Don’t tell people how fabulous you are!

Let them figure it out for themselves

You know your product, service or piece of valuable research is ground-breaking, but you can’t just tell people that; you have to “show” them.

It’s a simple concept but one many businesses fail to understand. That can be costly and result in wasted capital spent on written materials that are ineffective.

It’s ineffective to include only the things you want to tell people in your written content. You need to see it from their point of view; what are they more interested in? What do they want to know? How does what you have to communicate help them?

You may have seen this before - KLT - know, like and trust (a phrase said to have been invented by brand specialist Bob Burg). It’s widely associated with social media strategy but can just as easily be applied to any touchpoint.

What’s this got to do with copywriting? Well, a lot!

Essentially, the copy that is on your website, brochure, sales collateral, social posts (anywhere, basically) has to help people make up their minds as to whether they can know, like and trust you. And this takes skill.

a skilled copywriter will produce content that delivers results

The audience, the type of people they are (age, profession, what they’re looking for), the medium over which they’re consuming copy (smartphone, website, printed media) and what you’re trying to do (educate, engage, influence and so on) all have a bearing on the words on the page, copy style, tone and format.

The first characteristic of a good copywriter is an enquiring mind

So, why me?

Well, I have that - an enquiring mind. I ask questions (lots of questions) to get to the heart of the matter so I fully understand your objectives, motives, market, products or services, business, culture, mission, values and customers.

I’ve been doing this for a long time. So, in the bullet points below, I’ve listed some qualities I have that I believe are most useful for a copywriter.

I’ve been a writer for more than 25 years, honing and developing my craft to keep pace with new technologies, platforms, media and developments.

Alongside providing great copy, here are some value adds:

• Experience – 25+ years as a journalist and copywriter.

• Values – the values I care about are: integrity, openness, being helpful and delivering excellence.

• Qualifications – journalism, publishing and media law.

• Quality – I have processes and systems in place to ensure quality and accuracy and that all copy is as clean as it can be.

• Objectivity – I see you as your external audiences do, which gives me a valuable perspective we can leverage.

• Convenient and cost-effective – high-level skill when you need it but not when you don’t (you’re not paying the salary of a full-time employee).

Get in touch for an informal chat about your copywriter requirements, or sign up for my newsletter, which is crammed full of useful information I don’t share anywhere else. Use the sign-up form below.