Everything you Need to Know about Copywriting

Everything about copywriting - It's annoying when the products you offer through your blog are not noticed by the audience. No problem now that you are on the right page. I have something you need, copywriting. You will quickly learn how to promote your business or product by creating effective copywriting even if you are a beginner who knows nothing about copywriting. Read this article carefully.

Definition of Copywriting

Copywriting is a writing activity that aims to enhance brand or product awareness by advertising or any marketing form to persuade the readers to take an expected action. Copywriting is important not only to introduce your product or business but also to increase the chance to get and develop your customers. It is also important not only for new products but also the “old” ones that start drowned from the costumers’ awareness.

9 Major Types of Copywriting

Copywriting is not always about making people buy your product. Sometimes, it is about popularizing your product, giving technical instruction on how to use your product, directing people to take an action like clicking a link, or increasing page rank on search engine result page, etc. Sometimes, they are different based on the purpose and sometimes it is the form that makes them different. Here are 9 major types of copywriting you need to know.

Marketing Copywriting

This is the most common copywriting type known by people. Everything that you think is promotional is categorized under this type. Nowadays, people advertise their products or businesses by using paid advertising platforms like Google AdWords, Amazon Advertisement, and so on. The goal is clear; to get some sales.

There are many ways to advertise your products. You can buy web-based services or radio commercials or TV commercials. Whenever your goal is to sell your product, what you are doing is marketing copywriting.

A marketing copywriting usually contains passages that show you the price and the reason why you must buy the product. Sometimes it also contains words or phrases like “Big Sale”, “Discount”, “Surprise sale”, etc. You can also find strikethrough on a price that replaces the word “Discount” like $10.00 to $5.00.

Social Media Copywriting

As the name suggests, this type uses social media as its advertising platform. People advertise on social media either to sell or just to introduce their products or business to social media users. Before using social media copywriting, you need to find out what social media your target customers usually spend time on.

One thing that social media copywriting must have is visual information, either image or video. Only-text copywriting is not impossible for this type but it will fail to catch users’ attention more often than not. Further, in copywriting on social media, it is possible to use icons and informal language. It is good to keep the text content short and let the visual stuff do the job.

Usually, social media copywriting does not directly drive the customers to buy the product but to a landing page or product page on a particular website. When you open Facebook, you will see many advertisements that either drive you to external websites or Facebook pages. Today, you can see ads on every social media because people prefer to spend their time on social media than any other thing. Therefore, social media copywriting becomes one of the best copywriting recently.

Brand Copywriting

This is a type of copywriting that aims to show people what your brand represents. This is an important copywriting that all businesses must do for there is no chance to sell a product if the brand of the product is unknown to people.

The heart of brand copywriting is knowing the audience. It is so because the content of copywriting needs to resonate with the audience. Most people research to know their audience whether by surveys, focus groups, blind testing, and so on.

The principle of selling is selling what people need, not what you can provide. It is useless to provide or sell unneeded products for none will buy them. While it is true that people sometimes buy things they don't need (but they do want it), needed products make selling more often than not.

Research on the “trending need” does not stop but continues to “who need it the most”. So, you may need to see whether they are male or female, young or old, and so on. A brand copywriting is then composed based on these considerations. Your brand provides what they need, and the way you introduce your brand is in line with who they are.

SEO Copywriting

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This type of copywriting ensures that your brand or product can be easily found on the internet. Therefore, composing an SEO copywriting requires additional knowledge about how search engines work. In other words, it is not only what you write but also how you write them.

The heart of SEO copywriting is the use of keywords and phrases for search engines to more easily discover your brand or products and display them on page one of SERP. For example, if you search for “sport shoes for women” using Google, you will see particular brands on the top list of the search engine result page (SERP) like Nike or Adidas. It is not only that they are popular so that they appear on page one of the SERP but also because they make SEO copywriting to promote their products.

Direct Response Copywriting

This type of copywriting encourages the users or visitors to take a particular action right away. When we visit a website, sometimes a toast notification appears (not always ads) and requires us to click a certain button (called the CTA button) like “Sign Up” or “Join Now”. The user responses are asked directly through the form and therefore it is called direct response copywriting.

