Juan Israel Ortiz

As a marketing professional, I’m sure you have heard about copywriting before. And, unless you are doing all your marketing by yourself, you must have hired a copywriter to work on a marketing campaign at some point.

But… do you have a full understanding of what copywriting entails? Unless you have a marketing and advertising background, chances are you don’t.

And that’s OK – that’s why I’m here. I want to share with you some knowledge bits that will give you a better understanding of what goes behind writing sales and marketing copy.

I do this so you can understand how great copywriting can help elevate your marketing campaigns to achieve the sales goals you have set for your business.

My name is Juan Israel Ortiz, and if you’re new to my website, welcome. Please subscribe to my blog to get my latest on marketing, advertising, and copywriting. And with introductions out of the way, here are six facts every direct marketer must know about copywriting:

#1: Copywriting Has Nothing to Do with Copyrights

More times than not, when I tell acquaintances that I offer copywriting services, they quickly assume that I’m all day sitting in an office of the US Patent and Trademark Department. And I can’t blame them.

Most people are more familiar with the word “copyright” than “Copywrite.” But the concept of copywriting has nothing to do with your company’s legal department. At least not directly.

Instead, copywriting has more to do with salesmanship because copywriting is any writing that you present offering a product or service for sale.

Let me take back what I said about laypeople not being familiar with copywriting. Because they see it in every junk mail package, ad on their Google search, and TV or radio commercial they’ve ever heard.

Any piece of communication that presents you with a product or service is an example of copywriting.

Of course, there’s good and bad copywriting – but we will discuss that in a little bit. For now, just know that when someone tells you that they are a copywriter, it means writing sales materials and not working on trademarks and patents.

#2: What Can Copywriting Do for You?

The only goal of copywriting is to drive profitability.

As a marketer, you must keep that in mind because you will meet many copywriters (in title) that will try to convince you that they can do something else aside from selling your offers. And most of those “copywriters” will do nothing for your sales.

You will have copywriters tell you about how they can create entertaining commercials that people will like. They will talk about giving your brand a “cool edge” with “award-winning” advertising. But most of those copywriters aren’t even copywriters – they are scriptwriters looking to build portfolios (at your expense) to win awards they can show in Hollywood.

These wannabe-copywriters don’t care whether your business sells plenty or goes under. All they want is to further their careers. And your money should not be funding someone’s future job without getting something in return.

Marketing and advertising are a means to an end. And that end is to increase sales – and profits – for your business.

#3: Copywriting at Its Best

You’re probably wondering at this point, “what separates the good copy from the bad copy?” And your answer lies in the purpose behind the copy.

You can spot bad copywriting when you realize that a sales and marketing piece is more entertaining than anything else. The bad copywriters fill their marketing and advertising materials with short and witty one-liners that focus more on a funny character than the solutions your product or services have to offer.

Good-to-great copywriting, on the other hand, focuses on inspiring and informing the market on why they should consider buying a product or hiring a service. Copywriters that know what they’re doing will present an empathetic character as a hero, telling the story of a situation they solved using what their client has to offer, with a specific call-to-action that will entice your audience into buying as soon as possible.

Copywriting, at its best, presents your products and services as practical solutions for your market. At its worst, your copywriting turns your offer into the vehicle to deliver a clever punchline.

#4: The Four Elements of Copywriting

To present compelling sales and marketing copy, you must structure it correctly, make it easy to scan, be empathetic, and use the right tone of voice.

Proper Copy Structure

To structure your copy correctly simply means that your text is not all over the place.

Instead, you are taking your audience through an emotional rollercoaster, working around your core emotions to develop a sense of excitement or dependency towards your offer. And at the right time, you hit them with your proposal.

Many copywriting formulas will help you structure your text. Four of the most common are: AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action), the 4 Ps (Promise, Picture, Proof, Push), and the Storytelling Technique (Shine, Heat, Comeback, Finish).

Well-structured copywriting will keep your audience hooked and increase your chances at a sale.

Easy-to-Scan Copy

You wouldn’t try to eat an entire T-bone steak in one bite. And you wouldn’t read a marketing message presented as one, enormous paragraph.

Just like people enjoy their food bite-by-bite, readers enjoy reading their text paragraph by paragraph. Therefore, every marketing text message should be easy to digest – scannable, and easy on the eyes.

The best way to make your copy easy-to-scan is to make proper use of subheads, numerations, and bullet points…

• use your subheads to separate subtopics,
• let the reader know exactly where’s the information they want, and
• use numbers and bullet points to present a list of details or resources better.

When you make your copy more comfortable to read, you (again) increase your chances at the reader not tossing your advertising aside. And by “aside” – I mean the trash bin. 

Empathetic Copy

To create new customers, you must show your audience that you empathize with their problems as deeply as humanly possible.

