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Article Title: Writing Effective Catalog Copy Or Web Copy Can
Be Fun!
Author: Marcia Yudkin
Word Count: 591
Article URL: http://www.isnare.
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Author's Email Address: marcia[at]yudkin.
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Once you learn a few fundamental principles and techniques,
writing persuasive catalog copy, web copy or product
descriptions for printed brochures or sales sheets becomes an
easy, enjoyable process.
Step 1. List features and benefits, then connect them.
If you've read anything about copywriting, you've heard about
the importance of including the benefits of products as well as
their features. For instance, when you say your widget is a
2-inch pink plastic paperclip, you are describing its features.
When you say it enables you to color-code stacks of papers or it
attracts attention on someone else's desk or it makes a great
gift for your organized-like-
its benefits.
For concise, interesting product descriptions in a printed or
online catalog, it's essential to combine features and
benefits, weaving them together tightly yet unobtrusively.
Here's a sample excerpt from the print catalog The Territory
Ahead, mixing features and benefits:
Over cobblestone or dirt, concrete or causeway, the
compression-
all-day, all-terrain cushioned support. (In other words,
supreme comfort like we've never seen in a huarache.) Keen's
patented bumpered toe prevents stubs and smashes. The
traditional, tire-styled outsole features linen fabric inlay
for additional strength and flex.
The widget's feature X gives you benefit Y. In one way or
another (and there are at least 16 different ways to make this
connection), this forms the foundation of catalog copy.
Step 2. Brainstorm angles and choose one as your opener.
Almost always, you'll also need an attention-getter for the
headline and first sentence of your product description. Use
the checklist at the top of this page, or the expanded one in
73 Ways to Describe a Widget, described below, to come up with
an interesting way to think about the item. For instance, The
Territory Ahead actually starts the product description quoted
above with this answer to the question, "Who is it for?":
Ultralightweight, anatomically logical and muy guapa, Keen's
huarache overhaul was done with the global wanderer in mind.
You can weave other elements from this brainstorming into your
descriptive copy as space allows.
Step 3. Polish up your descriptions in a consistent voice.
Did you notice the way that the writing from The Territory
Ahead has personality? Technically, this element is called
voice, and it's what unifies the descriptions at a web site or
in a catalog so that they have a corporate identity. When
there's a tight match between the writing voice and the
customers' interests and needs, the shopper feels the company
is speaking directly to them, and that they're looking at the
kind of widgets they'd most like to buy.
While the samples above from The Territory Ahead have a kind of
masculine romance about them, a catalog or web site's voice
could be efficient, technical, playful, practical,
compassionate, soulful... There are a zillion possibilities.
Whatever the voice chosen, it must be consistent throughout the
catalog or web site, or prospective customers get confused.
Step 4. Proofread, checking details.
As with any marketing or sales piece, the last step consists of
proofreading, to make sure that you've included all the elements
that people need to know before making a buying decision - size,
color, composition, weight, price, etc. - along with making sure
that the details provided are accurate.
Four steps - that's all there is to mastering the art of
tantalizing product descriptions for catalogs or web sites.
About The Author: Marcia Yudkin, author of Persuading on Paper
and 10 other books, specializes in compelling, yet hype-free
copywriting. This article is adapted from her report, 73 Ways
to Describe a Widget: Never Be Brain Dead Again When Having to
Write Catalog Copy or Sales Material:
http://www.yudkin.
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