Must see: use our free toast notification generator

Technical Copywriting

Technical copywriting is selling a product by explaining the "technology", underpinning concept, and benefits of the product. For example, almost all web hosting companies sell their product by explaining what web hosting is, what features should good web hosting have, the latest technology of web hosting that people are searching for the most, and finally promoting their products as they have all the things they mentioned in their explanation.

Public Relations Copywriting

This type of copywriting does not directly sell a product but aims to build a relationship with the customers. Online business or website usually has a subscription button. People who want to get information updates to enter their emails and later will be notified whenever a new content or product is released. Within the email subscription form, you can find short texts that mention the benefits of subscribing to the newsletter. These short texts are carefully composed to persuade people to subscribe.

Included in public relation copywriting is TV or radio shows those encourage the audience to have direct communication either via telephone or social media. In newspapers, we also find that people promote their services and put contact numbers so that they can build a relationship with the readers.

Thought Leadership Copywriting

This type of copywriting uses popular media as the publisher. We know that popular and high reputation media has a powerful impact on the content. It is more trustable to read a scientific article published in a scientific journal than the one published on a personal blog.

Another example is this. Google is a popular and high reputation search engine. Using Google as an advertisement platform (e.g. Google AdWords) can enhance the chance to be “clicked” by the audience. When you use popular and high reputation media to publish your copywriting, then what you are doing is thought leadership copywriting.

Email Copywriting

This is the most used copywriting type on the internet today. As the name suggests, it directly sends emails to the targeted recipients. It is like public relations copywriting but the channel used is limited to email.

The heart of email copywriting lays on the attention-grabbing subject line, short but clear email body, visual information, and CTA button. An email copywriting can be used as a reminder of an event, a hot offer of a product, etc. If you don't have a particular email sender service, you can manually send bulk emails to your audience. However, overdoing this can make people flag your email as SPAM.

How to make Effective Copywriting

After knowing the 9 main types of copywriting above, I want you to understand that not everyone can make effective copywriting. On the internet, there are many copywriting services available and you can choose one of them. But there's nothing wrong if you want to try to make your own copywriting.

To make effective copywriting, you need to understand what is meant by effective copywriting. An effective copywriting is copywriting that provides a psychological impact on the audience and then directs the audience to take the desired action. Based on the understanding of effective copywriting, the ability to write alone is not enough to be able to make effective copywriting. You will also need at least a little knowledge of psychology and some degree of creativity in choosing and using words.

I will explain to you how to create effective copywriting but not focus on a particular type of copywriting. To be able to apply the techniques I describe below, you need to make a few adjustments according to the type of copywriting you want to make.

An effective copywriting is one that provides a psychological effect on the audience. The expected psychological effect is an "irresistible" desire to take an action such as clicking a button, subscribing, or buying the product offered.

In order to spark a desire in the audience, we have to offer something they can't refuse. The things that a person cannot refuse are usually related to his primal needs, problem solving and avoidance, and ego gratification.

Even if you have a product that will support someone's primal needs, it's useless if you don't succeed in getting him interested, understanding what you have to offer, and believing in your offer. First, you have to be able to get his attention. Then, you should be able to turn his attention into an emotional attraction. After that, you need to strengthen his emotions so that they rise from attraction to desire. This strong desire will make them take action.

Create an attention-grabbing headline

A headline must be able to attract the attention of people who read it even if only briefly. Imagine that you are looking at a newspaper. You read a headline and it makes you interested in reading the news. Why are you interested in reading the news under the headline?

The reason is simple. You are interested in reading the news under the headline because there is a word or phrase in the headline that triggers your curiosity. You are curious about unusual things happening around you, trending topics, news that touches negative emotions such as fear or anger, information that gives hope, or topics that are taboo. I'm not suggesting you make a headline that contains taboo words but that's the fact; that people are attracted to taboos.

Imagine that you are presented with two news options. Which one would you choose to read?

a. An electronics store has just opened.
b. Beware! Child abductors may be roaming around your house.

You may be wondering why you are interested in reading the news under the headline (b). The reason is simple. You are attracted to the news because the headline touches your emotions. Meanwhile, even if you're an electronics collector, headline (a) sounds like casual information to you.

A headline usually consists of one to two short sentences. Since long headlines don't work, you need to choose emotionally strong words and arrange them in somewhat bombastic sentences.

