Prathap Suthan’s Post

This is one compelling piece of guide on effective copywriting.

"We want you to suggest the website visuals as well", said Bhagyashree while discussing (the most prestigious) web copy project till date. I thought it was important to tell her that this is a big ask from a Copywriter. I am agreeing to it because it is my USP as I don't just weave my concepts with words. 🌷I've sketched them on paper all my life. 🌷I've digitized them with the shittiest mouse on a laptop. 🌷And I've also painted them on walls. [Like this WIP for a clinic in my town.] And why was it important to tell her? To boast my skills? Nope. To make sure that any future Copywriter whom she works with, she doesn't expect the same from them. Or judge them for their lack of it. 🌷Copywriting, 🌷Content Writing, 🌷Art, 🌷& Design are 4 separate skills. Over the years, I've developed all 4. But it will be unfair to other writers if I sell this idea that every writer has them all. The more Copywriters send me their heartfelt messages everyday, the more sense of responsibility I feel towards the community. Hence sharing a piece of my perspective here. P.S: If you thought you'll only see concepts & stories from the written medium here, brace yourselves for more surprises :) See you tomorrow, Megha ⛅️

Five talents you didn't know copywriters have: 1. We can look at a block of text and accurately estimate how many words there are. Sure, it won't land us in the Avengers, or do any good against Magneto, but it's a skill and we're clinging to it. 2. We are expert navigators of thesaurus.com. Knowing which words sound best and knowing those words off the top of your head are two different things, and anyone who says they don't do this is lying to you. 3. We are Olympic-class worries when it comes to writing our own copy. We're much better at writing yours than our own, to the extent where I don't know why we don't do an exchange between us, but that's a conversation for another time. 4. We're very good at deleting our favourite bits of copy. Sometimes it hurts, but we know it doesn't fit, no matter how clever/funny/inspired it is. We hope you appreciate the sacrifices we have to make. 5. We can spot punctuation and spelling errors out in the wild from a distance like a hawk spots a mouse in the field and we will swoop on it with the same glee. You may not care, but it nourishes us. ----------- Hiya! I'm a #freelance conversational and creative #copywriter/copy consultant who wants to help you connect with real people and let the personality of your business bloom. That's what Blossom Tree Copy is all about. If you're looking for someone who takes LI seriously though, then, as Bob Dylan once said. it ain't me, babe. 🌸 -----------

Grammatically incorrect ways to start a sentence but makes perfect sense for copywriters… – the secret sauce for copywriters looking to break the rules and unleash a tidal wave of attention-grabbing content. If you've ever felt the need to defy grammar norms in the pursuit of grabbing your audience's eyeballs and keeping them hooked, You’re about to embark on a thrilling journey of sentence-starting rebellion. (Laughs in Mojo-jojo) 📌 Here you go: 😈 Dangling Modifiers: 
Who says modifiers need to behave? Let them dangle, sway, and confuse. After all, rules are meant to be broken. Consider this: "With coffee in hand, ideas flowed effortlessly." 
Example: "From the keyboard, words spilled like magic." (See, dangling modifiers can be fun!) 😈 Starting with Conjunctions: 
Forget what your English teacher said about not starting sentences with conjunctions. But, and trust me on this, it adds a conversational flair. Like, "But who cares about rules when your copy shines?" 
Example: "And so, the story began." (Conjunctions for the win!) 😈 One-Word Sentences: 
Who needs a full sentence when one word can do the trick? Simple. Powerful. Effective. "Copywriting: Master it." 
Example: "Intrigue." (One word, endless possibilities!) 😈 Sentence Fragments: 
Why complete sentences when fragments can be equally captivating? "In the moonlight. A tale unfolded." 
Example: "On the edge. She stood alone." (Fragments, because who needs full sentences? 😂) 😈 Double Negatives: 
Double negatives? Absolutely not a problem. Embrace the unconventional: "I ain't got time for boring copy." 
Example: "We don't need no ordinary words." (Double negatives, double the impact!) So, fellow word-wranglers, endeavor to flip the script, break the norms, and craft sentences that not only bend the rules but dance wildly on the edge of grammatical rebellion. 🤭 As a final note, I leave you with this charge: - Unleash your creativity, one grammatically incorrect sentence at a time. - Explore the exhilarating world of making perfect sense while breaking all the rules! Committed to your success, - Yomi

A great explaination of the major don’ts of copywriting! The most important part of writing is to communicate clearly. #copywriting #digitalmarketing

Ah! In my early days, this was a tough one to explain to a client who is looking to grab attention with the creative, but in the process ruling out efficiency in the process. And yes, copy matters (Alot!) to designers. Eventually I learnt to articulate better. Sharing my tips with you all today! - Point to the psychology: "Our brains are accustomed to reading sentences with a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters. All caps disrupt this pattern, requiring more effort to read." - Focus on the benefit: "A clear and concise headline will grab your audience's attention faster and improve overall comprehension of your message." - Offer an alternative, by using an improved headline that can utilise Title Caps well. - Highlight SEO benefits of clear and concise headlines, as search engines prioritize user experience. Offer to use A/B testing to back this up. Despite, all this, the client may still reject or not find the creative attractive which hinders timelines and approvals. If they do insist, offer limiting all caps to a single word within the title for emphasis. Remember to document their decision to protect yourself, be respectful and if this goes against brand guidelines and your own judgement and you do not wish to associate yourself to said design, consider politely withdrawing from the project. However do your design best and work within the constraints laid out as best as possible. And love thy copywriter. Cheers!