When you show empathy, you let the audience know that you’re one of them. And as such, you have taken time to produce a solution that will make your prospects’ daily lives better.

But how do you show empathy to the audience?  Simple – you go deep on the details.

Let the reader know that you understand their pain by going exactly through every emotion you went through before you produced your offer. That’d let the audience know that a) you have gone precisely through what they’re experiencing, and b) your offer works.

Empathy is the most crucial copywriting element. Because without it, you come off like a sleazy salesperson looking for a quick buck.

The Right Tone of Voice

Just like in conversations, using the right words and symbols can make your marketing texts very appealing to the reader. And the wrong words and symbols will turn your message into something they would want to avoid altogether.

The tone of your writing can go anywhere from joyful and optimistic to selfish and angry. Therefore, you must know which tone you need to take on your marketing messages.

For direct marketers, the tone you want to take is:

• Conversational but not too casual – you need to show professionalism while being friendly
• Persuasive but not overly excited or sales-y – no one likes to be sold
• Informative – show that you come from the place of knowledge
• Candid – tell it like it is

In business, as well as in life, trust is what makes good things happen. By using the right tone in your messages, you can start building trust with your audience and produce new sales.

#5: What Your Copy Can Promote

Here are the four main things you can promote with your copy:

1. Your Products – you can sell any offering through advertising, digital marketing, and social media campaigns.
2. Your Services – service firms and freelancers can use direct mail, content marketing, and SEO to get their names and firms known to would-be clients.
3. A Charitable Cause – fundraising letters and websites can help you reach out to donors and collect money for those in need.
4. Your Company – send out public relations and corporate communications materials to let your community know what your business has been up to.

And what every one of those examples has in common is the need for copywriting for the promotion. Because a logo and some design put together won’t get the job done on their own.

#6: Where Can You Place Your Copy?

You need a copywriter for any persuasive business text you produce.

Your advertising campaigns need copy for print ads, TV and radio commercials, advertorials, and brochures.

Whether you use them for lead generation or sales orders, your direct mail packages need a copy of your sales letter. And copy for any self-mailers, reply-to cards, and postcards you might want to send.

If you’re marketing online, you will need copy for search ads, social media, emails, and podcast commercials.

Your website will also need copy for its homepage, product pages, FAQ pages, and other content.

And for those looking to run a content marketing campaign, some copywriters specialize in press releases, online videos, white papers, and online seminars.

If you need sales text done, you will need to hire the services of a copywriter or become one yourself.

BONUS: The World’s First Full-Time Copywriter

Now, for sticking with me this long, you get a bonus fact.

John Emory Power became the very first recognized full-time copywriter in May of 1880.

According to Wikipedia, Powers began writing ads for Lord & Taylor as a part-time job in the 1870s. Then he moved to Philadelphia for his first full-time role as a copywriter for John Wanamaker’s Grand Depot. But due to his personality, Powers was not able to keep his job for long and became a freelancer in 1886.

While working for Wanamaker, Powers wrote six ads a week for about nine months. From there, he settled on a style that featured colloquial English, short sentences, and basic Roman type without italics instead of hyperbolic display styles.

During Powers’ tenure at Grand Depot, the Wanamaker’s revenues doubled from 4 million to 8 million dollars.

If you think someone will find this article helpful or entertaining, feel free to share it out. And if you wish to learn more about copywriting and marketing, then subscribe to this website to get notifications of added content as soon as they come out.

Thank You for Your Time

If you need help producing copy for upcoming marketing and advertising campaigns, click the button below and fill out my copywriting order form. I’ll then contact you and produce your copy as soon as possible.

Until we meet again.

PS. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn and share other copywriting facts you know that should’ve made this list.

You have one or two marketing campaigns that are flopping grandly. Do you wonder what is happening? Because – while you must understand that there are factors out of your control that affect a marketing campaign, there are others that you can maneuver in your favor. In this article, I will bring forward the ten most common copywriting mistakes that direct marketers make and how to turn your sales copy around.

If you’re smart, you’ll learn a thing or two here. And you won’t be making the same mistakes as everyone else from now on.

Consider this as a competitive marketing advantage – which I am giving you.

My name is Juan Israel Ortiz. If you’re new to this website, welcome. Please subscribe to get the latest from my blog. And follow me on Twitter to get a full feed of what happens around our social network.

And with introductions out of the way, let’s get to it.

#1: Focusing on Yourself

Focusing on yourself means that you use your sales copy to highlight how great you and your company are. This is the most common of copywriting mistakes as everyone (including me) has made it at one point or another.

While some people do it because they’re uncontrollable egomaniacs – you’ve probably done it because you’re proud of what you have achieved. And you feel that sharing those accomplishments will make you worthy of your prospect’s trust.

But the thing is – your market doesn’t care about how many trophies you have collected. They care about one thing: can you solve their problems? Therefore, the bulk of your copy should focus on how you can answer whatever questions your prospects have.

