business

What Is Copywriting?

If you have any interest in online business, whether it is affiliate marketing, product creation or perhaps the provision of some kind of internet service, you are at a considerable disadvantage if you have no knowledge of copywriting. Copywriting is, in a nutshell, writing copy that sells. It draws on a number of disciplines, writing being the most obvious, but also marketing and even psychology. Successful copywriters charge a lot of money for their work and it can often seem as though their profession is shrouded in mystery. Below, the fundamentals of copywriting are summarised in an attempt to shed some light on this lucrative discipline.

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Essentially, a copywriter is skilled at portraying the value of a product or service to whoever the potential customer may be. Business is all about products and services and even if you have a great product or service, if the potential customer is unaware of this, then your business is not going to succeed. Copywriting involves producing the advertising and marketing content for a business; whether that is website copy, email marketing, landing pages, squeeze pages and even mail order letters, if that is the preferred method of reaching customers.

Even if a copywriter is talented enough to make a business prospect sit up and take notice of what is being said, that is only the beginning of the battle. Often, the greatest challenge is in getting people to believe the claims that are being made. Also, the motivation to buy must be created; it is one thing to have a product or service and give a convincing argument as to why it should be purchased, but why should they buy it from you? Copywriting, if it is to be effective, must overcome all of these obstacles.

The basic skill at work in copywriting is communication. A copywriter takes information about a product or service, including the features and benefits, the cost and feedback from previous customers and seeks to communicate this in such a way as to provoke emotion in the prospect. Why emotion? Because emotion is what sells a product or service. Studies have shown that an individual will be inspired to buy because of a basic emotional reaction to whatever is presented and then try to justify it logically. This process is the foundation on which all good copywriting is built.

How is this achieved, then? What is the big secret that enables skilled copywriters to demand such high pay checks? Firstly, a copywriter must know the target audience intimately, as it is only through knowing the prospect that their needs, wants, hopes and dreams can be matched to a product or service that promises to provide a solution. There are rules surrounding which language works best and differing viewpoints on how to structure sales copy, but the essence of copywriting is no more than applying emotion, through the use of language, to persuade somebody to buy. If you can create an image in the prospect’s mind of how great their life will be when they buy a product or service, you will succeed in copywriting.

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