Website copywriting planning, the three most easily overlooked points!

We always think that we have enough knowledge and can do great things, but when we actually start writing the copy ourselves, we are dumbfounded! I have absolutely no idea where to start writing.

What I want to talk to you about today is not the practical skills of writing copy, but He Yang believes that this is more important than practical skills, because if you don’t master this, no matter how good the copy is, it will not impress your users. This is the direction positioning before copywriting planning, to put it bluntly, it is like the starting point of our copywriting! So let’s put aside the practical skills for now and understand the issue of copywriting direction;

The best way to learn copywriting: first know the destination (direction) of the copywriting –> summarize the common copywriting planning practical skills at each destination –> copywriting master;

It is the same as the idea I suggested you learn about website operation before. In fact, if you don’t understand the idea, no matter how many practical skills you learn, it will be in vain. This is especially true in copywriting learning. Especially for novices, they may have such a feeling:

When I saw other people’s good copywriting, I was particularly envious, so I thought to myself, I will write like this in the future. Then a few days later, I saw another good copywriting, so I wrote it down very seriously, and thought to myself again, I will also write like this...

This process may be repeated for a long time, and you may think that you have enough knowledge and are ready to show your skills. But when you actually start writing the copy yourself, you are dumbfounded! I have absolutely no idea where to start writing;

The root cause of this phenomenon is not lack of effort, but the wrong learning method, because you don’t understand the ideas and starting points behind those good copywritings;

Of course, in the actual practice of copywriting, there are many skills that require constant practice and summary. But before that, there is one very important thing to be clear: what pain points of users do you want to solve through copywriting ? That is what we are talking about today, “the foothold of copywriting planning”;

1. What is the focus of copywriting planning?

I have talked to you before about the issue of target user positioning. Why do we need to conduct target user positioning? It is because we need to know the user population portrait so that we can locate where the users are and then we can find them.

In fact, the focus of the copywriting planning here is similar to the positioning of the target user population portrait. They both clarify the direction of our work and do not operate blindly. So by analogy, only when we know the positioning of the copywriting direction can we know what needs of users our copywriting should meet, or what users care about for our products. What we have to do is to increase the overlap between the focus of copywriting planning and user concerns as much as possible. Only in this way can your copywriting be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people!

For example:

For example, the source code of the service system developed by the company may not be known to many people at first glance, so our copywriting must first solve the problem of "what it is". We cannot focus on the advantages of the product at the beginning, otherwise the focus of the copywriting will be biased, because when users do not understand you, no matter how many features you say, it will not be convincing;

2. Where should we start with copywriting planning?

Now that we know what "copywriting planning foothold" is, let's talk about where to start with the copywriting planning foothold. In order to make it easier for novice friends to understand and master it, He Yang summarized some common copywriting planning footholds. If novice friends don't understand, they can memorize them and then slowly understand them in practice;

What is the product?

Literally, it means telling you what your product is and solving the user's basic understanding of the product. For example, for the source code program we mentioned above, the first question to be solved in the copy is "what is it".

Usage scenarios

Generally, the first impression of a product may not be very clear. In order to make users quickly familiar with our product and have the willingness to learn more, the focus of the copy should be on quickly helping users understand what our product is. It is mostly used in the early stage of product promotion;

Implementation strategy recommendations

Once you know the "what" problem you need to solve, and then you summarize the specific strategies, your purpose will be much stronger. It doesn't mean you have to give a straightforward narration; that kind of writing is boring and unconvincing! I have summarized a few points from my own actual combat and would like to share them with you. In fact, I have also discussed them in detail when planning the special page. You can read them:

• Do you have a typical comparison object? Find a familiar and well-known alternative that users can use, and then introduce it in comparison, so that others can know what your product is in the shortest possible time. If you say A is unclear but B is clear to you, then I will say A and B are similar, so that others can understand it better;
• Start from the user's familiarity with the results: What kind of use results can my product bring to you, and this result is very familiar to users, so that users can also know what your product is; others may not know what A is, but they will know what results can be brought by using A.
• What problems can be solved for users: List the difficulties and headaches that users are currently facing, and then explain that our product can help them solve these headaches to arouse users' interest. If you say A, others may not understand, but if I say that A can help others solve their current headaches, then others will understand.

Why use it?

The "why" here does not mean why users must use your product, but whether users have the need to use the product, or how strong the demand for the product is, and how rigid is the demand? To sum it up in one sentence: give users a motivation to use the product!

Usually our idea is to guide the user's usage needs and tell him that the product is actually very much in demand for him, even though he may not have noticed it himself.

For example, if we are selling children's smart watches, if you focus your copy on how good-looking the watch is, how it can make calls, and how it allows children to keep track of time, etc., then users may not have a strong demand for it. But we are introducing that the watch can track the child’s location anytime and anywhere, so parents’ motivation to use it will be stimulated!

Usage scenarios

Users can understand your product when it is described, and there is no need to explain the product itself in detail. However, users are not motivated enough to use the product, or there is not much urgency. At this time, in order to motivate users to use the product, the focus of our copywriting should be on guiding users' motivation to use the product.

Implementation strategy recommendations

The general idea is to analyze the urgency of the product for users. To put it bluntly, there are two aspects to consider: what are the benefits of using the product; and what are the disadvantages of not using the product.

Why use yours?

There are definitely more than one product on the market. Users face many choices. Why should they use your product? Or what are your advantages? How are you different from other competitors? These are the key considerations you need to make in your copywriting planning.

Use scenarios:

If the user is familiar with the product and has a need to use it, the next most critical question is "Why should I use your product?" At this time, when planning the copy, our focus must be on solving this problem, and we must not mistakenly guide the user's motivation to use and introduce the product itself, so the direction is particularly important;

Implementation strategy recommendations

What we need to do at this point is to magnify your advantages and characteristics, or to put them into context. I have previously written an article called The Importance of Concrete Thinking in Copywriting Planning, which contains many such examples. Friends who are interested can take a look at it. Giving users an intuitive impression can indeed help them solve problems and meet certain needs of theirs.