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A Message from KellyWelcome to The Copywriting Connection! This week we are discussing when your reader will benefit from reading about a topic in a deep, narrow way or if a wide view of things would work better. Which way you should write depends on many factors, most of all your audience's knowledge and interest in the topic. Read this week's feature article to learn more. Have you missed a recent issue? Check out our new archive page here for recent editions: www.thecopywritinginstitute.com/TheCopywritingConnection.html. I'm still looking for some more funny copywriting related jokes. If you have a FUNNY one and submit it, I'll send you a copy of my ebook Powerful Interviewing Techniques for Healthcare Marketers (value $29.99) as a special thank you. And if your joke is really funny we may use it in an upcoming marketing promotion. Submit your joke here www.thecopywritinginstitute.com/trickandtreat.html. If it's not a joke it doesn’t count :). Happy Copywriting! Kelly
Should you write with concern to depth or breadth?By: Kelly Robbins Are readers more likely to read your copy if you cover a lot of information on one topic (breadth) or get very specific on one aspect of that topic (depth)? If a topic is new to you, and you're reading about something you've never learned about before, learning a little bit about a lot takes you a long way. It's actually where most of us need to start to learn. For example, my first grader is learning about the human body. She's learning about the digestive system, the bones, and the brain. She's learning a little bit about a huge subject. As she gets older she will learn more than just two weeks worth of the human body – she'll have an entire semester on it, and learn much more depth about the nervous system and how it works, the muscles, etc. Imagine the specifics neurologists have learned and the depth of the nervous system they explore! I taught a college level marketing 101 class a few years ago. The concept was the same. With a little more depth than business 101, marketing 101 touched on A LOT of marketing areas - actually each chapter in the textbook was a degree people could get. For example: International marketing, Consumer Behavior, Business to Business Marketing, Customer Resource Management (CRM). As a student proceeds through their college level classes to the upper echelons such as Marketing 401, the focus of the classes narrow. There's more meat to the specific topic or area, rather than touching on many different areas. If you really want to grab your reader's attention, it's important you add depth to your copy, not cover as much information as you can in 500 words. Of course it is always important to take a look at your audience and what you hope to accomplish with the piece, but overall you are more likely to educate and grab your reader's attention when you go deep on one specific topic, rather than discuss more topics in one sitting. Readers will find more value in the depth, are more likely to learn something new, and in turn become a more educated and valuable prospect. One common way many of us write to educate is to provide a "top ten" list. This is a great technique and works well. People like to read them and tend to remember what they read. If you want to offer your readers more on the topic of your top ten list, write in-depth on each of the ten topics you highlighted. Start with a top 10 list to cover a wide range of topics, and then write a detailed article or brochure on each individual topic. A top ten list is where this article came from. Writing with depth vs. breadth was actually number two in an article I wrote about strengthening your copywriting skills. Many readers enjoyed that article and I think most of you will find value on covering each of those ten tips in-depth. I find writing articles on more specific topics challenge me more as a writer – and as a person. It challenges me to be more of a thorough leader in my field. The question remains, do readers get more value reading about a topic's breadth or its depth? The answer really depends on their level of knowledge of the topic and their interest level. Which do you prefer? © The Copywriting Connection. All Rights Reserved. Want to use this article for your e-zine or web site? No problem! Just let us know at support@thecopywritinginstitute. We'll send you a short bio to include at the end of the article.
Copywriters ChallengeWe challenge you to push yourself to analyze your reader’s needs in a deeper way. Are you providing them the materials they need at a level they are ready for? Word of the WeekThis week's word of the week is ubiquitous [yoo-bik-wi-tuhs]. Ubiquitous means being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time or omnipresent. An example of a sentence might be: The Christmas decorations in retail stores started early and are ubiquitous more so than ever this year. Tools for your SuccessBeginner's Guide to Search Engine Optimization. This easy to read guide provides a comprehensive overview of many of the processes, techniques and strategies that professional search engine optimization specialists use to help sites to be more visible in the search engines. If you have any other great resources you'd like us to share with everyone, let us know and we'll check it out. rachel@thecopywritinginstitute.com All content is copyrighted© |
