I’ve never mentioned this before, but I’ve been writing a novel for a few years now and am finally at the final draft stage. It’s been a crazy ride (I’ve changed characters, entire plot points, and settings, so much that it’s almost as if I’ve written three books) and as overwhelming and close to me as this book is, I never mentioned it on this blog because I thought I had to keep my copywriting and my fiction separate.

And then it dawned on me: that’s just silly. Good copy tells a story, just like a great book does. Why should I keep my copywriting and fiction separate when the skills I use for both are so closely related?

In fiction, one of the most important skills a writer has to develop is that of building believable characters. Readers need to feel like they know these people, they need to believe that they’re real, that they have motivations, virtues, vices, issues, opinions and hot buttons just like any other person. Most of all, the writer needs to create a character that readers care about. Why else would a reader follow someone’s journey for 300 pages if they’re not loyal to them?

It’s the same in copywriting. A company’s brand is like the characters in a book. If it’s bland, forgettable, doesn’t feel genuine, or fails to set itself apart from the thousands of other brands/characters in the marketplace, then people aren’t going to connect with it enough to go on a journey with them. Just like in creative writing, your character needs to be fleshed out. It needs to come alive. To do this through copywriting, it’s all about the voice and the word choice and the messages you put out there.

So…quick question for all of you. If your brand were a character in a book, who would it be, and why?

You can’t take the journalist out of the copywriter—at least not this one, anyways. You could say my journalism background extends as far back as that time I was eight and checked out a “So You Want to Be a Journalist?” book. But for the purposes of this blog, I guess I’ll stick mainly to college and beyond.

In Journalism 101, we all learn the importance of the 5 Ws and one H: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. These are the key components of a story, the main elements that will give us the overall picture. Recently, I was writing web copy for a client when I realized that these factors apply equally well in copywriting.

As I was looking through their original drafts of copy, the one thing that kept tipping me off was that there was no H. There was lots of talk about what the product did, but not how it would do it. There was a good emphasis on benefits rather than features, but not a whole lot of context as to how those benefits would come about. Without the “How”, the copy lacked a complete picture. It wasn’t doing a good job of conveying the user experience. And if it wasn’t selling an experience, how would people be sold?

I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that the “How” gets left out so often. When you’ve got 5 Ws that fit so nicely together, the lonely H might wander off occasionally. So maybe the 5 Ws and One H should be rewritten and adapted to copywriting. Rather than applying them to a particular incident, as in journalism, these would apply to a product or service:

Who is this product helping?

What problem is it solving for them?

Where will they be using it?

When will they need or want it?

Why should they choose this one over another one?

and of course, don’t forget:

How will it do this?

What about you? In what ways do parts of your background inform what you’re doing now?

Great copy can be a lot like air: it’s everywhere, but not everyone notices it unless it’s missing. Think of all the billboard ads you see on your daily commute, the brochure you take with you as you leave the bank, or the product descriptions you read as you browse through your favorite online store. These are all examples of a copywriter’s work, and if they did their job right, you’d never even know it.

Similar to the mark of a great editor, a good copywriter is often invisible. She’s more concerned with her writing doing its job than she is with getting recognition for it. When the copy’s written effectively, the first thing that pops into a reader’s mind shouldn’t be “Wow, what great writing.”

The first thing that pops into the reader’s head should be the message.

Whatever point the writing is supposed to make should take center stage. Writing that’s effectively communicating the benefits of a product will make a person think of all the ways the product will make their life easier. Writing that’s aligned with a company’s brand will leave the reader feeling like they understand what that company’s about and what makes them unique. Writing that’s witty and clever will make someone laugh and remember you. And writing that succinctly explains complex topics—whether in an instruction manual or on a website’s FAQ page—will inform readers by simplifying.

So why hire a copywriter, if people might not notice you hired one in the first place?

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