“Can you read my mind?”
That’s what people sometimes ask me when they find out I have a degree in social and cognitive psychology (backed up by an NLP Practitioner certificate and more recent qualifications in neuroscience).
The answer is no. I can’t read minds. I’m not psychic.
That said, a copywriter needs to be a little bit psychic when taking the brief.
We need to get into the head of our client. Understand what they want to say. And write in their voice.
We also need to get into the head of their customers. Understand what they know already and what they need to know. And write in a way that compels them to take action.
As a copywriter, it’s useful for me to have studied psychology and neuroscience. You learn what makes people tick. You also learn how human brains process words and symbols on paper and on screen. And you learn the language that triggers them to take action.
Copywriting is more than just the writing of copy.
Taking the brief is easiest when you’re face to face – or face to Zoom. That way, you can make eye contact and ‘read’ their body language and hear their tone of voice. A phone brief or a written brief are not nearly so effective. And it’s tricky to take a brief via an intermediary, such as an agency, who try to shield you from the end-client. Because you miss out on all those nuances.
I remember a briefing conversation with a prospect years ago. I didn’t win the work. We agreed on most things, but I realised there was a mismatch at the ‘values’ level. They wanted me to write something I felt wasn’t authentic. So we agreed we weren’t a good working partnership and went our separate ways.
Copywriting is writing any copy that’s published on paper or uploaded online.
Copywriting used to be described as ‘salesmanship in print’. Now it’s ‘salespersonship in pixels’.
As well as know how to write and what to write, copywriters need to know a bit about how people read, and how best to present copy online.
There’s some research that shows people read more slowly online, because, rather than light reflecting off the page into their eyes, its shining directly into them from the screen. That slows down comprehension (please ask if you’d like to see the study results).
What that means is that you need to write different for screen and print.
In print, you can read 100,000 words of a densely typeset novel, or every word of the seven tightly packed columns in a broadsheet newspaper.
On screen, that would be impossible. Especially because many people read on the small screen of a tablet or smartphone. So you need to present the text with lots of white space. Large font. Short paragraphs. Short sentences (but mix it up). Sub-headings to aid navigation. Bullet points, ideally in clusters of three. (For more writing techniques, just ask.)
Good copywriting doesn’t get noticed. The message does.
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