I've been studying the best copywriters and I compiled 5 easy tips anyone can start applying in their writing right now: 1.- Use everyday words Utilize → Use Optimum → Best Facilitate → Help Ascertain → Find out In the event that → If In relation to → About In the near future → Soon With the exception of → Except Give consideration to → Consider 2.- Read your copy out loud Gary Halbert is consider to be one of the best copywriters of all time, here's what he said about this: “What happens when you read your copy out loud is that you will verbally stumble over all the places that are not smooth. Then, of course, what you do, is rewrite the rough spots and read the copy out loud again". "And, what you do, is you keep repeating this process till your copy is completely smooth and you can read it without stumbling at all". 3.- Steal like an artist Gather as much information as you can, so when it's time to write something you can pull out as many ideas you were able to gather. Steal like an artist is a great book from Austin Kleon that any creator should read. He presents this idea: “If you copy from one author, is plagiarism; but if you copy from several, is research.” So research as many sources as you can. 4.- Make it easy to say yes / Make it hard to say no Examples: - Easy to say yes: “Everything you need to grow online” - Hard to say no: “Convert more visitors into clients” 5.- Make it simple This is: simple for the reader, not the writer. When I think of this it comes to mind the iPhone when it first came out. Compared to other phones of the time, the iPhone was extremely simple; it only had a button and a giant screen. But creating this simplicity was complicated for Apple. Ask yourself this question: is this understandable at a glance? That will give you a clue if you are being simple or not. Making simple copy can be a complicated task, but it pays off by attracting more prospects and buyers. Copywriting is one of 7 essential skills to develop to start writing online. If you want to know what are the other 6, you can read this post: https://lnkd.in/eNEvp8u2

Every copywriter knows what it is to struggle with copy for hours, for days - fixing it, polishing it, rearranging it. Even after practising for years, it isn't a cup of tea. It demands time, patience and the right approach like any other profession. Talking about the right approach, We all have been guilty of leaving the headline until the last and then spending half an hour on it-or perhaps only ten minutes. 😤 I too did that before I had any experience with keyed copy and traceable results. Now, I spend hours on headlines-days if necessary. And when I get a good headline, I know that my task is nearly finished. 🤫 Writing the copy can usually be done in a short time if necessary. And that advertisement will be a good one- that is, if the headline is really a "stopper." What good is all the painstaking work on copy if the headline isn't right? If the headline doesn't stop people, the copy might as well be written in Greek or Latin, who cares? 😕 I was repeatedly making the same mistake in my early days of copywriting and that's when I took a pause and focused more on writing headlines, crafting ideas about headlines, and reading more resulting headlines from the history. 🤥 And here's what I learnt - 3 CLASSES OF SUCCESSFUL HEADLINES 🙋🏻♀️ 1. Self- interest. (Best) 2. News. 3. Curiosity (might fail in some areas but works amazingly in some.) And all this leads to a simple logic - Do people have an advertisement background? No. They read the headline first. P.S: Stay tuned for the next post. I'll give you all a free help! This is the area I struggled a lot with. And frankly I sometimes still do. Still learning after 3 years and will continue to learn.

Your 1st draft is sh*t, and here's how you should use it. A personal tip from Ernest Hemingway. It's Quoty Friday, the 2nd. This week's quote is from Ernest Hemingway. In case you don't know... He was an American novelist and short-story writer known for "The Old Man and the Sea." He even was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.  So, I guess he knew one or two things about writing. Let's hear it... "The first draft of everything is shit." Okay, how can we, as copywriters, apply this? "We are not novelists." You're right. Nevertheless, we write something with intention. You don't have to believe me, but... You may consider what copywriting legend Joe Sugarman said about this in his book "Adweek Copywriting Handbook." "It is what I do after that first draft that makes the difference. It's the difference between copy that doesn't move prospects and copy that moves prospects so strongly that they exchange their hard-earned money for your product." Meaning? Let the first draft flow without thinking about it too much. The purpose is to get the idea on paper. Later, the editing will do the rest. That being said... Push through a fantastic Friday. And have a wonderful weekend! Cheers. P.S. The guy below is Mr. Hemingway. The man whose tip we spoke about.

Young copywriters, I have some advice you didn't ask for: Learn how to write. I'm not trying to be an asshole (I don't even have to try 💅🏼). If you went through an undergrad advertising program – or, God forbid, portfolio school – you got taught lots of useful writing things. You can churn out tight headlines, you can concept, and you can capture the moment with language that feels fresh. (And I bet you're great, keep it up.) These are all essential skills, but there's more. So much more. Those programs generally don't give much air to things like sentence structure or logic or, hell, grammar and how to put it to work for you. They're very short on tone of voice, how to use rhythm, and all the other things that are usually associated with longform writing. And those things really, really matter. Maybe you're thinking: I don't need these longform skills because I'm going to spend the next 30 years doing nothing but writing Super Bowl ads and being fêted at awards shows before retiring to my beach house on Montauk where I'll curate a wall of display Stratocasters, take pictures of seagulls with my Leica, and cultivate a vast knowledge of holographic Pokemon cards or some other niche rich person shit? But listen: 1) you're not because it isn't 1994, and 2) when you have strong foundational writing skills you're more versatile and adaptable and, believe it or not, better at all the things you came out of school thinking of as copywriting. Plus, your job applications are coherent. Love, Who Knows? Maybe a Future Interviewer