The Best Freelance Copy

 Get the best freelance copy for your next Bus.-to-Bus. Copywriting Assignment

By R . Bly — CCA Professional Lifetime Member and Dr. Andrew Linick—The Copyologist^®, Founder and Chairman of the Board

Business-to-business copy persuades your readers by giving them useful information about your products/services being advertised. The more facts we can include in your copy, the better.

When we have a file full of facts at our fingertips, writing dynamic, powerful copy is easy. We simply select the most relevant facts and describe them in a clear, concise, direct fashion.

When copywriters don’t bother to dig for facts, they fall back on fancy phrases and puffed-up expressions to fill the empty space on the page. The words sound nice, but they don’t sell because the copy doesn’t inform, or convince a prospect to take immediate action now.

Here’s our four-step procedure for getting the information we need to write persuasive, fact-filled, benefit copy for you.

Step #1: Send us all previously published material on your product/service.

For an existing product/service, there’s a mountain of literature you can send as background information. This material includes:

• Tear-sheets of previous ads
• Brochures
• Catalogs
• Article reprints
• Technical papers
• Copies of speeches
• Audio-visual scripts
• Press kits
• Swipe files of competitors’ ads and literature

Did I hear someone say they can’t send me printed material because their product/service is new? Nonsense. The birth of every new product or service is accompanied by mounds of paperwork you can give the copywriter. These papers include:

• Internal memos
• Letters of technical information
• Product specifications
• Engineering drawings
• Business and marketing plans
• Reports
• Proposals

By studying this material, we should have 80 percent of the information we need to write the copy. And we can get the other 20 percent by picking up the phone and asking questions. Steps #2-4 outline the questions we need answers to about the product/service, the audience, and the objective of the copy.

Copyright © 1999, © 1991 by Dr.A.Linick

Step #2: About your product or service.

• What are its features and benefits? (Make a complete list.)
• Which benefit is the most important?
• How is the product/service different from the competition’s? (Which features are   exclusive? Which are better than the competition’s?)
• If the product/service isn’t different, what attributes can be stressed that haven’t been stressed by the competition?
• What technologies does the product compete against?
• What are the applications of the product?
• What industries can use the product/service?
• What problems does the product/service solve in the marketplace?
• How is the product/service positioned in the marketplace?
• How does the product/service work?
• How reliable is the product/service?
• How efficient?
• How economical?
• Who has bought the product/service and what do they say about it?
• What materials, sizes, and models is the product available in?
• If a service, are different programs available and what are they?
• How quickly does the manufacturer deliver the product?
• What service and support does the manufacturer or your company offer?
• Is the product or service guaranteed?

Step #3: About your audience.

• Who will buy the product/service? (What markets is it sold to?)
• What is your customer’s main concern—price, delivery, performance,reliability, service, maintenance, quality, efficiency?
• What is the character of your buyer?
• What motivates your buyer?
• How many different buying influences must our copy appeal to?Two tips on helping us to know your audience: If we are writing an ad, what  magazine(s) will it appear in? We need to familiarize ourselves with the chosen media. If we are writing direct mail, what mailing lists will be used? We need to study the list descriptions.

Step #4: The copy objective.

Your objective may be one or more of the following:

• To generate inquiries
• To generate sales
• To answer inquiries
• To qualify prospects
• To transmit product/service information
• To build brand/service recognition and preference
• To build company image

In summary, before we begin to write copy, we need to study your product or service—its features, benefits, past performance, applications, and markets. Digging for the facts will pay off, because in business-to-business direct response advertising, specifics sell.

CCA’s GUARANTEE TO YOU: The copy we write is guaranteed to please you. If you are not satisfied, we’ll rewrite it, based on your specific guidelines, at no extra charge. Revisions must be assigned within 30 days and don’t include changes made in the original assignment after copy is submitted.