Copywriting 101: A Beginner's Guide

Metaphor: figure of speech to describe something uncommonly related to. You may inject some humour and room for imagination.
E.g. "He's become a shell of a man"

Simile: two unlike things compared with each other.
E.g. "He's like a shell of a man"
Difference between metaphor and simile: Click Here

Alliteration: All words start with the same letter. Used in advertising copy to catch attention.
E.g. Buy Bumper Basement Bargains

Enjambment: Describing the way the word at the end of the line ends like it is incomplete, leaving you wanting to read the next sentence
E.G. "We know you will be delighted with
all the services we have to offer."

Homophones: Words that sound the same but are spelled differently, like son, sun. They may confuse and stop reader to think.
E.G. "Where's the source of the sauce?"

Oxymoron: Joining two contradictory words together to say something special for effect.
E.G. "The dresses look pretty ugly."

Palindromes: Sound the same read backwards as forwards
E.G. Kodak

Who are your audience?
What are their demographics, psychographics and behaviour?
It would not make sense to use big words on children, or small typeface on the elderly who would have poor eyesight.

What does the audience already know?
Do not use jargon that your reader might not get.

Where/how/when will they read it?

What will appeal to them?
You use cartoons if you want children to read, pink to appeal to females.
Stereotyping at times, but you get the gist.

What do you want your reader to do?
A call-to-action is necessary in every ad; it is probably the most important element of your ad!

With different objectives, different words are used. It is important to clearly define the objective of your message so as to communicate as accurately as possible to your audience.

Make them want to read more

Invite them to take action (make it time-sensitive!)

Inform promotion, change

Offer an incentive / a benefit

Maintain relationship (CRM)

Persuade to change their mindset

Reassure they have made a right choice.

Brevity & clarity is important. Keep message short and straight to the point.

Repeating the same word too often makes the writing boring and less credible.
Invest in a thesaurus instead to find alternatives

Subject line <8 words, and sentences should not exceed 18 words

Speak in an active voice instead of third-person.

Use bold and italics to highlight key points; but do not overuse them

'Comic Sans' is rarely a font businesses would use. It does not speak credibility.

Seek a response: include a call-to-action for recipient and provide a time-frame