webcopy - The Marketing Compass

If you want to improve the quality of your 'marketing words', a written copywriting brief will clarify your thinking. It will help you to produce better results – whether you are doing the writing or whether someone else is. Within the brief: * State your objectives clearly. * What business challenge will the writing solve? * What are we selling? * What does the product / service do? * What is the identity of the product / service? * How does it work? * Key features? * What are the benefits? (Create a Benefits List). * How is our product / service better than the competition? * What market segment are we communicating with? * Describe a typical member of the market segment. * What needs do they have (which we can help them with)? * What are our key messages – for this segment? * What else can we talk about? * What proof can we offer? (Testimonials; research; statistics; surveys). * How will we include our contact details? * What sort of call to action will...

Writing for the web is part art and part science. 'Art' includes the ability to make your words flow and to make them sufficiently compelling to keep the readers' attention. 'Science' refers to your ability to get the reader to follow the journey from awareness through to purchase (or a key action, such as a request for a meeting). It is widely accepted that website visitors scan web pages. As they typically see many website pages in a day, they are hunting for useful, relevant content. They do this by scanning 'signposts' on the page, including headlines and subheads. I have taught internet marketing since 2000. During my seminars, presentations and consultancy sessions I am often surprised at how confusing web pages can be. With regards to the text on the page - start by getting the headline right. Write effective headlines The headline = the signpost for your page content (or newsletter story, blog entry etc). It is critical that it is...

Tag: webcopy

Copywriting brief – here is a checklist

How to write for the web