The Copywriter's Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells

by Robert W. Bly

As a creative person, you naturally want to write clever copy and produce fancy promotions. But as a professional, your obligation to your client is to increase sales at the lowest possible cost.

For copy to convince the consumer to buy the product, it must do three things: 1. Get attention. 2. Communicate. 3. Persuade.

the Internet has not changed human nature, nor does people’s buying psychology change simply because they are reading your message online instead of offline.

the principles of psychology are fixed and enduring. You will never need to unlearn what you learn about them.

If it offers news or helpful information or promises a reward for reading the ad, the first impression will win the reader’s attention.

The effective headline tells the reader: “Hey, stop a minute! This is something that you’ll want!” As mail-order copywriter John Caples explains, “The best headlines appeal to people’s self-interest, or give news.”

Your headline can perform four different tasks: 1. Get attention. 2. Select the audience. 3. Deliver a complete message. 4. Draw the reader into the body copy.

If you can legitimately use the word free in your headline, do so. Free is the most powerful word in the copywriter’s vocabulary. Everybody wants to get something for free.

Other powerful attention-getting words include how to, why, sale, quick, easy, bargain, last chance, guarantee, results, proven, and save.

You don’t want to waste time answering inquiries from people who cannot afford the product.

Ogilvy recommends that you include the selling promise and the brand name in the headline.

To draw the reader into the body copy, you must arouse his or her curiosity. You can do this with humor, or intrigue, or mystery. You can ask a question or make a provocative statement. You can promise a reward, news, or useful information.

“We are not in the business of being original. We are in the business of reusing things that work.”

The “4 U’s” copywriting formula—which stands for urgent, unique, ultra-specific, and useful—can help.

“Borrowed interest” is a major cause of confusing copy. There are others: lengthy sentences, clichés, big words, not getting to the point, a lack of specifics, technical jargon, and poor organization, to name a few.

“Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them. And then, tell them what you told them.” The speechwriter first gives an overview of the presentation, covers the important points in sequence, and then gives a brief summary of these points.

Copy becomes dull when all sentences are the same length.

“As you revise, ask yourself if you would ever say to your reader what you are writing. Or imagine yourself speaking to the person instead of writing.”

Many readers skim copy without reading it carefully, so an underline or highlight can be useful in calling out key words, phrases, paragraphs, and selling points.

One of the most common mistakes with bullets is not including the right level of information. “Tell too much, and you give away the information free, and there is no need to order the product to find the answer,” says copywriter Parris Lampropolous. “For example, if your bullet says ‘how to erase pain by using an over-the-counter lotion called capsaicin,’ no curiosity is generated because you’ve already told the secret.”

On the other hand, says Parris, if your bullet contains too little information, or not enough specific information, it fails to grab attention. “If you say ‘why B vitamins are an absolute must for people predisposed to this disease,’ you fail to hook me, because I don’t know what ‘this disease’ is,” says Parris.

His rule of thumb for writing strong bullets: Be specific about the problem; be vague and mysterious about the solution. Plus, do it ...

Now that you have a list of customer benefits, you must decide which sales point is the most important, the one you will feature in your headline as the “theme” of the ad. You also have to decide which of the other points you will include and which you will not use. And, you have to arrange these points in some sort of logical order.

The headline should focus on the single strongest benefit you can offer the reader.

Some copywriters try to hook the reader with clever phrases, puns, or irrelevant information, then save the strongest benefit for a big windup finish. A mistake.

But what if such a proprietary advantage does not exist? What if your product is basically the same as the competition, with no special features? Reeves has the answer here, too. He said the uniqueness can either stem from a strong brand (already discussed as an option 95 percent of marketers can’t use) or from “a claim not otherwise made in that particular form of advertising”—that is, other products may also have this feature, but advertisers haven’t told consumers about it.

“A copywriter has to create perceived value. He has to ask, ‘What is the nature of the product? What makes the product different? If it isn’t different, what attribute can you stress that hasn’t been stressed by the competition?’ ”

Instead of dramatizing the product benefits, dramatize the benefits of the packaging benefits or the delivery system. Example: Course: video, live, drip course.

