Lately, I have felt a little disillusioned with marketing, the “tech echosystem”, and the business world in general.
To battle this overwhelming need to drop everything, change my name, and move to Cotonou, I decided to go back to the basics of my craft and remind myself of the reason I fell in love with words and their ability to cause action.
Now, copywriting has always come naturally to me. I've never had to take a course or go to school for it. However, doing this research has helped me codify the rules instead of taking an intuitive approach to everything. This article is my contribution to the people who have asked me to teach them copywriting and have received vague answers from me. It's really difficult to teach something you never learned, to be very honest. I hope this article atones for me.
I’ll start by saying we are all copywriters. When we send a birthday message, when we text our lovers late at night or when we send that inspired tweet, it's all copywriting. Choosing the right words and the right tone for our audience is all part of this game and as we know, some play it better than others. In this piece, I will explain what I've learned over the past 5 years and how you can apply it to your communication skills as you progress through life. I’ll keep it short, I promise.❤️
1) Clarity over Big English
I’ve never really liked Wole Soyinka. Sure, he won the Nobel peace prize and is internationally renowned as a great author and playwright, but his books have always been tedious for me to read (also looking at you, Teju Cole). He almost always has a big word for everything and says the most simple things in the most confusing ways. I’m pretty sure he has his audience, the Patrick Obahiagbon’s of this world, but in a way, he exemplifies everything that's wrong with bad copy. You do not write to impress, you write to express. Put simply, do not use a big word when a smaller word would work. No one uses lugubriously when speaking in real life. Be serious, please.
2) KISS (Keep it short, stupid)
Shorter sentences will always be easier to read. You do not want to overload people’s brains with information. This means you have to cut out every unnecessary word. Edit like a monster. Use ChatGPT if you must.
3) Sentence structure is Key
Sometimes, you look at a paragraph you just wrote and you can tell something’s off. Quite often, it's a grammatical mistake. Other times, it's the way the information flows from sentence to sentence. If a sentence is simply information being passed grammatically, your words should follow this concept by looking back on the information passed earlier. This is kind of difficult to explain but I found a great video that spells it out simply. You can check it out here.
4) Know your audience, then use their words.
Relatability is everything. One of the key concepts in marketing is understanding who you’re selling to and copywriting takes it a step further. You need to go to where your customers are and cosplay their speech. What exact words do they use to describe your products or service? Why are you describing it differently? Cosplay as your customer’s voice and you become their friend. Become their friend and they become loyal. Loyalty means repeat customers. Repeat customers means a house in Bali. Remember, I don’t make the rules, I just codify them.
5) Be Specific, it gets the people going.
One of my favorite shows is 1000 Ways to Die. Sure, the graphic detail with which they delve into the deaths of unsuspecting humans would excite any murder-mystery-loving person but my favorite part is the title.
It's not called “Lots of Ways to Die” or “How to Die in a weird way”. It's 1000 ways to die. The specificity makes it more real. You need to implement numbers in your copy (odd ones always work better for some reason). Being simple, concise, and specific are the 3 musketeers of copy!
6) Benefits not features.
Features are the specs of your product. Benefits are the reason anybody will buy your product. Many times, you have a great product and you spend lots of time explaining features instead of showing your clients how much easier their lives can be when they choose you. This is where storytelling comes in. It's always easier to use an anecdote to buttress a point. Convert your features to show real-life benefits and watch your copy game improve.
7. Passive Voice is the Copy Killer
You need to remove passive voice from your vocabulary. It makes your copy sound flat and uninspired for the most part. The best way to escape the passive voice is by eliminating all forms of the verb “to be”. That means “is”, “was”, “were”, and their derivatives. It will take some time and constant practice but trust me, your copy would be way more direct and more effective.
Anddd away we go!
Thank you for reading my piece on copywriting. I really enjoyed writing it, even though I still fight the urge to move to Cotonou. Honestly speaking, once I learn how to write copy in French, I’m out.
In the meantime, I’ve collaborated with my friend to create a resource center for marketing professionals. It’s perfect if you’re looking to get into the space as a newbie or you’re like me, trying to rekindle joy in your craft. It’s called SkillpathAfrica and it expands on key concepts, taking you from copy fundamentals through conversion copy and creative writing. With weekly worksheets spanning 3 months, you’d be a copycat in no time!
You can check it out here on Selar.
Anywho, like Zlatan in a Lagos restaurant, Pasta Lavie!
