Copywriting is an essential skill to possess if you’re trying to convey a clear message to a particular audience, meaning all you small business owners out there will be wanting to improve your skills as much as possible.
Good copywriting isn’t just there to fill out your website pages. It helps you to build an emotional connection with your potential customers, allows you to bring your brand personality to life through words and, overall, helps you encourage potential customers to turn into loyal ones.
But, if you’re not already a copywriting whiz and know your skills could do with a bit of sharpening up, you’ve come to the right place!
We asked our in-house copywriters about their top tips for improving your copywriting skills – and they came up with some corkers! Check them out below and let’s get you set off on your small business copywriting journey.
Tips for Developing Your Copywriting Skills
1. Benefits over Features
One way to guarantee an improvement in the effectiveness of your copy is to switch the focus. When you’re trying to sell something, it can be tempting to focus on all the fancy pants things it does. For example, if you were selling the new iPhone, you might really feel the need to shout about its 646374-megapixel camera.
That’s great, but it means very little to someone who isn’t a tech whiz. Switching the focus to highlight the benefits of that feature will work to your advantage. So, will that camera help them capture memories in stunning HD? I think it might!
Always allow the benefits of your product or service to be the centre of attention in your copy. It’ll make more of an impact on your readers and will start to build those emotional connections that may eventually lead to a purchase.
After all, it’s not about what your product or service can do, but about what your product or service can do for your customers.
2. Understand your Audience
Even if your writing skills are already top-notch, not knowing your audience well enough can negatively impact your copy’s effectiveness overall.
Before you start writing, take the time to pinpoint exactly the type of person you want to target, and how best to go about doing so. Establish their needs, pain points and preferences – this will allow you to write in a way that speaks directly to them. They’ll be able to relate to what you’ve written and will be far more likely to engage with your company.
One way our copywriters like to learn about their audiences is to follow similar circles on social media – this gives you a sneak preview of their interests, the conversations they’re having, and even the language they use to converse with each other. All of this information can be used to inform a copywriting style that works perfectly for your specific target audience.
It may take a bit of time, but the end result is 100% worth it – trust us!
3. Keep Things Simple
When you know everything there is to know about your industry or niche, it can feel natural to throw industry-specific jargon or complex language into your copy to really showcase your knowledge.
While your extensive knowledge is a brilliant thing, it’s important to remember that while you may be an expert in your industry, your target audience probably won’t.
To improve your copywriting skills and ensure your message is being communicated in the clearest way possible, steer clear of adding jargon or complex language just for the sake of it. The language you use should be easy to read and comprehend, and shouldn’t take away from the message you’re trying to convey to your audience.
The easier your copy is to understand, the more your audience will be willing to engage with it.
4. Break It Down
The last point was all about keeping your language simple and clear – this one is all about keeping the content and page itself as easy to read as possible.
We tend to read online very differently from how we would read a book, for example. When we’re searching for something online, it’s often a spur-of-the-moment thing, something we need to get done in our lunch break or want to look up in our five spare minutes before bed.
Your copy should reflect this. Instead of giving information to your audience in paragraphs and lengthy sentences, break your copy down into short, succinct sections that are easy to scan.
To get your message across quickly and clearly, try inserting subheadings into your copy, as well as formatting techniques like bullet points. This will make your copy far less daunting for your target audience and, again, they’ll be far more likely to engage with it if they can find what they’re looking for quickly and easily.
5. Refine
Copywriting is always a work in progress, as far as we’re concerned. No first draft has ever been perfect, and as your business evolves, your copy will need to evolve too.
So, our final tip for improving your copywriting skills is to be willing to make changes. Try out a couple of different copywriting styles, try focusing on various aspects of your target audience or switch the tone up every now and again. Test these pieces out to determine what works and what doesn’t, and then set about refining what you’ve written.
By constantly testing your copy and being willing to make changes where necessary, you’ll learn what copywriting style best suits your audience and you’ll find it far easier to create content that resonates with them in the future.
Copywriting is all about trial and error – keep going until you find something that really works!
Copywriting with The Edwards Company
Improving your copywriting skills will always be a great way to invest your time. No matter what level you’re at, there’s always something you can be doing to ensure your copy resonates with your target audience as much as possible.
Whether that’s reassessing the language you’re using, making a conscious effort to get to know your target audience better or something as simple as changing the focus to benefits rather than features, there are plenty of ways you can improve the overall effectiveness of your copy.
Or, if you’d like further support with your copy from our copywriting experts, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We write compelling, engaging copy for small businesses like yours.
Check out our Copywriting Services here to book your slot.