The 4 U’s of copywriting are:
- Understand
- User
- Utilise
- User
- Values
Let’s explore each U in turn.
Understand
To grasp the skill of copywriting, you need to understand the needs and motivations of your target audience and what they’re looking for. This includes things such as their demographics, behavioural patterns, industry, and more.
You’ll never produce a perfect piece of copy; it’s impossible to anticipate every single circumstance that a reader may encounter. However, by understanding the basics of a reader’s needs, you can improve your odds of pleasing them with what you produce.
User
The users of a product or service are those who will consume it. To craft the right kind of content, you must know a little about your target audience’s behaviour and psychology. This includes things such as how they’re going to use your product or service, their pain points, and more.
As a copywriter, it’s your job to create content that can persuade, inform, or entertain your target audience. When it comes to B2B and B2C content, you must know your audience’s needs, wants, and weaknesses.
Utilise
The aim of your content is to help your target audience achieve their goals. To put this into practice, you need to consider what actions your audience can take and what else they might need to achieve what they want.
You can also use the content you create to help educate your audience about things related to your niche. For example, if you’re writing about real estate, you could discuss how to negotiate the best price or provide information about the most efficient ways to buy a property.
In a nutshell, your content should guide, educate, or entertain your target audience so that they complete a desired action or achieve a desired goal.
User
The last U in the acronym stands for “user.” If you want to convince, inform, or entertain someone, you’ll need to understand what they want and how they process information. To do this, you’ll want to consider things such as the structure and style of your content, the graphics you use, and more.
When it comes to B2C and CPG (consumer product guidelines) content, you’ll want to know a little bit about your audience’s demographics, psychographics, and history. For example, if you’re writing for a younger audience, you may want to incorporate more humour into your content or use gifs or video to grab the attention of your audience.
In short, this U focuses on the nuts and bolts of user experience, including the structure and style of your content, whether you use graphics or photos, the pace of your language, and more.
Values
The values of a company or brand represent its stance on key issues such as equality, sustainability, and more. For example, if you’re writing for a company that sells environmentally friendly products, you may want to incorporate this into your content to align with its values.
When developing B2B and B2C content, you must consider what the values of your brand or company are and how you want your audience to perceive your product or service. You may want to discuss the product’s features and how they meet the needs of your target audience. For example, you could write about how a toaster oven allows consumers to make more elaborate meals or how a travel partner app helps people organise travel whilst maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
In a nutshell, this U focuses on the ethical implications of your content. For example, perhaps you’re writing about a clothing brand and you want to include a value-driven piece about how your product is made or which materials were used to create it. Or, you could write about the positive impact your product has had on others’ lives and the damage it could have done if used incorrectly.
Overall
With these four U’s, you can create an outline of the copy you’ll need to produce to hit the ground running. To put this into practice, consider what actions your audience can take, what else they might need to do, and how you want your product or service to be represented.
Additionally, you’ll want to work with a content strategist who can help you develop a comprehensive outline for your content plan and who can help you measure the success of your content operation.