The essence of copywriting is translation

The essence of copywriting is to act as a translator for the world and introduce products using concepts that are familiar to consumers. This article introduces three analogy methods: self-reference, digital conversion, and image representation, to help creators use the known to explain the unknown and better let consumers understand the product. It is suitable for those who pay attention to copywriting.

The essence of copywriting is to act as a translator for this world.

Because of the differences in the world and experiences, people's cognitions are not the same.

But no matter whether you are a noble or a commoner, the refreshing feeling of a fruit exploding in your mouth is the same, and the sweetness that first love brings to people is also the same.

So the old lady selling oranges would write: Sweeter than first love.

It is precisely because human cognition is not the same that we have "copywriting".

To this end, copywriters must understand what others understand and what they don’t understand, and then use what others understand to explain what they don’t understand.

This method is called "analogy" in rhetoric and "schema" in psychology, but in a nutshell, it is to use the known to explain the unknown. There are three main ways:

1. Self-reference

1. MacBook Air

When Jobs released the MacBook Air, he did not say that the laptop was only 0.16-0.76 inches thick and weighed only 1.335kg... In fact, he did not say a word. Instead, he pulled out a MacBook Air from a manila envelope on the spot, which instantly ignited the whole audience.

In addition to using the envelope as a reference, Jobs also took the opportunity to attack his old rival Sony. Jobs said:

It is called MacBook Air, the thinnest laptop in the world. Many people think that Sony's TZ series is the thinnest laptop, but the thickest part of MacBook Air is thinner than the thinnest part of Sony TZ.

First use the envelope as a reference, then use Sony as a footstool to make the debut of MacBook Air surprise the world.

2. Xiaohongshu Camping

When the "camping fever" first emerged, Xiaohongshu, as a mainstream platform for sharing camping experiences and strategies, hoped to get more people involved in camping and expand Xiaohongshu's influence among camping novices in first- and second-tier cities.

Advertising company N3 found in user surveys that many people have relatively little knowledge about camping. Most of them feel that camping is troublesome, and although they yearn for it, they dare not try it.

Based on this insight, how should the copy be written to make people understand that camping is a simple and fun thing?

Camping is playing house for adults.

Almost everyone knows how to “play house”. Those tents and canopies are like “big toys”, which make people realize that the threshold of camping is not high, thus taking the first step in camping.

3. Other copywriting:

I wrote a copy for the Hokkaido ice cream of Ah Zhi Mian. The selling point was the strong milky flavor. If the copy only said that the milky flavor was strong, people would wonder how strong it was. So the copywriter added another sentence:

Even a strong man will become as childish as a baby if he eats it.

It took advantage of people's perception of "macho men" and combined it with the popular term "little milk dog" on the Internet at that time, to highlight the milky flavor of the ice cream.

For example, when writing a copy for a villa, the exterior wall of the villa is made of a stone called "white marble". How can we show the high quality of the stone? After checking the information, we found that the Forbidden City also used this stone, so the copywriting is:

Use the stones from the Forbidden City to build a house for you.

The so-called self-reference means "using what you know to provide reference" , using what people have in their cognition to explain what they do not have, thereby embedding new cognition into existing cognition.

2. Digital Conversion

On the basis of self-reference, adding quantifiable numbers can make the communication of copy more accurate in some communication scenarios.

1. Apple iPod

The most classic case is the one we are all familiar with. When Jobs introduced the first generation iPod, he did not say that this was a portable music player with 5G memory, but said:

Put 1000s of songs in your pocket.

This marked the beginning of a new era for Apple.

When it came time to launch the Apple Watch, Apple didn’t forget its original aspirations and once again paid tribute to this classic copy, making this empire with a market value of 3 trillion dollars seem to have returned to where its dream began.

Wear 60 million songs on your wrist.

2. Qatar World Cup

How rich are the people of Qatar, who are said to be the richest people in the world with a piece of cloth on their heads? They spent 220 billion US dollars to host the World Cup. You may not have an idea of ​​this just by saying this, but you will understand it after converting it:

A total of 21 World Cup football matches have been held in the past, with a total cost of US$44.3 billion, which is only 1/5 of the cost of a single World Cup in Qatar.

220 billion US dollars is also enough for the normalization of nucleic acid testing in the whole country, with one tube for every ten people, one test every two days, and a year of testing. (Data from "China News Service")

3. Other copywriting:

If you want to describe ramen noodles as chewy, people may not feel how chewy they are if you write "chewy and elastic". However, in "A Bite of China", it is written like this:

A stick of ramen can be stretched to three meters long.

To show that the cabinet is waterproof and durable, it may be more suitable to explain one-on-one what kind of wood is used and what kind of craftsmanship is used. If you want to explain it clearly in one sentence, it may be more appropriate to write it like this:

A cabinet that can be soaked in water for 15 years without breaking down.

The addition of digital conversion can help people have a clear idea of ​​the situation in some communication scenarios that require clear standards and accurate measurements, thereby giving them a greater sense of control and security.

I also remember a joke that a movie fan once said: "There is at least 100 Lu Chuans between Feng Xiaogang and Ang Lee!"

A Lu Hei pondered for a moment and said, "Then Feng Xiaogang and Li Ang are not much different."

3. Concrete Image

Sometimes the reference for digital conversion is not intuitive enough, so a visual reference is needed.

Although copywriters are involved in writing, they are also involved in creativity. Creativity is all-encompassing, so copywriters sometimes have to think in terms of pictures.

1. Snickers

You are not you when you are hungry.

How can we make people understand this copy more specifically? The accompanying picture is a zebra chasing a lion.

Who says copywriting can only rely on words? Copywriting is responsible for expression, and pictures are also a means of expression for copywriting.

2. Vaccination Advertising

How to call on people to get vaccinated? A hearse drift tells you:

Do not get vaccinated.

— Wilmore Funeral Home (so I get more business)

3. Xiaodu Smart Giant Screen TV

Xiaodu Smart Giant Screen TV V86, how big is an 86-inch TV?

It’s just as big as this rolling door.

4. BMW 4S store

Everyone who drives a car knows that the price of repairs and maintenance at a brand 4S store is relatively high, so many people like to find some private repair shops as alternatives. BMW's response strategy is to go to unofficial 4S stores, which will cause the risk of receiving the wrong product.

How can we make people understand this copy more intuitively?

So the advertisement mistakenly wrote BMW in BMW as BWM , and "Don't touch me" became "imperfect" , which is to tell you that if you don't go to the official store, your car may be like this letter, with wrong parts and the entire car may be scrapped.

The world is flat geographically, but uneven cognitively, and a copywriter’s job is to level the world’s cognition.

Author: Kuang Thirteen

Source: WeChat public account "Copywriting Free Shipping (ID: kol100)"