Copywriting secrets you need to know
Subject lines, headlines, and captions have become really important in this busy world that’s bustling with reading material and messaging of all kinds. How does one ensure that what they write is interesting?
I recently participated in an online class called Copywriting Secrets, and I wanted to share a few of the takeaways with you. The course was hosted by JaneFriedman.com and the instructor was Catherine Baab-Muguira, author of Poe for Your Problems.
What is copywriting? I used to think of it as “advertising,” but it covers a lot more than just ad copy. Now I think of it simply as persuasive writing. In today’s world of email writing, social media posting, query writing, and subject lines, being able to say something that intrigues the potential reader enough to “take a look” has become increasingly important. We work in a crowded genre, and inciting curiosity is essential to much of what we do.
I wanted to learn more about copywriting because I write this blog and I post on Instagram and send out emails to my website subscribers—as many of you do as well—so I’ve been concerned about subject lines and rousing interest for some time now.
Here are a few time-tested copywriting techniques that Baab-Muguira shared in class.
Use simple language. Unlike the prose you may write for your novel, copywriting is not made up of complex, flowery language or dictionary-worthy vocabulary. Stick to the eighth-grade level. Keeping it simple guarantees your audience will get the message in the two to three seconds they spend reading it.
Make a promise. If you’ve written a blog post about how to get on the Amazon best seller list, you should use that in the subject line of your email to subscribers. I wrote, How I Made It Onto the Best Seller List—and You Can Too! and received more opens than my blog posts usually get (see my post).
Why this works: I made a promise to reveal how something desirable can be done. In other words, I’ve introduced a subject that interests many people, and in order to learn more about that, they have to open the email.Make an interesting claim. For instance, "How I Wrote 7,000 Words a Day for Seven Days." Again, a lot of writers want to write faster, so this will intrigue many to click and read. They’d like to know that it’s possible to write that fast (or do something else that seems unlikely), so a headline like this one piques their interest. They click in the hope of learning whatever they need to know in order to do it as well.
Combine two very different things. Baab-Muguira used the example, “What Beauty School Taught Me About Writing.” It doesn’t seem like one thing would be helpful for the other, so you might click just to find out how that worked out. You may not have any intention of going to beauty school, but you want to know how it helped her writing career because it seems like the answer to that question will be interesting.
Include a number or make a list. The human brain loves numbers and lists. Random numbers such as 11, 39, and 77 draw attention. And lists in general will always be popular. Something about their simplicity and easy organization makes them attractive. All you have to do is find a compelling topic and list it up.
Tell them in a nutshell. For instance, "The Story of My Rise to Fame" or "The Secret of Writing a Page Turner." Again, something about the implied simplicity draws potential readers. If I do this, then I’ll “rise to fame” or “write a page turner” too!
Use superlatives. "The best book I ever read." "The most rewarding job I ever did." "The easiest way to clean a garbage disposer" … The possibilities here are endless, and something about discovering the “best” of anything lures readers to the page.
These are some very basic, easy-to-use techniques that have withstood the test of time. Now that you are aware of them, you’ll see how often others use them, and you can use them too.
Kim Catanzarite is a writer, editor, and instructor for Writer’s Digest University. Her novel Jovian Son, the second installment in The Jovian Duology, is available for preorder on Amazon now. Kim is currently taking another class that she can share with her subscribers.
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