The Elusive Art of Copywriting

chillibreeze writer — Sandeep Rajan

Advertising copywriting is a peculiar art. A well-written ad manages to convince a lot of people to buy a lot of products. However, the ad seems to be written for just one person - never for a crowd. There are reasons why some of the best copywriters in the world write that way.

When you're writing copy, you have to become an imaginary salesman on paper. A friendly, approachable and intelligent person who has all the answers to any question the consumer might have. In reality, salesmen have to gain the confidence of the consumer, before he gets round to the actual selling.

In copywriting, the writer imagines sitting the consumer down in front of him. It is always better to imagine a living person who breathes sitting opposite you than hordes of people who are confined into a target group. It’s as if the writer is having a conversation with the consumer.

The writer must ask the right questions - What is the nature of the consumer's problem? How can this problem be solved? Then he/she must move on to how the product could fill the gap in the consumer's life - would it make a positive contribution to the consumer's life? How is the product better than its competitors? And finally, would the consumer want to buy it?

The art of selling is a mysterious process that has never been perfected. But making it a personal experience for the consumer has shown to improve your chances of selling your product. Consumers are people too, and people tend to take the word of a salesman/copywriter who is concerned about the consumer and wants to make a positive contribution to the consumer's life. People also like someone who talks to them directly, someone who gives them all the attention.

Writing life into the copy has a few rules. Obviously, these have been borrowed directly from the way we speak in real life -

1. Write the way you would speak
If you care to notice a conversation with any other person, it's always short sentences traded between each other. Shakespeare's soliloquies are for the stage. Not for sales.

2. Write the way you would write
You are not P.G. Wodehouse. That job is already taken. Be yourself when you write. Weave jokes that are relevant to the product, strike them out if they aren't funny. Don't be too dramatic - you're not performing on stage.

3. Write to sell
You have just written a fantastic paragraph. One that you wish you could frame and put on the wall. But if it is not selling the product, rethink and rewrite!

4. Write no more, no less
There is a reason why certain books are used to treat insomnia. In your copy, when your problem has been defined and later solved, there is no reason for you to bore the consumer. If you bore him/her, they wouldn't want to listen to what you have to say. But making your copy too brief might result in the consumer not being convinced enough to buy your product.

5. Write so it reads easy
You know you've skipped paragraphs that run two pages long. So will your consumer. You know you are not really keen on reading further when you spot a grammatical mistake in a sentence. So will your consumer. You know you keep reading when you like the way it's written. So will your consumer.

6. Write, write, write
Everyone wants to be a writer, no one wants to write. Writing copy takes a lot of effort. The trick is to not let it show on paper. Write drafts and redrafts until it sounds just right. Until you think it can't be bested and until you're sold on the product yourself. Needless to add, there are very good chances the consumer will be sold on it too.

Editor's note: Most articles submitted to Chillibreeze go through a selection process. Only 30 percent of submitted articles are accepted for publication on the Chillibreeze.com featured article list. All accepted articles are edited and proofread for glaring errors of punctuation and grammar. Sentence structure is changed in certain cases and sometimes, entire sections are rewritten. If you notice any errors that have slipped through the cracks, do let us know! (Email us at info at chillibreeze dot com).

Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in August, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

More on Chillibreeze.com

Other popular articles on Chillibreeze

Cardinal Rules For All Ye Bloggers
Job Hunting in the New Economy
How to Easily Convert a Website to CSS
Tween Trouble: What Happens When they Turn Eleven
Top Biotechnology Start-ups in India

Out of 5 “chilies”, our editorial team gave this article...

—About our writer:

Sandeep spent a few years in Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai working for some of the best advertising agencies. He continues to consult for a few of them and spends the rest of his time writing fiction and film scripts. He is also into freelance writing.

>> Read more articles written by Chillibreeze writers:

More resources for Writers on Chillibreeze.com

Chillibreeze offers Indian writers the opportunity to work on customer projects. We are also India’s biggest writer network and a one-stop shop for Indian writers and editors. The writers’ section on Chillibreeze offers freelance writers and editors a variety of tools to advance their careers. Resources for writers include:

Assessment of your writing, editing and proofreading skills

Writing courses

Expert Feedback on your article

An opportunity to promote yourself on our website

Top websites for Indian writers

Tips and resources for Indian freelancers

Book Publishing services

And more………………..

Explore our writers’ section using the links on our left-hand side menu. IMPORTANT! Don’t forget to