When beginning a new project, one of the most crucial aspects you will ever face as a freelance copywriter is the defining and setting out of your goals.

Ask yourself what is the purpose of the document you are about to write. It is important to remember that your document will replace a personal visit or conversation with the reader therefore it must achieve what you would achieve face to face – or at least what the most successful sales executive known to man would achieve.

Your goal could be any number of things including:

• Make a sale
• Get opt-ins for your email list
• Open an account with you
• Increase spending with you
• Renew a contract
• Agree to a meeting

Whatever it is you must ensure that it is the goal that drives your writing and not your creativity.

Writers are creative by nature and therefore it can be all too easy to let your alter ego get the better of you. The first sign that you should ditch your copy is if, when you read it, it makes you smile; you want to show it to everyone with a big grin on your face shouting from the roof tops ‘look how clever I am’.

Ask yourself if it will persuade the reader to buy. If your answer is ‘no’, scrap it. You are not up for the ‘Most humorous and creative sales letter’ Oscar, you are trying to achieve the goal you have been given. Your long suppressed novel is the place for your creativity – make sure that is where it stays.

Sally Ormond

Freelance Copywriter

Let me take your business to new heights by making every word count.

I have enjoyed writing ever since I can remember. My mother still has exercise books full of stories that I wrote in my youth – many of them should really have been consigned to the bin but, thanks to her, shall remain in all their juvenile glory to haunt me for ever more.

Throughout my school years, I covered countless rain forests in ink with essays on all manner of academic subjects. Stories would flow freely from my aching hand (yes you spotted it, I was at school pre-computers) – they may not have been Booker Prize Winners but they were coherent, flowing and above all written in grammatically correct English.

I count myself among those fortunate few who have turned their hobby into their profession. I now spend my days writing and creating. There is nothing more relaxing or satisfying than carefully crafting a small army of words into an absorbing article, successful sales letter or piece of web copy.

Much of my work comes from a regular bank of clients; however I occasionally look at websites that post requests for work. You can imagine my horror and despair as I noticed a worrying trend beginning to emerge. It would appear that some of today’s University students are incapable of producing an essay.

For example, I received these requests a few days ago:

“I need an essay on modernism (using no more than two artworks and one theoretical text, give an account of one post-war artist who refutes Greenberg’s theory of modernist ‘flat’ painting).”

This one on Ophelia’s death takes the biscuit; I quote “Hey I need a paper about Ophelia’s death, what drove her mad and who caused it before Thursday. If you can do it, it needs to include the nunnery scene and closet scene show Ophelia’s negative qualities”

One may be forgiven for feeling an amount of sympathy for today’s students who are forced to work all hours to pay their way through University so that they are not saddled by huge debts when they graduate. However it is not just confined to Universities. This one was the most worrying that I came across.  It was posted by a GCSE student who says:

 “I’ve  got an American West essay to do, i’m at GCSE level. About 2000 words for the essay.Looking for a essay writer do this for me and tell me the price i would have to pay i haven’t got that much money because im only a school student so im looking for a decent price. Can you message me back as soon as possible please.”

(Please note I have not corrected the punctuation or format of the posting.)

What is the world coming too? Is the art of good writing being lost forever? I hope not. But then again, it will at least ensure that I shall be kept very busy for a very long time.

Sally Ormond

Freelance Business Copywriter

Helping SME’s cast off their marketing frustrations

Close the blinds, take the phone off the hook and shut your door – what I am about to tell you will revolutionise your business.

Time is one of the most precious commodities of the modern day. It is the one thing many of us never seem to have enough of.

As a copywriter, I am constantly asked what exactly it is that I do. I could go on and on about writing web copy, press releases, newsletters, sales letters, reviews, brochures…..dozed off yet? Exactly, it’s not the most glamorous job in the world.

Instead I tell people that as a copywriter I do far more than sell and put interesting and entertaining words on to paper or screen. By far the most important aspect of my profession is that I save you time.

Whether you run your own business or work for someone else, you know how important time is. There just never seem to be enough minutes in the day to get everything done. Shall I tell you why? Perhaps you are trying to do too much.

Most business people are perfectly capable of writing their own copy. But as your business becomes more successful you have less time. This is why you hire people to help you. After all, the key to success is to surround yourself with people smarter than you in their field of expertise. Your time is precious and you need to use it effectively within your business.

