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THE most important part of copywriting is...

by gjabiz
17 replies
subject to debate. So feel free.

My opinion is, the most important part of copywriting is

the INTERSECTION where your promotion meets the person you are writing for.

Which is why I suggest that as the starting point for your copy.

Where does that happen, and how do they get there?

If your copy is on a web site, what is the source of the traffic, how did the person get there?
Organic Searches? Links from email? Websites, ads whatever?

If know how they got there, and what is on their mind at the time, THEN you write your headline to match with their preoccupation.

We know we only have a few seconds to capture their attention and less than a minute to go from attention to interest. During this critical minute, they are looking for an escape hatch, a way out, a REASON to leave and they too often find it quickly.

IF you have written to this person in a way which resonates with them, and use your skills to get them reading, watching or listening for a period of time...then you have a chance of getting them to the end.

They will skim the written word, going in the F fashion, left to right, left side down, scan right and so on to the offer or conclusion...

YOU knowing this, can construct your promotion in a way which helps them and yourself too.

So, that is what I think the most important part of copywriting is, what about you?

gjabiz
#copywriting #important #part
  • Profile picture of the author Alex Cohen
    Also known as message to market match.

    Ranking the importance of the various pieces is an interesting intellectual exercise, but of little practical value.

    For best results, make sure to get all the important stuff right.

    Alex
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    • Profile picture of the author deanjeffery
      Originally Posted by Alex Cohen View Post

      Also known as message to market match.

      Ranking the importance of the various pieces is an interesting intellectual exercise, but of little practical value.

      For best results, make sure to get all the important stuff right.

      Alex
      I agree with you Alex. This is exactly what a copywriter should keep in mind.
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  • Profile picture of the author Princess Balestra
    It is like the person walked to the edge of their world.

    There is dead center of their reality, where they're at, an' mebbe they are happy with that.

    Or mebbe not.

    Thing is, they take a walk out sumtimes, look an' see what else is goin' on.

    Or mebbe they are lured by sounds off, flickers.

    Point is, there is no intersection at this point — they are jus' walkin' out.

    They gotta walk to the edge to check on any kinda intersection — an' who wants to stand right on the edge of anythin' for long?

    Especially if it is DANGEROUS or SOME KINDA VOID?

    The intersection gotta fill up with viable ways to keep people steppin' forward, ways to transform the momentum of curiosity into ever more substantial territory.

    Back out in the copywritin' vapor — the future we know but the person don't — we can toss steppin' stones into the void like frisbees, play 'em out in a pulse from the edge of their world toward ours.

    With every toss, the edge of their world draws closer to us.

    With every toss, our aim can take advantage of decreasin' distance we gotta throw.

    But in lurin', we gotta respect our part in the deal.

    We gotta have a viable offer.

    As successive stones settle in the void (thanks to sublime castin'), increasingly they gotta transform in the person's mind from markers of steps out from the edge into evidence of circular ripples of sumthin', rollin' out from dead center.

    To right and left, where nuthin' should exist, suddenly there is sumthin'.

    The steps flesh out the terrain covered in a kinda 3D.

    I figure that kinda expansion — left, right, up, down — offers a tangible dimensionality.

    Somewhere better to go than back.

    So the intersection is cool, an' in essence it is about offerin' people what we all gotta do, which is to walk on into time's void, in a cosmos fulla flux, in accordance with our own narrative.

    In providin' any opportunity, copywriterist gotta know sumthin' of what it might mean (in terms of steps, vistas, dead center enhance-o) to the person they are talkin' to.

    Otherwise it is coercion, or some other more unappealin' offer.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Cohen
      I knew there was a reason I had you on my ignore list... trying to understand what you write is too much effort. And in some cases impossible.

      Clarity is the key to good writing Princess.

      Back on the list you go... sorry.

      Alex
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      • Profile picture of the author Princess Balestra
        Originally Posted by Alex Cohen View Post

        I knew there was a reason I had you on my ignore list... trying to understand what you write is too much effort. And in some cases impossible.

        Clarity is the key to good writing Princess.

        Back on the list you go... sorry.

        Alex
        Hey — sorry, sweetie.

        I guess the forum concept plays to my love of the speculatorial.

        Perhaps there are people here seekin' to dish up pre-prepared meals with a view to enticin' the appetites of passers-by — an' I trust you will have seen the shameless opportunists sparklin' here with linksy dinksy offers openin' up the abyss in the wake of no visible shadows — but I am an insufficiently finished construct to master such vapid miracles.

        Way I see it, GJA proffered an opportunity for meanderitude here, on a forum for allum come-um.

        I like that.

        Let us sizzle like frissons bein' born!

        Without a prod into the nethero, we have the luxury of bein' self-sufficiently meaningless.

        Thanks to this forum, I am occasionally prodded into becomin' publicly incomprehensible, but along the way, I gotta hope fixes and shifts propulse beyond all seemin' meaninglessnesses.

        If I gotta be offa your list, then I applaud your discriminatory braino.

        Hopin' this is less of an obfuscatorial...
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        • Profile picture of the author max5ty
          Originally Posted by Princess Balestra View Post

          Hey -- sorry, sweetie.

          I guess the forum concept plays to my love of the speculatorial.

          Perhaps there are people here seekin' to dish up pre-prepared meals with a view to enticin' the appetites of passers-by -- an' I trust you will have seen the shameless opportunists sparklin' here with linksy dinksy offers openin' up the abyss in the wake of no visible shadows -- but I am an insufficiently finished construct to master such vapid miracles.

          Way I see it, GJA proffered an opportunity for meanderitude here, on a forum for allum come-um.

          I like that.

          Let us sizzle like frissons bein' born!

