Teach you how to write hit copy with zero basic knowledge!

My sharing this time is mainly divided into 2 parts. Part 1: 6 things that 99% of people ignore before writing copy ; Part 2: 5 common attributes of popular copywriting.

1. 6 things that 99% of people ignore before writing copy

1. Clarify core needs

Before writing a copy, you must first be clear about what the core requirement of the copy to be published is, is it brand promotion? Event promotion ? Or product sales? Or some other purpose.

Why is it important to emphasize “first clarify”? Because of different needs, the requirements for copywriting are different, and the copywriting skills needed are also different. This directly determines the copy you are going to write next, its type, its tone, its length and the time you need to spend writing it.

Therefore, if you don’t “make it clear first”, you won’t be able to proceed further, especially when you still need to connect with the client or a public relations company.

Based on different core needs, I divide copywriting into two categories. One type is routine copywriting, and the other type is sales copywriting.

1. Routine copywriting

The core needs that routine copywriting mainly targets are brand promotion and promotional activities. When faced with this kind of demand, your main task is to increase traffic as much as possible.

So, how can we increase the traffic? The method is: use routines. The so-called routine is actually this: if you use it more often, you will find a way forward.

Before formally introducing the brand or event information, this type of copy often adds a long or short routine. It may be a series of jokes, a fictional emotional story, or even a hot news or a hit drama.

Some people may ask, the routine is so good, so how can I write a routine that will impress my fans? In fact, for a novice copywriter, it is very difficult to write a good routine from beginning to end, because you may not be able to find any inspiration and don’t know where to start.

Here, I would like to share a very practical and stupid method, which is actually very simple. Just collect the popular copywriting you see from other accounts, and organize them into a table by category. The content in the table can be divided into the following sections: title , link, number of readings, number of likes, account name, advertising type, brand, etc.

Next time when you need to write the same type of copy, take a look at this table. At the beginning, you can choose to apply it directly. As you apply it more, you will gradually know how to write a good routine.

Therefore, you must build a library of popular routines in your own industry or field. If you can persist in reading more, watching more, accumulating more, learning more, using more, and summarizing more, I believe that within a month, you will be able to write a hit copy.

Here I recommend everyone to look at an account called "Tongcheng Travel Network". It has very sophisticated tricks and is well worth learning.

2. Sales copywriting

The core demand that sales-type copywriting mainly targets is product sales. The main purpose of this type of demand is to lure more target users to willingly spend their hard-earned money to purchase your products and services, so you must carefully polish every aspect of the copywriting and finally successfully guide customers to place orders.

How to write this type of copy? I have summarized a method: lure three times in a row. The title lures clicks, the body lures reading, and the ending lures purchases. Due to time constraints, I will not elaborate on how to do it in detail here. I will share it with you slowly when I have the chance.

(II) Clarify the delivery platform

What you need to make clear is what your delivery platform is, is it a public account ? Circle of friends ? Weibo? Tik Tok ? Today’s headlines ? Or other platforms.

Because different platforms have different gameplay and rules, and the requirements for copywriting are also different. Although many people know this, I have met many people who forget about it when it comes to writing copy. They often synchronize the copy of the official account directly to other platforms such as Toutiao , or even synchronize it automatically. This is actually a very unwise practice. You must put an end to it!

I believe you all know the differences between the various platforms, so I won’t go into details here.

3. User portrait analysis

This is also a very important point that many people often overlook before writing copy.

In fact, no matter which platform your copy is placed on, user portrait analysis is very, very important. However, many new media professionals and copywriters often think that they understand users and their needs very well because they have been in the industry for a long time and have operated accounts for a long time. In fact, most people don’t understand users at all.

People of this type often have a catchphrase, which is "I think this and that" or "I feel this and that". But they forgot: copywriting is not written for themselves, but for users. What they think is of no use at all. The key is to make users feel how they think.

So, back to the point. What exactly is a user portrait? Alan Cooper, the father of interactive design, believes that user portraits are virtual representations of real users and are target user models based on a series of real data.

What does it mean? To put it simply, a user portrait is a collection of labels. By combining these labels and visualizing a group as a "person", a user portrait is formed.

