Are you trying to understand the copywriting process in advertising, but not sure how to break things down?
Copywriting is probably one of the biggest assets to your online business. The better your copy, the more product you sell.
Period.
But many marketers or online store owners don’t think they have what it takes to write stellar copy.
Why? Because they’re making it way too complicated.
That’s why, in today’s post, we’re going to break down the copywriting process (in advertising) into 4 simple steps:
- Understanding what type of copy you’re writing
- Learning about your audience
- Taking a deep dive into your own products
- Testing, tweaking, & tracking everything
Ready to get started? Let’s dive right in!
4-Step Copywriting Process in Advertising
Before we get started, I should be clear: this is NOT a comprehensive copywriting guide for experts.
Copywriting is a skill that can take years to master.
But, frankly, you probably don’t have that kind of time. That’s why this is a quick-and-dirty 4-step process that will get you instant improvements in your results.
Then, as you continue to grow your business, you can experiment with your target audience and learn what type of copywriting they most resonate with.
That leads us nicely into step 1…
Step 1: Understanding the Type of Copy You’re Writing
Step one is understanding what type of copy you’re writing. This could be a sales letter, an ad, or even something as simple as a product description for your eCommerce store.
Recently we worked with a client who was selling vitamins and supplements online. We took the time to analyze their funnel first before creating new content:
In this example, we identified that our client had two sales funnels.
The first was for their retail store and the second was an eCommerce site where people could buy directly from them online.
This would require very different copywriting.
For the retail store, for example, you’d likely need copy that’s longer and educational. This would be in the form of flyers, pamphlets, banners, billboards, TV ads, and so on.
But let’s assume you have an online store.
The copy you’re writing can vary depending on your funnel, and can include things like:
- Paid ads
- Email optin forms
- Landing pages
- Weekly newsletters
- Webinar scripts
Or ANY other text-based content that’s designed to sell your products to your target audience.
Look at YOUR sales funnel and see what types of copy you’ll need to be writing.
Then you can better prepare yourself for the specific skills you’ll need (since “copywriting” is an incredibly broad field.
Step 2: Learning About Your Audience
The second step of the copywriting process in advertising is learning about your audience. You’ll need to know 2 things in particular:
- What problem they’re facing
- What ideal future they’re envisioning
This allows you to show how your product can heal their pain AND bring them the exact results they’re after.
This step is crucial because it will help you write better content more easily! But how do you get to know your target market? Here are some suggestions:
Research the hell out of them on Google (the best place for this) And read through forums or industry blogs they may be posting on
You could even create an account on their favorite forum and start commenting.
Another thing to do is read customer reviews for both your products and competitors.
You can learn A TON about your audience just by doing this.
Pro-Tip: When researching your audience by reading reviews, go through 2 – 4 star reviews only.
Usually, 1-star reviews are from bitter and angry customers, so they’re a bit negatively biased.
And 5-star reviews are just the opposite: they’ll be too positively biased about your product.
Only reading 2 – 4 star reviews is an excellent way to skip the “fluff” and dive inside your reader’s head.
When you’re writing copy for your website, make sure to keep the buyer’s journey in mind. This will ensure that you understand what they want at each step of the buying process.
Step 3: Taking a Deep Dive into Your Own Products
The final step in the copywriting process for online advertising is taking a deep dive into your own products. This should include all of the following:
- Competitive analysis
- Keyword research
- Reviews/testimonials from customers who have bought it before
- Anecdotes about happy customers you’ve worked with, or feature stories about people who’ve had huge results with your product.
You can also include information and data that’s directly related to the benefits you’re offering.
The goal here is to show how much better your offer is than anything else out there for them!
This is where most new copywriters get things wrong. They fill their copy with features, not benefits.
Features tell you HOW the product works, but doesn’t hit WHY users want it to work in the first place.
It’s like the old adage goes (by Harvard Professor Theodore Levitt), “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill; they want a quarter-inch hole.”
This is why you did so much audience research in the last step.
Once you understand what they want, you can start taking all the benefits of each of your product’s features.
Then you can list these benefits through your sales copy in a way that’s MUCH more persuasive.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you sold running shoes that use a new science-based technology so they’re super lightweight.
Here’s how most copywriters would do this:
“The [insert shoe name] is the most lightweight shoe on the market thanks to our patented [insert fancy name here] technology.”
Again, this shows you HOW the shows are built (with the fancy name technology), but it doesn’t show the benefit to the reader.
WHY should someone care if these are lightweight shoes? What does that mean FOR THEM?
You could easily transform that copy into:
“Break your best records with the lightest running shoe on the market. Battle-tested and back by science, you’ll never need to slow down again.”
This is much more aligned with what the average runner is really after: faster running times (or better performance in general).
Now let’s turn to the root of why copywriting is so difficult. Because, let’s be honest, you knew a LOT of this information already.
So why hasn’t any of it worked yet?
That’s where the final step usually comes in…
Step 4: Testing, Tweaking, & Tracking Everything
The final step in the copywriting process for online advertising is testing, tweaking and tracking everything. This should include all of the following:
- Reviewing your headlines/titles to make sure they’re highly relevant to what you’re selling
- Creating a system that’s easy to track conversions (so you know which ads are working)
- Building a swipe file to store headlines that have sold YOU
And any other process you need to concretely measure the success of your copy.
This is where lots of marketers fall short, and it makes sense.
Copywriters are usually great storytellers and very creative people. As a result, they don’t always have the analytical brain required to accurately track their results.
Instead, they base copywriting on how it “feels” or how “clever” it is.
This is the BIGGEST MISTAKE in copywriting.
Without sounding too blunt, nobody cares how clever you are. What they want to know is this:
Will X product or service solve my problem and, if so, how can you prove it?
That’s it!
There’s no need to complicate the matter beyond that. In fact, some of the best copy I’ve ever written was so straightforward that I thought it would tank.
And some of the worst copywriting (in terms of results) came from a campaign that I found particularly clever.
The fact is that there’s no cookie-cutter solution here. You need to keep researching your audience, breaking down your features into benefits, and tracking everything meticulously.
Then, over time, you can refine your copy and continuously earn more revenue.
And that’s all for now! This has been a simplified 4-step process to copywriting that anyone can use to get started.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Again, it’s not for experts. This guide is meant for beginners who are swimming in the deep end of the pool and feel like they’re just treading water.
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Enjoy!
