Background info is great, but the more product knowledge you have, the easier it is to 'go native' and start seeing things from the client's viewpoint rather than the reader's.

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Put your benefits to the 'so what?' test. For any feature, keep asking 'so what?' until you get to a clear benefit. If there's no good answer, you probably shouldn't write about that feature.

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There's no harm in writing down the brief, even if you're working completely alone. It's a very good way to focus your thoughts and mobilise your mental resources.

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Companies sometimes emphasise the unique points of their products even though they don't particularly help their customers. Make sure a USP justifies its place with true benefits.

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Think of your reader as an individual person rather than a group. Some of the best copy works like a conversation between writer and reader.

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Use 'if this then that' to make a direct logical link between the reader's situation and how they want to change it: 'If you own a fast-growing business, you need a sure-fire way to keep clients coming back for more.'

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Benefits are a promise of value. They're the good things that will happen when your reader buys and uses the product.

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One way to turn features into benefits is to play the role of the reader and ask why different features mean benefits for you. Ask really basic questions like 'How does this product help me?' or 'Why do I need it?

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Provocative copy can shock the reader, shake them out of complacency and make them want to read on.

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As a copywriter, you create the ideas that give marketing its soul. You decide what brands will say, and how they'll say it.

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You could take a humorous look at the different ways people use a product. If you do it well, you can give people a new way to see a product through the lens of their own character.

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Benefits are a promise of value. They're the good things that will happen when your reader buys and uses the product.

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The one thing that *everyone* is interested in is themselves. So the simplest way to get their interest is by offering them benefits.

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Questions can be confrontational, plus they force the reader to think. So if you ask too many in a row, the reader may start to feel a bit hassled.

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Vary your brain's diet. If you're writing about fruit juice, watch some sci-fi. If you're selling yoga courses, listen to some thrash metal. When you come back to the brief, you might find some new ideas waiting for you.

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Verbs write the reader's future by making future events real. Use them in preference to adjectives, adverbs or abstract nouns.

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To make your conversation with the reader flow, use the same words they use.

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Many reader objections are rooted in fear – disapproval, ridicule, making a mistake or being ripped off. That's why persuasion isn't about bullying or manipulation, but reassurance.

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