The most important part of the copywriting process happens before you ever put electronic type to the page. It's the part that puts your brain on the right playground. It's the stuff that happens BEFORE. When someone asks for good copywriting content, they are asking you for content that sells. They're not wanting generic prose but copy that inspires a target market to answer a call to action whether that's to sell something or get them to join something. Not facts and features. It's TRANSLATING those features and TURNING THEM INTO BENEFITS that the target market finds valuable. It is speaking to them in their language. It is finding out who they are so you can empathize with a problem, offer a solution, enhance someone's life or improve something. Right now on my blog, I'm doing a Headline Challenge Countdown that basically outlines the process of taking a product and carving a selling position in the marketplace. It illustrates the key steps, while simplified, of good copywriting with backbone. The end product will be a marketing position, a definition of the target market and a headline that illustrates this position to the target. I don't care if you are a lousy headline writer. You can learn to write a headline that clearly states a benefit even if it's not creative or clever. This is a valuable skill and a method of thinking that is the backbone of copywriting and marketing. It's not trendy but solid as a rock with a decades long track record. Are you up to the challenge of improving your skills? Free?
I'm up for it! Can you let us know roughly when you'll be posting the next step? Daily? Every few days?
I think I want this to all happen in 10 -12 days. So every few days. I'm not sure the weekend will be busy. But all day tomorrow we'll work on the first step. And I think Thursday we'll see where we are. In other words, we'll see if we have enough info to move forward. I don't want it just to sit. Good start Veronica. My fist reaction was, "Holy Cow, good answer." Can't wait to see what you have to add Latoya.
Ok Webgal, I've taken a shot at the competition. Just a couple of questions which you might be willing to answer: is there an optimum number of words for a sales headline, and is it ok to use exclamation marks and hyphens in the headline?
That's something really productive, constructive and ahmm ahmm... challenging I am surely up and ready. Great move Webgal
This is more for a landing page on a menu driven site which is typically shorter than a headline for a sales letter. That's a very GENERAL rule, however. I would use hyphens but rarely exclamation points. For this market, it would be OK to use exclamation points because they probably use !!! a lot in their own correspondence. I'll make a post today. I think we need to isolate the target market some more--give them some definition. You first have to really walk in the shoes of the target first. If I lead with some bullet points, I think others will follow. It's funny, in defining and writing down things about the target, it comes more easily when it's time to write headlines. It's like you do all this stuff up front and then it's time to do headlines and I know now that I just start writing things down and then the floodgates open and I can't type fast enough. It's that confidence and knowing it's going to come that allows it to happen. If you get in that mindset, it WILL happen. Thanks chillingbreeze. STEP TWO: Step Two Getting to know the target market and how they tick.
This sounds so cool! Thank you for teaching us about headlines! I'm going to go mosey on over to your blog and learn about this!
Part Three is posted. http://webpreppro.com/blog/ Any one have headline ideas? Post them on the blog.