7 Experts Share the Best Copywriting Skills Anyone Should Have

Copywriting is everywhere. It’s on your website, social media, and any ad you create online or offline. But, dang, writing can be so different.

This is writing.

Source: Scripted

And well, this one as well.

Source: Behance

Now, let’s not judge these ads by how good or bad they are. That isn't the point. The point is that these two commercials generate absolutely polar emotions. They create different moods. They make you perceive the brand differently.

And this is the true power of copywriting skills.

Words can make people cry, laugh, fall in love with your brand, buy from you, and do pretty much anything you might want or need. Wondering how you can achieve that?

Just read this guide and apply the tips we share. We’ve collected some of the best advice from genius copywriters to help you become better at sharing your story and make your business stand out.

Contents

• What are copywriting skills, and why should you care?
• 7 most useful copywriting skills according to expert copywriters
• Skill 1: Never ignore research by David Ogilvy
• Skill 2: Write immersive stories by Eddie Shleyner
• Skill 3: Your personal brand isn’t the same as your expertise by Sun Yi
• Skill 4: Write in spoken language by Paul Graham
• Skill 5: “Niche yourself…love what you do” by Carline Anglade-Cole
• Skill 6: Build a system that helps you focus by Eugene Schwartz
• Skill 7: Get the customer to say ‘yes’ by Joseph Sugarman
• Conclusion

What are copywriting skills, and why should you care?

Let’s get the basics out of the way first. Ever heard people talk about copywriting skills meaning? Most times they are talking about more than just writing.

Instead, they describe a full range of know-how that you need to create great content. The kind that makes people get stars in their eyes when they see your product. Okay, we love exaggerating for dramatic effect, but you get the point.

Very few people bother to look at a boring ad or post more than once, let alone click it. But a good copy is like science — there‘s a whole process behind it, from research, digging into data, writing, editing for the right tone and grammar, etc.

But beyond that, it also involves adding your personality or the essence of your brand into the content. Kind of like a signature.

In a world that has this much content, extraordinary copy skills are nothing less than a must. Mastering writing is the only way to:

• Make your target users finally pay attention to your brand.
• Get people to see the true value of your offerings instead of feeling like they’re being sold to.
• Resonate with your current and potential clients to become their go-to brand in your niche.
• Create a business that people remember (for all the good reasons).
• Craft content that converts (always).
• Stand out from the crowd, especially in industries where all brands have a very similar offering.

These benefits apply whether you are writing for your own blog or running some special guest posting campaigns.

7 most useful copywriting skills according to expert copywriters

Sometimes, it takes a lot of sweat and maybe a couple of tears to come up with the perfect copy. Hey, if it were so easy, everyone would be doing it, right? Anyway, we have some scope from experts on the copywriting skills you need for success.

Skill 1: Never ignore research by David Ogilvy

David Ogilvy may have lived in the 1900s, but many of his tips still apply today. He once said that people who ignore research are just as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals. Yes, it might be that serious, and here’s why.

You wouldn’t go into a battlefield while turning a blind eye to strategies that can help you know what your enemies are up to. In the same way, creating a copy without first taking time to understand everything that can impact your writing is a bad move. Instead, you want to:

• Learn what the market is currently like — market trends.
• Know what your competitors are doing — competitor analysis.
• What your target customers really want to read — keyword research & search intent.

How does this help you? For one, you understand exactly what’s relevant and what’s outdated. Besides, you can learn exactly what search queries your customers are using online to find you and even your competitors.

Plus, you get a sneak peek into what’s working for the top dogs in your niche and maybe learn a thing or two from them. At any rate, you can see what opportunities (read keywords and topics) they’re missing and figure out how to work that to your advantage.

So, it’s really like going to “war” after all. Your intel or insights make all the difference when coming up with strategies. Clearly, good research is one of the big skills for copywriters.

Pro tip: Use a keyword research tool (e.g., Semrush, Ahrefs, etc.) to do your keyword research and competitor analysis.

