Copywriting Checklist Introduction
Are you looking to perfect your copy? Our 7-point copywriting checklist can shed some light on how you can get your words in front of the right people and write like a pro.
Copywriting. Copy is everywhere you look.
It’s present in the adverts you walk past every day and even there on the product listings you’ve had your eye on. It’s one of the most universally sought-after skills in the world, especially in an increasingly digital economy.
Every business leader needs it. Every sale is backed by it.
As a result, copywriters have been cropping up everywhere. But what exactly turns just “somebody who writes copy” into a Copywriter with a capital C?
The answer is simple: skill level.
Here at 10X Marketing, our goal is to help you transform yourself from A to B. To help you write effective copy and get people lining up in your inbox, phone line and even at the buy button.
Find below our 7-point ‘R.E.A.S.O.N.S’ copywriting checklist which, when implemented in your writing, will take your copy to the next level…
Tip 1: (R is for) Rarity
Copywriters are essentially salespeople. They use their wicked way with words to wrap customers around their little finger, making them feel like they absolutely have to follow through on a call-to-action.
They take away the element of choice from customers who usually like to feel in control, and they do this through emotive writing, storytelling and even the slightest edge of manipulation. Copywriters really know the purchasing habits of the audience they are writing for, and they use it to their advantage.
They research to provide something rare and precious. Then they threaten to take it away.
Now chances are, there are lots of people out there offering a service or product like yours. When looking at your copy, check to see if you are differentiating yourself from your competitors. Are you clearly communicating your competitive advantage?
Go beyond simply listing the features and show to the reader how your product or service can benefit the buyer in a way that no one else’s can.
Tip 2: (E is for) Empathy
Once they know their audience, copywriters often play around with their empathy or ego. They aim to play prospects’ heartstrings like a fiddle – and then, just as easily, threaten to snap those strings.
Remember – stories tell, but emotions sell.
You want your copy to create a strong sense of desire within the reader, and the only way you’ll be able to do this effectively is to fully understand (and then solve) their biggest pain points.
Before you start writing your next piece, think about a common problem that your audience faces and find a way to show how your product or service solves this problem.
For help understanding your target audience, we’ve designed the perfect solution: our free downloadable persona profile. Skip the difficulty of putting yourself in someone’s shoes, and just fill in the form. Boom. You’re inside their head.
Tip 3: (A is for) Authority
Over time, a copywriter’s content should work to tick three core boxes; the first is getting an audience to ‘know’ your business, the next is getting them to ‘like’ your business, and the final one is getting them to ‘trust’ your business enough to part with their hard-earned cash.
But trust can be difficult to build unless there is an element of authority there, and copywriter’s work to build this in multiple ways.
1 – You may be a firm believer that your product is a must-have essential, or that your service is something that no one can or should live without. But how can you communicate this to your audience in a way that will actually resonate?
Stats and figures can add serious weight to your previously unsubstantiated claims and work to prove your expertise in a way that everybody understands.
2 – The actual usability of your copy is just as important when it comes to authority building. Copywriting is all about taking someone on a journey. Your audience needs to be guided to the right place at the right time. Not spending the next 10 minutes trying to find the right website or the right product amongst thousands.
It goes back to that famous saying: one small step for man, one giant leap for your sales count.
Take authority of the process and don’t make them jump through a thousand hoops. They won’t want to. Guide them to exactly where they need to be.
Tip 4: (S is for) Social Pressure
Now, the thing that we’ve been doing all along with this copywriting checklist blog: making sure to trickle in just a little bit of social pressure. Like a sprinkle of salt in your cooking.
Copywriters work to make your audience desire the box you’ve built, and then make them want to fit in it. In this blog’s case, we want you to follow our steps for success. No more, no less.
Your writing needs to stand out amongst the thousands of words the average customer sees per day. How do you do that? Well, it goes back to the way you write and the story you need to tell.
Play off of your social experiences, take samples and snippets from your life and of those around you. In particular, use feedback and images from previous customers to show future prospects what they’re missing out on if they don’t make a purchase from you. After all, 93% of consumers read online reviews before deciding whether to purchase, so you might as well use these review to convince your audience to buy your product or service.
Tip 5: (O is for) Obligation
For a copywriter, O should take minimal effort if they’ve correctly hit every step before it, particularly rarity and empathy.
You want your audience to feel obligated to purchase by ticking the box that best solves their problem. Objectively demonstrate the gain of their purchase – or even their investment – hinting to a better future. Just like the one you’ll get once you’ve mastered copywriting.
Tip 6: (N is for) Nervousness
Buyers always have and always will have real fears about the purchases they are about to make. It could be that they are worried they’re paying too much for the product or service, or that they’re concerned that it doesn’t quite hit the nail on the head.
When it comes to copywriting, you need to strip away a prospect’s nervousness and build reassurances into your copy. This can be done through money-back guarantees and/or carefully placed testimonials.
Give them the confidence to overlook that price tag (or any other sticking points they have about your offering).
Tip 7: (S is for) Special Offer
By now, you’ve worked to identify and resolve your reader’s biggest pain points, you’ve communicated your competitive advantage, you’ve built up a sense of trust between yourself and the prospect, and you’ve created a dreaded sense of FOMO.
If your expert copy still hasn’t nudged a hesitant prospect into a paying customer, it’s time to take on the final tip in our copywriting checklist; the special offer. Think discounted services, free trials, or even a free gift. Anything that will convince them to make the purchase.
Make the risk feel smaller, but the gain infinitely larger.
Copywriting Checklist DONE, now it’s your turn
Writing the ‘perfect’ copy takes time, and it’s something that will naturally get easier the more you work on it.
Just remember to refer back to the tips in this copywriting checklist, use your words with preciseness and if you need an extra hand use these free copywriting tools. Don’t go on and on where you don’t need to. Nobody likes a villain’s monologue in a fight scene. Delete the ‘fluff’ and leave the core of your work: the heart and the brain.
Then you’ll never go astray.
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