Writing for your own business can be challenging. Sometimes even completely overwhelming.

How can you appeal to your audience? What will hook them in and encourage them to keep reading? What can you say to convince them to buy from you?

Carefully crafted copywriting is the answer.

By following the seven simple copywriting tips below, you'll be well on your way to DIY-ing convincing and engaging words that sell. Minus any sleazy sales speak.

We're exposed to it every day. Whether it's an ad on a bus, the description on a box of biscuits, or the automated script in a chatbot, in our modern world, copywriting is everywhere.

Copywriting = words that sell.

This shouldn't be mistaken for content writing. Content writing is valuable and helpful information in blog posts, articles, case studies, e-books, etc. These are usually offered to your readers for free or at a very low price. Content writing provides value to readers and builds their trust in your expertise. So, basically content writing = words that connect.

Being helpful is essential for building solid long-term relationships with your audience, but you gotta pay the bills, right? So, here are some hints to crafting eye-ball-stopping words that sell…

Blog images8.png — Step 1 - **Understand your audience**

This goes way beyond demographics or location alone.

For your copy to grab your target market's attention and get them juiced up about your offer, it must appeal to them personally from the instant they start reading it. The best way to create that appeal is to speak to their specific problems, needs, and desires.

As the classic marketing phrase puts it, "people don't buy products. They buy solutions to problems."

To understand what solutions your audience is looking for you'll need to take a deep dive into their headspace and investigate their motives. Do they want to save time? Save money? Make money? Feel secure? Be sexy? Be happy?

Which of their needs or desires does the solution that your product or service provides tap into? Knowing this and using them in your copywriting is what will make it compelling.

Blog images2.png — Step 2. Define your brand's voice

Your business's brand doesn't stop at its logo.

Stakeholder touchpoints like the style of photos used in your marketing, your product packaging, staff uniforms, and even your telephone hold music all make up your brand. They inform your audience's perception of your business.

Having a distinct brand that's applied consistently across all communications makes your company easily identifiable and memorable.

In copywriting, your brand is represented by your brand voice. This is the choice of sentence length, language, tone, and grammar used in your business writing.

If your brand voice is consistent, it will build the essential "know, like, trust" factors needed to attract and secure your ideal customer. So, whether you are writing your copy or outsourcing this to someone else, it's crucial to define your brand voice before typing a single word.

To do this, think of your brand as a person. How would they speak to your audience? Are they conservative and authoritative? Casual and energetic? Serious or funny? Innovative or dependable?

Do they use industry jargon or everyday slang? Do they follow formal English grammar conventions? Or change it up with more realistic conversational wording?

Once you have your brand voice figured out, you can share it with your team or anyone helping you with your marketing. Even print it out if you need to, to keep yourself on track, and your brand consistent.

Blog images3.png — Step 3 - **Big up the benefits**

Shouting about your product's features and advantages isn't likely to set any sales records. To hook prospective customers into seriously considering a purchase, they need to hear about your product's benefits.

Differentiating these can be confusing, even for experienced copywriters. So, here's a simple breakdown…

Features: the practical, technical, or descriptive elements of your item.

Advantages: how those features solve the customer's immediate problem.

Benefits: how those advantages can change your customer's life and fulfill their deepest desires.

How do these FABs (features, advantages, benefits) playout in a real-life scenario?

As many of the Good Business Club's members are service-based business founders, I'll use a service-based example. Imagine, if you will, a sustainability consultant. Let's call her Gina. Gina's services include assistance in helping companies become B Corp Certified. Here the FABs for this service:

Features:

Guidance through the B Corp Assessment and Certification process.
Employee training and education on B Corp Certification.
Facilitation of the help needed for areas of the business needing extra support.
Assistance in creating supporting legal documentation.
Creation of sustainability, environmental, employee and customer policies.
Facilitation of partnerships with other B Corp businesses.

Advantages:

Because they won't have to figure out the BCorp process on their own and can benefit from Gina's expertise and experience, the client will save time and resources.
The client's company will be able to make a meaningful impact on the world.
The client's brand will gain kudos by being able to market itself as being sustainable and ethical and being associated with big name BCorps like Patagonia and Ben & Jerrys.
The client's company is likely to make more profit.

Benefits:

Gina's client will have a more comfortable work life and more personal free time to do what they love.
The client will be able to make the necessary purchases and investments for the company, and – ultimately – for themselves too.
The client and their employees will have better job security.
The client will feel satisfied that they're doing the right thing. They'll have a clear conscience.
The client will be less stressed.

So, how can you apply your FABs?

Essentially, irrespective of how conscious a consumer they are, all they're really interested in is what's in it for them. They want to know what they're going to get out of the equation. So, put yourself in your audience's shoes. Keep asking yourself, "what’s in it for me?”

