Someone over on Reddit asked the following question:
Now, as copywriters, we have to appeal to various markets and obviously the best way to do that is to make it look as though we know what we’re talking about. The second best way to look like you know what you’re talking about is to know what you’re talking about.
The best way to both look like you know what you’re talking about and know what you’re talking about is to follow the advice in this article.
Let’s get into it.
Appearing An Expert
Alright. You’re a total copywriting newbie. You’ve landed on UpWork and you’ve got a client who says, “We need an expert of protein powders to write our next great sales letter.”
Of course you say, “Yes I am an expert in protein powders. I’ve been lifting since I was twelve and I also happen to know everything about biology, chemistry and exercise science.”
So they hire you. But then it dawns on you that your work out plan consists of typing and the occasional dash to the cookie jar.
You might think it’s “Game Over” at this point, but you’re wrong. In this section, I’ll go over three ways to appear like you know what you’re doing. These are the easy fixes, the hard work comes later.
Learn Sneaky Sales Skills, Rhetoric And Logic
Some critics of copywriting say silly things like, “Those sales pages ramble on for thousands of words without saying anything.”
That is true… sales pages are stupid, gimmicky and terrible for all kinds of reasons. Here’s the magic secret though:
You’re not in the target market.
Sales pages that make millions of pounds a year aren’t objectively terrible because obviously they’re successful. They’re subjectively terrible because the reader isn’t interested in the content unless they’re in the target market, at which point sales letters work.
This is something you should learn if you want a better life. There are too many people who say, “I’d never fall for sales tricks” and “those things don’t work on me!” without understanding the above basic rule.
Now, for the copywriter… copywriting techniques are your friend. With basic copywriting skills, you can write tens of thousands of words and have it be successful.
Get Your Work Checked By A Pro
Let’s say you got past the protein powder task and suddenly you’re hired by an electrical engineering company.
Now, you don’t have a decade’s experience with electronics, and you certainly don’t have the thirty-four different certifications you need to screw in a light bulb. Once again, you think, “It’s game over for me.”
Whilst the above isn’t true and in the long term you should follow the advice in part two of this article… in the meantime, there’s an easy work around.
Become friends with someone who is an expert.
…Or you could pay them if you hate having friends.
Copywriting is better paid than copyediting. Asking an engineer to fact check your work is really easy, and it’ll only take them a short while if you’ve done your homework.
You can then turn your assignment in with the confidence that you’re not going to electrocute any small children.
Write to a Single Level Above Your Audience
Let’s say you’re writing for a legal client.
Without becoming an actual expert, there’s no way you are going to fool a barrister with decades’ worth of experience that you are an expert on the law. It’s simply not likely to happen unless you’re a really gifted conman.
Luckily… you’re probably not writing to convince other experts at the tops of their field.
You’re writing for the general public or a particular consumer base. That’s very different.
It’s incredibly difficult to convince an expert of many years that you are on par with their general expertise. It’s another thing entirely to tell them about something they’ve never experienced and suggest you might be more aware on that particular issue than they are; but you are not an expert by any means.
Write to a single level above your audience on a specific subject with which they aren’t familiar and there you have it.
Add all three of the above together and you can look like you know what you’re talking about.
Check back tomorrow for the hard part.