You probably don’t need us to tell you this, but words are kind of a big deal. Every business, no matter the industry, relies on them to engage, persuade, entertain, and convince people to interact with their brand. Copywriting is a whole lot more than just grammar and punctuation. Powerful copy is about telling compelling stories — with a few puns thrown in for good measure — to connect with your audience and influence them in some way. At TrendyMinds, we cover a lot of ground on the copy front. Blogs, white papers, emails, social media posts, marketing campaigns, and more — you name it, one of our copywriters has probably done it. With clients across healthcare, tech, and other industries, we have a lot of experience writing for different audiences, but there are some common rules that apply to any copywriting project. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or someone who’s never spent time debating the Oxford comma, these tips can help take your copy to the next level. Here are five tips from our copywriters to improve your writing skills. 1. When in doubt, read it out. Writing can be hard, but speaking is much easier for most people. If you’re not sure if your sentence is correct, just say it out loud. Reading things out loud will help you uncover weird wordings and any issues that may mess up the flow of your writing. Chances are if it sounds odd when you say it aloud, your audience will most likely be scratching their heads when they read it on paper. 2. Avoid the business jargon. You know what we’re talking about, the copy that is so heavily laced with fancy business speak that you can’t tell if it was written by a person or an AI bot who scanned too many industry think pieces. While business jargon can make our eyes roll most of the time, it can also prevent your reader from understanding the main message of your copy if they aren’t familiar with industry vocabulary. Everyday language makes your copy more down-to-earth and accessible to a broader audience which will help you get your message across easier. 3. Know your audience. We could give you a whole book of copywriting tips, but none of them matter if you don’t know who you're writing for. Understanding your audience is an important foundation for creating impactful copy. Before you ever write a single word, think about the characteristics of who will be reading your work. Consider things like gender, age, location, and profession to ensure the copy you write will resonate with the intended audience. The more detail you have about this ideal reader, the better your copy will be. 4. Get your mind in the gutter (no, seriously). A huge part of knowing what to say is knowing what not to say. In an effort to write engaging and relatable content, writers often use witty sayings or clever turns of phrase to catch their readers’ attention. However, if you aren’t careful, your attempts can be misinterpreted as innuendo, off-color, or just poor taste. Take the time to think about the words you choose and be aware of all the ways they could be interpreted to avoid writing anything potentially offensive. 5. Get to the point. There is a lot of content out there. Like, a lot, a lot. As a result, your audience has a constant influx of content competing for their attention. Research shows you have about seven seconds to capture your audience’s attention — that’s not a lot of time. Waxing poetic can cause your audience to lose interest and render your copy ineffective. The main message should be front and center in your copy so your audience can quickly understand what it is they are supposed to learn by reading it. Like most skills, copywriting takes practice. Even if you don’t fancy yourself a writer, take the time to write for different channels and audiences, seeking out feedback along the way. Then, who knows, maybe you’ll end up writing the next great American novel! (That’s probably a stretch, but you will see an improvement in your copywriting skills.)