copywriting!
Copywriting is the art of advertising, persuading or selling with your written words and it is a form of art that can compensate you in many ways while making your a better online business owner, freelancer or marketer.
What Is Copywriting?
Copywriting has many meanings today, but simply put it, copywriting is:
salesmanship in print. (Ray Edwards)
and it is focused mostly on engaging your readers with your offer (product/service/agency/…) as Neville Medhora clarifies!
And besides the selling domain, its principles can apply to many situations as Greta Thunberg, 16, has shown us recently concerning the climate.
Her opening argument was quite impactful:
This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet, you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you! (Greta Thunberg)
demonstrating her initial pathos, her position, and the stakes!
Due to her strong convictions, she innocently used the principals of one of the strongest formulas used in copywriting called PAS (Problem-Agitation-Solution, check below) to relay her concerns and making an impact.
The environment is a matter of importance and Greta made a wonderful impactful speech that can bring tangible results to our lives.
Copywriting has the same effect focused on making stronger cases that can cause long and lasting effects on the behavior of people.
Copywriting Formulas + Strategies for Content Marketing
Like every discipline, copywriting is at the same time art and a science, based on deep research, user analysis, conversion tactics, and advertising principles.
And as a science has its strategies and formulas that can help you making convicting cases, write better copies or making an impact on a large scale.
There are many successful bloggers, online business owners, and marketers that make a success relying heavily on copywriting and on content marketing as the prime strategies for achieving their business results.
People like Danny Iny, Chris Brogan, Ray Edwards, Neville Medhora, and Sean Vosler have based their personal and professional success on their copywriting skills and on content marketing.
Content Marketing is a core strategy today for bloggers and marketers alike to provide more value, education, and information to their readers and their niche markets.
It is:
a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action. (What Is Content Marketing?)
An effective content marketing can:
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increase your traffic and visibility of your brand,
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convert more lead to customers,
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increase sales,
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establish you as an authority in a field, and
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create a more loyal audience.
To these ends, the best formulas of copywriting can help to focus your marketing efforts on the desired results.
The top 2 formulas of effective copywriting either in a web page or in an email message are the:
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AIDA copywriting formula, and
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PAS copywriting formula.
Of course, there are more, many more formulas to select from and find the ones that best suit your needs. Below I have listed the additional formulas worked best for me until now and I have trusted more. These are the:
- FAB Copywriting Formula, and
- 6+1 Model for Effective Copywriting.
Let’s take a brief look at these effective copywriting formulas and how to use them!
Top Copywriting Formulas For Content Marketing
AIDA Copywriting Formula
AIDA stands for Attention – Interest – Desire – Action and it is one of the most effective copywriting formulae around.
Strictly speaking, AIDA is not just a copywriting formula but an integrated marketing strategy and approach aiming to focus the efforts of the marketing to the points can bring the largest impact.
As a copywriting formula aims at :
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Getting/grabbing the attention of the reader with a compelling opening or headline,
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Getting or raising the interest of the reader with fresh and important information or/and data,
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Demonstrating the value/benefits, etc. of your service/product making the reader desire its purchase (remember: is not what you say, is how you will make your reader feels),
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Asking your reader to take the desired action.
AIDA can help you make effective headlines for your lead magnet or blog post and structure your thoughts around an effective framework bringing tangible results.
And because it is based on solid psychological and behavioral economics foundations it is very effective at converting readers to royal friends.
PAS Copywriting Formula
The PAS formula is one of the most effective copywriting formulas around and the one most marketers consider as the only one needed for effective copywriting.
It stands for Problem, Agitation, Solution and as a copywriting formula aims at:
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Identifying the problem it is focused on,
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Agitating it, making it very difficult to be solved with ordinary means, and finally,
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Providing THE desired solution that it is available (your solution of course!).
Effective use of PAS formula can be found in social media in which in a few sentences you can make a convincing argument.
Like the following one:
Do you tired to look at an empty page? {problem} Would you let writer’s block to drain your creativity and ideas? {agitation} Now you can learn how to fight back at: …. {solution}
The PAS formula is so effective because it is based on basic human motivators while aiming at solving existing problems.
More Copywriting Formulas For Content Marketing
FAB Copywriting Formula
The FAB formula stands form Features, Advantages, Benefits and it is a powerful copywriting formula for tools, applications, and products in general.
It focused on the:
- Features, trying to exemplify or demonstrate what your application or tool can do,
- Advantages, aiming to show you why this tool is best for you,
- Benefits, targeting at demonstrating what the user can gain from buying this particular tool and how he/she will succeed in his/her goals.
FAB is a particular persuasive formula if the copywriter knows well his/her product and position his/her copy on the benefits for the reader, rather than the features of the particular product.
The 6+1 Model for Effective Copywriting
The 6+1 model is a copywriting formula loosely based on AIDA aiming at providing a more robust copywritng framework introducing vital elements in the mix, like context and credibility. It has been developed by Danny Iny and it is a particular effective copywriting formula for many cases.
This formula is structured in a series of 6 (+1) steps, each one leads to the next. The formula includes:
- Step 1: Context. The first thing you have to do is to establish the context of your discussion because otherwise, you deliver an unsolicited copy to people who don’t know anything about it. You need to say at the minimum who you are (who is talking) and why (you are talking now and with what subject).
- Step 2: Attention. After the introduction, like in AIDA, you need to grab the attention of the reader in order to make him/her go om reading what you have to say.
- Step 3: Desire. You need to emphasize what you are doing or selling etc. in a way that (as in AIDA) would make your readers want to do or buy something.
- Step 4: The Gap. After you have enticed your readers with the previous steps it is now to tell them what would happen if they pass your offer versus to what they gain if they accept it! This is called the gap and introduced some emotional factors for the reader to consider.
- Step 5: Solution. Once you have demonstrated the gap it is time to move your reader to your particular solution. This is the place you start talking about what you offer and how beneficial it would be for the reader.
- Step 6: Call To Action (CTO). After all the previous steps have completed it is time to ask your readers to take action on the information and data you have provided them. This CTO according to Danny should involve a single next step of what you want your readers to do and an explicit prompt (as them to do it) of doing that step.
- Extra Step: Credibility. The formula ends with the last step which the step of building and establishing credibility. You need to show to the reader that you know about the things you are talking about and provide his/her with credible reference about your solution he/she can verify! These can be social proof signals, references, your expertise and experience in the field, guarantees for the purchase (get your money back, no questions asked), etc.
The 6+1 model is a very effective copywriting formula and can be used in many situations and for a variety of products and services. It needs a little more research, according to my opinion, but the results can astonish you!
In Conclusion
As a marketer or blogger you can use either AIDA or PAS to structure your thoughts and making convincing cases in your articles, emails or social media messages, but remember that a good copywriting formula cannot save a bad product or service.