What Is Copywriting?

A stranger in the saloon downstairs sends a note up to the Chicago agency Lord & Thomas: he can explain what advertising is. Albert Lasker, a partner there, agrees to meet him. Accounts place the evening in 1904 or 1905.

The stranger, John E. Kennedy, calls advertising “salesmanship in print.” Edd Applegate recounts the meeting in his 1998 history, Personalities and Products, drawing on Lasker's later recollection.

Apply Kennedy's idea to a conversation about a class: what would someone selling it need to explain before you booked? We'll use Lantern Spoon Studio, a fictional cooking school. You're reading its page after work and need to know whether you can leave at 8:30 p.m.

What counts as copywriting?

The school's advertisement is copy: words written for a marketing purpose. So is the booking page, where you check what you'll cook and whether you can make the hours. Copywriting helps you understand an offer and decide whether to act.

You can also write copy for a fundraising letter or a product's packaging. The response might be a donation or a closer look.

When you write a recipe so someone can make soup, you're teaching. Add a paragraph inviting them to pay for a soup-making class, and that paragraph has a marketing job. A page can serve both purposes.

If you're sorting out that boundary, copywriting versus content writing goes further. Back on the class page, “book a beginner class” gives you a purpose for the draft. You can look at each paragraph and ask whether it helps someone considering that evening.

Hypothetical copy at different points

Advertisement

Tired of your usual dinner? Learn two new weeknight meals in a beginner cooking class.

Gives someone a reason to look at the class.

Class page

Cook both dishes yourself. We provide the ingredients and equipment; you take the recipes home.

Shows what you get to do when you arrive.

Booking button

Choose a class date

Tells you a calendar comes next; payment happens later.

Follow the decision through the page

The class page can state the timetable plainly: “6:30 to 8:30 p.m.” Students cook two weeknight dinners themselves, with ingredients and equipment included. We're writing for a beginner who wants more options for dinner after work.

An opening could say, “Learn two dinners you can cook after work.” The next paragraph can explain what students actually do. Put the confirmed hours and price near the booking button so someone can check both before choosing a date.

For this class, answer the questions someone would ask before paying: can a beginner join, and will the hours fit around work?

Someone might want exactly this class and still need to be home earlier. With the finish time beside the invitation, they can judge whether the evening fits before starting to book.

Read your draft as the person deciding whether to attend. Can you picture what you'll do when you get there? If you know the school is passionate but can't tell whether you'll touch a pan, the draft has some explaining left to do.

Where copy lives changes what it must do

Once someone chooses a date, the copy has further jobs: confirm the purchase, help them arrive prepared and explain how to change their plans. Follow those screens and emails too; the class-page headline can't answer every later question.

After choosing a class date

1. 1. Checkout
2. 2. Confirmation
3. 3. Change plans

1. Checkout

   Am I paying for the date I chose?

   Friction: The selected class and date disappear from view.

   Opportunity: Keep the class, selected date and price beside the payment button.

2. Confirmation

   Where do I go, and what should I bring?

   Friction: The practical details were left on the booking page.

   Opportunity: Repeat the location, hours and what is provided in the confirmation.

3. Change plans

   How do I cancel if I can't attend?

   Friction: The booking email gives no route to the cancellation conditions.

   Opportunity: Make the confirmed cancellation policy and contact route easy to find.

Start with the reason someone would care

Before you book, imagine going straight from work. There's no time to shop on the way. “Ingredients included” answers a question you care about before you've even reached the kitchen.

In your notes, connect “ingredients included” to arriving straight from work without shopping beforehand. Check that students really can arrive empty-handed before using that benefit in the invitation.

Before promising individual attention because the class is small, ask how many students attend and what the instructor provides. Use that answer to decide whether the promise belongs in the invitation.

A hypothetical opening with something to decide on

Vague promise

Discover your culinary potential with an unforgettable experience.

Concrete offer

Learn two dinners you can cook after work. A hands-on beginner class, with ingredients and equipment included.

Does the class actually include both dishes, ingredients and equipment?

Read that revised opening as someone hoping to learn advanced pastry. “Beginner” tells you this class won't meet your needs. I'd keep the word even if someone asked for a broader invitation; the awkwardness otherwise turns up in the kitchen.

Use voice of customer research to hear what makes the decision difficult. Ask about a real occasion when someone considered an offer like yours. Keep their wording in your notes, along with the question they couldn't answer on the page.

If customers worry about getting there after work, ask the school when they need to arrive. Features vs. Benefits helps you explain what a confirmed detail means for someone trying to fit the class into their day.

Persuasion has to survive the details

Suppose you want to promise that students can make these dinners in twenty minutes at home. We haven't checked that timing, so leave it out until someone can substantiate it.

The FTC's Advertising and Marketing Basics says US advertising claims must be truthful and supported by evidence. Ask the school to check each factual promise against what it can provide.

Suppose your plans change after you've booked. You'd want to know whether you could cancel. Ask the person handling refunds what the policy covers, then put the conditions where someone choosing a date can find them.

Once the school has confirmed the timetable and menu, you have something useful for writing headlines. Try an opening about what students will learn to cook. Read it next to the rest of the draft: has the promise crowded out the practical questions again?

If the school changes the booking screens, review the label too.

Check the booking button

Click ‘Choose a class date.’ Check that the calendar opens before anyone is asked to pay.

What does a copywriter do before handing over a draft?

Before handing over Lantern Spoon's draft, find out how someone reaches the page. A person arriving from the beginner-class advertisement already has some context. Someone opening a shared link may need an introduction to the school before considering the date.

Then put the information in an order that follows the decision. Draft different ways to explain the offer, and ask a colleague to read for ambiguity. If they think payment happens before choosing a date, find the words that gave them that impression.

Send the school the laid-out page for review. The person responsible for the class needs to see how you've described it, including any details added in captions or alongside the price. Ask them to flag anything they can't provide.

Ask a colleague to find the finish time in the finished layout. Watch where they look and whether they have to start booking to find it. The full copywriting process takes you through this work when you're ready for a larger assignment.

After publication, ask what people expect when they arrive. If they thought they'd watch a demonstration, inspect where the page describes the hands-on class.

If bookings rise, check what else changed before attributing the increase to your copy. A lower price or more convenient dates may have helped. Keep those changes in the same record as the draft so you can read the response in context.

Questions beginners ask

What if someone isn't ready to book?

Copy can help someone get familiar with an offer before asking for a sale. For the class, you could invite them to look at the menu before choosing a date.

Does copy have to be clever?

You can try a playful opening. Read it aloud in the school's voice and ask someone what class they expect. If they picture a different evening, revise it.

Explain an offer before rewriting it

Choose a small piece of copy for an offer you understand, perhaps an event invitation. Write a four-line brief: who's considering the offer, what they can book, what happens after the click, and which checked fact makes the offer useful to them.

Ask the offer's owner for anything you can't supply. Then draft a headline with a short explanation and label the button.

Ask a colleague to describe the offer and what they expect after clicking. Revise wherever their answer differs from your offer or the action it asks for.

The other Fundamentals lessons take each of those steps further.

Back on the class page, the finish time appears next to the booking button: 8:30 p.m. You open your calendar to check the evening before choosing a date.