Sometimes, your research won’t result in a giant report. Instead, you might simply want to check what’s trendy or the latest content your competition has posted and react to that. There is no one better at this than the Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi battle.

Source: Medium

Skill 2: Write immersive stories by Eddie Shleyner

Eddie Shleyner is the author and owner of the blog “Very Good Copy.” For him, immersive stories are a powerful tool to transport people into another world — one created by your copies. This is one of the important skills needed to be a copywriter.

The best way to do this is by using realism to help your readers vividly picture and feel what you want them to. You do this through sharing:

• Facts (how the characters feel);
• Actions (what they did or response taken);
• Dialogue (the conversation between characters).

This way, the reader is able to gather context from what is written. At the same time, it still leaves them enough room to create mental images of what is being described. You can mimic this example when you write:

Source: VeryGoodCopy

Say you want to help your readers immerse themselves in the idea of what it feels like when they use your product or service. How can you do that effectively? By creating a story or narrative.

This works better than having a character give a monologue about how great your product is. The focus is to show people how much value they can experience instead. So, as they read your story, they see what your character sees, hears, and does.

Maybe your character smells the product and sighs in blissful appreciation — they know the product smells good. Almost like they are living vicariously through these characters.

Pro tip: Use sparse details to make the reader pull out details from their own experience to fill in gaps. Use present tense if possible to create a feel of actions happening in real time, just like real life.

Your stories don’t always have to give all the answers. Sometimes, giving that space to your audience adds that perfect touch you need.

Source: AdWeek

Skill 3: Your personal brand isn’t the same as your expertise by Sun Yi

Most copywriters will be willing to admit that they’re not the only ones who have special “knowledge” on their topics. So, what do you do when you’re not the only expert? According to Sun Yi, the answer is to sell your personality.

Source: @sun.yi on Instagram

This works for many reasons. It allows you to:

• Stand out from all the other experts;
• Inject your unique brand voice and style into your copies;
• Create a more authentic brand experience that people will be drawn to;
• Find your own tribe and humanize your copies.

Basically, all those perks of copywriting we mentioned earlier. The best way to pull these kinds of benefits off is through storytelling.

Share your challenges and wins, peppered with a joke here and there. This makes it possible for people to see themselves in your story.

Source: Startup Spells

Pro tip: When your brand already has a personality, the next step is to get to know your people better. Take the time to understand your audience beyond just demographics. In fact, most times, customers across different demographics can love the same product or service.

So, it’s best to use psychographics like personality or values when trying to build a customer persona. Find out who your clients are and who they are not. This is the best copywriting skill you need from the get-go.

Skill 4: Write in spoken language by Paul Graham

Often, when you ask people what are copywriting skills they need to succeed? You will hear something about grammar and vocabulary. Even as kids, most early lessons we get are focused on the rules of proper grammar and syntax.

Does this mean there’s something wrong with learning to write proper English? Not at all!

But this has also left many people with a weird habit. One Paul Graham describes as “writing in a different language than they’d use if they were talking to a friend.”

Source: Paul Graham

Yeah, many of us confuse using a lot of grand words with good writing. But the truth is it doesn’t work that way in the real world. The more you write and flow naturally (like you would in everyday conversations with friends), the easier it is to understand you.

According to Paul Graham, doing this alone would put you “ahead of 95% of writers”. That’s a pretty good spot if you ask us. Plus, it is also so easy to do.

What’s more? If you are looking to impress the algorithm and score more organic SEO traffic, then this is the way to go.

Pro tip: Keep your sentences short (no more than two lines or 20 words). Use the same language you choose in casual conversations as much as possible, and keep your paragraphs brief, too. Sometimes, a simple sentence can pass the message more clearly.

Source: Ads of the World

Skill 5: “Niche yourself…love what you do” by Carline Anglade-Cole

Source: AWAI

One of the most important skills of a copywriter is knowing how to create content that appeals to a specific type of audience.