There is a time and place to write about your achievements, but they shouldn’t be the main point driving your presentation. Make your pitch more about the prospect and less about yourself.

#2: Focusing on Nothing (Or Everything)

If you want a product or service to stand out, do not promote it with everything else you offer.

Many marketers make the mistake of using every opportunity to highlight all they have for sale in the hopes of catching everyone’s attention with something. But what they end up doing is putting the spotlight on nothing, capturing the attention of no one.

Think of Sears Holdings – a once-mammoth of the catalog world that aspired to be everywhere, selling everything to everyone. That vision created the expansion into retail and shopping malls, where they presented customers with expensive dresses standing next to just-as-expensive lawnmowers.

And thus, Sear’s intent on highlighting every item that they sold ended up having them focusing on nothing. And therefore, nobody had a reason to feel attracted to the brand, leading to every store closing.

Position, Brand, and Promote one offer at a time. Make it seem unique, and your market will take it as such.

#3: Being Too Formal, Stiff, Or Boring

Just because you work in the financial sector doesn’t mean you have to be a complete yawner.

You have developed a personality over the years. And you can use that personality to separate yourself from everyone else on the field. Whether you are charming, persuasive, or charismatic – bring out the qualities you already own to gain a competitive edge.

My favorite public figure from the financial world is Dave Ramsey because he is not monotone in his presentation. He uses his southern charm to talk with his callers but is not afraid to show his angry side when needed. Aside from being informational and inspiring, his radio show is very entertaining. I listen to an hour of it in the office – and it goes by in a breeze.

Try to steal from Dave Ramsey and bring more personality to your sales and marketing copy.

#4: No Calls to Action

The unwillingness to place any calls to action in your advertising is why I believe the brand marketing philosophy is so ineffective. Seriously – how are you expecting to sell something if you don’t ask for the sale?

Imagine presenting your latest offering for an hour straight, then asking if there are any questions. You answer every question, then grab your stuff and leave. What would you expect them to do? To run after you and shove cash in your face? Well, you can keep on waiting, because, unless your audience is desperate for your offer, they won’t act on their own.

Most people are reactive instead of proactive. For you, that means that not only must you show them the value of your products, you also must guide them through the process of buying. Tell them the what’s, why’s, and how’s of your offer. And then tell them where and when they should close the deal.

Always have a call-to-action. The worst thing your market can do is say no. And thus far, no rejection has caused no deaths. So, you will be fine.

#5: Unorganized Selling Points

Excellent copywriting is great thinking clearly expressed. Consequently, bad copywriting is any sort of thought manifested all over the place.

If your advertisements don’t tell a coherent story, you can easily frustrate – and turning off – your target audience. And that is the reason your copy must be clear, concise, and easy-to-understand.

I use a variety of writing formulas for our marketing and advertising pieces. Including AIDA (Attention. Interest. Desire. Action), the 4 Ps (Promise. Picture. Proof. Push), and PREP (Point. Reason. Example. Point). Those formulas allow us to tell compelling stories that are easy to follow while keeping our content clear and engaging.

Do you use a particular writing formula to develop your sales and marketing copy? Leave a comment letting us know. And if you don’t, then feel free to ask us about any of the ones I presented here. Or do a Google search for in-depth knowledge on how to use them.

#6 Being Too Mathematical

If you want to lose your target audience quickly, start talking about math.

When people are having conversations, they want to process and react to the information they receive quickly. If you start bombing them with mathematical equations, you enter the area of jargon. You will make your audience begin to think intensely and will lose all the flow of the conversation.

Avoid going to the numbers as much as possible – in print, online, and face-to-face marketing. Focus more on how your work will make your prospects feel. If you must use stats, make sure that you use them to back up claims quickly, and then continue with the conversation.

Mathematics is useful in work environments, but not when talking to prospects. Unless there’s a request for it, avoid math as much as possible.

#7 Being Too Creative

One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a direct marketer is to judge your marketing and advertising as laypeople because you will then produce marketing that will generate ZERO trackable sales.

When you look at marketing and advertising as the rest of the world, you start putting a higher value on creativity over persuasion. And eventually, you stop being a “salesperson behind a keyboard,” and end up becoming an entertainer.

Being too creative is a hard mistake to note – which is why it’s so harmful. Because as a (naturally) creative person, you wish to present your company in the highest light possible. And that train of thought usually leads to fancy promotions and witty copy.

Stay on the professional lane. Focus on increasing your sales at the lowest cost possible.

#8: Being Afraid of Scaring Off Clients

If you look to attract the masses with your marketing, you make the classic mistake of talking to a group instead of speaking directly to the prospect.

When you speak to the masses, your brand message becomes ineffective. And that is a turn off to any audience. Instead, you should make your copy speak directly to the one person you wish to serve.

