The Importance of Authority When Copywriting

Without doubt one of the main goals that a copywriter has is to persuade the reader that what they are saying is the undeniable truth. Authoritative copy is extremely easy for consumers to trust because it appears much more truthful and accommodates their desires and interests. As a result, response rates are generally better and there is a higher chance that the desired results will be attained. Establishing a tone of authority throughout copy content is a learned process that requires practice and patience on the part of the copywriter.

When it comes to writing authoritative copy there are several ways you can quickly transform your copy making it more influential and persuasive.

The most important aspect of which is having a firm grasp on your topic. Never write copy on a topic that you have little or no knowledge about. In order to prove that you have authority you must be able to demonstrate to your target audience that you know exactly what you are talking about, because they will be able to tell if you are trying to fake your way through the topic of discussion.

You also have to be prepared to prove your experience related to the subject. After all you can’t write about brain surgery with authority if the closest you’ve ever come to being a doctor is by watching Grey’s Anatomy or reruns of ER.

To create an authoritative tone you must focus on the unique sales proposition (USP) of the product or service when writing your content. This will help you define your statement clearly and allow your copy to stand out from the crowd when it is published. Whenever the statement is clearly presented your readers will immediately understand the message you are trying to convey.

Be sure to focus your copy on the positive aspects and benefits of the product or service that you are writing about and downplay the negatives. There will almost always be negatives or disadvantages to any product, idea or statement. Rather than detailing them to your readers, target the advantages instead by telling your readers what they can do, not what they can’t do!

Focus on the facts and leave out the embellishments. To maintain good authority when writing copy stick to facts and statements that will be easy for your reader to verify. Exaggerating claims may seem harmless enough at the time, but the fact is, it has an impact on your readers that will not be beneficial to you. Consumers are smart, savvy and a bit sensitive, especially if they discover that you are trying to pull the wool over their eyes (so to speak) and they will take it personally. There is nothing that that will kill your credibility faster than overstating and embellishing the facts.

Proving authority when writing copy is comparable to writing news stories, you must be prepared to back up your claims and prove your statements are true. Provide your readers with as many facts, details and statistics as possible. If there is a corroborating research, studies or statements made by experts that will help support your claims, use them as well. This way if anyone asks, you’ll be able to quickly provide them with proof that will support your statements.

One more thing that you must do is pay particular attention to language if you want to become recognized as a trusted authority. You must make sure that you use exceptional sentence structure (grammar) and spelling throughout your content, because nothing damages authority more than bad language skills because it implies a general lack of knowledge.

The bottom line is that if you want to write copy that is effective you must be recognized as an expert and display authority in all of your content.

Tags: copywriting, online copy, online copywriting