Let us get something straight; you don\’t have to be the next William Shakespeare to be a good writer, or even to have achieved top marks at school, college or university.
But what you do need is to be able to connect with the people who will be reading your content – also known as your audience – and be able to get your message across.
So, in one aspect you don\’t have to be the best writer the universe has ever had; but on the other hand you will need to have the skills necessary to clearly get your point across and effectively sell your product in print.
We can help you to improve your copywriting skills, all you need to do is follow the tips that we give you here.
1. Don\’t make it about yourself
Anything you write should not be about yourself. Now this may sound completely opposite to what you expected, but you should be aiming your work at the customer, not at yourself.
It is a bad habit to get in to if you are constantly telling your customers how great your company is; your audience don\’t want to hear that sort of stuff, they simply care about what they want and how they are going to get it.
There is a simple way of spotting whether people are talking about the company or aiming content at their customers, and that is by noticing if they use \’we\’ or \’you\’ more often.
For example, company-focused content will use \’we\’ much more than it uses \’you\’; therefore they are aiming it at themselves.
But, like we said earlier, the customer doesn\’t care about you, they want to take care of themselves, and you are there to assist them in that.
This is why all of your copy should focus on the customer. Everything you write should be something that appeals to them and shows how you can meet their needs; that’s the point of your copy, and that’s really the point of being in business in the first place.
2. Write in a conversational manner
The act of writing is essentially a conversation between you, the writer, and the reader of your piece.
Writing content and having your audience read it is kind of like a salesperson talking to you in a shop, only this way it isn\’t done face to face.
So if you are technically having a conversation with your customers, then you should write your piece like you are talking to a customer. Use words and phrases you would use in your everyday speech; don\’t try to sound overly intelligent, because you will be found out.
Remember, your content should make your audience feel like they are talking to you.
The first in a two part series, make sure you don\’t miss the second part on improving your skills as a copywriter, which will be published in the coming weeks.