To give a simple example, let me say: Zhang Sanfeng, male, 26 years old. Hobbies: movies , photography, reading, cycling. Characteristics: heavy Internet users, active community members, etc. This is a user portrait.

So, how do we determine the user portrait? First, you need to understand the attributes of the users, whether they are male or female, which city they live in, what mobile phones they use, and whether they were born in the 90s, 80s, or 70s. Secondly, you need to understand user behavior, such as what content do they like to watch most? What is your favorite content to share? What is your favorite comment?

Only by understanding these can you know what kind of people your users are and what their core pain points are? They will only read what kind of content you push, and they will only buy what kind of products you sell.

This user portrait analysis table is what I have been using. It is very simple and practical. I would like to share it with you.

(IV) Competitor Analysis

Before writing copy, competitor analysis is also a very important step. Here I would like to share with you a classic analysis model - the SWOT analysis model.

SWOT is the abbreviation of S (strengths), W (weaknesses), O ( oppo rtunities) and T (threats). Its purpose is to organically combine internal and external conditions and resources by analyzing one's own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

S Advantages: Mainly analyze your own strengths in terms of cost, products, marketing , etc., and what you can do but your competitors cannot.

W Weaknesses: Mainly analyze your weakest areas and shortcomings, as well as what your competitors do well but you do not. Or it could be the reasons why customers left you, recent failure cases and the reasons, etc.

O Opportunities: What opportunities exist in external products, channels , marketing, etc., and where are the opportunities for internal short-, medium- and long-term planning goals?

TThreat: Will the objective economic environment, industry development, policies, etc. be unfavorable to the development of the enterprise? Where are the recent threats? Is there any chance to avoid them?

Because there is a lot of content today, I will not give you detailed examples here. If you have time, you can use your own company as an example for analysis.

5. Refining product selling points

The product selling point is also a very important point that many people often overlook before writing the copy. There is a problem here. Due to various reasons, such as their own limitations or fixed mindsets, many people often do not know the core selling point of a product, or do not think that a certain point is the core selling point.

This is actually a kind of "curse of knowledge". What does it mean? Simply put, when we are already very familiar with something, we often subconsciously ignore it.

Take me for example, I am a new media person, and my strengths are new media operations and copywriting. But before last month, I never thought that producing high-quality content with high frequency was my advantage. It was not until I chatted with a friend that day that I suddenly realized that this was indeed one of my advantages. This is the curse of knowledge.

I believe that you also have more or less problems like the "curse of knowledge" in the fields that you are proficient in or familiar with. So how can you avoid it? How to find the core selling point of a product? I share 2 rules and 1 theory here.

1. FAB rule

The FAB rule is a very famous rule in the sales field. It is the abbreviation of Feature (attribute or function), Advantage (advantage or advantage), and Benefit (customer benefit and value).

According to this rule, to extract the core selling points of the product , we need to first think about the characteristics and attributes of the product, secondly think about how these characteristics and attributes are different from or what advantages they have compared with competing products, and finally think about what benefits or value these advantages can bring to users. And this benefit or value is your core selling point.

Regarding the FAB rule, there is a very famous story in the sales field, called "The Story of the Cat and the Fish". The story goes like this:

There was a cat who was very hungry and wanted to have a big meal. At this time, a salesman came over and said: Mr. Cat, I have a stack of money here. The cat didn't react at all. Why? Because in the cat's eyes, this pile of money is just an attribute.

After a while, another salesman came over and said, "Mr. Cat, I have a stack of money here with which I can buy a lot of fish." The cat still didn't react after hearing this. Why? Because in the cat's eyes, although this pile of money can buy fish, it cannot solve its current problem - it is hungry and wants to eat fish.

After a while, the third salesman came over and said, "Mr. Cat, I have a stack of money here. I can buy a lot of fish with it and you can have a big meal." As soon as the salesman finished speaking, the cat pounced on the pile of money. Why? Because this pile of money can solve its current problem - it is hungry and wants to eat fish.

In fact, this story is a complete FAB sequence, and it is also the order in which we extract the core selling points of our products. However, when refining selling points, many people often only achieve F or A, and few people achieve B.

