audience thinks the same.
Emotion is a very important element of copywriting. If your words don’t appeal to your audience’s emotion, you won’t be able to sell a thing. People make purchases based on emotion even though they justify what they buy with logic.
Distinguishing the difference between features and benefits can be a challenge for many business owners and do-it-yourself copywriters and marketers.
But understanding the differences could drastically increase your sales. The features describes your product or service, while the benefits describes how the product or service can help your customers solve a problem.
When you are writing marketing material, the right call to action can make all the difference.
No matter what you are selling, your call to action should be as specific as possible and written for your audience. Your goal is to motivate them to buy what you’re selling.
Know what you want them to do
You have to know what you want your customers to do to get the results you expect. Do you want them to download a free report? Buy something? Visit your website? Make sure that your intentions are clear.
Remember in grade school when you learned about the who, what, where, when and why of each story?
Well, there are actually times when school lessons have real-world applications, and your marketing writing falls under this category. Don’t assume people know what you mean – tell them clearly, succinctly, memorably, respectfully and often.
Does the copy pass the “Aunt Ethel” test?
Aunt Ethel is the proverbial simple-and-to-the-point person in your audience.
Active beats passive – every single time.
Choose words – especially verbs – that are active, visual and powerful. Your writing will be far more vibrant and convincing if you use active rather than passive verbs.
Passive verbs tend to be wordy, unnatural and, frankly, downright dull. Consider these two sentences:
Passive: The book proposal was given to the publisher by Lisa.
Active: Lisa presented her book proposal to the publisher.
Sounds like a simple approach, right? Maybe someone (a parent or teacher, perhaps) gave you similar advice years ago.
In marketing and with your copywriting, this is also very powerful advice. Why pretend to be something you’re not, or confuse your market so much they don’t know who you are or try too hard to be like everyone else?
Here are some tips to do what you say and say what you mean in your marketing:
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