What is Copywriting?
Ever since businesses have needed good sales copy, copywriting has been a sought-after high-paying job that only a few could lay claim to. However, the world has changed. There are millions of businesses now and they are all vying for paying clients and customers. They all need good copy to sell their products and services and they are hiring copywriters to write sterling copy that will put them ahead of their competitors.
Copywriting is no longer the exclusive purview of a few talented writers: it’s a much-needed skill that every business needs to invest in. The aim of copywriting is to write copy that persuades the reader to take action.
Copywriting is the act of writing copy for promotional or marketing purposes. It contains a call to action like ‘’Buy now’’ or ‘’Click here to schedule your appointment.’’ Organizations and businesses use copywriters to write copy that will sell and promote their service, brand, or product.
Copywriting is everywhere. You see it online on websites, on television screens, on billboards, in magazines, brochures, newspapers, on retail signage, on YouTube.
Can anyone be a copywriter? Yes and no. Good copywriting that succeeds in its aim requires a special skill. And while there are undoubtedly talented writers who have a natural knack for writing good copy, it doesn’t mean that it’s a skill that can’t be learned. In fact, many of the best copywriters out there were not formally trained to do copywriting and they certainly don’t all have English literature degrees.
Because the profession is associated with creative writing talent that many people believe you either have or don’t have, copywriting never became a mainstream profession. Relatively few people set out to become copywriters.
How Does a Copywriter Contribute to Your Business?
A copywriter provides you with all the copy you need to promote your business. As part of the content marketing team, a copywriter writes copy that not only informs existing and potential customers of your products and services, but also persuades them to make a purchase.
The copy includes a sales pitch that is aimed at achieving the team’s marketing goals. Essentially, copywriting is marketing in written form.
Copywriters are pivotal members of marketing teams. Their work takes the form of website content, email copy, blogs, articles, media posts, video scripts, ads, webinar presentations, guides, product descriptions, white papers, product guides, and more.
How Can a Copywriter Benefit Your Business?
Good copywriting can be a huge asset to your business. A professional copywriter can write engaging copy that paints a clear picture of your corporate culture, your organizational goals, and your offerings.
Good copy communicates to the world exactly who you are, what your aims are, and what your business or organization stands for. And for that, you need the skills of a copywriter.
A copywriter can benefit your business in many ways.
Increased Conversion Rates
Copywriters understand the principle of writing for a target audience. With the help of the marketing team, they will know your target audience and aim their copy at them, not random people out there who have no interest in your products or services.
They know how to write appealing copy that will entice existing and prospective customers to take action like make a purchase, sign up for a course, or book a seat.
Persuasive copy can help increase conversion rates and ultimately boost sales.
Connect to the Hearts and Minds of Your Customers
Simon Sinek famously said: “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.’’ This is the message that connects to the hearts of people and inspires them to act. A good copywriter will make the ‘’why’’ of your business clear and write copy that will touch the hearts and minds of your existing and potential customers.
Enhanced Public Image
Professional copywriters have the writing skills to paint a clear and understandable picture of your business, its goals, vision, and offerings. They can create website copy that clearly demonstrates your status and expertise in the industry. This is a special skill that can enhance your organization’s public image.
Copywriters have the skill to research and understand different industries and create marketing messages that resonate within specific industries. They can write about an AI company for the tech industry and about products for Dalmatian puppies for pet lovers.
Your Brand Voice Will be Amplified
Copywriters know how to reflect your brand’s voice and tone in their writing. If you have a light-hearted approach, that will be reflected in the copy; if your organization deals with serious illness research, it will also be reflected in the writing.
They also have the ability to adjust the voice of your content to suit different purposes – from straightforward information for a product guide to more relaxed content for social media platforms.
A great copywriter will be able to maintain the tone of your brand throughout all your marketing content.
Brings an Unique Perspective
Experienced copywriters have been exposed to countless businesses, business leaders, business ideas, innovative products, and experts in different fields. They have seen and heard a lot and they bring this experience and the resulting unique perspective to every new assignment.
For the business that hires such a person, it means unique copy that will stand out from the general noise.
Create a Wide Range of Content
In the past, copywriters wrote mainly advertising copy. These days, they can apply their skills to write a wide range of content, including email marketing content, newsletters, product descriptions, landing pages, white papers, guides, blog posts, articles, case studies, and any other format you can think of.
Website SEO
These days, a good copywriter will also have search engine optimization (SEO) skills. SEO is the process of optimizing your online content so that a search engine will rank it as a top result for searches of a certain keyword. A copywriter will know how to target and use certain keywords in your content, meta-descriptions, headers, and titles, so search engines (mostly Google) can find them. The benefit for your business is that consumers looking to find information that will solve their problem, will find you online.
Copywriting Strategies that Sell Every Time
Great copywriting follows certain strategies to reach its goal, which is to elicit actions that will increase sales. Remember, copywriting is marketing in written form. It takes the place of a real-life salesperson. It aims to turn prospects into leads and leads into buying customers.