Go back in history to about 1992 and Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign. It was a mess. Bill had opinions about every topic under the sun to try and bring in as many votes as possible. And the polls reflected how effective his efforts were.

It wasn’t until Mr. Clinton started sending a uniformed message – “Let’s Fix the Economy” – that his campaign began to resonate with voters. And that change in strategy led to Bill Clinton becoming the President of the United States in 1992 and 1996.

Let your copy bring in your favorite customer. And have your products and services bring in the masses.

#9: Too Much Offer Focus

While the purpose of your copy is to sell products, you cannot go head-on and shove your offer down the prospect’s throat.

If there is one thing that people do not like is when someone tries to sell them something. If you go into writing your copy with the offer as the focus, it will end up sounding very sales-y. And your audience will read about half of your message, then throw it quickly into the trash bin.

Instead of putting the focus on your offer, put the focus on your prospect. Connect with your reader on an emotional level. Share a story that’s empathetic to the person looking to buy your product. And then present your product as the solution to their problems.

You can still be persuasive. But going into overly excited and sales-y mode can turn your prospects away very quickly.

#10: Being Vague

Trust takes a long time to gain and mere seconds to lose. When you vaguely present your products, you run the risk of your market losing trust in you – just like that.

Customers today are sharper than ever before. And they are on high alert for any frauds that might come their way. Therefore, if your brand message comes out even as a bit unclear, people might think of your business as a fraud – even if you’re not.

I make sure to let our clientele know precisely what, why, and how we do what we do, because we want to build long-lasting relationships with our clients. And because we want to build those relationships, we need to build trust. And nothing generates trust more than honesty.

Talk straight to your market. And build relationships based on trust so that you can open the door for even more client relationships in the future.

Before You Go

I would like to know,

What copywriting mistakes have you made while promoting your products?

Leave a comment with your story – your tale could help a fellow direct marketer not to make the same mistakes you have.

And now for sticking with us this long, you get a bonus tip.

BONUS: Not Testing

How do you know if your sales copy is still useful – or that you can’t produce something better – if you don’t put them to the test?

The best marketers, advertisers, and copywriters are continually assessing their campaigns against one another to see which works best. Because if they don’t check their copy, they will never know what is appealing to their audience.

Conduct A/B tests regularly for at least 90 days and stick to what brings you the best results.

Thank You for Spending Time with Us

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When writing direct mail copy, several common mistakes can hinder the effectiveness of the campaign. Here are some of the biggest mistakes to avoid:

Lack of Audience Understanding: Failing to thoroughly understand the target audience can lead to messaging that is irrelevant or unappealing. It’s essential to research demographics, preferences, and pain points to tailor the copy effectively.

Weak Headline: The headline is the first thing recipients see and can determine whether they continue reading or discard the mailer. A weak or uninspiring headline may fail to grab attention and diminish the overall impact of the message.

Overwhelming Copy: Direct mail copy should be clear, concise, and easy to digest. Too much information or overly complex language can overwhelm recipients and lead to disengagement. Keep the message focused and to the point.

Lack of Clarity in Call to Action (CTA): A clear and compelling call to action is essential in direct mail copywriting. Failing to provide a specific instruction or making the CTA difficult to find can result in a lack of response from recipients.

Ignoring Personalization Opportunities: Personalization can significantly enhance the effectiveness of direct mail campaigns. Failing to personalize the message by addressing recipients by name, referencing past interactions, or tailoring offers to their preferences can reduce engagement.

Poor Design and Layout: The visual appeal of the direct mail piece plays a crucial role in capturing attention and conveying the message effectively. A cluttered or unattractive design, confusing layout, or low-quality imagery can detract from the overall impact of the campaign.

Ignoring Testing and Optimization: Testing different elements of the direct mail campaign, such as headlines, offers, and design variations, is essential for optimizing performance. Failing to test and refine the copy based on data and feedback can result in missed opportunities for improvement.

Failure to Follow Up: Direct mail campaigns shouldn’t be standalone efforts. Following up with recipients through other channels, such as email or phone calls, can reinforce the message and increase the likelihood of conversion. Failing to follow up effectively can limit the success of the campaign.

Neglecting Legal and Compliance Requirements: Direct mail campaigns must comply with relevant legal and regulatory requirements, such as those related to data privacy, disclosure, and opt-out options. Neglecting these requirements can lead to legal issues and damage the reputation of the brand.

Not Tracking and Measuring Results: Without tracking and measuring key metrics, it’s challenging to assess the effectiveness of the direct mail campaign and make informed decisions for future efforts. Implementing proper tracking mechanisms and analyzing results is essential for optimizing performance and maximizing ROI.

By avoiding these common mistakes and focusing on crafting targeted, personalized, and compelling copy, marketers can increase the effectiveness of their direct mail campaigns and achieve better results.