Copywriting
Core question
What makes a text effective?
Copywriting is the art of writing text designed to make an impact: grab attention, persuade, and inspire action. A headline, button, poster, or product page is just as much a part of design as typography and imagery. Often, it's the copy that determines whether the design is even read at all.
Learning objective: You will be able to explain how copy and design work together, write clear sentences, and align your copy using a briefing before you start writing.
A text that is not understood has no impact.
1.1 / Clear, specific, brief
Three rules that almost always apply.
Good advertising copy is rarely complicated. It says one thing, as simply as possible, and in the language of the people reading it. Three golden rules can help with this.
01
Sure
One statement per sentence. Verbs instead of nouns, active voice instead of passive.
02
Specifically
Images, numbers and facts rather than claims.
03
Short
Every word must pull its weight. If it isn't needed, it goes.
Clarity over cleverness: wordplay is only worthwhile if it is understood at first glance.
Clear beats clever.
1.2 / Text and Design
Words and pictures tell the story together.
Text and image should complement each other, not repeat each other. If the image shows a bicycle, the headline doesn't need to say "bicycle". It can tell what the image doesn't show: the feeling of arriving on time.
The design determines how much text can fit and the order in which it is read. That's why copywriters and designers belong together from the very start. Readability isn't a matter of taste: short sentences and familiar words are understood more quickly.
Don't say what the picture already shows.
1.3 / The Copy Briefing
Whoever writes must first know what for.
Before you start writing, a copywriting brief answers five questions: Who is the text for? What should people know, feel, and do afterwards? What is the single core message? What supporting evidence is there? Where and for how long will the text be read?
Without these answers, you end up with copy that sounds good, but achieves nothing. The brief connects copywriting with marketing: target audience, value proposition, and channel all stem from there.
Briefing first, then the first sentence.
Exercise
Make a text easier to understand
Task: Revise an existing text from a website or a flyer.
STEP 1
Choose a text with at least 60 words.
STEP 2
Check it with the Plain Text Check.
STEP 3
Rewrite it clearly, concretely, and concisely according to the rules.
STEP 4
Compare both versions with two people from the target audience.
Evaluation: Which version was understood more quickly, and what was the reason for this?