How to become a copywriting expert? The 3 most effective methods

This is an answer to a question on Zhihu:

A new copywriter joins a small company with no one to teach or guide him. Does he want to know how to train himself and improve himself?

As for myself, I started out as a small copywriter and have been working in an advertising company for 11 years.

I worked as a copywriter at Provincial Advertising Agency and then at Publicis, doing everything from copywriting, planning, and AE, until I became strategy director and strategy group director. When I saw this question, I had a lot of feelings.

Although I met many noble people who helped me along the way, I still feel that I have to rely on myself to learn and improve myself.

I never thought of myself as a gifted person.

Ever since I started studying advertising in college, I have been endlessly doubting whether I have the ability to be creative.

Later, I joined an advertising company and was always stunned when looking at the portfolios of works that won major advertising awards: Damn, how did they come up with such awesome ideas? Why didn’t I think of it? !

Every time I have a creative meeting and hear others come up with good ideas and insights that I haven’t thought of, I can’t help but envy, get angry with myself, and curse myself.

So my motto in life has always been what Herzen's teacher taught Herzen:

Your talent is average, but your great sentiments will save you.

What is great sentiment?

It's nothing more than diligence and perseverance.

You need to be diligent with your hands and feet, and your brain, and you also need to be persistent, able to persist, and able to endure.

Today, I will share with you my personal experience and how I improved myself.

There's no secret, just three little things.

The first thing is to collect and analyze a large number of advertisements and summarize personal methods

As the old saying goes, if you read 300 Tang poems, you will be able to recite them even if you can't compose poems.

Advertising guru James Webb Young said: Without grazing, how can you milk?

Similarly, as a copywriter, how can you be a writer if you don’t copy?

Watching a lot of advertisements, collecting good ideas and copywriting for analysis and research, and summarizing methods and routines are the first steps in writing copy.

Many people may say, I watch ads every day.

Okay, let me tell you what it means to watch advertisements and what it means to collect and analyze advertisements.

What’s the point of just taking a look at an advertisement? It’s over after you watch it. What do you retain? The key point is that you have to analyze why other people write their copy in this way? How do other people come up with their ideas?

I usually use three methods to collect and analyze advertisements:

► By industry

There is a folder called Copywriting in my computer, which contains more than a dozen word files, divided into 3C, real estate, automobiles , tea and wine, sports, fast-moving consumer goods, finance, luxury goods, industry, tertiary industry, etc.

No matter which industry you serve, you should consciously collect advertising copy from mainstream companies and big brands in that industry.

Different industries have different advertising tones due to their different industry attributes and user characteristics. Collecting advertising copy by industry can help you quickly get started in this field, understand the industry situation and what your competitors are asking for, and understand what good advertisements in this industry look like.

Of course, collecting information from other industries can also be very helpful. For example, if you are doing real estate copywriting, perhaps the routines of fast-moving consumer goods copywriting will give you new ideas and inspiration; for example, if you serve the automotive industry, using the approach of a sports brand to write about cars may be refreshing. What's more, collecting information from multiple industries can also help you change jobs and serve new industries and new customers.

There were several hundred people in the company at that time, and I was known as the "little encyclopedia of advertising" within the company. No matter what advertisement you mentioned, there was nothing I had not seen.

Although he earns 3,000 yuan a month, he never hesitates to spend 300 yuan on a copy of "Case Study Abroad" (a collection of Cannes Advertising Award-winning works) at the end of every year.

There is no shortcut to becoming a good copywriter; it just requires hard work.

► By type and technique

In addition to collecting and organizing by industry classification, it is also necessary to analyze by type of copy, such as slogans, titles , text, TV copy, radio copy, corporate video copy, etc.

For example, if you click on the word "I collected advertising slogans", you will find 466 advertising slogans in it.

Then these 466 slogans are divided into the following categories according to their creation methods: insight-based, life attitude-based, brand concept-based, emotional-based, and benefit-based. There are also several common text techniques: contrast, antithesis, homophonic puns, etc.

This is the standard of good copywriting and the method of writing copy that I have summarized.

