Picture this. Youre a big shot copywriting executive in some agency out of New York and you just woke up from a ten-year coma. Okay, so maybe this is an extreme idea, but its my post. When you put your own post up, you can use a different example.
Okay. Copywriting, New York, coma. Lets say you havent seen, heard or experienced life as we know it and its 2010. I guarantee youd be shocked at how consumers, advertisers and marketers have changed in such a short time.
Prior to your coma, you were an avid perfectionist " a writer of great prose, ads, fantastic articles and, you proudly add, a few short stories. Now you hear about SEO copywriting and think, yeah, you can integrate that into your copy. Easy stuff " you just throw a couple of keywords in the content, make sure you have solid Meta tags and, voila, publish in social networks. You never consider that your efforts will turn out fruitless.
Psychology is Cool
Human psychology: learn it; live it. It plays a huge role in copywriting. Time for a reality check my friends. You can be a wonderful writer, but human psychology has to be part of your content development. I dont mean a Yale research study or white paper, but you have to use motivation that will sell your ideas to the masses. You have to understand the psychology behind your content. First and foremost it has to be found (so theres that added into the equation), then it has to touch, motivate, anger, reach out to the reader/consumer.
Lets take a look at how people search for things. The Internet has become an integral part of human behavior. People now have options based on their intent and search patterns. We have universal search, real time search and regular search, Google, Bing, Yahoo, micro-blogging, geo search, Caffeine My vote for the next update name is Green Tea. You get the picture? I mean, has anyone really looked to see how much Google has changed?
The first thing you would notice is that human behavior, communication and search have all become part of the whole content development/marketing game. Theyre fundamental for any successful campaign. You cant depend on just SEO or just great content, for example; you have to integrate marketing, analysis, research and social networks as well. It doesnt stop there, either. You also have to base benchmarks on a few new criteria added to the mix.
The second thing is that a single misstep, a single, thoughtless mistake, and consumers can make or break your brand. You have to engage, cajole, feed their soft spots and give them a voice.
Im a firm believer in AIDA not only because of my marketing , communications background but it really does make sense. After all for those of you who don't know AIDA stands for -Attention. Interest. Desire. Action. Think about it for a second. Better yet, since youve been in a coma for the past ten years, take a look at Twitter to see how much influence people can have. @OldSpice " I swore I wouldnt use them in this article, but the viral impact consumers have had, has pushed this brand to the forefront of genius campaigns.
The third thing is that our economy sucks. Weve screwed things up pretty badly. But, hey, more people are working from home, which means more small businesses and wider consumer base. It also means social media has probably become one of your best friends.
So " dont believe that all you have to do is the age-old, traditional conventional research. Figure out how to reach out to the consumer and tweak that little non-conscious, decision-making part of the brain.
Decide where your market is before you start a campaign. Be decisive in your plans and actions. Write things out before you implement, for heavens sake. And, lets not forget, be prepared to handle any bit of consumer response you come across, because social media is a bitch when it comes to negative publicity. Some call it online reputation management. As in, if there is any, itll be all over the Net before you can say, Boo, and you have to know how youre going to deal with it before that happens.
Lastly, I know many will disagree that Fear and Guilt (capital F and G) play a very big roll in marketing. If you can figure out how to build it up or appease it, youll do just fine. If you disagree I would love to hear your input.