If you want to learn how to write better copy then you have come to the ‘write’ place.
See what I did there?
Anyway, enough with the genius humour, I want you here so that I can give you some advice on how you can write better copy and become a better copywriter.
Copywriting is the art of selling in the written form. Any piece of marketing material you see splattered over the sides of buildings and billboards will have more then likely been written by a copywriter, and for a pretty penny no doubt.
There is massive opportunity in the copywriting space because a copywriter (especially a good one) is a very valuable asset to a company. Any piece of marketing material a company puts out there is carefully crafted by a copywriter, and every company needs the skill of a copywriter to maximise their marketing efforts.
The great thing about copywriting is that you don’t need a formal education to become a success in it. In fact, the best copywriters in the world didn’t even go to university.
Do the research
Copywriting isn’t just about writing words on a page and hoping that it will influence someone. In fact, copywriting is probably 80% research and 20% of actual writing.
If you want to write better copy then you need to do the research.
But why is research so important?
This is because when you’re a copywriter you are trying to write copy that will tap into the emotion of your reader and persuade them to take an action of some sort e.g. buy a product, subscribe to an email list etc. So if you want to do this effectively then you are going to have to know your target audience inside out.
By researching everything there is to know about your audience you are giving yourself the best chance to write copy that they can relate to. Which will hopefully influence them to some degree.
What are their pain points?
What problems do they need to solve?
These are the types of questions you will be able to answer with effective research.
Focus on short form Copy First
When it comes to copywriting you might get intimidated when looking at examples that span pages and pages. While these long forms of copy are common practice, the short copy is just as common, if not more so.
You want to try and build up to writing long form copy, otherwise you won’t be very effective with it. Focus on writing short form copy and getting comfortable doing so. Short form copy includes:
- Social media posts
- Short emails
- Product descriptions
- Social media ads
- Google ads
- Headlines
Practice Makes Perfect
If you want to write better copy then you simply have to write more copy. Yes, I’ve just given you the most obvious advice ever, but it is definitely the most effective. I have took many courses and read many books on the subject of copywriting. While this part of the puzzle is essential, I would argue that it isn’t the most important.
I have gotten 10x better at writing effective copy by repeatedly doing it. It’s just like Bruce Lee once said;
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times”
Learn from the Best
If you’re going to learn something then you might as well learn from an expert. And there are plenty of options when trying to learn how to write better copy.
I always try and use a few different resources as I like to see patterns throughout different sources. When you have sampled different learning materials you will be able to notice they give similar knowledge but maybe from a different point of view. I enjoy seeing how different teachers interpret the same learnings in a different way.
I’m a huge fan of Skillshare and I think it is a really good place to start your copywriting journey. You can start with a subscription of around £15 a month which includes thousands of classes, including many good classes on copywriting.
If you like reading then I also have a selection of books you can learn from: