A super-creative copywriter introduces new perspectives clothed in unexpected combinations of words and phrases. But how to pack that punch? “Holy headline, Batman.” Yup, Robin, start with the headline. Catch ‘em with a snappy head like one we wrote for a Revere Ware promotion, “Buy any Revere Ware skillet, and we’ll give you a dozen eggs to break it in.”

The advertising legend David Ogilvy understood the value of a good headline when he wrote and rewrote this famous headline, 104 times. “At 60 miles per hour, the only thing you hear in a new Rolls Royce is the ticking of the dashboard clock.”

The headline must drive the reader to the next line which focuses on benefits, then to a promise you will keep, and finally to the offer and the sale. Copy should be concise, simple and conversational. Today, writing is often more digestible when written in sentence fragments, sort of how we talk. One-sentence paragraphs. One word sentences. And phrases beginning with conjunctions like—and, or, but. It’s OK, really.

Killer copy is the most significant online marketing tool in your advertising toolbox. And since buying decisions are based on emotions, words must pry open a prospect’s inner feelings. Does your product copy make them feel sexy, smart, attractive, or rich? Does it appeal to their passions, fears, or perhaps secret desires? Killer copy must get into the head and under the skin of the prospect. Now, the copywriter understands what makes a Rolls Royce owner tick. And it’s not the dashboard clock.

A virtual pile of crumpled paper often encircle the feet of copywriters at CMS Writing. Working fearlessly and tirelessly to get the copy just right, our copywriters sometimes labor long into the night, through dozens of iterations. To paraphrase a line from the movie classic It’s A Wonderful Life: Every time you hear a balled-up piece of paper drop, a copywriter gets closer to the truth.