7. Keep a scrapbook

Build up a scrapbook of marketing materials and content that you think is effective. Actually, go for two scrapbooks: one hard copy and one digital. You can get inspiration from just about anything. Direct mail through your door. Inserts in magazines. Adverts in magazines. Facebook ads. Pictures of posters on buses. Great copy is all around you.

Building up a huge scrapbook of brilliant copy will give you plenty of stuff to get inspiration from. Every time you get stuck and can’t see a way forward you can reach for the scrapbook and find something to inspire you.

But don’t stop at keeping examples. Take time out also to analyse them; to work out what it is that makes them great. This is best done at the moment you first find yourself impressed by some copy. That’s the time to write down what impressed you.

Here’s an example. I was trawling through emails in the inbox on my iPhone and this headline stood out to me: How the Changing Paid Search Landscape Will Impact Marketers.

So why did this get my attention? Well, it’s about me (I’m a marketer), a subject of interest (paid search) and it suggests urgency (changes are going to impact me). So I tried to turn this observation into a simple formula for writing this type of headline:

Target audience + subject matter + sense of urgency = clickable headline.

Creating formulas to explain why copy attracted or maintained your attention will over time build you a fantastic resource of powerful techniques you can use in your own writing.

8. Write for how people read

Great copywriters use formatting techniques to make their words work for the way that people read. Most people scan read: their eyes dart around screens or paper pages, rather than reading every piece word-for-word from start to finish.

Some parts of your writing that are likely to be read first include headings, subheadings, image captions and the first 2-4 words of each paragraph. Concentrate on making sure that these copy elements contain powerful words and messages to engage the reader.

9. Sharpen your scalpel

Work hard on your editing skills. Fine tune your writing down to the really good stuff. Take out everything that’s in the way of getting your core messages across.

Go for short sentences. Ideally fewer than 20 words per sentence on average across a piece of writing. (To monitor this, if you use MS Word, turn on the ‘readability statistics’ tool and this will tell you the average sentence length at the end of every spellcheck.)

And always try to cut down on the waffle. Instead of ‘Please do not hesitate to let us know . . .’ write Let us know . . . ‘. This is 2019, not 1889.

10. Write with pictures in mind

Most of what you write will need to be accompanied by at least one image. So always write in a way that will work well with images. You should be prepared to take much of the responsibility for choosing images.

As an example, let’s say I write a blog entitled ‘Five ways to improve swimming pool users’ experiences’. It’s going to be hard to come up with a really string image to accompany that.

But what if I write a headline like ‘Why are you making your users’ eyes sting?’ I can tie it in with a strong image of someone in pain and rubbing their eyes.

For most of what I write, I start to look at image libraries early in the writing process to see what images are available. I often identify a suitable image and write my piece with the image in mind. It removes the problem of spending ages on a frustrating search for images to accompany a piece that isn’t image-friendly.

11. Welcome feedback

Us writers are often a sensitive bunch. Feedback can feel like stinging criticism. But we need to get past that and learn to value other people’s opinions of our writing.

When I send a first draft to colleagues or clients, I am clear about the type of feedback I want. To begin with, before getting into changes to specific words, I like to get more general feedback about the overall suitability of the piece, such as.

1. Is the right content included?
2. Is it relevant for the target audience?
3. Is it technically accurate?
4. Is there the right level of detail?
5. Is the ‘tone of voice’ suitable?
6. How did you find it as a reader?
7. Were any bits confusing?
8. Did anything lose your attention?

This type of feedback should enable you to write a second draft that’s hopefully much closer to what’s required.

12. Be a marketer

Finally, copywriting doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s part of the overall marketing function, so you should be just as interested in becoming a marketer as you are in copywriting. Read books. Do some courses. Learn from colleagues. Great copywriters are also great marketers, and (sometimes) vice versa.