So what exactly are copywriting services?

Well, if you are a business that does a lot of marketing – that’s probably just about every business – copywriting services are what can turn your surviving business into a thriving business.

Copywriting is basically another word for sales writing. Therefore you can see how much it would impact on your daily business routine.

There is your website copywriting, newsletters, email content, blogs, articles…and that’s just for starters. So you see, the strength of your sales writing has a direct effect on your sales performance.

Before you start shouting at your screen – yes I know we are in a recession right now, I know money is tight but whatever you do, don’t trim back on your marketing budget. No matter what the economic climate, marketing is essential.

Don’t believe me?

Well here is a very famous case in point. During the depression of 1929-33(ish) Kelloggs in the USA (whose cornflakes were a health food at the time) continued to promote as heavily with adverts, posters etc as they had been doing before that. By the time the depression was over there were no other breakfast cereals that anyone had heard of and Kelloggs achieved almost instant market domination, a position they’ve held ever since.

See, I told you.

So what are the 4 reasons why copywriting services work?

1. They keep your product/service visible in the market place and therefore in the forefront of your customers’ mind.
2. Well written copy will increase your credibility within the market place.
3. Professionally written persuasive copy will help you by increasing your sales through targeted leads and web traffic.
4. By hiring a professional to write for you will free up your time to do what you do best.

Therefore it is a no-brainer. To make your company thrive and stand out in the market place you need to invest in professional copywriting services.

You have a great product and service so shout about it.

This article was written by Sally Ormond of Briar Copywriting.

No! I’m not putting down copywriters – why would I? After all I’m one. The plain Jane comment is more of a metaphorical one. This article is all to do with keeping your writing simple – copywriting has no place for literary egos!

The title of this blog probably needs a bit of explanation before I am ‘virtually’ pelted with stones by the world’s copywriting population.

I don’t mean to infer that every freelance copywriter (or in-house copywriter) is aesthetically challenged. But rather that they understand the value of plain talking.

More often than not, as people grow and mature, they like to try to sound clever by using big words; words that make them feel intelligent. That’s all well and good and our school teachers were always pushing us to extend our vocabularies, but when it comes to copywriting you should resist the temptation.

In sales writing you are trying to connect with your reader therefore a great place to start is using basic, simple and clear language.

Here is a list of 10 words that you might be tempted to use and their simplistic counterparts:

Disseminate ——— Spread
Residence ——— House
Procrastinate ——— Delay
Grandiose ——— Showy
Innumerable ——— Lots
Investigate ——— Look at
Prevent ——— Stop
Construct ——— Make
Implement ——— Carry out
Obtain ——— Get

This should be applied to any sales writing, whatever tone or voice you are using. Even the most powerful business people on earth are human and would much rather read something simple than waste their time having to look up the meaning of every second word.

Copywriting services are a vital investment for businesses of all industries. Without professionally written copy, your marketing materials run the risk of falling flat on their faces – they won’t sell and they won’t inspire confidence. Sally Ormond or Briar Copywriting, has worked with companies worldwide to produce effective and powerful copy that works.

For your sales writing to have an impact on your reader, it has to be interesting. The best way to do that is to speak directly to your reader and don’t lecture them – and keep your writing active. Not sure what I mean? Read on and all will become clear.

What do I mean by keeping your copywriting active? Well, I don’t mean filling it with adjectives which simply increases your word count without actually adding any value.

Still not sure?

Think back to the best years of your life – your school days (well, apparently they were the best years of your life, although I’m not entirely sure that applies to every single year of my academic youth). What did your English teacher constantly bang on about?

“Verbs are ‘doing’ words”

Like a stick of rock, if you cut open a freelance copywriter (not that I am suggesting for one second that you should) those words will go right the way through them.

Just as they were in fiction, verbs are important in your sales writing. They drive your writing; they make it active and vigorous. Copywriters love verbs.

But there is a tendency in some in-house copy to turn perfectly good verbs into nouns.

I think an illustration is required:

Nouns

“Our specialization is the provision of high quality IT solutions” (10 words, 55 characters)

Verbs

“We specialize in solving IT problems” (6 words, 31 characters)

I think that speaks for itself. So remember keep your copywriting active – it will have a much greater impact.

Briar Copywriting’s Sally Ormond is a professional freelance copywriter who offers a comprehensive range of copywriting services to businesses and individuals across all industry sectors.

The most powerful tool that a copywriter has in their armoury are words. They are the cogs that make the whole sales machine work. In this post I shall look at using power words within copy. So let me begin by asking you a question:

Q: What is the one thing that freelance copywriters are always asked for?

A: Snappy copy.

Ask your client exactly what they mean by ‘snappy copy’ and the response is usually:

“Erm…you know…snappy…punchy…that sort of thing.”

Very insightful.

In order for a copywriter to create powerful copy, they need to utilise power words. These are very basic, simple words that don’t require defining or explaining. Your reader should be able to connect with them immediately.

You want to see some examples? OK. Power words are things such as:

• Love
• Hate
• Cash
• Care
• Best
• Crash
• Worst
• Win
• Lose
• Huge
• Risk
• Fizz

Once a copywriter has created a first draft, their next job is to read through the copy and clear out all the flabby worn-out words and replace them with something more powerful. Of course, the choice of words is going to depend on what you are writing and who you are writing for.

If you are still unsure of what I am getting at, I have listed below some worn-out words and given a powerful alternative.

Worn-out:
Cost-effective
Impact negatively
Optimal
Upgrade

Power packed alternative:
Cheap
Hurt
Best
Boost

See how much ‘snappier’ the power words are? They will give you copy far more impact. So you see just a small change can have a huge impact on your sales message.

Sally Ormond, of Briar Copywriting, is a freelance copywriter working with businesses to help them save time and money while benefiting from increased sales and market visibility. For more details on her comprehensive range of copywriting services get in touch at sally@briarcopywriting.com.

I bet every one of you out there, at one time or another, has sat down to read what you thought would be an informative article, sales brochure or website only to be bored to tears within a couple of sentences. This might appear to be a rather strange thing to say but, when you are writing sales copy, the one think you don’t want your reader to know is what a great writer you are.

Of course that means that you have to be a great writer. Why? Because you can’t hide behind showman-ship. In sales writing there is no room for showy, flamboyant writing.

You are merely there to provide the vase in which the flowers go – it is the flowers you want your reader to see, smell and want. The last thing you want is for them to be distracted by the gaudy vase beneath them.

Here are three things to remember before putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard:

• Forget the arty similes and metaphors, tell the reader what it is, what it does and why it will benefit them.
• Forget the jargon – no one is interested in it. If it is essential technical vocabulary, fine, but keep it to a minimum.
• Keep it short and concise – Why use ‘in the interim period’ when ‘between’ will do just fine.

You will effortless build rapport with your readers if you keep your writing simple and conversational.

Sally Ormond is a professional website copywriter, SEO copywriter and advertising copywriter with extensive experience in B2B and B2C copywriting markets. She can be contacted at +44(0)1449 779605 or sally@briarcopywriting.com for any copywriting project you may have or for a complimentary webcopy analysis.