For example.

Colloquial copywriting

Being easy to understand and catchy is the basic requirement for a good slogan and also the highest level. The so-called true Buddha only speaks in everyday language. The best slogans are taken from people’s daily language and therefore have lasting vitality. Please abandon techniques, use rhetoric with caution, and strive for simplicity. Literary talent is secondary; fluency, conciseness, and ease of hearing and remembering are primary.

example:

Huganla (Kirin Beer)

Listen to You (Happy Boy 2013)

It will be ready soon (Taiwan Ma Ying-jeou campaign)

RU POLO? (Volkswagen POLO)

I just like ( McDonald's )

Live happily (Hennessy)

Hello Color (Canon IXUS)

This is the taste (Master Kong)

To be happy is up to you ( Coca-Cola )

Don't be unhappy (Carlsberg)

You Deserve It (L'Oreal-Taiwan Version Because You Deserve It)

Be careful (Uni-President Be careful Ramen Maru)

I think China Travel is OK (China Travel)

Fenbid is trustworthy (Fenbid)

Good taste, love this flavor (Huiyuan Sugar-coated Haws Juice)

Contrast

This type of advertising slogan consists of two half sentences, which pursue parallelism in form and contrast in meaning, thus creating a sense of thought and depth, making people feel interesting and thought-provoking. But if used too much, it will become artificial, and is often seen in automobile and real estate copywriting.

example:

If you want it , you can do it (NEC)

The less complicated, the more extraordinary ( Samsung )

Unfettered heart, boundless speed (Saab)

Build now, see the future (CCB Hong Kong)

Elegant in heart, glorious in behavior (Volkswagen CC)

Hidden edge, from the Phideon (Volkswagen Phideon)

Without making any noise, it has its own sound (Buick LaCrosse)

The World Local Bank (HSBC)

Power conquers all, you conquer power ( Audi )

It’s not about the road, it’s about the destination (BMW X5)

Classic is the inheritance of classic, and classic is the betrayal of classic (Mercedes-Benz)

Without a certain height, it is not suitable to be so low-key (Vanco Rancho Santa Fe)

Antithesis

In this type of advertising slogan, one or two words are repeated in the front and back halves, creating interest in form and layering of meaning. There are many excellent works using this technique, but it has been overused, especially in automobiles. Perhaps even car advertisements need to be pretentious.

example:

Change to control change (Audi)

Knowing, unknown direction (Audi)

Nothing is ordinary ( Nokia LUMIA)

Focus on what you care about (CMB Sunflower)

Simple but not simplistic (Lilang)

Starting from scratch, we are in sync with the world (Guangben)

FamilyMart is your home (FamilyMart convenience store)

There is energy, unlimited (Red Bull)

Good herbs make good medicine (Zhongjing Liuwei Dihuang Pills)

Never be content, so there is nothing lacking (BMW X5)

The more you appreciate, the more you understand appreciation (Hennessy)

The more twists and turns, the greater the scenery (Volkswagen Magotan)

Lexus

No wealth, only home (Shanwaishan Real Estate)

Unreserved edge, full of brilliance (Mercedes-Benz GLK300)

Let go of status and just talk about taste (Shuijingfang)

Stay away from applause and listen to your heart (Shuijingfang)

The greater your realm, the smaller your self-esteem (BMW)

Only by giving up the hustle and bustle can we achieve sublimation (BMW)

Unprecedented, because all the previous (Mercedes)

Those who see the times are also influencing the times (Buick)

Why do we need to collect, organize, summarize and conclude copywriting techniques by ourselves?

Because what you summarize is the method that truly belongs to you.

There are thousands of ways to teach copywriting online. Just search Baidu and you will see “10 ways to come up with titles”, “18 secrets for writing copy”, “37 methods for finding insights”, “X-type copy and Y-type copy ”... After reading one method and one method after another, do you think they are useful?

It's useless. This is someone else's method, not your method.

Only after your own thinking and thinking can you internalize these methods into your own ideas, and use these methods consciously or unconsciously when writing copy.

