The 4.5 w’s of copywriting

You’re probably questioning that apostrophe, aren’t you? I know I would. The w isn’t possessive, nor is it missing a letter, so does the apostrophe have any right being there? Well, I reckon you should stick one in if it helps avoid any confusion, and ‘ws’ would look weird. So it’s there, and now the elephant in the room has been tamed and treated to some nice grass, we can get on with our lives and - more importantly - this blog.

A big part of copywriting is reading lots of other copy. And I see LOADS. Plenty of it is great, but plenty more misses out on some of the things I think are really important - namely the 4.5 w’s.

I’m gonna show you what those w’s are, why they matter, and how they can help your writing sing.

Off we go.

W 1 - Who?

‘Who’ is my favourite of all the w’s, which is why I’m putting it first. My website, my rules. All good advertising - let alone copywriting - should start with a ‘who’. Who is it talking to? Who is the product for? Who are they, as people?

If you work the ‘who’ out, the rest gets loads easier.

Understanding your target audience can help you figure out a lot, like whether they’ll give a shit, or whether your joke will land, or whether they’ll care about the placement of an apostrophe in w’s. (You did, right?)

Don’t make the mistake of writing copy for no-one, or worse, for anyone. And never get tempted to write it for yourself. Write it for someone, the more specific the better, and you can be confident it’ll be much stronger.

W 2 - What?

‘What’ is kind of a big deal. Not the biggest deal (that’s ‘who’, in case you weren’t paying attention,) but still pretty important. ‘What’ is the point of the ad. If you had no ‘what’, there would be no reason to try and sell it, and you would be bored for the day, and eventually that boredom would lead to resentment, and that resentment would lead to resignation, and that resignation would lead to missed mortgage payments and an unhappy family.

‘What’ matters.

Too many ads barely even mention their product. You’re expected to know what it is already, and already understand its benefits. For some brands, that works fine. We all know Coca Cola, Apple and Nike, for example. Their ads are more brand awareness pieces, just to remind you they exist. But other brands aren’t global giants that dominate the market place and FORCE YOU TO ABIDE BY THEIR RULES. If you’re writing for one of them, be sure to remind your readers (the ‘who’) what the product is, what its unique selling points are, and what it can do for them.

W 3 - Why?

Why? I’ll tell you why! ‘Why’ is the thing that seals the deal. It’s the part of your writing that makes people care, makes people click, and makes people buy. The ‘why’ can be anything, really. If you’ve got a good brief, you’ll find it in the proposition. If you’ve got a rubbish brief, or none at all, you can find your ‘why’ by looking at the product’s USPs. If it’s a hat that makes your head super warm, that’s your why. If it’s a university course that creates loads of good career opportunities, your why is right there.

Entire ad campaigns can be built around the word ‘why’. And when they are, they’re often pretty impressive. However, not every product has a ‘why’ worth caring about, so sometimes you have to get a bit creative. See my blog about finding your USP to get started.

W 4 - When?

This ‘w’ is only relevant some of the time, but when it matters, it really really matters. ‘When’ can instil action. A call to action that says ‘Buy now’ sounds much more urgent than one that just says ‘Buy’. Saying ‘Start today’ instead of just ‘Start whenever’ really drives the point home. But when ‘when’ really matters is when an ad is date specific. For example, if an offer ends in a month’s time, make it obvious. In fact, make it so obvious the whole ad revolves around it. Time can be a key selling tool, and if used with impact, it can panic people into spending their cash. Yay.

Don’t stick your ‘when’ in small text at the bottom of the ad. If the date is important, it’s important people know about it.

W 4.5 - Magic

Ok, this ‘w’ isn’t technically a ‘w’ at all. But it classes as 0.5 of a ‘w’ because when you rotate ‘m’ by 180 degrees, that’s what you get. See? It makes perfect sense. Anyway, the point of this fake ‘w’ isn’t to get lost in the maths; it’s to use a little bit of magic to bring all the other w’s to life. In this instance, I used a weird number in my header to make you want to read on to figure out what I was talking about. If you’re here, it worked. If you’re not, it doesn’t matter. (The very funny Dave Harland talks about that trick in his very funny newsletter.)

Magic doesn’t have to be surprising numbers, but a little bit of intrigue always helps. If you put all four other w’s together without any sparkle, it sounds a bit flat. For example, an ad for coats would sound like this:

Do you have a body? Our warm coats will immediately protect it from the cold.

It’s got the who (people with bodies), the what (warm coats) the why (protect it from the cold) and the when (immediately). But it’s still rubbish, because there’s no magic in it.

A wave of my copywriting wand turns it into:

Freeze less easily, with cosy coats perfect for anyone who cares about their limbs not falling off. Available now in a store near you.

It’s just using words in a more interesting way. It’s only 0.5 of a ‘w’, but it can make a whole lot of difference to your copy.