Module 10
Copywriting
Objectives
- Introduce copywriting.
- Discuss the different uses of copywriting.
- Build basic skillsets for copywriting.
Methods
- Critical thinking.
Introduction
Copywriting, as the term tells us, is the task of writing copy.
But what is “copy”? Basically, “copy” is the text that’s used for marketing materials. This seems simple enough. You see an advertisement—a billboard, a page in a magazine, a digital ad online, a TV ad—and technically the words you see, the words you hear, are considered as “copy.”
In recent years, the internet and the different ways in which it has allowed us to “sell” and/or “market” products and ideas has meant an expansion of “copywriting” to include, in many ways, content writing. This means that the writing that you did for the About Page, is in fact a form of copywriting. After all, the About Page is really that section of your website that you use to “market” or “sell” what it is you want to do. So across all the text you needed to write—the title, the headline, and the about text itself—you were technically using words to sell your site.
What are those words that you use to sell something? They’re called copy. And writing those words means engaging in the act of copywriting.
Types of Copywriting
Copywriting comes in many forms, and has many types, and none of them are simpler or easier than the other.
The different types of copywriting can be dictated by the medium in which the material will be used. For example: copywriting or creating content for different parts of a website, is different from copywriting for a platform like Facebook, is different from copywriting for a billboard or a print advertisement, is different from copywriting for a TV or digital commercial.
Types of copywriting can also be dictated by specific sectors and target audiences: copywriting for medical products is a niche skill, as is the creation of copy for electoral campaigns.
Building Copywriting Skills
As with the other kinds of writing in this course, the primary question you need to answer is what is your purpose? Yes, writing copy is premised on the idea that you are selling or marketing something, but what is it that you’re selling? Is it a product (an object, a person)? Is it an advocacy? Is it information?
Who is the audience that you are selling to? What kind of language do they use? What kind of attitude do they have about what you’re selling? What is the best tone to use when you are trying to catch their attention?
What would you like this target to do when they read your copy? What kind of action would you like to get out of them? Think of this as the measure of your copy’s success.
Once these three things are clear, you can start thinking about your copy. You are working on clearly and creatively selling something in the fewest words possible. This is what we mean when we say that copywriting is about choosing “the best” words. It means these are the most appropriate and most creative set of words that will catch your reader’s attention, make her believe in what you’re selling, and push her in the direction of the actions you’d like her to take.
The Major Copywriting Skill is Editing
Like all types of writing, editing is a key part in the task of writing copy. But because the goal is to choose the best, fewest words possible to creatively sell a product or idea, editing is even more critical part of the practice of copywriting.
What does this mean? It means there is no cramming a copywriting project, and certainly there is no submitting the first copy that comes to mind. The process of writing copy demands that you edit, that you tweak, and shorten, and pick fewer, and better words to say what you want to say. Writing copy means making sure every word that you use is necessary and important to what you want to say.
One way to edit your copy is to put what you think is a good first draft in the space that it’s supposed to appear in. For example, if it’s copy for a poster, put it on that poster already, and see it in relation to all the other poster elements, and within the size limitations of that poster.
Since this is for the midterm project, you can continue the process of editing your copy by putting those words within the space of your content cards. Bring in the colors, typography, images, and layout that you want to use, and see how that requires you to continue editing your words. Ultimately, what happens in copywriting is that you’re not only picking the best, fewest words to say something. You also need to consider what those words look like on the page, how these appear as “images” in themselves.
In this sense, copywriting is also about the arrangement of words on a specific space for marketing purposes, that takes into consideration purpose, audience, and call-to-action. Suffice it to say that the more words you have, the more difficult it is to arrange those in a creative way that will make your reader want to read or do more.
Analysis Activity
These are sentences that have to do with the ads we discussed in class last week, and the ads in the supplementary video for copywriting. See if you can match these statements with the specific copy of those ads. If you can, then this goes to show that all good copy start with a standard sentence. And what makes good copy is really the process by which that sentence is whittled down creatively and thoughtfully, towards achieving its goals.
- There is no need for old people to be lonely, since they can adopt dogs.
- There are more men in power in the corporate world, yet hiring women has been shown to produce more profits for companies.
- If you vote for her you will be given jobs and a better life.
- Sports means hard work and discipline, which you need to keep practicing if you want to achieve anything.
- If you vote for him you will have someone to depend on.
- Everyone should drink milk.
- Cake lights up the lives of even the poorest of the poor.
- If you vote for her there will be a solution to all your problems.
- Sharks are scary but their disappearance from our oceans is a reminder of our current climate crisis which is far more scary.
Once you’re done with this module, you can move on to the Mid-Term Project Brief. ***
