Page 14 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

than a piece of paper. They may be more ready to stop reading,
however, and that calls for an even more relentless focus on the first
of the themes I outline next.

Three themes that unite the 100 ideas in the book
Your reader matters most. When you set out to write copy for a new
campaign, you, your manager, or your client may want to include
all sorts of “messages” about your product. But readers don’t care
about messages. They care about one thing: themselves. Or, in less
blunt but more circular terms, they care about the things they care
about. Which, invariably, do not include whatever you’re pitching.
So if you’re going to interest them in what you’re selling, you have
to explain—and prove—how it will make their life easier or better
in some way.

Readers are human beings. And, as such, are prone to all the
wonderful, frustrating, natural emotions that make us what we are.
They are lazy sometimes, greedy, ambitious, envious even; but also
caring, kind, passionate, and humane. Learn to speak to them as
people, as you would if you met them in a bar. Your language should
be the sort of language your readers use themselves.

Copywriting is a craft skill not an art form. Yes, it helps if you have
a gift for language but even without that gift, you can make a good
living as a copywriter, or make millions for your employer, if you
practice. Study good copywriting, figure out why it works, and copy
it. Yes, copy it. Not word for word (except as an academic exercise)
but copy its structure, style, and any devices you think would work
well for your product. And forget about creativity. Concentrate on
results instead.

Andy Maslen

100 GREAT COPYWRITING IDEAS • 5