September 24th, 2008 by Kelly

When you are hired to write copy for a client, there are many things your clients will ask you to do. You’ll find that often times they have multiple objectives for one piece. It could be to sell their product or service, in addition to positioning their company or product in a certain way.  Other times you’ll be asked to announce new information to the public or to their employees. The list goes on. 

Whatever the reason your client hires you to write copy, you need to show an advantage to the reader. Why is it better? Why is this product better? Why is this doctor better? Why is this company better? Why is this new announcement better? What’s in it for them (the reader)? Perhaps you have heard of the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) phrase before. 

What you need to do in your copy is tie the specific advantages of your product/service with the needs or desires of the audience reading your copy. Or at least most of the readers. 

You want to both show the reader, with your words as well as with pictures, what they gain, as well as what they could lose if they don’t use your product. What the reader gains or loses can be tangible things like money or sometimes even better non tangible things like emotions, security, spiritual growth, embarrassment, keeping face with their friends, etc.

How do you do this?

As a copywriter, you first need to know the advantages of what you were hired to write about. Ask the person that hired you what they are. Ask in any interviews you do, what they see the advantages are.

A tip…one question I always ask when I interview someone, “What is the number one advantage of this product as your clients see it?”

Happy Copywriting!

Kelly Robbins
www.TheCopywritingInstitute.com

September 17th, 2008 by Kelly

Whether a small business owner, nonprofit, or large organization, a key piece of marketing communications is making sure everyone that wants to can get in touch with you can. Whether it’s to further the sale, provide you with information on a new marketing piece you’re working on, or simply to say “hi,” you should always give people multiple ways to contact you and your organization. 

It’s YOUR job to make contacting you easy for them. Not the other way around. 

A colleague recently told me her sales went up dramatically when she added her fax number to her web site. I was very surprised to hear this—I didn’t have my fax number listed as contact information anywhere. (I hate hearing the fax machine go off in the middle of the night and don’t like to give it out!). But she assured me it was true. Which got me thinking….. 

A lot of the copywriting I do involves working with doctors. I do marketing consultations; copywriting projects often involve interviewing them. They are a large part of my target market. And while email is my preferred method of communication, it’s often not theirs. Some of them (not all) don’t check their emails regularly. They would rather use the phone. I’ve learned this through experience and have worked around it. I prefer email hands-down. But that got me thinking again some people may be more comfortable using a fax rather than phone or email. Its concrete; the sender oftentimes gets a confirmation that the fax went through, and if a signature is required — there it is. 

So the moral of my story is to make it easy for your clients to get in touch with you. Everyone does not work the same way you do, whether that is by phone, email, fax or some other method. It’s important to give people several options. 

Make it easy for people to do business with you, not for you to do business with them.

Happy Copywriting!

Kelly Robbins
www.TheCopywritingInstitute.com

September 10th, 2008 by Kelly

Last week we discussed how to get started in analyzing your competitors.

The next step in a competitive analysis is gathering information through competitive intelligence (CI). CI is the practice of gathering, analyzing, and disseminating information on what the marketplace requires (the demand), about how and you and your competitors meet these requirements (the supply), and how each strives to meet market needs better than others (the competition).

Gather marketing materials, visit stores, call and ask questions. These are common ways to collect competitive data. I go straight to Web sites and find almost everything I need there.

Here are a few things to look for while gathering competitive information:

• What products/services competitors produce
• Who their target audience is
• Guarantees, pricing, hours of operation, and delivery options
• Overall, how do they position themselves (cheapest, best value, fastest, unique, patented, etc.)? What is their USP?

After collecting this data, do a little analysis. What is your competition really good at and what is it not so great at? Are there any holes in their product offerings? A niche they’re missing? How does your business fill in the gaps?

Happy Copywriting!

Kelly Robbins
www.TheCopywritingInstitute.com

September 3rd, 2008 by Kelly

Knowing your competition allows you to identify a niche and develop your own unique selling proposition (USP). Clearly defining and understanding the core value you offer your clients can depend on your having a firm grasp of your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.

Where do you start?

1. Make a list of your competitors. Think big in this step. Don’t just think about your direct competition; think about indirect competition in other industries as well. For example, as a copywriter I could list my competitors as fellow copywriters that do freelance work. But I don’t want to stop there. Other potential competitors may include large ad agencies, small ad agencies (each may play a different role with clients), technical writers, a company’s in-house writers, journalists, and even fill-in-the-blank templates you can purchase on the Internet.
2. From this broad-based competitive list, list specific companies you compete with. For example, in the "other copywriters" category, I may list Sally Field, Shelby Foot, and Joe Blow. Under the large agency category, I may have only one or two large agencies I run up against when bidding on projects. Follow this procedure until you’ve gone through all the competing industries. Some may have no direct competitor and that’s OK; acknowledging the potential is there–and getting the "big picture" of where competing business may lie–is what’s important.
3. From this long list of competitors, pick your top three and do a detailed competitive analysis. These are the three you should also use for your marketing plan.

Stay tuned next week for some tips on competitive analysis.

Happy Copywriting!

Kelly Robbins
www.TheCopywritingInstitute.com