Here’s a guide to writing good headlines and copy

When we write soft articles for public accounts , news copy and other related copy, we often make the following mistakes. Because we need to avoid many misunderstandings, I will talk about the misunderstandings of titles and texts here.

Notes on the title

There are 5 points to pay attention to when writing copy titles. Following these 5 points can avoid title misunderstandings.

First point: Avoid dead titles

This is a common mistake made by many industrial product companies. We will see some empty but meaningless words in the titles of industrial product companies' articles, such as: "extraordinary value", "excellent quality", "extraordinary excellence". When you combine these words that have almost no meaning together, you have written a dead title.

Because everyone writes like this, if you use a bunch of meaningless words, customers won’t want to read it. Examples of common dead titles are: XXXX Company, an outstanding enterprise; xxx products, excellent quality and extraordinary value; xxx products, providing you with the most satisfactory service.

Tip 2: Avoid boring titles

New things always attract people's attention more easily, while no one wants to read old, boring and well-known content. When you write a very boring and very clichéd title, it's like you're reheating a bowl of cold rice that has been reheated many times and serving it to others.

Your title needs to be combined with the product, industry, etc., to give people a feeling of anticipation, curiosity, and uniqueness, so that people will want to click on it after reading it.

Third point: Don’t try titles you don’t understand

Maybe you will tell me that some foreign copywriting is like this, which makes people half understand it after reading it. That's true, but one thing you have to understand is that their brand itself has become a topic of discussion, and the purpose of their advertising is to promote their brand.

For example: for articles with domestic titles such as Alibaba and Didi , even if people don’t know what the title is about, when they see words like Jack Ma and Didi in the title, they will click on it reflexively. If your business is not endorsed by a big brand, you need to use a title to let others know what you are going to talk about. You’re not a big brand, and if you don’t understand your customers, even your customers won’t click on your confusing headline.

Fourth point: Avoid vulgar copywriting

Some people think that writing some vulgar and funny content can achieve good results, for example: "He ate shit yesterday at noon." This sentence is indeed funny... However, the copy needs to be processed, not just nonsense. This copy can indeed attract other people's attention, but it cannot arouse associations and is vulgar, so it cannot achieve the effect you want.

Moreover, although the copy written with such a title can attract clicks, it is completely irrelevant to your business or products. Also, be careful not to write articles that are exaggerated, false, or fabricate rumors, as they not only have no effect but also damage the company's image.

Fifth point: Try not to get involved in irrelevant topics

For example, XXX’s cheating made me realize a fact. Because 99% of companies’ soft articles are difficult to connect with hot topics. Even if you get a lot of readings through such titles and articles, the readers are not your potential customers, so it is simply ineffective reading.

Notes on the content of the copy

There are 5 points to pay attention to when writing copy. Following these 5 points can avoid misunderstandings in the main text.

First point: avoid obscure language

For example, the same dish is put on the menu with two names, one is "Qianjiang Shredded Pork" and the other is "Enter the Dragon". I think most people will order "Qianjiang Shredded Pork" instead of "Enter the Dragon".

Because when you see the name of the dish "Enter the Dragon" you have no idea what it is and naturally you won't order it. What if it tastes bad? Remember, only low-level copywriters will use obscure words to cover up their own shortcomings. Therefore, for industrial products, the copy should be simple and easy to understand.

Second point: Avoid boring beginnings

If the title of a copy is the brain of the entire copy, then the beginning of the text is the heart of the entire copy.

For example: you go to a 4S store to buy a car, and the first sentence the saleswoman says is: "Sir, this is an information and Internet age..." You must be full of question marks, thinking that this saleswoman is mentally retarded.

By the same token, in order to avoid looking like a "retard", your introduction must be fascinating, or at least avoid using official language. So when it comes to industrial products, the copywriting should be interesting and not pretentious.

Tip 3: Avoid using too many adjectives

Using adjectives is a good thing, but everything has its limits. If you use too many adjectives in your copy, it can easily make the copy seem unusually wordy.

For example: the original copy was "home life walking on the literary and artistic road", but it was changed to "walk slowly on the fresh and elegant literary and artistic road with cheerful steps, giving you a unique home life." Obviously, the latter sentence is too verbose.

So for industrial products, the copy should be concise.

Fourth point: Avoid illogicality

Many people always find that their copywriting looks awkward after writing it. The most likely reason is that there is a problem with the logic of your copywriting. There is actually a good way to avoid this problem. After you finish writing, imagine yourself reading the copy aloud in front of everyone. If you don’t feel embarrassed, it means there is basically no problem.

Therefore, for industrial products, the copy must be fluent.

Fifth point: Avoid excessive self-centeredness

What does it mean to consider things from your own perspective?

Let me give you an analogy. One day you are walking on the street and suddenly you are shot in the knee by an arrow. You will definitely scream out, "Ah! It hurts so much!"

