Copywriting is hard. But more importantly, copywriting (if done right) creates a distinct brand voice. As copywriter Ann Handley says, “In an online world, our words are our emissaries; they tell the world who we are.”
Give your members or customers an identity that sells.
Learn how to make your copywriting more effective, and your credit union or community bank’s marketing efforts will be more successful. Here are some tips to get you started.
Don’t Forget Grammar
This one’s the easiest and most obvious tip, but it’s also one of the most important. Why?
Because grammar quality signals professionalism and organization to your readers. It shows readers you care enough about what you’re doing to run a spell check before hitting “publish.” In fact, bad grammar is enough to discourage 59% of consumers from looking further into your services.
To put it bluntly: consumers think your brand is sloppy if you have bad grammar.
Guaranteeing good grammar in your copywriting is the first step toward convincing consumers you’re providing the best services. Start correcting grammar mistakes by:
- Not editing immediately. You’re more likely to catch mistakes after a break.
- Rereading your writing three times. Check once to see if it makes sense, once for sentence structure and once for spelling.
- Using spell check! It’s there for a reason!
Write Amazing Headlines
Without a good headline (or subject line), your credit union or community bank’s marketing content isn’t getting very far. Just take a look at this statistic: 8 out of 10 people only read the headline.
That means beating the standard requires impressive writing. Your copy must make opening an email or scrolling down your webpage irresistible.
But how do you write an incredible headline? Start by:
- Knowing consumers’ pain points. Readers won’t click if it doesn’t seem relevant.
- Using numbers in the headline. People love lists/countdowns.
- Writing brief headlines. Six words is the ideal headline length.
Be Mindful of Bullets
Bullets are an amazing tool…if you use them correctly. What do I mean?
For comparison, let’s think of chowing down on a mouth-watering pizza. Eating a couple slices tastes delicious, but eating eight slices makes you sick. Your credit union or community bank should use a similar philosophy when writing bulleted lists.
Generally, you want to stick to the “rule of three.” People recognize patterns in sequences of three, so using three bullets should make a list more memorable. That being said, it’s ok to go as high as five bullets.
What’s not acceptable is filling the email, webpage or newsletter with more bullets than anyone can count. Your copywriting will look messy, which means you voided the whole purpose of the bullets – to make content more digestible for readers.
More to Come…
Believe it or not, we’ve only started to scratch the surface when it comes to copywriting tips (and that’s after about 500 words of writing). Look out for part two of “What Compelling Copy Looks Like” next month!
In the meantime, your copywriting doesn’t have to suffer. On The Mark Strategies offers copywriting services to institutions all over the country, so you can start communicating the right thing now. You’ll even get graphic design help as a bonus.
Send the right message today!
