How to use irony in effective copywriting

Using irony in copywriting.

Mastering the Art of Copywriting: Harnessing the Power of Irony

In the world of copywriting, where competition for attention is fierce, it’s crucial to find creative ways to engage your audience and make your message memorable. One powerful tool in a copywriter’s arsenal is irony.

By skillfully employing irony, you can inject humor, wit, and an unexpected twist into your content, capturing the attention and imagination of your readers. In this blog post, we will explore the art of using irony in copywriting, its benefits, and provide practical examples to inspire your own endeavors.

The Power of Irony in Copywriting

Irony, when used effectively, can be a game-changer in copywriting. It adds a layer of depth and intrigue to your message, allowing you to stand out from the crowd. Let’s delve into some key reasons why incorporating irony in your copy can yield remarkable results:

Captivating Attention

Irony is a powerful attention-grabbing tool. By presenting a surprising or unexpected twist, you immediately pique curiosity and compel your readers to delve deeper into your content.

Enhancing Memorability

Irony has a knack for making your message stick. By evoking emotions and creating an amusing or thought-provoking experience, you leave a lasting impression on your audience. They are more likely to remember your brand, product, or service when it’s associated with an ironic twist.

Injecting Humor and Wit

Irony can infuse your copy with humor and wit, making it enjoyable and entertaining to read. A touch of irony can bring a smile to your audience’s faces and foster a positive emotional connection with your brand.

Differentiating Your Brand

In a sea of generic copywriting, irony allows you to stand out and carve a unique identity for your brand. It helps create a distinct voice that resonates with your target audience and sets you apart from competitors.

Now that we understand the power of irony in copywriting, let’s explore some practical tips for effectively incorporating irony into your content.

Tips for Using Irony in Copywriting

To leverage irony successfully, you need to apply it thoughtfully and skillfully. Here are some valuable tips to guide you in using irony effectively:

Know Your Audience

Understand your target audience’s preferences, sense of humor, and cultural context. What may be ironic to one group might fall flat with another. Tailor your use of irony to resonate with your specific audience.

Be Clear and Concise

Irony should be evident to your readers without causing confusion. Keep your message concise and straightforward, allowing the ironic element to shine through effortlessly. Avoid convoluted or ambiguous language that might dilute the impact of your message.

Maintain Brand Voice

Irony should align with your brand’s overall tone and personality. Whether your brand is playful, sophisticated, or irreverent, ensure the irony you employ aligns with your established voice. Consistency is key to building a strong brand image.

Choose the Right Moment

Irony is most effective when it serves a purpose in your copy. It should enhance your message, rather than overshadow it. Consider using irony to highlight a product feature, challenge common assumptions, or evoke emotions that resonate with your audience.

Avoid Offensiveness

Irony is subjective, and what may be humorous to some can be offensive to others. Exercise caution and avoid using irony in a way that might alienate or upset your audience. Stay away from sensitive or controversial topics that could backfire and damage your brand’s reputation.

Now, let’s examine a real-life example of how a brand successfully used irony in their copywriting to captivate their audience.

Example: Charming Chocolates – Indulgence for the Calorie-Conscious!

In a world where calorie-counting is a part of many people’s lives, Charming Chocolates, a renowned confectionery brand, crafted an ironic copy to promote their new line of guilt-free chocolates. The headline read, “Sinfully Delicious… Without the Sin!”

By using irony, the copywriter at Charming Chocolates achieved multiple objectives:

Attention-Grabbing: The use of “Sinfully Delicious” instantly captures attention. It’s an unexpected and contradictory phrase that challenges the notion of chocolates being sinful.
Entertaining and Memorable: The ironic twist of “Without the Sin!” adds a touch of humor and wit, making the copy entertaining to read. This creates a positive and memorable experience for the audience.
Highlighting the Unique Selling Point: The irony emphasizes the guilt-free aspect of the chocolates, catering to the calorie-conscious consumer. It positions the product as a delightful indulgence that doesn’t compromise on health goals.

Some more examples of using irony in copywriting:

Headline: “The world’s most comfortable shoes are also the ugliest.”

Body copy: “We know, they’re not pretty. But they’re so comfortable, you won’t care. In fact, you’ll probably start to love their ugly mug. Because when you’re wearing these shoes, you’ll be too busy feeling good to worry about what they look like.”

In this example, the headline and body copy use irony to create a sense of humor and to make the shoes seem more appealing. The headline tells the reader that the shoes are ugly, but the body copy then goes on to say that they’re so comfortable, you won’t care. This creates a sense of surprise and humor, and it also makes the shoes seem more desirable.

Headline: “The best way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”

Body copy: “This is a quote from Oscar Wilde, and it’s one of my favorites. It’s ironic because it’s actually true. If you’re constantly trying to resist temptation, it’s only going to make you want it more. The best way to deal with temptation is to give in to it, and then move on. Once you’ve given in, you’ll realize that it wasn’t as big of a deal as you thought it was.”

In this example, the headline and body copy use irony to make a point. The headline tells the reader that the best way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it, which seems counterintuitive. However, the body copy then goes on to explain why this is actually true. This creates a sense of surprise and makes the reader think about the issue in a new way.

What are the disadvantages of using irony in copywriting?

While irony can be a valuable tool in copywriting, it’s important to recognize that it may not always be appropriate or effective in every situation. Here are some potential disadvantages to consider when using irony in your copywriting:

Misinterpretation or Confusion

Irony can be subjective, and not everyone may grasp the intended meaning. Some readers might miss the ironic twist or misinterpret it, leading to confusion about your message or brand.

Alienating the Audience

Irony, by its nature, can be polarizing. What some people find humorous, others may find offensive or off-putting. If the irony in your copy is not well-received by a significant portion of your audience, it may result in negative sentiment or even loss of customers.

Ineffectiveness in Certain Cultures

Irony’s impact can vary across different cultures and languages. What may be perceived as ironic in one culture could be interpreted differently in another, potentially diluting or undermining the intended effect of your copy.

Risk of Undermining Serious Messages

Irony tends to evoke light-heartedness and humor. However, if your copy deals with sensitive or serious topics, excessive irony can trivialize the subject matter and weaken the impact of your intended message.

Lack of Emotional Connection

While irony can engage readers and create a memorable experience, it may not always foster a deep emotional connection. Depending on your goals, you might need to balance the use of irony with other persuasive techniques to establish a stronger emotional bond with your audience.

Limited Applicability

Irony may not suit every brand or product. Some businesses and industries require a more straightforward and serious tone to convey trust, credibility, and professionalism. In such cases, irony may be perceived as inappropriate or undermine the desired brand image.

To mitigate these disadvantages, it’s crucial to consider your target audience, the nature of your brand, and the context in which you are using irony. A careful balance between creativity, clarity, and sensitivity is key to ensuring that irony enhances your copywriting rather than detracting from its effectiveness.

Does irony in copywriting work best in B2B or B2C advertising?

The effectiveness of irony in copywriting can vary depending on the context and the target audience. While irony can be used in both B2B (Business-to-Business) and B2C (Business-to-Consumer) advertising, its impact and reception may differ. Let’s explore how irony can work in each scenario:

Irony in B2B Advertising

Creativity and Differentiation: In the B2B space, where products and services can be complex or technical, irony can be a powerful tool to stand out from the competition. It allows you to infuse creativity, inject humor, and add an unexpected twist to capture the attention of business professionals who are often exposed to dry and serious content.
Building Rapport and Humanizing Brands: Irony can help create a sense of rapport and connection with B2B buyers. It showcases your brand’s personality, making it more relatable and human. This can be particularly effective in industries that are traditionally considered serious or formal, allowing you to break through the monotony and engage decision-makers on a more personal level.
Grabbing Attention and Memorable Messaging: B2B decision-makers are busy individuals who are often bombarded with information. Irony can be an effective attention-grabbing technique, helping your message cut through the clutter and leave a lasting impression.

Irony in B2C Advertising

Entertainment and Emotional Connection: B2C advertising often focuses on appealing to emotions and creating memorable experiences. Irony can be highly effective in this context, as it adds entertainment value and engages consumers on a deeper level. It can make your brand relatable, evoke positive emotions, and create a sense of delight.
Differentiation and Brand Personality: In competitive consumer markets, irony can help set your brand apart from others. It allows you to create a unique voice and personality that resonates with your target audience. Irony can make your brand more memorable and build a strong emotional connection, which can influence purchasing decisions.
Social Sharing and Virality: Irony has the potential to go viral in the age of social media. Consumers often appreciate and share content that is clever, witty, and ironic. This can amplify the reach of your message and increase brand visibility within the consumer community.

While irony can be effective in both B2B and B2C advertising, it’s essential to understand your specific audience, their preferences, and the industry you operate in. It’s crucial to strike a balance between creativity and professionalism in B2B advertising, while in B2C advertising, focusing on entertainment, emotional connection, and brand differentiation is key. Ultimately, the decision to use irony should align with your brand’s overall strategy, voice, and the specific goals of your advertising campaign.

By harnessing irony effectively, Charming Chocolates successfully engaged their target audience, differentiated themselves in a crowded market, and created a memorable association with their brand.

Conclusion

Irony is a powerful tool in the copywriter’s arsenal. When used strategically, it can elevate your content, make it more engaging and memorable, and forge a deeper connection with your audience. By understanding your audience, maintaining brand consistency, and being mindful of potential sensitivities, you can master the art of using irony in copywriting. So go ahead, embrace the unexpected, and infuse your copy with a touch of irony to captivate and enchant your readers.

How to Write a Blog Post with Unique Insights

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Writing blog posts with useful insights

There are millions of blog posts published every day. On top of that, people are writing entry level blog posts using ChatGPT and Bard from Google by the dozens every day. With so much content readily available, how do you stand out. By publishing unique insights that your readers will not find anywhere else.

Writing and publishing blog posts with unique insights shows your readers that you are an expert in your field. This in turn builds trust and credibility. Trust and credibility lead to more readers and more sales.

Writing blog posts with unique perspective is also good for your SEO. Unique insights help you attract backlinks. Since the information you have published is available only on your website, other website owners want to link to your content for the value and information that you are providing. This boosts your blog’s search engine optimization efforts.

Search engines by themselves prefer unique, high-quality content. By writing blog posts with unique insights, you increase the likelihood of your blog posts being indexed and ranked faster, and higher in search engine results. Original content gets more preference by search engines.

Continuously writing and publishing unique insights provides a compelling reason to your readers to return to your blog. You build a loyal audience that appreciates your unique voice and expertise. Regular visitors are easy to engage. They subscribe to your blog. They share your content. They also become advocates of your brand.

How do you write and publish blog posts with unique insights? Here are a few things you can do.

Understand your target audience

Research your target audience’s interests, preferences, and pain points.
Identify knowledge gaps or areas where unique insights are lacking.

For insightful blog writing, publish blog posts that are relevant and engaging to your target audience. To achieve that, you need to understand them. You need to understand their interests, preferences, and pain points.

Once you have understood your audience, identify knowledge gaps or areas where unique insights are lacking. This will help you write informative and valuable blog posts.

How do you understand your target audience?

Do research

Your website analytics is a good place to begin. Where does most of your traffic come from? What search terms or queries do people use to find your content? This will tell you what information people are looking for or whether you have optimized your content for the right audience or not.

Look at the performance of your past blog posts and analyze the engagement metrics. Pay attention to which topics, formats, and styles resonate most with your audience.

You can interact with people on social media. Ask questions. Talk about their interests. What problems are they trying to solve?

You can also conduct surveys and interviews to get a more in-depth understanding of your audience’s needs and wants.

Monitor industry trends

Stay up-to-date with the latest trends, news, and developments in your industry. Identify emerging topics. Commenting on the leading conversations will help you position yourself as a thought leader.

You can also observe conversations in online communities, forums and publications. Gain inspiration from conversations that are outside of your echo chamber. What are people talking about in related industries?

Identify their pain points

What challenges are they facing? What are their biggest frustrations. Once you know what they are struggling with, you can provide them solutions through your insightful blog writing.

Find out what your audience is interested in

What do they read? What are they talk about on social media? What are their hobbies and interests? These will help you understand your audience better. It may not directly impact your blog writing, but you will gain a perspective, and this will certainly help you mold your language.

Stay informed and engaged for writing insightful blog posts

Follow industry news, trends, and emerging topics.
Engage in discussions and forums related to your niche.
Subscribe to newsletters, blogs, and podcasts that provide valuable insights.

You can follow industry news and trends by regularly reading industry-specific publications, both online and off-line. You can stay updated on the latest news, trends, and developments in your field. How do you do that?

For starters, you can use Google Alerts. In Google Alerts you can set up certain keywords and terms around which when content is published, you get an alert in your inbox. You can also subscribe to RSS feeds of different online publications. You can closely follow industry leaders on specific topics of interest.

There is social media of course. Closely follow conversations on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay informed. You can get updates in real-time.

You can join online communities and discussion forums to engage with people and get a pulse of what’s going on in your industry. There are many social media groups related to your niche.

Prepare a list of influential blogs, newsletters and podcast in your industry that consistently provide valuable insights. Set aside some time to read or listen to such content to update yourself.

You can also attend events that bring industry professionals together. During such get-togethers and workshops, you can build relationships with other professionals in your field and then later keep in touch with them for expert opinions and valuable insights. You can also connect with influencers and experts through social media platforms, particularly LinkedIn and Twitter.

Don’t want to rely on existing content? You can conduct your own original research. This will help you uncover unique insights that are not available elsewhere. With the help of surveys, interviews, and case studies, you can obtain valuable data and information. Gather data over a long period of time and then present data-driven insights to your audience.

Conduct original research for writing insightful blog posts

Design and execute surveys, interviews, or case studies.
Gather data and analyze it to uncover unique findings.
Present your research results in a clear and concise manner.

By designing and executing surveys, interviews, or case studies, you can gather data to uncover new findings that support your arguments.

How do you conduct original research to write blog posts with unique insights?

Design your research

Your research must have an objective. You must know what the purpose of your research is and what you want to obtain out of the several questions you mean to ask people.

Your research method is equally important. The best research method is based on your specific goals. If you want to collect data from many people, you need to conduct a survey. For an in-depth understanding of a topic, interviewing them is the way to go. If you want to learn more about how something works or to identify potential problems, going through case studies is your best option.

Formulate research questions and hypothesis so that you can create specific and focused questions. You need them to collect necessary data. You may like to keep the following points in mind:

Start with the research objective: what do you want to learn?
Bring down your research objective into smaller, more specific questions.
Make sure that your questions are answerable.
Make sure your questions are relevant to your research objective.

Share personal experiences for writing blog posts with useful insights

Draw from your own experiences to provide unique perspective.
Offer real-life examples and anecdotes that resonate with readers.
Discuss challenges, lessons learned, and actionable takeaways.

By drawing from your own experiences, you can provide a unique perspective. You can share relatable examples and valuable insights.

For maximum effect, identify relevant experiences. Determine which of your experiences are relevant to your blog’s niche in the topic you are addressing. You want to share with your audience the lessons you have learned, and the insights you have obtained. You want to share stories and anecdotes they can relate to. The stories and anecdotes complement the theme of your blog post.

A good thing about sharing your experiences is that you are the only person who has had these experiences. You offer a unique and fresh perspective on the topic you are writing on. This will help your audience understand a different viewpoint that they may have never considered before. Share your details with emotions. Talk about the challenges you faced and how you overcame those challenges.

Provide actionable takeaways based on your personal experiences. Present a list of practical advice, tips, and strategies that work in your case and may also work for others. Give them a roadmap that they can instantly follow.

Be authentic – very important. Your story represents YOU. Be genuine and authentic when sharing personal experiences. Avoid exaggeration and embellishments. Remember that readers can instantly sense inauthenticity.

Since these are real-life examples, they will be more believable. If something has worked for you, it can also work for your readers.

Leverage data and analytics for writing insightful blog posts

Utilize tools like Google Analytics to identify popular topics and keywords.
Analyze user behavior and engagement metrics to understand what resonates with your audience.
Use data-driven insights to craft unique and compelling content.

You can write insightful blog posts that resonate with your audience by using data analytics. For that, you can start with Google Analytics. You will need to setup and configure Google analytics so that it tracks and measures traffic and other metrics on your blog. You can gain insights such as traffic sources, page views, bounce rate, average time spent on page, and the search queries being used to find your content.

You can identify popular topics on your blog with Google Analytics. Which blog topics attract the most organic traffic to your blog? This will help you find out which type of content resonates with your audience, and you can generate new ideas accordingly for your future blog posts.

Google Analytics, or another analytics tools can help you analyze user behavior further. What is the click through rate? What is the scroll depth – how far a user has scrolled down a web page or blog post? What is the conversion rate?

You can prepare an Excel sheet and make a list of high-performance blog posts – blog posts that receive significant user engagement through search traffic or social sharing. Figure out why these posts are successful compared to other posts. Do more people leave comments? Do more people share these successful posts?

By gathering data and analytics, you can incorporate the insights into your blog’s content strategy.

Engage with thought leaders for writing insightful blog posts

Connect with influencers, experts, and thought leaders in your industry.
Interview them or feature their perspectives in your blog post.
Incorporate their insights to add credibility and authority to your content.

Thought leaders are individuals who are experts in their field and have a large social following. By interacting with influencers, experts, and thought leaders in your industry, you can gain access to the knowledge and perspectives, adding credibility and authority to your content. How do you engage and connect with thought leaders?

Identify key influencers and experts in your industry. It’s better if they have a strong online presence and a significant following. They may not respond out of the blues. Follow them on LinkedIn, Twitter or another platform they are active on. Engage with their content. Leave comments. Share their posts. Share your own thoughts. Add value to their threads. This will help you establish a connection and grab their attention.

Once you have established a connection with them, you can send them personalized, concise, and professional messages expressing your interest in collaborating, featuring them on your blog post. Explain to them clearly what value they can bring to your content and how much you appreciate their expert opinion. Clearly communicate specific topics or angles you would like to explore with them. If possible, send them some examples of your previous collaborations.

When the thought leaders you have approached agree for an interview, prepare a well-thought-out set of questions that will delve deep into their area of expertise. Remember you want to extract unique insights that people may find difficult to obtain from other online sources. Formulate your questions accordingly.

Even if you cannot directly interview them, they must publish lots of insightful content on their own blogs or social media timelines. You can feature their blog posts and social media updates on your blog. You can cite their work and research publications in reputed magazines. Remember to give them credit for their contributions.

Draw inspiration from different sources to write blog posts with useful insights

Read books, articles, and studies outside your niche to gain diverse perspectives.
Explore unrelated industries or disciplines for unique insights.
Combine ideas from different sources to create a fresh approach.

How do you draw inspiration from different sources to write insightful blog posts that stand out? You can read books, articles, and case studies. For example, you can read books on psychology, sociology, history, technology, or related fields to gain in-depth knowledge that you can then share with your blog readers. This can be immensely helpful especially when most of the bloggers regurgitate information present on other blogs.

You can also explore unrelated industries and disciplines that may be remotely connected to your niche. Look for parallels, metaphors, or analogies that can be drawn between your niche and other industries. Cross-pollinate ideas. Come up with thought-provoking blog post.

Actively participate in conversations, discussions, and networking events, both online and off-line. Engage with professionals, thought leaders, and experts from different backgrounds to get inspiration and ideas. The diverse viewpoints and experiences of others can inspire new ways of thinking and spark creative ideas for your blog posts.

You can also combine ideas from different sources to give them a new twist. You can take inspiration from multiple sources and create a unique mash up with an entirely new insight.

Read widely. Explore unrelated topics. Be open to new ideas even if at the outset they seem completely alien.

Conduct comparative analysis for writing insightful blog posts

Compare and contrast different approaches, methodologies, or theories.
Highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each perspective.
Your own unique synthesis or opinion on the topic.

By comparing and contrasting different approaches, methodologies, theories, and highlighting the strengths and weaknesses, you can offer readers a comprehensive understanding of your topic. How do you conduct a comparative analysis?

Identify multiple approaches, methodologies, or theories related to your blog post topic. They can be different schools of thought, strategies, or frameworks. Analyze their key elements, principles, or components for each approach. Identify what is similar and what is different.

Once you have identified the perspectives you want to focus on, highlight their strengths and weaknesses. Consider factors such as effectiveness, applicability, limitations, and potential drawbacks. List advantages and benefits of each perspective. Also discuss their limitations and shortcomings.

Simply listing the different attributes won’t to give you unique insights. Finally, you need to offer your own unique synthesis or perspective. Provide insights and recommendations based on your understanding. Which approaches or elements do you recommend? Which approaches and elements you don’t recommend.

Back up your comparative analysis with supporting evidence and examples. You can cite studies, research papers, case studies and observations made by the experts in your field. You can link to data, statistics and expert opinion.

Comparative analysis offers readers a comprehensive understanding of a topic by comparing different approaches, highlighting strengths and weaknesses, and providing your own synthesis or opinion. Supporting your analysis with evidence and presenting information in a structured manner enhances clarity and readability for readers seeking informed decisions and deeper insights.

Encourage dialogue and feedback for writing insightful blog posts

Invite readers to share their thoughts, opinions, and experiences in the comments section.
Respond to comments and engage in meaningful discussions.
Use reader feedback to refine your insights and provide more value.

Encourage readers to participate in the conversation by explicitly asking them for their thoughts, opinions, or experiences related to your blog post topic. You can use open-ended questions to prom readers to share their thoughts. Ask them how they have tackled similar challenges or if they have alternative perspectives on the topic.

Create a positive environment so that they feel welcome. Foster respect and constructive dialogue. Clearly state your expectations for commenters to engage in respectful and relevant discussions. You can also moderate comments to remove spam or abusive language.

Since you are inviting your readers to leave comments, take the time to respond to the comments. Acknowledge the contributions and show appreciation for the insights.

If they ask questions, provide answers. Provide clarifications when they are sought. This demonstrates your commitment to engage.

People don’t always have to agree with you. Encourage constructive criticism and diverse perspectives. Respond to criticism with an open mind.

Use feedback to refine your insights. Pay attention to the feedback and incorporate the insights into existing and new blog posts.

You can also engage people on social media platforms and other online channels. Don’t confine your conversations within your own blog. Respond to comments, shares, inventions on your social media profiles.

Conclusion

To write insightful blog posts, research your audience, provide unique perspectives, back up your claims with evidence, and engage in meaningful conversations with readers.

How to use Sonder to be a better copywriter

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Better copywriting through empathy

While going through a copywriting newsletter in the afternoon, I came across an interesting word: sonder.

First of all, is sonder even a word? You don’t find it in regular dictionary. But you find it in a book called “Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows”, written by John Koenig.

The author was put in a situation where he couldn’t find the right words to express certain emotions and situations. He started making his own words. Sonder is one of such words.

Sondor dictionary of sorrow

It is supposed to be a noun. It is a realization that each random person passing by is living a life that is as vivid and complex as your own life. They have their own ambitions. They have their own set of friends, routines, anxieties or have even inherited particular traits of their parents and grandparents.

Basically, it is an epic story (of all the individuals coming your way, collectively) that is going on parallel to your own story. Sonder means, realizing that such a situation exists.

It means realizing that every person has a story.

How does it impact your copywriting?

What do you need for effective copywriting?

You need empathy.

I was recently editing a book for a client (partly autobiographical and partly self-development) and he has a chapter on being the VIP of your life. What does that mean?

You are the VIP of your life. In your life, you are the most important person. You are the most important person for yourself. You are the most important person for your family. You take care of yourself. Your family takes care of you. You worry about your welfare. Your family worries about your welfare.

Even that poor person selling roasted peanuts by the side of the road living in a shanty is an important person for his or her household.

What has it got to do with copywriting?

You need to see the others’ perspective. You need to understand your audience. You need to convey that you share their feelings. You should be able to tell them that you have the solution for their problem.

The good thing about sonder is that you cannot pretend to have sympathy with people, and even if you pretend, as an effective copywriter, your words won’t be able to reflect your assumed feeling.

Empathy, when writing, must come from within.

Listed below are a few steps you can take to use sonder or empathy to be an effective copywriter.

Clearly define the problem for your users

Clearly define the problem when copywriting

When you define the problem, you tell them that you understand exactly what they are going through.

Suppose, I tell you that you have a pain in your knee. Yes, you have a pain in your knee, but in many cases, the pain may not be the exact problem.

Because of that pain, it is difficult for you to sit down and stand up. It is difficult for you to walk. This makes it difficult for you to do the household chores. You are unable to take proper care of your kids. Your quality of life has suffered. You cannot travel. At night you cannot sleep so throughout the day you’re tired. You are compelled to take painkillers and you know that these painkillers are damaging your kidneys.

Another example: you cannot find a capable SEO copywriter who can help you improve your search engine rankings. Hence, your problem is lower search engine rankings.

But what happens due to lower search engine rankings?

You don’t get customers. You are not able to sell the product that you know is awesome. You go through financial difficulties. To maintain the cash flow, you often have to do odd jobs you hate. You are worried about the financial safety of your family. Due to lack of money, your business is stuck in the middle of nowhere. Your potential is being wasted. You are having to spend hours every day networking and convincing people into buying your product. Your self-worth is suffering.

As a copywriter I should be able to understand not just your problem, but also your situation. Only then I can use the right words to move you into buying the product or the service that I’m promoting.

Tell stories to elevate the sense of empathy

Storytelling for empathy

People relate to stories. They relate to the characters, especially the protagonist who fights with the odds and emerges victorious.

Take the above example of someone not being able to improve his search engine rankings. Tell the story of the person who closely works with an SEO copywriter. Tell them how he figures out that he needs to publish targeted content consistently. Narrate how publishing targeted content consistently, ultimately improves search engine rankings for the right keywords and the business eventually picks up.

Most of the customers have the traits of your main character. They are facing problems. They are fearful. They are frustrated. They have obstacles on their paths. They are bearing the consequences of their past actions. They are not able to come out of their predicament.

When they see or when they read about your protagonist using your product or service to improve his lot, they will immediately relate.

How does your story manifest empathy? You cannot create a moving narrative unless your readers can make an emotional connection with your protagonist, and this can only happen if you understand their core problems.

Looking for better sonder? Talk in their language

Talk in their language

As a copywriter you can easily go your own way when using words. Remember that you are writing for your audience. You don’t want to impress them. You want to convert them.

It’s a myth that writing in your audience’s language means “dumbing down” your writing. There is no need to write for the sixth standard if your audience is composed of PhD candidates, working parents, or small business owners.

Writing in their language means using words and expressions that they use in their everyday lives.

This will also help you improve your search engine rankings because most of the people use search terms that they use in their day-to-day conversations.

When you talk in their language, when you address their concerns in their language, you show them that you empathize with them.

Let them choose and decide

When you empathize with your audience through your copywriting, you empower them. You achieve this by letting them choose on their own whether they want to do business with you or not.

Provide them the information. Educate them. Give them data. Help them compare. Tell them stories they can relate to. Present case studies and white papers. Engage with them on an ongoing basis. But ultimately, leave it up to them to decide.

Finding the sonder – attributes that help you empathize with your audience – will help you markedly improve the effectiveness of your copywriting.

Can you use ChatGPT for content writing?

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Using ChatGPT for writing content

The simple answer is, yes you can. Can you really? It depends.

First, what is ChatGPT? It is a simple online AI chatbot created by OpenAI. It answers the questions you ask. It is an AI language model. It generates human-like text based on the prompt that you give to it. It can generate responses to questions, write stories and poems, and generate Twitter threads. It can be used with conversational AI applications to simulate human-like interactions.

I have used ChatGPT for a few weeks to write content for my clients. Does it mean my clients can fire me and start using ChatGPT themselves to generate blog posts, web pages and email messages? Sure, if they want to.

The problem is, although ChatGPT digs up good information and can also communicate in a language that is free of spelling and grammar mistakes, it is yet far away from being as good as an average writer. Why is it so?

Content writing must be convincing

There is no individuality in the writing in ChatGPT. It simply presents the information. Writing is less about writing and more about expressing, especially when you want to convince people.

For presenting information, yes, it is fine. For example, if I ask ChatGPT, “What is SEO content writing?” it gives a very well-written answer:

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) content writing is the process of creating website content that is optimized to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This involves incorporating targeted keywords, phrases, and other optimization techniques into the content to make it more visible to search engines like Google.

The primary goal of SEO content writing is to create content that not only meets the needs of the target audience but also meets the requirements of search engines. This can involve writing content that includes relevant keywords and phrases, optimizing headlines and subheadings, using meta descriptions and tags, and incorporating internal and external links.

SEO content writing is a critical component of digital marketing and can help businesses to increase their online visibility and drive more traffic to their website. However, it’s important to note that creating content solely for search engines can negatively impact the user experience, and therefore a balance between optimization and creating valuable, engaging content for the reader must be struck.

Even if you want to publish this explanation of “What is a SEO content writing?”, suppose 10 people ask the same question to ChatGPT and they all publish the same answer?

Even if they change the wording, the explanation remains more or less the same and this will be detected by Google. There was a time when Google looked down upon machine generated content, but with the advent of AI tools like ChatGPT, Google says as long as the content is of quality, original, and helpful, it doesn’t matter whether it is written by humans or machines.

As a content writer, my recommendation for using ChatGPT is, use it for grunt work, and then use your own magic.

How to use ChatGPT to write high-quality content

Quality content writing with ChatGPT

You can use ChatGPT to create an outline and find useful information. In fact, when it comes to finding some research data, ChatGPT is better than Google, but the only problem is that when you are searching on Google, you have an option of looking at multiple sources. ChatGPT on the other hand, just gives you the information. Whether you want to trust this information or not, is completely up to you.

I find it useful to generate lists of options. For example, if you give this prompt to ChatGPT: “List the 5 most important items to carry when going to watch a cricket match in a stadium,” it gives you a list of items along with small explanation of why you may need those items. You can use this information then to write a complete blog post.

The key is using the right prompt.

Remember that ChatGPT is a language model. You should be as detailed as possible. I have seen some people writing a complete paragraph, using even bulleted points, to generate a prompt.

Here is a typical prompt you can use:

Act as an expert copywriter. Write a 500-word blog post on the benefit of using humor in copywriting. Cover at least five points. Use bulleted points to sum up main points. Include two real-world examples. Write in casual language. Write short sentences. Write in active voice.

As you can see, you need to tell ChatGPT what persona it should adopt while writing. You must also tell it the format in which you want the content to be written. In some prompts, you can also tell ChatGPT what information to exclude.

Until a few months ago many content writers and copywriters were claiming that AI writing tools will never be able to replace writers. Even I had written a few sentences discounting the fears of software like ChatGPT replacing writers. Things have changed a bit. Especially with the advent of ChatGPT.

Such tools will be able to help bulk writers write lots of content. If you “regenerate response” you may be able to generate variations of the same content, but I believe that soon, the more people start using it, the more similar-sounding the content will become.

When will ChatGPT replace you as a writer?

Will ChatGPT replace writers?

ChatGPT cannot do thinking for you. If you simply write SEO articles and blog posts, then ChatGPT has already begun to replace you. It is just a matter of your clients finding it out.

To make sure that you are not replaced by ChatGPT, you need to be more creative. You must have a voice that helps your content stand out.

Actually, this advice was applicable even when ChatGPT was not there. Copywriters and content writers are available on the Internet a dime a dozen, and to be frank, there are very few clients who can distinguish a great content writer from an ordinary content writer. Most of the clients are just interested in filling up their web pages and blog posts to somehow improve their search engine rankings. So, this sort of competition better copywriters and content writers have always faced.

But it’s a blessing in disguise. Copywriters and content writers who can compellingly express their ideas will be in greater demand because mediocre writers will be replaced by software options like ChatGPT.

How can you compete?

Improve your writing skills. Communicate instead of merely writing. Polish your creativity. Develop a unique voice. Focus on quality over quantity.

Remember that ChatGPT is a general language model. It may not be able to write content for a particular audience. It cannot understand the undetectable nuances. This is where you can beat ChatGPT as a content writer.

How to write content based on E-A-T?

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The E-A-T content writing framework

E-A-T is a content writing framework introduced by Google. It is a set of guidelines for content creators to ensure high quality content that meets user needs and expectations.

The acronym stands for:

Expertise
Authoritativeness
Trustworthiness

This content writing framework is especially recommended for YMYL type of content that stands for “Your Money or Your Life”. What does that mean?

It means that using this information, in case this information is wrong or unverified, can cause you significant harm. In this category, Google gives an example such as, “Information on evacuation routes in case of a tsunami”.

Another example could be, “When to go to an emergency room,” or “News about ongoing violence”.

It is recommended that such content is written by people who are experienced/who have the requisite expertise, who are an authority figure in the concerned field, and who can be trusted with the information and knowledge they have, preferably through first-hand experience.

Google has referred to this concept extensively in its Search Quality Rater Guidelines. You can use the E-A-T content writing framework to create user-friendly content that is trustworthy and deserving of higher rankings.

The framework was initially developed for internal purpose, for actual human content evaluators. Later these results were to be used to improve the algorithm and consequently, the overall quality and relevance of the content that shows up in search results.

In the above link, Google says that the guidelines for authoritative content are constantly evolving because ultimately, they would like to build a strong enough algorithm that can gauge the trustworthiness of the content without much human interference. Evaluating millions of web pages and blog posts everyday wouldn’t be humanly possible.

The E-A-T framework can be used to build topical authority of your website.

How does the E-A-T content writing framework affect your search engine rankings?

Does the E-A-T framework affect your search engine rankings

First thing first: the E-A-T content writing framework should be used when you are writing content for YMYL category of content. If you’re writing content for your business website to present your information, you don’t need to worry about the E-A-T framework as long as you are accurately and convincingly presenting your information.

