Copywriting: 7 Fundamentals You Need to Know

6 Steps to Get AI to Recommend Your Brand

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Want to turn words into results? That’s what copywriting is.

To sell a product, offer a service, or run for office, you must persuade people to act. This guide covers proven copywriting techniques that can transform your marketing. (Even if you’ve never written sales copy before.)

What Is Copywriting?

Copywriting is the art of writing persuasive text that compels people to take action. You can use it to sell products, generate leads, and build brand awareness.

Effective copywriting is clear, concise, and persuasive. It speaks directly to your target audience’s needs and desires.

What Does a Copywriter Do?

Needless to say, a copywriter spends most of their day writing. However, there’s more to a copywriter’s job than putting words on the page.

Experienced copywriters spend significant amounts of time learning about their customers. They also invest time in understanding how the product they’re writing about can help their prospects.

If you’re writing copy for your own product or service then you probably already know what it is, how it works, and how it compares to the competition. So your job is to learn about your audience’s thoughts, fears and desires. And how they phrase these things in their mind.

That way, you can write copy that speaks directly to them.

Different Types of Copywriting

There are many different types of copywriting, each with its own unique goals and challenges. Some of the most common types of copywriting include:

Why Is Copywriting Important?

Copywriting is pretty much a requirement for selling anything to an audience. If you can’t tell potential customers exactly why they should choose your product, they won’t.

But there’s a flip side to that:

Because great copywriting can be SO effective for getting sales, having solid copywriting skills becomes an excellent way to boost your business’s revenue. Because it becomes much easier to convert readers into followers, subscribers, and customers.

By becoming a good copywriter, you can also:

In other words: copywriting can improve nearly every element of your marketing.

A Word on AI and Copywriting

There’s no denying it: artificial intelligence is having an impact on the copywriting industry. AI tools can write copy faster than any human can, and it has a lot of people wondering if copywriting is a dying profession.

But it’s not.

In fact, if you understand copywriting fundamentals, AI tools can be INCREDIBLY useful for making you more efficient—improving your output, rather than replacing it.

For example, there are tools like Semrush’s AI Writing Assistant that can create copy for almost any use case.

You can then add information about your product or service, and your target audience:

And then it’ll draft copy for blog articles, ads, social media posts, and more:

You can then use this as a starting point for your own copy. It’s not going to be perfect the first time around, which is why knowing the right copywriting techniques is still so valuable.

Lesson 1: Essential Components of Great Copywriting

The Slippery Slide

The #1 goal of your copy is to keep people reading.

Or as legendary copywriter Joe Sugarman put it:

“The sole purpose of the first sentence in an ad is to get you to read the second sentence.”

You can create slippery slide copy with “Bucket Brigades”:

Little stories:

And “Open Loops”:

The “AIDA” Formula

AIDA stands for:

AIDA is a powerful copywriting formula that works for:

And more.

Here’s a real life example of how I used the AIDA formula in [this guide to landing pages](/content/landing-page-guide "Landing Page Guide: Create Pages That Convert Super Well"/index.html):

Focus on Benefits, NOT Features

No matter how great your product’s features are, it’s the benefits that get you sales.

For example, let’s say you just launched a new piece of software designed to help people become more productive.

Here’s how you can turn boring features into tangible benefits:

Strong CTAs

A strong call to action is the difference between a page that converts and one that falls flat.

Social Proof

People want to see evidence of your past success when deciding to buy from you. Whether this is through reviews or case studies you publish of happy customers.

Crystal Clear USP

Your USP is your U nique S elling P roposition.

Sense of Urgency

How do you get customers to buy NOW?

Urgency.

For example, this email from one of my product launches has a clear deadline (down to the minute!) that creates a super high sense of urgency:

Lesson 2: How to Understand How Your Target Audience Talks

If you want to write copy that converts, you need to be able to do one thing REALLY well:

Write like your customers talk.

The question is:

How do you find out how your customers talk?

Reddit Threads

If you want to write as your customers talk, Reddit is one of the first places to look.

Just head over to a subreddit where your target customer hangs out.

Customer Surveys

Customer surveys are SUPER helpful, because they can give you copy ideas that are specific to YOUR product or service.

Customer Interviews

Interviews are like customer surveys on steroids.

Product Hunt Discussions

You can use Product Hunt discussions to learn how potential customers describe what you sell.

Lesson 3: How to Write Headlines That Get Clicks

Be Insanely Specific

Your headline needs to be specific.

Use a Number

Numbers FORCE you to write specific headlines.

Strong Emotions

The best headlines tend to be emotional ones.

Use FOMO

FOMO can make your headlines 10x more powerful.

Answer the Question of: WIIFM?

Instead, you want to write headlines that are all about your customer.

Lesson 4: How to Write a Great Lead

Start With a Hook

Use Mini-Stories

Complement the Headline

8 Lines or Less

Lesson 5: How to Write Copy That Converts

Write Like You Talk

Short Sentences

Write to ONE Person

Active Voice

No Big Words

Write For Skimmers

Lesson 6: Copywriting Templates for Different Formats

Email Newsletters

Landing Pages

Blog Posts

Sales Letters

Lesson 7: Advanced Copywriting Tips

Use “Crooked Numbers”

Sellin’ Ain’t Tellin’

Use Clear Button Copy

How to Get Out of “The Friend Zone”

Create Mental Movies

Make Your Testimonials 10x More Effective

Use Copywriting to Grow Your Business

Let’s summarize how to write a killer copy for your target audience:

  1. Research and understand your target audience
  2. Speak the language of your audience by using the right tone and language
  3. Create compelling titles and headings
  4. Connect with the readers by appealing to their desires
  5. Use specific CTAs throughout your copy
  6. Incorporate customer surveys, studies, and highlight findings using techniques like crooked numbers
  7. Anticipate and counter any objections with empathy, facts, and genuine concern to convert even the skeptics
  8. Tell relatable stories but remember to be direct by using active voice
  9. Probe the audience with questions likely to elicit positive responses
  10. Write as you speak, and always aim for a conversational tone with one person
  11. Benefits sell—in short, tell the target audience what they stand to gain by following your CTA

Want to learn even more copywriting tips and tricks? Check out our [guide to SEO copywriting](/content/seo-copywriting "SEO Copywriting: The Definitive Guide"/index.html) to find out what it takes to sell online.