But there’s a problem: What happens if the reader is skeptical . . . because the big promise is so fantastic, it sounds too good to be true? In that case, use a secondary promise. The secondary promise is a lesser benefit that the product also delivers. Although not as large as the big promise, the secondary promise should be big enough so that, by itself, it is reason enough to order the product—yet small enough so that it is easily believed. This way, even if the reader is totally skeptical about the big promise, she can believe the secondary promise and order on that basis alone.

In general, the length will depend upon three things: the product, the audience, and the purpose of the copy. First, consider your product. Is there a lot you can say about it? And will giving these facts help convince the reader to buy it?

Second, the length of the copy depends upon the audience. Some customers don’t need a lot of information and are not accustomed to reading long text. Others seek out all the facts they can get and will devour as much as you can provide.

The third factor in determining copy length is the purpose of the copy. If you want your copy to generate a sales lead, then there’s no need to go into complete detail because you’ll get a chance to provide more information when people respond to the lead. On the other hand, an ad that asks for the order by mail must give all the facts the reader needs to make a buying decision and order the product.

one thing you must realize is that you’ll rarely get it right the first time. The key to writing great copy is rewriting two, three, four, five, six, seven drafts, or as many as it takes to get it right.

If you are describing a product and its benefits, you will probably organize your sales points in order of importance, putting the most important point in the headline and taking the reader from the major benefits to minor features as you go through the body copy.

When you’re stuck for an idea, a quick review of the list might give you inspiration—you might scan the list and say, “Hey, here’s an approach that works with what I’m selling!” Turn to this checklist not as a crutch but as an aid in producing ideas:

The first sentence of your letter is the most important one. This sentence signals whether there is something of interest in your letter or whether it is worthless junk mail to be thrown away without a second glance.

You can put a real date limit on the offer (“Remember, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto is yours to keep just for taking advantage of this offer within the next 10 days”). • You can hint that the offer won’t last forever (“But hurry—supplies are limited”). • Or, you can add a sense of urgency to your call for action (“Remember—the time to buy insurance is before tragedy strikes. Not after”).

Letters with indented paragraphs, underlined words, and portions of the text set in a second color outpull plain letters.

The best brochures contain just the right amount of product information and sales pitch to lead the prospect from one step of the buying process to the next.

Let the organization of your brochure be dictated by what your customer wants to know about your product. If you own a computer store, and you find that customers coming in off the street seem to ask the same questions over and over, you might write a booklet titled, “Six Important Questions to Ask Before You Buy a Computer.” The booklet would present computer shopping tips in a simple question-and-answer format.

There are many ways to organize a brochure: alphabetical order, chronological order, by size of product, by importance of customer benefit, question and answer, list of customer benefits, by product line, by price, by application, by market, by steps in the ordering process. Choose the approach that best fits your product, your audience, and your sales pitch.

Be sure to write headings and subheads that tell a story. Avoid headings that are just straight description or clever plays on words.

The best brochure photos demonstrate the product’s usefulness by showing it in action.

Use visuals when they can express or illustrate a concept better than words can. If the visual doesn’t improve on the written description, don’t use it.

Label all visuals with captions. Studies show that brochure captions get twice the readership of body copy. Use captions to reinforce the body copy or make an additional sales point not covered in the copy.

End the brochure with copy designed to generate an immediate response. Use action words and phrases: “Give us a call today.” “For more information, write for our FREE catalog.” “Please complete and mail the enclosed reply card.” “Visit our store nearest you.” “Order today—supplies limited.”

Often copywiters are faced with a client who wants publicity and asks us to write a press release, but has nothing new to report. In such instances, a creative publicist or copywriter can “manufacture” a hook or angle strong enough to gain the media’s attention.

The best test of a speech is to read it aloud. If it doesn’t sound natural, rewrite it until it does.

Ideally, your speech should be centered around one main point or theme. If a fact or observation doesn’t tie in with this point, throw it out.

Lead off the message copy with a killer headline or lead-in sentence. You need to get a terrific benefit right up front. Pretend you’re writing envelope teaser copy or are writing a headline for a sales letter.