E-A-T is not a direct Google ranking factor. It goes parallel to your SEO evaluation.

Again, for writing E-A-T content, it is better if you are the subject matter expert, or you write content with direct access to a subject matter expert. For example, if you are writing a web page or a blog post on what to do in case someone has a heart attack, you should better be a cardiologist or you should be closely working with one.

Also remember that E-A-T is not the sole ranking factor. I have written multiple times on my blog that there are 200+ factors that affect your search engine rankings. It’s just that, when you are writing critical content based on which people are supposed to take decisions that can affect their life, it must be written by someone authoritative and having an expertise in the field.

How to approach writing E-A-T content if you are not an expert yourself?

Writing E-A-T content as a non-expert

An expert may not be a good content writer and a good content writer may not be an expert. Although, businesses these days prefer to work with experts who also write well, this might not always be the case. What do you do then?

A few months ago, I wrote content for a pathology lab website. People need to access information of different types of medical tests that they can avail on the website. They also need some medical-related content to improve their overall search engine rankings.

I’m not a medical expert. The medical team working at the pathology lab didn’t have good content writers. What did I do? I worked with their medical experts.

For every web page, they would give me all the critical information that I must include. After writing, I ran every piece through them so that they could check if I had included all the vital information and data. They would also check if I had added random information from the web which was not supposed to be there.

The content was authoritative. It came from experts. It could be trusted because it had been thoroughly vetted by the experts in the field.

This approach can be applied (I have applied) in every field that requires authority and expertise. These days I’m working with a SaaS company. Although I’m comfortable writing on technology, on this particular aspect of software as a service, I know little. But they like my writing style, and they wanted me to write for their website and blog. They give me the vital information and based on that, I write content for them.

Why do you need the E-A-T framework to write content?

Ranking on Google has become increasingly difficult. The search engine must find the best possible content for its users. Instead of users having to learn the nitty-gritty of search terms and the complexities involved in finding the exact information, the Google algorithm aims to know the intent of the user and find the information accordingly.

This means, even when people are not accurate while creating a query, they should be able to find the information they are looking for. Otherwise, even if their query is inaccurate, they’re going to blame Google for not being able to get the right information for them.

Content you can trust

Along with intent, the quality and relevance also matter. Even if the search engine knows the intent, it must find the information that has immense value. People must feel enriched after finding information through Google. Otherwise, they will be dissatisfied and may switch to another search engine.

For example, you want to invest in stock market. You find information on Google and make investments based on that information. You lose money and you blame Google for finding inaccurate information.

On the other hand, if you gain money, you are going to feel good about finding the right information on Google.

Hence, when it comes to information related to health or finances, Google gives preference to content that comes from experts.

Coming back to the example I used above (about writing medical-related content), even if I get the entire input from the experts, if I publish that content by my name, it won’t be valued by Google because Google knows that I’m not a medical expert. But if I write that content for a medical expert and then that medical expert publishes the content under their name, Google is going to take it seriously and may also rank it higher.

What type of content requires the E-A-T framework?

When you write and publish content that can cause someone to lose or gain money, or content that can endanger someone’s life, or affect someone’s life in terms of health and money, you need to follow the E-A-T framework.

As explained above, this type of content falls in the category of YMYL – “your money or your life”.

Google references to both the terms – E-A-T & YMYL – extensively in its Search Quality Rater Guidelines. These guidelines are used by real people to evaluate the effectiveness of search results. Google hasn’t confirmed that such human evaluators have some bearing on the algorithms. Google uses these human evaluators to gauge the effectiveness of their algorithm.

There may be two types of content that requires E-A-T framework:

Content that requires expertise
Content that requires first-hand experience

Suppose you are searching for heart attack symptoms. Two types of information sources can be authoritative:

A doctor or a physician who is an expert in the matters of heart.
Someone who has gone through the similar experience (themselves or their family members) and then give you a first-hand insight.

Similarly, if you want to know where you can invest your money, the content needs to either come from someone who is a financial expert, or someone who has been investing money for some years.

Does the Google algorithm have a way of finding if you are an expert or you are someone who is giving first-hand experience?

This is where human evaluators come. Human evaluators can make a judgement call.

The algorithm can scour through social media profiles and references from other web sources to know if a person is an expert. For example, if I am a financial expert, they can exist some reference to my expertise on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or other blogs. Or I may have another expert opinion piece in a reputed publication like Washington Post.

How do I write content requiring the E-A-T framework?

How to write content requiring the E-A-T framework

As I have explained above, recently I wrote content for a laboratory website that provides information on various ailments for which a blood test (serum test) may be required.

I wrote the content after getting ample input from the doctors associated with the laboratory. In fact, I ghost wrote the content: the content that I wrote was published with a doctor’s by-line.

Hence, when you are writing content that requires you to follow the E-A-T framework but you are not an expert or you are not presenting a first-hand experience, it is better to seek out someone who does, and publish the content after getting their input, and if possible, use their name as author.