If you want your product copy to speak well, first learn to cut the copy

A copywriter is a salesperson who sits behind a keyboard, not a novelist or an artist.

For salespeople, the most important skill is communication. They can convey their ideas in person through language, facial expressions, body movements, etc., but copywriters can only convey ideas through text. How can you make users accurately receive the information you convey, become interested in the product, and want to own it?

A copywriter with strong communication skills will prescribe the right remedy to cut the copywriter's hair.

1. Cut off the braids

An important characteristic of communication is that it is purposeful and focused.

In the process of communication between copywriters and consumers, writing every functional selling point in the advertisement will not convince consumers to give up their competitors' products and buy your products. One way to do this is to put forward your unique selling point. The unique selling proposition (USP) was proposed by Russell Lewis. It is mainly used to describe the main advantages of a product that can outperform its competitors. The essence is to break through the complexity, focus on the few and the fine, and emphasize the product benefits that most people are not aware of.

When Xiaomi 2 was released, Xiaomi seized on the shortcoming of mobile phone lag and refined a unique sales proposition: it is fast. All marketing communications and copywriting revolve around "speed". Until Xiaomi 5, the theme is still "fast" to establish a long-lasting brand personality.

Although Xiaomi phones have many other advantages, such as high cost performance, fast production, light weight, and good feel, Xiaomi insists on using "speed" as its unique selling point during the promotion process. The current focus on “taking more beautiful photos of people” is just the result of technological development and consumption upgrading.

2. Keep your copy short and concise. Learn to cut it short.

We believe that the best word count for commercial copy is 14-16 words, 16-20 words are barely acceptable, and more than 20 words are completely impossible to read, which not only wastes consumers' time, but also causes reading fatigue and leads to missing out on important sales information.

For advertising copy, 14 characters is too long.

For example, the latest pre-launch poster copy for the Apple 8 conference still uses the same format as the Apple 7, with only 5 words, and only 7 words including punctuation. But the unique selling point of this press conference is presented to consumers.

See you at home.

The essence of concise copywriting is to facilitate memory and dissemination. Although the slogans of Apple’s two press conferences were quite ordinary, customers can remember them at a glance. How is this achieved? At this time, we must learn to cut braids and refine long sentences into 2-3 short sentences. If the sentence is too long, we can make the long and short sentences meet. I think there are three ways to cut the braids of copywriting.

The first way to shorten is to break the sentence

The position of sentence punctuation will affect the context conveyed by the copy and even the meaning of the words. For example, the copy of Windows 7 breaks the sentence after "true", which conveys the concept of genuine products and the effects of using genuine products, and has a completely different effect.

The second method is to delete it to make the copy concise

Third, use the replacement method and use simple vocabulary.

Let’s take a look at a set of copywriting:

Fengyundan breast enhancement advertisement: It's no big deal. Financial Weekly: If you don't manage your finances, your finances won't manage you. Fotile sink dishwasher: To pick up your dreams, put down the bowl in your hand first.

From the copy above, we can see that the phrases are simple and customers can get the point without wasting time. When we find the text difficult to understand even when we read it ourselves, we should stop and think about making revisions. Modifications can be made by substitution, with the replacement text being words that are commonly used in life and that are very familiar to you.

3. Cut off the braids of jargon

Don't use jargon unless 95% of your readers will understand it. The important task of business copywriting is communication, not to impress others.

Terminology needs to be transformed into understandable and colloquial copy for consumers, so that they can experience the product and service. Here are three ways to cut your technical term braids.

Method 1: Contextualization of terminology

Scenario-based copywriting is mainly intended to mobilize consumers' memories of a certain scene, thereby causing emotional resonance. Designing a scene for a product is to find the product positioning. In different scenarios, consumers will have specific product needs. For example, when writing a beverage copy:

Before: Super strong formula, enjoy the energy

Scenario-based copywriting: An energy drink that can help you work all night long after just one sip

The reality is that consumers don’t care what your formula is, they only care about what benefits I can get from the product.

Let’s look at the following examples, where brands have designed professional terms into easy-to-understand scenarios:

Six walnuts will not mean that walnuts are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and are nutritious, but it will be transformed into a brain-using scenario. Wanglaoji does not say that it contains a variety of herbs, but rather designs a scenario of getting a sore throat. When consumers are afraid of getting a sore throat, Wanglaoji will give customers a consumption tip: drink Wanglaoji if you are afraid of getting a sore throat.

To contextualize professional terminology, we must first sort out the technical support that the professional terminology can provide for the scenario. Whether this scenario matches your customer needs, whether the sorted scenario has entered the minds of consumers in the industry. If a powerful competitor has occupied the scenario, you can only look for a more segmented scenario. In this way, when customers think of a certain scenario, they can find a one-to-one search and establish a connection point.

Method 2: Comparison method

I remember when I was hospitalized in the orthopedics department, the aunt next to me needed her bones fixed. I was very worried about whether the materials for the bones would rust or cause side effects.

Most doctors will answer: This is made of the best titanium alloy steel plate.

result!

The doctor said unexpectedly: Don't worry, this material is used in heart bypass surgery.

It's really amazing.

In the eyes of ordinary people, heart bypass surgery is definitely more advanced than bone setting, right?

This contrasting description can at least alleviate 70% of your worries.

Terminology cannot be widely spread among people. Only content that is sufficiently colloquial, visual, and situational can be used. If your users are product experts like you, there is no problem with expressing terminology. However, most consumers are just beginners, so the closer it is to their lives, the better.

Method 3: Oralization

Use friendly conversation as your writing style. This conversational tone feels like communication. A common practice is to use personal pronouns: you, me, we.

There has never been an era that focuses more on "me" than now .

One of the reasons why Mimi Meng ’s articles are so popular is that it feels like Mimi Meng is talking right next to you. The extensive use of personal pronouns allows readers to recognize at first glance that the content is related to "I". For example, "I didn't ask my parents to earn a million dollars a year, so why do they ask me to get first place in the exam?" 》 The title has a clear point of view and uses "I" as the subject, which creates a strong sense of immersion. The text is mainly expressed in colloquial language.

Communication is the first step in product copywriting, purchase is the second step, and the ultimate goal is word of mouth. Once we know the purpose, we will know how to cut braids skillfully.