‘Storytelling’ must be the most overused phrase in marketing and communication. However, it’s a powerful tool to make your cosmetic product the main character in a crowded market. Forget what you know about ‘storytelling‘ and learn how to create an effective narrative for your product’s beauty copywriting.
Sort out the structure
With so many story structures and conventions to guide your copywriting decisions, it can be overwhelming to work out how to shape your product story. Beauty copywriting for products is nuanced because it requires a balance of purposes: selling, educating, entertaining, alluring, and inspiring. This means cosmetic product stories don’t always fit neatly into an obvious structure.
Some things that might decide how you tackle the structural decisions, consider:
- Where will this copy be seen? Will it be on a website, a product description, on physical packaging, and across your marketing material – or a combination of these?
- What constraints will you be working with? These may include graphic design guidelines, physical space on a bottle, or limitations set by external influences.
- How consistent will it be across all platforms? You may need to create a long, enticing version for a website product description, a short and snappy one for social media, or a quick-to-digest option for physical packaging.
When you have an idea of how your product story will be presented, you can start shaping it.
Pick out the best parts
The juiciest parts of your beauty product’s story should highlight its unique selling points (USPs). This might include ingredients, texture, performance, packaging, production process, and sustainability considerations. You could also consider how this product fits into your consumer’s routine, or how it’s part of your broader brand story.
Review everything you know about your cosmetic product and its place within your brand. How and why did you create it? What can you say about your product that your competitors can’t? Why is your product worth purchasing? Is it solving a known problem or introducing something new to the market?
This is a great opportunity to revisit the purpose of your product story. Obviously, you want to be selling it, but people don’t like to be ‘sold’ to. How can you cushion your sales pitch with other elements so it doesn’t feel forceful? Again, look at educating, entertaining, alluring, and inspiring your consumer. If the most interesting parts (or USPs) of your cosmetic product’s story can weave in nicely with the story’s purpose, you’re onto a winner.
Piece together the puzzle
You know what you’re aiming for and you have the information to do it. Now comes the exciting part: writing.
How you write is up to you – you might workshop it with others, or come up with a few versions on your own. But it’s what you write that matters. There’s no right way, magic formula, or hack that makes this part simple – and there’s no guarantee your product story will result in sales. Anyone who promises that ignores the fact that copywriting is incredibly subjective. What one person likes, another won’t. However, there are some basic questions to help you finesse your product story during the writing and reviewing process.
- Is it easy to read and understand?
- How does it make the reader feel?
- Is this story true to your brand, and serving a clear purpose?
- What can you say to make your story stand out or feel special?
- Where can you add or remove words or information to make your message stronger?
Beauty copywriter recommendation
Putting your product story together and making it sparkle can be easier said than done. This part is a fun task for some, and a total nightmare for others. If you’re in the latter category, we suggest working with a beauty copywriter such as Hadley Co., to receive an outside perspective and take the hair-pulling out of writing your beauty product story.