Showing posts with label Speech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Speech. Show all posts
Four Ways to Personalize Your Copy and Capture the Readers Attention
Being able to personalize your copy means that what you will produce is unique – a testament to your skills and talent. If you want to personalize your copy, here are 4 ways you can use your one-of-a-kind style to write copy that truly stands out:
Know who you are
Psychologists, writers and marketers from Hippocrates to Brian Tracy have created labels to categorize each person's personality. That's why you get words such as Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholic and Phlegmatic and the more recent Driver, Analytical, Amiable and Expressive. What about you? Are you upbeat? Assertive? Aggressive? Optimistic? Laid Back?
Find out which personality type you are if it's still unclear to you. Taking tests or asking close friends for their opinions will help. You could also check your writings in the past so you can compare how you have progressed over time.
Be who you are
One common mistake among writers is that they try to be something they are not, thinking that readers will appreciate the effort. Wrong. Readers can be quite clever at spotting fakes so the tone and manner of your writing will tell them whether you're bluffing or not.
Instead of pretending to be someone else, use your own quirks and personal ways of expression to write your copy. You'll find that it will be easier to write and the flow of the copy will be looser and more effortless.
Speak to your readers through your writing
Writing is a means of expression, so it has the same function as speech – to communicate and reach out. Instead of agonizing over how to personalize your copy, try to speak to your readers through your writing but use the tone and style that you would use if you were speaking.
Try using the first and second person when writing. If you want to personalize your copy when writing about organic vegetable planting, for example, avoid using third person nouns such as 'the gardener', 'they' or 'them'. Use 'I', 'my', 'you' or 'your' to make it sound as if you're talking directly to the person.
Imagine that you and your reader are engaged in a real discussion. How would you talk? How would you present your ideas? What words would you use? By writing an article that sounds as if you were speaking to the reader directly, you will be able to produce a highly personalized copy. The flow of ideas will be much more natural and easy to relate to.
Personalize your copy but be useful
There is a point in a writer's work where he or she must compromise. After all, the end user of a write-up is not the writer but his readers. If your readers cannot relate to or understand what you have to say, then all your efforts would be in vain.
Try to write copy that your readers will find interesting and useful, something that will allow your personality to shine through at the same time. Personalize your copy by making sure that readers equate you to quality write-ups and information that they can truly make use of and value.
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5 Ways You (Yes, You) Can Make Copy Good
Know what you'll be writing about.
There is nothing worse or even more pathetic than a writer who bluffs. True, many writers have written well-fabricated tales and passed them off as genuine but they were able to do so only because they backed up their writing with plenty of research.
If you were asked to write about cryptozoology right now, for example, how much would you be able to produce without using a single reference? Probably not a lot even to convince your 7-year-old niece.
To avoid groping blindly about regarding your subject and make your copy good, do research. Use at least three good references for your write-up. If you have to interview someone for it or try something yourself, then do so. This will allow you to gather enough information to use with your write-up.
Think about your readers
Your readers or audience have different voices. To make your copy good, consider carefully what it is they like and are interested in and then zero in on those. Speak their language so they become much more comfortable with what you have to say.
If you're writing for kids aged 9 to 12, for example, you wouldn’t use the kind of language you write with if your audience were men and women in their 20s and 40s, right? Remember that you're trying to sell an idea through your writing, so speak to your readers in a way they can easily relate to.
Watch your grammar
If you were a good listener during your grammar class, you might want to heave a sigh of relief. A high premium is placed on good grammar and if you want to make copy good, make sure you avoid hideous grammatical and spelling mistakes.
Be careful with subject-verb agreement, punctuation marks, tenses, sentence completion and clauses. Bad grammar is never viewed as good copy and is even dismissed as very amateurish and unreliable, even if it's an expert talking.
Mind the headline
The headline serves as the introductory statement to your write-up. Without a good headline, there's a good chance your target readers might ignore your article and look somewhere else. This is something you can't allow to happen. Imagine having to miss 7 out of 10 readers just because your headline doesn’t work.
Make sure your headline is effective, clear and concise. It should interest the reader, make them wonder, raise their curiosity, even intrigue them so that they have enough reasons to want to read more.
Make copy easy to read
Finally, to make copy good, it has to be relatable and easy to read. If you're writing about planting roses for beginner gardeners, for example, don't make it sound like an instructional material for producing fossil fuel. Read your work out loud – if it sounds like normal speech, then you're on the right track.
Mind your readers. They are, after all, the end users of your work and they should be able to like what you offer them.
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