Copywriting Secrets: A Little Planning Goes a Long Way

by Rachel Stafler

The other night I sat with my 9-year-old son, helping him write a story about space for his homework. By some ironic twist of fate, writing is his hardest subject. I have to sit on my hands, trying not to take the keyboard away and write for him.

One of the strategies that helps him write more easily is to plan ahead. His teacher has given me a few planning pages that he can fill in before he sits down to do the actual writing. Setting, characters, event, build up, opening, ending. Having the basics of the story set out in front of him decreases his anxiety and helps keep him focused.

He, of course, hates the planning stage and just wants the story to be finished so he can go back to organising his Match Attax. I may be a more experienced writer, but like him, I often find myself sitting down to write and skipping this important step. I too just want to get it done and move on to my next task.

If I take five minutes – and often that’s all one needs – to think about what I should include in the piece and how to structure that information, then I feel much calmer and write much faster.

Spend five minutes, save 20

I have recently been asked to speak about copywriting by several organisations. As I plan these talks (mostly in my head at this point!), one of the steps that I find myself focusing on is the importance of creating an outline. I don’t think I can overstate how much easier it makes the actual act of writing.

If I take five minutes – and often that’s all one needs – to think about what I should include in the piece and how to structure that information, then I feel much calmer and write much faster.

What an outline does do is ensure that:

• key facts don’t get left out,
• there is a basic structure to the piece,
• you are aware of what comes next.

Now this outline doesn’t have to look like the formal version you created for English class when you were 11. It can be as simple as a list or series of paragraphs. It’s there to help you, not present to a teacher.

Putting the puzzle together

Once you have a basic outline, you can start to include details and sub-points. How detailed you make your outline depends on you.

After all the information is there, play around with it. One of the benefits of having an outline is that you get to rearrange paragraphs without getting bogged down in sentence construction. Maybe the anecdote you thought should go in the first paragraph works better in the third. Or perhaps what you thought was a key piece of information doesn’t actually belong in the piece at all. If you have an outline, swapping ideas around is as easy as a few clicks.

Here are a few things to think about including in an outline before you get started writing your next article, report, blog or letter:

• Write the headline first. This doesn’t have to be the final headline you use, but it will help focus your thoughts from the outset.
• List the most important facts or points and use these as your paragraph headers.
• Include research or statistics to back up these points and then decide which paragraphs they go in.
• Add in anecdotes or quotes that can illustrate your points.

What are some things that you do to help you write better?