Guidelines
for Great Copy
by Andrew Byrne
Do not write a
word until you have studied your product or service and dug out every
possible benefit you can, along with the selling points. Don't try to do
it on your own. Talk to people. Talk to the buyer, the product manager,
the account executive...everybody you can find. Look at ads and direct
mail packages for competitive products. If it's possible, try the product
or service yourself. Then build your copy skeleton. List the benefits and
selling points; make an outline. This is the tough part of copywriting. It
will take more time than actually writing the copy. Yet it is the most
vital and important part of copy writing, because it forms the basis for
every word you write.
(Taken
from Inside Direct Mail.)