Copywriting according to wikipedia is defined as “Writing copy for the purpose of advertising and marketing”. The main intention of the copy writes is to sell, and call for an immediate action of it’s audience. In the video Ian Laurie, “It delivers value to people when they most need it”.
Different types
- Brochures– these briefly explain about an organization or product, great as a “leave behind”s and encourage for a “call to action” (Lurie, 2014).
- One-Liners– works best for business cards, banners, and social media marketing (Lurie, 2014).
- Posters– short, brief and encourages viewer’s to find out more information by going to the website or contacting the organization (Lurie, 2014).
- Direct Marketing Piece -a single call to action, focus on “pitch” and target new and old customers (Lurie, 2014).
- Script-It drives audio, video, and animation (Lurie, 2014).
- Product Description– describes what you are selling and used in the buying process (Lurie, 2014).
Process of Copywriting
Ian Laurie has explained his viewers what is copy writing and how to prepare before writing. There are few key elements to copywriting which includes delivering significance, persuasive writing, and visually appealing (Lurie, 2014). It is necessary to understand the target audience before writing any copy for marketing as these marketing copywriting are to promote and sell some products. Product description is mostly done when customer is in buying process (Lurie, 2014).
You need basic tools before starting writing such as timer, water, a proper software/gadget, and back up/storage (Lurie, 2014). Moreover, a right mindset to prepare yourself to write is necessary as it gives you positive and good start. After that you need to plan, which includes making notes about audience, list of collateral, list of styles that you want to use (Lurie, 2014). Then start with free writing and put your ideas on the paper without erasing it. This will give you content, a broader vision as well as new ideas.
It is also important to take breaks in between to keep the energy and excitement high. Try to finish big chunks or sections in one sitting. This will be your first draft one you done with main sections, review it and make sure you are not missing out any important information. Lurie (2014), encourages to do the introduction and conclusion at the very end as these two need to based on the main body/content. The speaker also talked about general rules of copywriting such as addressing the reader, quality of content, not to use sarcasm, also the importance of headlines.
Rewriting Existing Copy
Rewriting an existing or someone else’s copy is just like giving someone second opinion or view point and the main reason behind it to make improvements without actually restructuring the whole content (Lurie, 2014). Ian Laurie has provided some tips to make this rewriting most impactful and to make this happen, a good writer can ask for details and context about the topic to get some insights. Some of the good tips from the video are, looking for some unessential words to make the copy concise, making some edits to convert passive to active voice, and finally proofreading (Lurie, 2014). The speaker also talked about the typography and its impact as it makes it easier to understand the content and also the point of view of the designer (Lurie, 2014).
Conclusion
To become a good copywriter, first it is important to become a critical reader. Ian Laurie has described a critical reader as someone who understand, interpret and respond to things accordingly (Lurie, 2014). To provide an applied example of how to implement an idea from the summary, the preparation of writing part would fits here properly. Writing is an art and one has to prepare his mindset before starting to write. Furthermore, making time slots to write and taking breaks in between and making sure to finish a chunk of a section in that allocated time frame is a big start of becoming a copy writer. Starting with free writing and then writing first drafts are the important steps of this writing stage and also the importance of headlines (Lurie, 2014). To conclude, Ian Laurie has demonstrated basics to advanced level and tips of marketing copywriting in a very simple but exemplary way.
References
Lurie, I. (2014, May 30). Learning to Write Marketing Copy.
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