Here are some examples:

Compared to making headlines (a), it's better to make headlines (b):

a. Come learn JavaScript with us
b. Let us make JavaScript easy for you
a. Buy a telepathy book from us now for $10
b. Stop dreaming, make telepathy come true for only $10 now
a. We have a mouse repellent for you
b. The rats in the world hate our mouse repellent
a. Visit our website
b. Don't turn away from your destiny

The examples above should spark your creativity to create eye-catching headlines. Make sure not to make headlines that seem mediocre; because your business and products are amazing.

Start the copywriting content with something interesting

An attention-grabbing headline should be followed by more engaging content unless you want to disappoint your audience and let your business opportunity slip by. The following are some principles that must be followed in creating copywriting content that matches the headline.

• create content that matches the headline
• don't make the audience feel cheated
• deliver what you promised in the headline

The purpose of each of the principles I mentioned above is essentially the same; You have to maintain alignment between the headline and the content below it. Then, how to write interesting copywriting content?

As I mentioned earlier that people find things attractive because their emotions are touched. Therefore, copywriting content must be able to stimulate the emotions of the audience. One way is to start with the problems your audience is most likely experiencing. Imagine, one day your laptop won't turn on and some of the methods you've tried don't work. Then, all of a sudden, you read "isn't it annoying if your laptop won't turn on while your work deadline is approaching?" In your mind, "yes that's true!" and your subconscious mind starts looking for solutions from the text you read.

An opening in copywriting content should be empathetic. Write the opening of your copywriting content as if you know the problem your audience is having; as if you understand and can feel the anxiety they have. I know this method works very well to keep your audience's attention on your copywriting. Not only that, but this method is also useful for increasing the quality of your audience's interest in the products you will offer at the end of the copywriting content.

Trigger audience desires

To trigger the audience's desire for the product, you must be able to increase the "need" in the hearts of the audience. The simple formula is to offer them a solution to the problem plus some added value that they will get by buying your product. For example, if the audience is just looking for software to fix an error in the operating system they installed on their laptop, say that the software you have can not only solve the error problem but can also improve the performance of their laptop and make their laptop more durable. Who doesn't want their laptop to last a long time?

Explain what advantages your product offers and what makes your product different from other similar products. If necessary, provide special discounts for the "lucky" audience for a limited time. However, I need to remind you that audiences don't like coercion or far-fetched offers. Just make sure that the audience doesn't feel trapped in your copywriting.

Touch all the senses of the audience

This is a secret to writing effective and persuasive copywriting that you won't find anywhere else. You have to bombard your audience's senses with desire triggers. When opening the copywriting content, instead of just saying "Are you tired of seeing your laptop crash?” try adding "The noise from your laptop fan must be annoying" and "Your laptop often heats up quickly?".

Provide visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and gustatory information (as long as it is relevant to the product you offer). This technique has proven to be effective in "limiting" the audience's choices except for "buying your product".

Another way to satisfy your audience's senses with desire triggers is to attach an image or video that you've creatively designed to convey information about your product. Of course, the images, videos, and text that you present must have strong emotional content so that the audience's desire for your product increases.

Make it easy for the audience to complete their actions

The last thing that's important in copywriting is making it easy for your audience to take action, whatever it may be. The CTA button should be clear and easy enough for the audience to press. In general, the CTA button is often placed at the end of the body of copywriting. You can actually put it at the beginning and the end of your copywriting.

If you aim to get your audience to subscribe, make sure that the system you implement is simple. Provide some easy options for your audience to join your system or buy your product. In fact, many audiences end up leaving a website even though they really need the product that is offered to them because they have difficulty buying the product (payment difficulties, administrative hassle, etc.).

This is the part that is expected to occur without any problems. Don't let the audience hesitate to move on just because of the "ravine" they see at the end of the story you present in your copywriting.

Final Thoughts

I've explained everything you need to know about copywriting. The last thing I need to say is to pay attention to how well-known companies do their copywriting. Usually, we feel uncomfortable with notifications and advertisements posted on a website so we use ad blockers. But there will come a time when you need copywriting and do the same thing that famous companies do. The thing that is no less important for me to remind you is that you should not make copywriting that has the potential to make the audience feel cheated because they will immediately blacklist you and make it difficult for your business to grow.