7 Keys To Effective Product Copy

While the medium of expression has changed for marketers (from a print-centric world to a web-centric one), one of the most basic things is still key: Creating an effective product page. This may be a page in a print catalog, or a web site, or a Facebook page, or an iTunes description page, or any one of a variety of places. The basic idea is that you have a limited area to describe your product, get a potential customer interested, and close the sale. The specifics of the page size, amount of text, and other parameters will vary according to the medium, but some basic concepts apply in all cases:

1. Make the title obvious. Don't use an unreadable font; make it large, and it should be clear at a glance.
2. Make the product position clear. You did pick one, didn't you? (See this for an intro to the concept.) Well, it should be obvious after reading the text... to make sure, ask some people in your customer demographic to read the product page, and then ask them how they would describe the product in one sentence. That sentence should resemble your product position... if not, you need to do some editing. Or repositioning.
3. Use screen shots. Assuming this is an electronic title... if not, use some artwork. Screen shots are the part of the page people go to first or second, so make them sizzle! The captions are crucial, as studies show they are read more often than other parts of the copy. Use them to drive home your selling points.
4. Great artwork sells. You did get some great artwork, didn't you? "Great" for a marketer means that it reinforces the product positioning... which means it might be stick figures, if that's what your game is.
5. Use quotes and awards. These are independent validators of what you're saying, and customers give them more weight than your obviously biased copy. (Yes, you could make them up... but unless you want a career in infomercials, you should be dealing in reality when it comes to marketing... or someday it will bite you in the ass.)
6. Keep it simple. Adroit use of white space adds impact to the words that are there. Solid blocks of text will be skipped, for the most part avoid them.
7. Close the sale. Make sure you do your best to get the sale, or the download... don't make it hard to find the way to purchase your product! Make it easy, and get them to act NOW.

Of course, the truly high-level marketer knows when and how to break all of these rules... but makes sure you can implement these well before you ascend to that level.