You are considering the issue from your own perspective, so how can you consider it from the user's perspective?

For example: When you are shot by an arrow in the knee, you shout: "Look everyone, I'm going to show you how to be shot by an arrow in the knee!" You are considering the problem from the user's perspective, but most people are considering the problem from their own perspective, because considering the problem from the user's perspective itself is a very difficult thing.

Therefore, for industrial products, the copywriting needs to be relevant to the users and the copywriting that customers want to read is good copywriting.

How can we write good copy?

Since the author is a marketing advisor for industrial products, let me talk about how to write product copy for industrial products.

The product copywriting of industrial companies is very formal and rigid, describing the product features in a very conventional way. Many companies even have product copywriting that is exactly the same as that of their competitors.

Although the product copywriting for industrial products does not require great creativity, it does require some polishing and care when writing.

Even the copywriting of industrial products must follow the routines of common copywriting:

(1) The text must be advanced, but it must be unique and easy to understand.

Think about it, have you ever written some self-congratulatory copywriting in the process of writing copywriting, such as: My product quality is very good, the product is great to use. For example: If you are selling headphones, your self-congratulatory copy might be: The headphones have good sound quality.

You need to use more rhetoric, symmetrical words and advanced vocabulary to create your own copy. For example, changing the simple expression "good sound quality" into "shocking sound, lingering sound" will give people a different feeling.

For example, if you are a manufacturer of connectors, and your product is used on the customer's machine and is tightly connected, which is also a requirement of the customer for the product, then you cannot use the word "tight connection" to describe it. Instead, use "seamless connection" to make the customer feel the characteristics of the product more.

(2) Scenario-based copywriting is more likely to impress users

Imagine in what situations your customers would use your product and how they would use it. They simply depict the scenarios in the user's mind. They are often full of visuals, use simple language, and directly point to the interests.

For example: To express the same idea of ​​“Work is hard, why not go traveling?”, a common copy would say “Enjoy life and live a happy life”.

A scenario-based copy might say:

"When you are writing a PPT, cod in Alaska are jumping out of the water. When you are looking at a report, golden monkeys in Meili Snow Mountain are climbing to the top of the tree. When you are squeezing into the subway, mountain eagles in Tibet are circling in the clouds. When you are arguing in a meeting, backpackers in Nepal are sitting by the fire with glasses in hand. There are roads that you cannot walk on in high heels, air that you cannot smell with perfume, and people you will never meet in an office building."

For example: This is a smart wireless router! So you can use your mobile phone to control your home router to automatically download movies while you are at work.

For example, if you want to express that a connector has good performance, the common copywriting would be "The performance is very good, and customers say it is good." And the scenario-based copy might write: "When your employees install the product, no screws will fall off; your employees used to take 60 minutes to install one, but now the time has been reduced by 30%."

Writing scenario-based copy does not require fancy rhetoric, but it does require spending a lot of time to understand what users are thinking and to use the simplest and most straightforward language to influence users' feelings. You may not know much about linguistics and rhetoric, and you don't know how to use rhymes, puns, and a lot of rhetoric, but you need to spend more time studying psychology and marketing.

In addition, scenario-based copywriting needs to be concise and simple, yet allow people to immerse themselves in the product.

(3) Product copywriting needs to start from the user’s perspective: Finding user identification

Understand what pain points he encountered when using competitor products? What kind of expression is easier for users to feel and understand? What kind of copy can make him feel directly that you can solve his pain points?

Copywriting is about designing user feelings, not the design of the words that create those feelings. For example: A classic copy of Apple - in order to let the ignorant users feel the lightness, compactness and large capacity of the first generation iPod, Jobs said: Put 1,000 songs in your pocket.

To give another example, a psychologist was about to go out for dinner and saw a beggar begging for money. The copy was: Help me, I wish you good health.

Then the psychologist helped the beggar change the copy, and as a result, the beggar's income increased several times in the same period of time. He changed the copy to: What happens if you are hungry?

The expression is gorgeous, but it does not express anything valuable to the audience. The so-called "enjoy life, ultimate experience" does not explain any features, differences or advantages of the product. It is just equivalent to saying "our products are good".

In the industrial products industry, customers are basically purchasing personnel. Some companies will take advantage of the purchasing personnel's psychology in this way: Have you ever purchased low-quality connectors and not only was you scolded by your boss, but you also failed the assessment and had your bonus deducted? Have you been fooled by customers' false advertising, when in fact they do not have this or that certification?

XXX connector, if any information on the Internet is false, the product can be returned free of charge even if it is used.

As soon as the purchasing department saw this kind of copy, they immediately identified with the company. Good copywriting is about designing for user feelings, not the words that create those feelings. It must start from the user's point A, be visual, directly target benefits, and allow customers to take simple actions when needed.

Source: Miao Liwei