Effective copywriting addresses a specific audience about a specific product or service, provides strong proof, and guides the audience to take action.
Addresses a Specific Audience
Good copywriting speaks to a specific audience. For instance, if you’re writing about an automation platform, your content will differ according to your audience: CEO’s who need to decide whether to buy the technology, or employees who have to learn to use the platform.
A copywriter keeps the target audience in mind and writes compelling content that will resonate with that audience. A good copywriter will research the market, understand the target audience’s problems, wants, needs, and desires, and will adjust the tone of the writing accordingly.
Understands the Sales Item
A good copywriter knows exactly what is being sold: what the product or service is, who it is for, what problem it solves, and how it will ultimately benefit the buyer and can express this in clear, concise writing.
The sales item is usually a product or service, but not always. If you are a promoter that represents keynote speakers for conferences, you might need a copywriter to write profile copies for your speakers to promote them. In that case, the copywriter will need to know which expert and what expert knowledge to promote to the event organizers.
Highlights the Product Benefits
Knowing the product means knowing its benefits. This part of the copy answers your target audience’s question: “What’s in it for me?”
The copy needs to show the audience how the product or service is going to help them. Will it save them time or money, will it help them to feel less stressed, will it help them to be healthier, look thinner or enhance their status in some way.
The copy should clearly illustrate all the benefits of the product, how the product adds value for customers that other similar products may not offer.
All professional copywriters know that this is the most important rule of marketing: your product or service is far less important than its ability to fulfill your customers’ needs.
Provides Strong Proof
This is an important step in the copywriting process. Customers are more likely to buy if the copy provides convincing proof that the product works and improves people’s lives. Providing proof is key to persuading customers to try out something new.
Case studies, testimonials, and research studies or survey results are powerful ways to prove that a product or service does what it promises to do.
Addresses the Audience Directly
Strong copywriting addresses the audience directly. In other words, the writing is written in the second person. For example, the copy should read: ‘’Your skin will look better in the first six hours’’ rather than: ‘’Our product produces results in six hours.’’
The first example is more about the customer and less about the product. The copy speaks to the customer directly, which is more likely to elicit a buying response. It’s effective because the person can relate the product and what it does to the problem they might be experiencing.
Makes Use of Compelling Headlines
Copywriters are masters at writing good headlines. Good headlines arrest the attention but also keep people reading. This is because they indicate what the writing is about, but don’t tell the whole story. A good headline compels the reader to keep reading.
Effective headlines grab the reader’s attention, generate curiosity, and make a promise, or articulate benefits. Others create a sense of urgency or use numbers to convey credibility.
Trust your copywriter to create arresting headlines that will engage your customers and guide them towards a purchase.
Gets to the Point
Good copywriting is clear and concise and gets to the point. Effective copywriting tells your audience what they need to know, what to do and to do it now. It doesn’t confuse the reader with too much detail. Remember, a confused mind can’t make a decision.
Copywriters know how to write copy without fluff. Plain language that communicates plainly and is free of jargon delivers messages that readers can immediately understand and act on.
Includes a Call to Action
Marketing copy ends with a call to action. After all, the whole point of the copy is to get the audience to take some form of action.
The call to action is the most important part of a piece of copywriting. It tells the audience what to do next, to click to download, make a booking, register for an event, etc.
The most effective call to action creates a sense of urgency, telling the reader to take action now or miss the opportunity, or forego a discount, for example.
Up to now, the copywriter has described the product or service in detail, laid out its benefits and provided proof that it’s a great buy. The call to action is the part of the writing that closes the deal.
The call to action must be dead simple to follow. It typically takes the form of an instruction in active voice. An effective call to action combines a simple instruction with a sense of urgency. Here are a few examples:
- Click here to get our exclusive guide.
- Sign up now and get 15% off the regular sales price.
- Unlimited support. Basic rate. Learn more.
- Send me specials now!
- Begin your free trial today.
Final Thoughts
Well-crafted copywriting delivers a clear message that is persuasive but not necessarily heavy on sales talk. It speaks directly to a specific audience, about specific product or service benefits, provides proof of what’s being marketed, and then provides a simple call to action.
Large organizations, corporations, institutions, and businesses of all sizes need sales copy for marketing purposes. Copy that converts is written by copywriters who understand the fundamentals of writing for marketing purposes.
It’s safe to say that without well-crafted copywriting many businesses would not be able to get the word out about who they are and what they do.
In addition, if you are a physician looking to start your own business, check our my book, Entrepreneur Rx. In Entrepreneur Rx, I share time tested insights and knowledge for building a thriving startup while maintaining your practice. From identifying winning business ideas to raising necessary capital, I offer a comprehensive insider’s view into strategies that have helped me develop and nurture a number of successful businesses.
