Initial thoughts scrawled in red pen

This morning’s work was a classic case of copywriting.

New client Mark Grey from Blue Nectar Design Consultants had designed a gorgeous brochure to hand out at a forthcoming exhibition, all he needed were a few words to go in there.

We spent some time discussing his company’s USP, who he was planning to hand the brochure to and what he really wanted to say about his company.

Copywriters need a clear brief

Mark jotted down his thoughts and sent me the brief:

1. Keeping the lengths approximately the same, review my attempt at the copy, ensuring that the text reads well and addresses the point in question.

2. Ensure the tone of voice is consistent and fits the Blue Nectar method of approach – personable, efficient, yet accurate and precise.

This is a great brief as it’s very clear what he wants from the copy.

Screen showing amends using track changes

Copywriters love red pens

I printed out Mark’s words and picked up my new red rollerball pen. I wrote down ideas and sentences I felt he was trying to express. I also crossed out anything that wasn’t necessary so out went how many years of experience and any awkward phrasing.

Now that the initial thoughts were done, it was time to do the real writing. For this I moved onto the computer and turned on track changes. I find this useful as it helps me work through ideas without losing any.

Mark had also emailed me the PDF of the brochure design so I could gauge how much space I had. Screenshots, PDFs and other artwork are always really helpful as it helps the copywriter get a feeling for the tone and pace required.

A couple of final amends

Copywriters drink a lot of tea

Once the main body of work was done I rested it for a couple of hours. I probably had several cups of tea.

Time for the best bit. I printed off the new copy to read through and made some final amends.

Copywriters need feedback

Then there was nothing left to do but send it to Mark to see how he felt about it, whether the tone was right and if the message had been captured correctly.

A short while later he called. His first words were: “I love it, I’m not changing a thing”. Hurray!

Want to see the booklet?

How does a copywriter actually write copy?

1. By listening to you talk about your business
2. Finding out who your target market is
3. Clarifying the message
4. Taking out extra or confusing bits of information
5. Choosing words and sentence structures that suit you and your brand.

And drinking a lot of tea.

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So now we know.

But more than just having a name for this black hat technique, there’s now a recognition that quality content is important.

There’s no point in driving visitors to your site on false pretenses. They will only press their ‘back’ button, cursing the wasted semi-second.

Aim for the visitors you want by giving them the content they need.

Write as naturally as you can. Be engaging! Be informative! And if it’s all too much, employ a professional web copywriter *cough*.

This post was originally published by Christine on Mon, 02/09/2009