          Without a prod into the nethero, we have the luxury of bein' self-sufficiently meaningless.

          Thanks to this forum, I am occasionally prodded into becomin' publicly incomprehensible, but along the way, I gotta hope fixes and shifts propulse beyond all seemin' meaninglessnesses.

          If I gotta be offa your list, then I applaud your discriminatory braino.

          Hopin' this is less of an obfuscatorial...
          I always like your posts, so keep on keeping on!!!
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          • Profile picture of the author Princess Balestra
            Originally Posted by max5ty View Post

            I always like your posts, so keep on keeping on!!!
            It is in the nature our of existence to have no other option -- unless zombie apocalypse or Godzilla should intervene, or a weird kinda zombie/Godzilla fusion nightmare should propulse outta the inevitible connectivity of chance jus' as we figure how to triumph over EITHER zombie apocalypse OR Godzilla.

            But, hey -- I like my posts also.

            Where once we had only the scratchings of informed an' privileged quills, now we have endless regurgutation of LOLcats.

            Ever, I endeavor to be the mean between poles obscene.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jennifer Hutson
    I feel like most good marketers and businesses these days get traffic through a variety of methods – not just one.

    They're going to be getting organic traffic, doing email blasts, and utilizing ads if they're smart. So I think it would be hard to craft copy specifically aimed at people coming from one traffic source.

    I personally feel that the research phase is the crux of all great copy. If you're not defining your target audience as specifically as possible, the copy won't resonate.
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    • Profile picture of the author gjabiz
      Originally Posted by Jennifer Hutson View Post

      I feel like most good marketers and businesses these days get traffic through a variety of methods – not just one.

      They're going to be getting organic traffic, doing email blasts, and utilizing ads if they're smart. So I think it would be hard to craft copy specifically aimed at people coming from one traffic source.

      I personally feel that the research phase is the crux of all great copy. If you're not defining your target audience as specifically as possible, the copy won't resonate.
      Not sure if this survey still stands, but a few years ago, Warriors with businesses averaged 3-7 employees. Those with brick and mortar and multiple businesses had 7-11 EMPLOYEES.

      Yes, many, maybe most Warriors are one person operations, however, a larger business with 15 to 30 employees make up the bulk of American small businesses in many categories. And one of those employees or contractors could be hired to take care of handling the multiple methods of driving traffic.

      And you add:

      I personally feel that the research phase is the crux of all great copy. If you're not defining your target audience as specifically as possible, the copy won't resonate..

      Which the POP clearly shows, and as mentioned on the video is part and parcel of what any decent copywriter does.

      I agree with you 100%, the research is necessary IF the Intersection is going to be a successful meeting of Copy and Person.

      Thanks,

      gjabiz

      So, it may be hard for a single person to craft copy (but plenty of copywriters right here willing to work for an affordable rate) for all of her traffic sources, but I'd bet most Warriors have one major source and maybe two minor sources of traffic.
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      • Profile picture of the author perryny
        I took this tonight, on the intersection of 41st St. and 7th Ave. in the heart of Times Square NYC...



        Hard to imagine a more literal, creative, expensive example of Gordon's POP in action.
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        • Profile picture of the author DKCopywriter
          I wonder how the response is for that Lyft billboard. Definitely a unique advertisement. It counts on people to stop and read, then entices them with turning around the corner. A lot of people probably would stop and read just because it's so unique, whereas a block of text on a webpage is all too common.

          However, there are other issues that, in my mind, may make that billboard less effective than they hope.

          1. They are paying double for the ad, as they are using two billboards
          2. It's for Lyft. They are dominating social media from what I can tell, and Uber seems to be the one with all the bad press, especially after that shooting yesterday. Will this really make that much of a difference?
          3. I wonder how many people walking by the billboards DON'T already use Lyft. If they use Uber instead, there's really not a reason to switch, besides the bad publicity the company has had lately and the lower surge rates. They should make more use of those facts, in my opinion.

          Again though, I don't know all the facts or stats, it very likely has been proven to work, otherwise they'd have pulled it.
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          • Profile picture of the author Arvinte Giorgiana
            Your writing does not just have to be professional and neat, it has to be appropriate, too. For the most part, you never know exactly who is going to read your writing, and it will appear inconsiderate if you use humour or technical language that does not have a universal appeal.
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          • Profile picture of the author perryny
            I don't know if the ad is profitable or not. However,

            If Lyft is looking to grow in New York City, can you think of a single other way they could deliver their message to a greater number of potential customers who may be in need of their service in the immediate or near future?

            I can't.
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  • Profile picture of the author Princess Balestra
    I love that Alex thinks I am an alien.

    So, for the sake of clarity -- an' also because GJA suggested we make our own versions of his YouToob diagram -- here is my intersexy artwork...

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    • Profile picture of the author Jennifer Hutson
      Originally Posted by Princess Balestra View Post

      I love that Alex thinks I am an alien.

      So, for the sake of clarity — an' also because GJA suggested we make our own versions of his YouToob diagram — here is my intersexy artwork...
      Don't mind him, he's just a grump. I'm pretty sure the rest of us appreciate your eccentric brand of humor, Princess At the very least, it makes this place interesting.
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      • Profile picture of the author Princess Balestra
        Originally Posted by Jennifer Hutson View Post

        Don't mind him, he's just a grump. I'm pretty sure the rest of us appreciate your eccentric brand of humor, Princess At the very least, it makes this place interesting.
        Ha!

        "Guaranteed to bring a smile to any hellhole." is gowin' on my next T-shirt.

        As for Alex, I figure he combines generosity with a splash of necessary astringent.
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  • Profile picture of the author Princess Balestra
    Roundthenextcornerishness is a pull without push.
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