To see your business flourish you need to let go of some of the work. Yes, you would be giving up some control but only to generate and explore new ideas. A copywriter will help you with that. Not only will they write cracking copy, they can also use their creativity to help devise new and innovative ideas.

Copywriting is a highly specialised area which demands specific skills, knowledge and a certain type of personality and therefore it is a position you would want to fill from outside your company. A professional freelance copywriter will bring fresh ideas to your business and will create vibrant copy that will get your company noticed. Don’t get bogged down searching for one with extensive experience within your particular industry sector – ignorance is often the most valuable commodity a copywriter can bring. Their writing will not be dull and lifeless or a regurgitation of your industry norm.

Copywriting isn’t and should not be thought of as another expense. It is an investment. Put your resources into this aspect of your business and you’ll reap the rewards – your time and your company’s revenue will soar.

Sally Ormond

Freelance Copywriter

It is a well known fact (apparently) that men think about sex every six seconds. So next time the guy next to you on the train, plane, tube or bus has a misty look in his eyes you can be pretty sure what he is thinking about.

From a copywriter’s point of view this is a bit of a pain because if you write a sales letter that takes 5 minutes to read, your carefully crafted sales pitch is interrupted 50 times. To be honest, whether the statistic is true or not is neither here nor there – the point is that when someone picks up your sales letter your reader is more than likely focusing on something else other than your sales message.

A good sales writer will know their product intimately and will be able to write about it convincingly. Fantastic, but how does that help with the wondering mind problem? It doesn’t, but it does highlight that to be a great sales writer you have to know your reader intimately too. No, I am not saying that you should dash out and romance every member of your target audience. You’d be far too knackered to write anything but you should be able to understand their idiosyncrasies, their motivations, their innermost fears and desires.

Before you even start writing you should build a psychological profile of your reader, for example:

• What sex are they?
• How old are they?
• What do they want more of in their lives?
• How do others see them?
• Are they head or heart people?

By doing this you will find it easier to write copy that speaks directly to them in a way they’ll find difficult to ignore. Admittedly in some cases their own inner thoughts will still be more appealing but hopefully it will grab the attention of most and get your message across.

In a nut shell, if you do the leg work you’ll reap the rewards with a masterly piece of sales writing that will grab hold of your prospects by the collar and shake them – figuratively speaking of course.

Sally Ormond

Freelance Copywriter

Let me take your business to new heights by making every word count.

This article will hopefully clear up some misconceptions about copywriting. Basically it is sales writing – that’s it in a nut shell. It is primarily about selling, the actual writing is almost secondary. Below are some key ideas that you should always keep in mind when writing.

It’s not about you 

Sorry, but as a writer you come at the back of the queue. You must focus on the reader; it is them that will be doing the buying. What are they like? Are they male or female? What is their age group? What are their likes and dislikes? These are the questions you need to think about. Take an interest in them, find out what makes them tick.

All good things come in small packages 

That’s what my mum always told me and she wasn’t wrong. Many people seem to be under the misconception that sales writing, in any form, has to be impressively high-brow, be full of ridiculously long and complicated words and sentences. Well it doesn’t and in fact, shouldn’t.  Keep it simple. It doesn’t matter who you are writing for or how educated they may be; your audience will be turned off if they are faced with unfathomable words and rambling sentences. The best writing is clear, simple and concise - and don’t use jargon!

B2B or B2C? 

Whether your audience is Joe Public or another company your style should be the same. Many people think that selling to another business requires a different approach. But at the end of the day it is still a person who will be reading your sales letter or brochure.

Forget the F-word

No I haven’t gone barking mad. By the F-word I am referring to features. Your audience aren’t going to be impressed if you write about a list of features. By doing that the only reaction you will get is ‘so what?’ You must show your audience why the product is for them.

You have to sell them the benefits. If a guy wants to be a better football player, and you sell him your latest top of the range football boots on the basis that they’ll make that happen, he’ll buy them. OK, daft example, but you get the idea. It is all about tapping into the buyer’s emotional need.

Whatever you write you must grab the readers attention (a killer headline), get their interest in what you are selling (that’s where the benefits come in), create a desire (if they want something they’ll convince themselves they need it) and finally get them to act (buy, sign up etc).

Sally Ormond

Freelance Copywriter 

Let me take your business to new heights by making every word count.