Otherwise, you just collect a lot of copywriting methods on the Internet, but when you actually write it yourself, you still can't write it and are at a loss.

► By Brand

The first client I served in the advertising industry was ERKE, so the first thing I collected was sports brand advertisements.

I have been collecting NIKE advertisements for ten years. My hard drive now has nearly 2G of capacity and contains 2,500 advertisements. Over the years, I have collected almost every campaign of NIKE and archived them separately according to the release time.

Not only can you learn NIKE's copywriting skills and style, but it can also help you understand NIKE's communication strategy, the brand's shift each year, what the entire brand is appealing for, and what the brand's core values ​​and personality are. The value of collecting advertisements in this way is far more than just how a headline is written.

Although I have never served NIKE, I can say that I know NIKE very well.

Zheng Daming, former ECD of Yingyang Legend Advertising, once said: See more, think more.

I think this is the first part a copywriter should do.

Watch more ads and think about them.

When you see a good copy, you can’t just say it’s good and leave it at that. You have to think about why it is good. What's good about it? How did others write it? What is the strategic thinking behind the copywriting?

After this thinking training, you will know what the standards of good copywriting are and what skills are needed to write copy.

And, it's yours.

Second, focus on the forefront of the industry and establish a knowledge system

I think, no matter what industry you are in. You should pay attention to the development trends of the industry, the most cutting-edge thinking and opinions, and what the best companies and people in the industry are talking about and doing.

The most fatal weakness of people in small companies is that they only focus on the field they are working in, have a narrow vision, and don’t know how big the world is outside.

Over the years, I have interviewed and recruited many people in the company.

My biggest worry for those who have been working in small companies for three or four years is that their vision is not broad enough, even though they have no shortage of experience, ability and skills.

When people in the entire industry are talking about scenes, IP, communities , native advertising , cultural brands... and you still only know rational and emotional appeals, and only write about respect, huge benefits, and taste of life in your copywriting.

Then your career will end there.

In 2008, I resigned from Provincial Broadcasting and joined Publicis. At that time, Publicis Global was proposing a new creative concept and conducting training and promotion in various offices around the world. After listening to the training given by the CCO of Publicis Asia Pacific in China, I exclaimed in my heart: It turns out that advertising can be done this way!

The traditional advertising routine is nothing more than refining the USP based on product features, or refining the core value/brand concept based on consumer insights, and then interpreting it into an unchanging TVC + series of prints + extended materials + promotional activities, with 360-degree integration of media, and different media sending out the same voice, and that's it.

However, cutting-edge practices emphasize that advertising should be co-created with consumers, with consumers generating content and creating social topics and social participation (a 2008 view).

While I was amazed, I wondered what the concepts of other top 4A schools in the world were?

In 2008, the global advertising industry was undergoing a revolution. At that time, a large number of 4A agencies were proposing new advertising concepts. I bought Human Kind published by LB and Lovemark published by Saatchi & Saatchi (all in original English. I was exhausted translating line by line with the English dictionary). I downloaded a bunch of PDFs about Big Idea and Fusion from the Ogilvy website and printed them out to study slowly. I also bought DDB's Six Degrees of Sociality Theory...

These new concepts prompted me to think about the essence of advertising and how good advertising can touch people...

It is undeniable that they changed my view on advertising and inspired me to look at advertising from a completely new perspective. It is also very interesting to compare the concepts of the major 4A companies. You will know what the common things are under their concepts.

Today, it is another era of great change for the advertising industry.

The Internet has fundamentally changed the way we live, socialize, consume, and media environment today. Internet thinking, business models and human behavior patterns in the Internet era undoubtedly have a profound impact on the advertising industry and to some extent determine the future direction of advertising. It can be said that people who don’t understand the Internet today cannot do advertising.

In the past three or four years, I have read about 200 books on Internet research, and I have also written special articles to recommend them on my personal public account .

By understanding the Internet, I have a deeper understanding of advertising and am more adept at writing copy.

You don’t need anyone to teach you these things; you can do them on your own.

In my opinion, a good copywriter should not be limited to copywriter.