Remember that you are writing to one person at a time. Sure, some topics will have a broader appeal than others, but you can’t be a jack of all trades.

If you write about everything, it waters down your results. To be honest, some people will find those posts valuable. But you might be losing out on opportunities to position yourself as an authority in your niche.

The more you write on topics relevant to your industry, the easier it is for your content to get more conversions. The result is even better when you create from a place of passion for what you do. This way, your copy will reflect more depth.

This is because you will be willing to do the deep dive necessary to really address your readers' pain points. This will have a ripple effect as a result.

You can quickly push your brand as a thought leader in your niche. Besides, you will also attract more customers who need what you are selling.

Pro tip: Narrow down your topics to issues that your audience actually cares about. This helps you develop a better relationship with them faster.

Source: Creatopy

Skill 6: Build a system that helps you focus by Eugene Schwartz

One of the skills needed for copywriting is knowing how to block out distractions and create a system that improves your productivity. This doesn't come easy for everyone. Plus, if you’ve been in copywriting for some time, you know that writer’s block is real.

Luckily, Eugene Schwartz has a ton of experience when it comes to productivity hacks that help with this painful issue.

One of his famous tips is setting the timer for 33.33 minutes and then writing till the time goes off. Then, he takes a 5-10 minute break and returns back to writing. You may have heard of this neat little trick, too. Most people know it as the Pomodoro technique.

It works well for those who want to create a habit of being focused but not to the point they burn out. Now, here’s where Eugene’s methods get really interesting:

• He works in the same place at the same time to help lock in his focus habits.
• For each break he takes, he forces his mind on other things from the task at hand. This helps his subconscious mind to come up with new, creative, and totally random ideas.

Another advice he gives is to avoid focusing on the facts or features of the product/service alone. Otherwise, the copy will get too dry, salesy, and ineffective.

Source: SwipeFile

Make sure your copy evokes emotion and creates a clear mental image. It must also follow logic (i.e., be believable) and a promise or hint of a better life. Knowing how to do that is one of the copywriter skills that make you trustworthy.

Source: Canva

Pro tip: Build a straightforward, clean system that works for you based on your own needs. For this, experiment to find out when you’re the most productive because no one else can know this.

Skill 7: Get the customer to say ‘yes’ by Joseph Sugarman

Of all the answers to the question, what skills do you need to be a copywriter? The biggest one is to get the customer to say ‘yes.’ This means your copy should read like a very agreeable and harmonious post.

Apart from creating a product/service that you’re proud of and that actually brings results, there is another small trick you can use. You have to get them to say ‘yes’ to other relatively smaller things from the first sentence.

This means peppering your copy with relevant questions and making generalized positive statements. This sets up the tone and helps get your readers in a mood to say ‘yes’ later down the line. Not sure how to do this? You can use rhetorical questions to frame your copy.

Keep the questions simple and make sure they evoke the right emotions. Too complex, and they lose interest. Make sure the question can be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no.’

Source: YouTube

But if you make the question require more than a word answer — make sure the answer is obvious.

Want to make the outcome even more favorable? Some people actually buy backlinks to get their words in front of a wider audience. You can try to see if this works for you as well.

Pro tip: Use this technique in moderation, though. You don’t want to come across as too salesy, or people might mistake you for a snake oil salesman. A good copy should have you agreeing to their point but not give you the ‘too good to be true vibe.’

Conclusion

Alright, quick pop quiz — what is copywriting skill? We bet you were able to answer that without scrolling back up. If so, yay! Well done! If not, no worries; you can always take another look at this post to remind yourself.

Keep in mind that there is more to a good copywriter’s skills than just stringing words together. The idea is to make sure that your word is not wasted — every word in your copy should add to the flow of your message.

Of course, this is not something you immediately get the hang of the first time. That’s why consistency is such a big deal. As you exercise your copywriting muscle, you get better and more creative as well.