Tammy Camp

5 Hot Copywriting Secrets

Posted on 28. Aug, 2009 by Brian L. Burns in Copywriting, Entrepreneurship, Marketing

This is a guest post written by Brian Burns, who runs a copywriting and online communications company in Boulder, CO. You can find his company at speakwellcommunications.com

Tammy Camp, a friend, asked me to write a guest post for this blog. Not being an adventure traveler, a kiteboarder, or for that matter, a particularly successful businessperson, you can imagine I was intimidated. I mean, what was I going to write about, that she couldn’t cover better?

When in doubt, fall back on your expertise. While I joke that I’m an expert in domestic beer and seducing women, those are actually both false. All I’m really good at is copywriting. So here, for your enjoyment, are my 5 hot copywriting secrets:

1. Always talk directly to your customers. Especially in the web 2.0 era of the Internet, the interactions you have with your customers should be conversations, not one-way dictations. Your copy should reflect this approach, addressing your readers, users, and customers the way you’d talk to them. Directly. In a conversation.

2. Always write in your tone. Talking with people, say at a bar, you can always tell when someone is trying to put on a personality that’s not theirs. Why would you think writing would be different? Avoid coming off as awkward by being true to your voice, and writing in the style that fits your personality.

3. Always write with passion. Readers can see passion. They can also hear it. Write with passion for your ideas, and they’ll jump off the page. Just go through the writing motions, and your final product will be flat, uninspiring, and frankly, not worth reading.

4. Never follow the rules. There are a lot of copywriting rules out there. Heck, I’m even giving you another 5 here. I’ll try to undo my own damage by passing along this advice: never follow the rules. Talk the way you want to talk, to the customers you want to attract. Your business (and sanity) will be better for it.

5. Always read blogs. Simply stated, you can’t expect to write if you don’t read. So make sure to spend your time scanning books, periodicals, newspapers, and the blogosphere. You may just run across some awesome post from a copywriting genius. You never know.

If you have any questions about copywriting — or domestic beer for that matter — feel free to ask them in the comments section. I’ll be here all night.

Tags: Copywriting, Marketing