Copywriting is writing to sell. The flyers from political candidates that come in the mail, the “keep scrolling through all these testimonials and I might let you see the price” sales letters with the yellow highlighting, the clever slogans like “Live richly” and “Don’t leave home without it” that we’ve come to associate with brands over the years—all these are examples of copywriting.
And just because I would run a mile before breakfast rather than buy something from one of those long-copy websites with the “Wait, there’s more!” bonuses allegedly worth ten times the value of the product doesn’t mean those sales letters don’t work, either. The formulaic can be extremely effective with the right audience.
Elements of good copywriting include killer headlines, calls to action, and “upsells”—finding a way to market a high-ticket product to the prospect even while you’re selling them the entry-level model.
I’m not a full-time copywriter, and I’ve always hated pushy salespeople, but I love marketing. I’m more than ready to put my energy into finding and emphasizing the best points of your product or service so people can benefit from purchasing it.
If the samples below persuade you to take an interest in the products they refer to, let’s talk about how to upgrade your marketing materials.
Here’s an example of a great product I did some copywriting for in 2006: the Billboard Wisdom screensaver by Rob Reina. In case that link ever breaks, you can read my text below thanks to DocStoc.
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The second example is a brochure for the Small Business Podcasting Package I offer together with two colleagues here in the Bay Area. (Podcasting is just another aspect of business communications.) I designed the brochure in Microsoft Publisher (easier but less sophisticated than Adobe InDesign) in 2007.
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The third example is a sales brochure I did not design, written for Spare Backup in 2009. This was one of those a drop-everything-and-work-all-weekend projects—the kind that carries a surcharge.
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