Author: | Rachel | Published: | almost 7 years ago |
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Tags: | marketing, copywriting, advertising, power words, key words, linking words, creative writing | Category: | Writing tips |
This week it is my pleasure to welcome guest blogger Rachel Timmins to The Write Flourish. Rachel is a copywriter and photojournalist, and she has some great tips to share with us about copywriting.
So what is copywriting? Is it the same as ‘copyrighting’? The short answer is ‘no’. Copyrighting guards against plagiarism. Copywriting is altogether different.
The fact is that copywriting is a useful tool for many needs. Whether you realise it or not, you can benefit by applying this tool to many of your day-to-day writing activities. For example, suppose you wish to invite lots of people to an event. You write an email with all the information they could want and hit ‘send’. How many responses do you get back? If you’d like a greater response, then you can use the skills involved in copywriting.
In advertising, copywriting is part of marketing strategy. Encouraging a potential customer to take an action of some kind such as responding to a free offer, is the goal. This collects the details of said customer for mail-outs, potentially turning into future sales. The term ‘copywriting’ basically means: researching, gleaning information and rewriting it.
For you personally, copywriting could help you land a job, encourage responses to emails, improve your writing in general and even help you to evangelise more effectively. Copywriting skills can be used verbally, as well as in writing.
It’s all about combining:
in a winning combination that draws a response from the recipient.
Linking Words
Let’s look at linking words. People are lured to continue reading by simple little words like:
If you go back to the beginning of this blog, you will see how I’ve employed these kinds of words. Every time you use a linking word, it gives the reader the impression that there is new information coming after it. Even if I were to repeat the same sentence, but reword it, the effect is the same. See?
Asking a question straight up is a powerful attention-getter. Make it personal. I used this technique for the title of this blog.
Power Words
As well as linking words, we have power words. These are strong marketing tools. There are 27 top power words. By the way, always use odd numbers if you want people to take notice of figures. Ready for the power words?
Key Words
And now for key words. You already know heaps about those. No, really. Suppose you are writing about the hearing impaired. Your keywords would be things like: hearing, ear, hearing aid, sound, volume and audible.
Creative Writing
You are no doubt well into the creative writing side of things? As you know, this comes from the heart and imagination of every writer. It’s your God-given talent. Your unique personality and giftings will shine even brighter now you’ve unlocked the secrets of copywriting. (Example of the sucking up technique and a really cheesy advertising style).
If you’ve read through this whole article, then I’ve done a good job using my ‘linking words’ to keep you reading. If not, then I need to try new approaches until it holds your interest. Have fun giving copywriting a go in your next email!
Want to Find Out More?
If you’d like to see more of Rachel’s work, she has over 140 articles on the Weekend Notes site. You can also follow her on Facebook or Twitter.
Bio
Rachel Timmins is a freelance copywriter and photojournalist with two years' experience, based in Toowoomba. She's had poetry, blogs, devotionals and articles published in: Weekend Notes, Penned from the Heart, Poetica Christi, Footprints, The Mozzie, Studio - a Journal of Christians Writing, The Voices Project, Valley Micropress, Christian Writers Downunder and the Sunday Mail.
Her poetry has generally been cathartic and she hopes others will also find it helpful. As a Christian, she believes there is help, healing and deliverance for every difficulty. She also hopes to have her childrens’ fiction published someday. She has a poetry magazine on the back burner.
Comments read 8 comments
Thanks so much for doing that guest post, Rachel. You've got some great tips there. Sometimes we have people coming to us with copywriting queries, so I'll be able to direct them here in future.
Thanks for this interesting and informative blog post, Rachel and Nola. My eldest son, who's doing his post graduate diploma in media and journalism, has copywriting in mind as a possible career option. I'll make sure he looks at this.
Thanks Paula. I didn't realise your son was doing that degree. It sounds interesting. I think one of the good things about copywriting is that it could be a full-time career, but also something that you can do part-time from home, so it probably leaves a few options open. Thanks for stopping by.
Thank you Nola for your encouragements and traffic, wonderful.
Thank you Paula for the feedback, most appreciated. Yes, copywriting can be lucrative if you make it (up to 80K) and journalism is a sought after background for jobs. I recommend Copywriting Essentials by the Australian Writers' Centre.
https://www.writerscentre.com.au/freelance-writing-courses/
Thanks Rachel for some great and practical tips. I'm a fiction writer - but in the middle of writing promotional material for my latest novella and e-launch - so can clearly see the value of copy writing (as well of course of copyrighting ;) ). Love what you have shared hear - especially about the importance of linking words and power words.
Thank you Jeanette. Yes, it has lots of uses, once you start looking. Glad you liked it and see a use for it.
I've been trying to figure out how to teach my staff to write better emails. Emails that engage the reader and not put them to sleep. You've given me some great ideas on where to start. Thanks Rachel.
That's fantastic Kirsten, I'm really pleased for you. Thanks for the comment. I trust that the emails will go well for your team.
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