If a copywriter does not understand the client’s marketing strategy, brand goals, consumer psychology, and the media environment, how can he write good copy?

Copywriting is not just about one person burying himself in literary creation, nor is it just about writing words. It is a creative expression of business strategies.

Therefore, for every copywriter I have ever coached, the first thing I teach them is not copywriting skills, but to help them establish a concept of advertising, so that they can have a holistic understanding of advertising, brands, and the business practices of a company. In other words, it is to teach them to build their own advertising knowledge system.

To enter an industry, you need to have the knowledge structure of this industry. When you have acquired the knowledge system of advertising, when faced with the creation of specific copywriting, you will know what direction to think in and from which angle to approach writing.

Although this teaching method is slow and difficult at the beginning, once the system is established, the subsequent improvement will be at the speed of light. This is just like in martial arts novels, where martial artists first practice their mental skills and then practice specific techniques, which will achieve twice the result with half the effort.

On the contrary, if only tricks (copywriting skills) are taught but not the philosophy (advertising system), a copywriter will soon encounter a bottleneck.

Of course, if you want to build your own advertising knowledge system, it is best to have someone teach you.

But if no one teaches you, it doesn’t mean you are powerless.

My personal advertising system was built entirely through my own reading, thinking and summarizing.

When I was studying advertising in college, I read through two shelves of advertising books in the school library. After joining the advertising company, I opened a Douban column in 2006 called “Must-Read Books for Advertisers” to mark the advertising books I had read.

After reading a good advertising book, write a comment and add it.

Within a few years, this book list was circulated everywhere on the Internet. Now on Douban, this column has been collected by 8,762 people. If you search Baidu, you can find tens of thousands of pirated copies.

In my opinion, reading is the lowest cost and most cost-effective means of learning in this era.

Reading gives me a comprehensive understanding of advertising and helps me build my own knowledge system. I started my career as a copywriter, and from thinking of ideas and writing copy to making strategies, making proposals, leading a team , and creative management, all the way to my current position as the director of the strategy group, every step required reading more.

My former director said that I was the most well-read person in the advertising industry. (I'd better add South China and one of them, hahaha)

Books are your best teachers. You don’t need anyone to teach you anymore.

The third thing is to enrich yourself and live a deep life

A good copywriter must be a person with a deep life.

When doing copywriting, you must draw creative wisdom and nourishment from life, so that you can open up the Ren and Du meridians of creativity.

How can a person who has no life write touching copy?

When a copywriter cultivates himself, he should not just focus on the technical level, otherwise he can only learn the basics, which is like learning to walk in Handan. To be a copywriter, you need to practice in real life.

Good copywriting lies not in the head but in life.

Read more books, watch more movies , listen to more music, visit more exhibitions, develop one or several hobbies, and spend time studying what you are interested in. These will help you become a more creative person.

For example, let’s talk about movies. I remember Leo Burnett or Bernbach said: Advertising people spend most of their working day sitting with their legs on the table and talking about movies.

Watching more movies will be of great benefit to advertising.

But most people who say they love watching movies only go to the cinema once or twice a month.

What is this called loving movies?

I've met many people in advertising companies who watch more than 200 movies a year, including myself.

In addition to watching movies, you should also read various books about movies, such as "Understanding Movies", "Making Movies", and the Yuanliu Cinematheque series.

How can movies help you make good advertisements and write good copy?

How to tell an attractive story, how to shoot, how to edit, how to arrange the scene, how to choose music, what you learn from these movies are all hard knowledge for working in advertising.

So when I’m recruiting copywriters, I always like to ask them about their interests and hobbies, including what apps they often use on their mobile phones.

A person who lives a monotonous and boring life cannot write good copy.

The first step is to collect a large number of advertisements and summarize personal methods

The second step is to focus on the forefront of the industry and establish a knowledge system

The third step is to enrich yourself and live a deep life

What I said,

There is no need for anyone to teach, and no one can teach.

But it can actually improve yourself.

If you do what I said and there is no improvement, then tell me and I will quit the advertising industry.

The author of this article @空手 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

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