2. The Three Attributes Rule

The three attributes refer to the three levels of products, including core products, form products and extended products.

The core product is the value of the product, including product concept, product quality, product price, raw material origin, product style, technological innovation, self-upgrade, product line, etc.

Formal product refers to the appearance of the product, including its shape, quality, weight, volume, vision, feel, packaging, etc.

Extended products are the added value of products, including product history, market position, after-sales service, added value, honors received, celebrity endorsements, etc.

Of course, in addition to these three levels, there are some other angles, such as competitor selling points, scenario descriptions, user pain points, etc.

In fact, the angles covered by the three-attribute rule basically include all aspects of the product. If you still can’t find the selling point of the product, it only means that you are lazy, there is no other reason.

3. USP Theory

The USP theory was proposed by American Rosser Reeves in the early 1950s. It advocates telling consumers a "Unique Selling Proposition". This theory mainly includes three aspects:

1. Every advertisement must make a clear sales proposition or benefit point to consumers. For example, “If you’re afraid of getting a sore throat, drink Wanglaoji ” proposes a benefit point that can reduce heat in the throat; “If you’re a little hungry or sleepy, drink some Xiangpiaopiao” proposes a benefit point that can relieve hunger and sleepiness.

2. This claim or interest point must be unique to the product and must not be proposed by competitors. For example, all purified water has to go through 27 purification processes, but only Wahaha purified water has brought up this selling point.

3. This proposition or benefit point must be conducive to sales and be able to influence the majority of consumers. For example, "Xiangpiaopiao milk tea sells more than 300 million cups a year, enough to circle the earth, and has been the national sales leader for seven consecutive years", "For every 10 cans of herbal tea sold in China, 7 are cans of Jiaduobao ", "If you want to go to the cloud, go to Alibaba Cloud, whose market share exceeds the sum of the 2nd to 5th place."

6. Find the right angle of entry

Only when you have identified the core needs, understood the user pain points, and refined the product selling points, can you know which angle to approach from, and the effect of the copywriting push will be better.

So, how do we judge whether this entry angle is good or not? Mainly through the following three aspects.

1. Audience: The wider the audience, the easier it is to become a hit;

2. Resonance point: The more the angle of entry resonates with users, the more likely it is to become a hit;

3. Scarcity: The scarcer the angle of entry, the fewer times it is consumed by users, and the easier it is to become a hit;

Let me give you an example I wrote about last year. The client is Bear Electric Appliances, and the core demand is to promote a newly launched humidifier, with both product promotion and sales needs. Because they often advertise on various large platforms, they are very clear about the core selling points of their products, which saves me a lot of time.

At that time, Bear Electric Appliances launched Meet Beijing, a local Beijing public account, which mainly focused on Beijing’s local food, drink, entertainment, people’s livelihood information, etc. Through long-term user portrait analysis, we found that a large proportion of our fans are migrant workers who come to Beijing to work. They squeeze into the subway from 7 am to 10 pm every day and suffer from severe sleep deprivation.

The time chosen for the launch was mid-November. The air in Beijing at this time of year is already relatively dry, and with central heating, the indoor air is even drier. As I am a humidifier user myself, I understand very well that dry air can seriously affect sleep quality, while humidified air can greatly help sleep.

So, the angle I finally chose was "sleep". It turned out that the copywriting was very effective, with almost no negative reviews from fans. The client did not provide us with the specific sales data at the time, so I am not too sure about it, but I estimate that it must be good. Why? Because the client added two placements on the same day, one for the headlines of Meet Beijing and one for the headlines of Beijing Micro Time, with a total value of 60,000 yuan.

At this point, you should know how important it is to identify core needs, identify delivery platforms, conduct user portrait analysis, analyze competitors, refine product selling points, and find the right entry angle. Therefore, you must pay attention to it and make use of it. This is the basis for you to write popular copy. If you can’t even do these 6 points, it will be very difficult to write a hit copy.

Author: Zhang Sanfeng D , authorized to publish by Qinggua Media.

Source: 51coo (ID: COO-51 ）