Make it easy for them to answer this question by selling to your audience’s emotions (by stating the product’s benefits) and justifying this with logic (the product’s features and advantages). Reiterate this in different ways throughout your copy, and they’ll soon be lining up for repeat orders.

Making people feel comfortable and genuinely connected to your business can go a long way in engaging them, building trust, and even motivating them to become brand advocates.

One of the simplest ways to achieve this is by writing customer-centric copy. This means talking about their feelings and frustrations before mentioning your solution.

It’s also about applying a personal touch. You can do this easily by including one of the most important words in marketing in your copy: YOU. When I speak to you and your problems you listen. The same applies to your audience. Write directly to them, and your words will have a far greater impact.

At the same time, writing in the first person places you on your reader’s level and creates a sense of togetherness. So, avoid authorless content. Build connection by using “I” and “we” in your copy. It’s not unprofessional. It’s clever connection-building copywriting.

Blog images5.png — Step 5 - **Always include a call-to-action**

So, you’ve waxed lyrical about the profound impact your product or service will have on your prospect’s life. You’ve dug into the benefits, followed them up with features and advantages, and crafted it all beautifully in the first person. Job done, right? Not quite.

Your copywriting is incomplete without a call-to-action.

A call-to-who? A call-to-action is a direct and unambiguous direction telling your reader what to do next.

I’m amazed at how often businesses leave their readers without any instructions. If you want people to buy your stuff you’ve got to tell them how!

So, include a call-to-action within your copy wherever it would be a natural next step for your reader. That could be a “get started” button placed in several places on your website, “contact us today” + your phone number on a brochure, or any other direct statement that tells your audience how to buy from you.

Extra points if it’s customised, e.g. instead of “download”, write “download my free guide”.

As good businesses I think we’re automatically more aware than most about marketing ourselves ethically. But, if you’d like to be extra sure that your reader will interpret your copy as being ethical, you can run it through the following checklist.

Is it honest? Is your marketing team 100% clear on the promises they’re allowed to make on behalf of the brand?
Is it backed by fact? Is your impact being measured and communicated accurately?
Does it tell your sustainable story in a transparent way? Consumers and other stakeholders want to trust you. They are usually happy to accept that your business isn’t perfectly sustainable, as long as you admit that and show what you’re doing to change. Anything else is essentially greenwashing.
Do you have genuine customer case studies or testimonials to back up your data and boost credibility?
Do you use fair and simple pricing? Are you using the left-digit-deficit and pricing something at £299, instead of £300?
Are you crediting your sources? And are they reliable and accurate?
Are you using trendy buzzwords for the sake of it? Using “green”, “organic”, and “sustainable” without substantiating them simply won’t cut the mustard.

If potential customers smell even the tiniest whiff of a lie they’ll disappear before you know it, and your brand could be damaged for good. So, it’s always worth double-checking that your copy is maintaining the authenticity of your brand and being transparent about your products and services.

Blog images7.png — Step 7 - **Delegating, DIY-ing, or employing a pro**

Just because your assistant writes lovely emails, or your friend’s niece studied English Lit, does not mean that they should be writing your copy.

I get it. We’re all busy and doing our best to maintain budgets. But, if you’d like to delegate your copywriting, it should be to someone who knows your business and your audience inside and out. They also be 100% clear on your brand voice and clearly understand the goals of the piece they’re writing. Trusting someone who doesn’t tick ALL these boxes with your copywriting is risky, because bad copy can be very dangerous for your brand.

If you have the time, you can definitely DIY most of your own copy. However, if it’s copy for key marketing assets, then I recommend outsourcing essential pages or sections to a professional copywriter.

Things like your website’s “Home” and “About Us” pages, sales letters, and launch sequences need to be 100% on point. There are many different strategies and techniques that the pros use to make these all work exceptionally well for your business. And these are hugely valuable marketing investments that will keep delivering value to over and over again.

Once those key copy assets are in place, it’s fine to rehash them yourself in different ways for slightly less important functions. For example, on your “Contact Us” or “Checkout” pages.

If this is all just too much, and you’d like to hire a skilled copywriter, here are a couple of tips:

Creating great copy can sometimes be a long process. So, consider their writing style and experience, but also think about their personality and whether they’ll be a pleasure to work with or not. They need to be a good fit for you and your business.
Shop around and don’t be put off by high prices. Just because one copywriter has quoted a crazy rate doesn’t mean they all will. That said, be sure not to compromise quality for a lower fee... pay peanuts, get monkeys.

By following these tips your audience will feel that you truly understand them and their needs. They’ll begin to trust that your business wants what’s best for them and for our world. And they’ll know exactly how they can buy from you. Maintaining this approach across all your marketing materials can boost your brand’s reputation and encourage your customers to become advocates for your organisation.

Of course, this is only a basic overview of some key copywriting techniques. But hopefully it’s shown that putting your reader first is half the battle won. Happy writing!