The Nitty-Gritty of Crafting Copy That Sells

 

I was a writer for many years before I got into copywriting. So I enjoy the actual writing process. Many don’t. Some people enjoy having written, but have difficulty with the actual process of writing. Maybe I can help. Would you like to know how to avoid getting writer’s block and make the process of writing much easier? RESEARCH! Tear into it.

Research your product, your prospect and your market. Use the product just as your prospect does. Take notes and begin to identify selling points. Then go back again and look at it from another angle. Poke around, looking for big ideas and bullets. Gene Schwartz would comb through a book he was selling 6-7 times. It’s easy to see why his copy was so compelling. He would convert the features of the product into benefits. Then he’d identify the benefit of the benefit. When you commit to that level of research, you can uncover every feature, benefit, selling angle, etc. Nothing valuable will escape you. From there, armed with an arsenal of selling information uncovered in your research, your writing will be much easier.

“I believe he’s downstairs in the cloakroom, preparing his impromptu remarks” – Said one evening of Winston Churchill

So, research isn’t just the key to crafting copy that sells… it’s also the key to creating a smooth and satisfying writing experience that hooks your reader. You should spend at least 40-50% of your time immersed in research, conducting interviews, taking notes and thinking before you even begin your first draft. Now you’re like a sculptor eyeing a block of marble. Your finished product is in there somewhere. And it’s time to pick up your chisel and start hammering away to find it. The “process” of writing begins.

But by now you’ve already stacked the deck in your favor. At some juncture you’ll reach a boiling point when you must begin writing. You’ve got so many interesting ideas to explore that you have to begin laying them out. It really is fairly pleasant and painless if you’ve done the required research. Then, you simply select your best selling points, arrange them according to proven structure and craft, cull and polish to a fine finish. But what about the actual process? I get myself some yerba mate or green tea. I put on some Mozart, which is supposed to help your creative process. Not sure if it actually does, but the music’s pleasant and non-distracting. I use Gene Schwartz’s method of writing in 33-minute bursts.

After 33 minutes or so, you get up and take a mandatory break. It’s a good way to disengage your mind from the task. Then after 5-10 minutes, you get back at it refreshed and up to the challenge. I suggest you try it. It really does concentrate your focus and energy to work in short bursts. Schwartz used an egg timer, but you don’t have to. And as you enjoy the process more, which happens as it gets easier from having all of that research to sift through, you’ll get in a “flow,” your mojo will be working and time flies by.

If you’re a writer this has happened to you time and again. They say that you don’t choose writing. Writing chooses you. Can’t argue with that, because that’s exactly how it happened for me. I have a 1,361 page thesaurus which I use religiously. I go through each draft with a marker. And I re-arrange and slice and dice. William Faulkner once said of this brutal editing process, “Kill your darlings.” It doesn’t matter if you’ve written the most brilliant sentence of your entire life. If it doesn’t belong – if it doesn’t help to sell your product, cut it.

“Your message should single out your prospect like a man being paged in a crowded hotel lobby.” – Claude Hopkins

Be absolutely brutal in your cutting. Use extreme prejudice. The more you cut, the faster your writing will read and the more alluring it will be for your reader. And you’ll be left with a tight, focused sales message that people want to read. And some of your readers will buy what you’re selling. Good writing takes effort. It’s hard work. That may be why so many copywriters attempt to rely on “swipe” files. But if you do resort to that, your “writing” will read just like everyone else’s. And you’ll never truly develop your own POV or style which is what copy buyers are looking for.

John Gamble is a writing and marketing consultant and owner of Marketing Mission. You can visit John’s blog at http://www.marketing-mission.com

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