Whether it’s a headline about designer sofas or a service page for an auto body shop, copywriters take great pride in crafting the most compelling text they can for business websites, blog posts, PPC ads, and other marketing assets.
Trained copywriters want their work to be seen, and that’s good news for companies in need of wordsmithing. Copywriters take the most searched-for keywords and the jargon associated with your industry and painstakingly massage it for mass consumption.
The goal is to make your messaging as straightforward and appealing as possible. That means representing your brand with clear, persuasive, error-free writing.
What Do Copywriters Need from the Client?
Before starting any project, the copywriter will likely ask you the following questions.
- Who am I writing for? What is the demographic?
- Who are your main competitors?
- What is your company’s value proposition? What separates you from the competition?
- What actions do you want the audience to take after reading the copy?
- What tone of voice are you comfortable using? Is it casual or more professional?
As a business owner (or company representative), you are the expert. A copywriter is merely the interpreter of your knowledge. Many of these answers will seem obvious to you. However, reiterating the importance of your company’s mission and values will help your copywriter immensely.
Saying that you offer good prices and excellent service is admirable but generic. The more in-depth and specific your responses are, the more honest and direct the copy will be.
An Understanding of the Audience
Many copywriters will form a customer profile based on the type of industry they are writing for. Your insights as a business owner will help refine this impression.
Attributes such as your primary customers’ age group, interests, income level, and location all influence the writing. You need to think about the following questions:
- What are the problems your company is trying to solve for customers?
- What is the prime motivator behind your customer’s buying decision? Do people utilize your business to fulfil their aspirations, emotional desires, or want for prestige? Does your company serve a practical need?
- Do your values as a business align with the customer’s (eco-friendliness, cost-consciousness)?
- Are you familiar with your customers’ potential pain points? Are they leery about wait times, poor service, bad quality, high costs?
Your responses are the details that fuel the copywriter’s imagination and spark the writing process. Anything you can do to put your copywriter into the mindset of your company’s target audience will help keep the writing on point.
For example, copywriters can express a sense of empathy or urgency (or both) depending on the type of incentive a potential customer is more likely to respond to.
Does your company market to a niche market or fill a void your competitors do not? If so, that’s a selling point a copywriter would love to promote. Knowing the ideal audience for your products or services will inform everything from the choice of words to the final word count.
A Clear Objective
Strong marketing content can accomplish many things. It can inform the public about an upcoming sale, entertain potential customers with helpful advice, or persuade someone of a company’s merits using stats and reviews. No matter what it is you create, the objective is the same: you want to initiate an action!
Whether it’s part of a Google Ads campaign or the various sections that make up your new website, the copy should ultimately be directing the reader to either sign up for a newsletter, contact your business, or complete a purchase.
If you don’t come out and ask for something, you’re less likely to get what you want. A copywriter will speak up on your behalf via the text they produce.
Engaging Copy with Meaning
Copywriters attempt to pique people’s curiosity with bold headlines that convey a solid benefit to grab people’s attention. Highlighting your company’s many positive attributes in the shortest amount of text is crucial for maintaining interest.
In marketing, straightforward and honest always wins the day. Identifying your brand as a problem-solver is a surefire way to earn trust and clicks. Misleading clickbait strategies should always be avoided.
Deliberately funny copy can also be a magnet for attention. Alas, not every business can get away with incorporating a light-hearted tone. Your copy needs to maintain a consistent feel throughout.
Attracting people’s attention is essential, but following through on your copy’s introductory premise is vital. Google rewards websites that deliver valuable content, and that’s what the best copywriters aspire to.
Storytelling That Resonates with the Audience
There’s a good reason why copywriters ask all those questions about your target base. In a sense, they are trying to figure out the style of “genre” they are writing for.
If the best copywriting solves problems, it’s not too difficult to imagine your text as following a narrative 3-act structure that includes a beginning, a middle, and an end. After all, everybody loves a good story.
- A plumbing business can document the horrors of backed-up sewer lines.
- A restaurant can feature prominently in the love story of its patrons.
- A construction contractor can list the comedy of errors that would necessitate their services.
- A visit to your fitness centre can be the inciting incident in a dramatic comeback story.
You get the idea.
When it comes to marketing, there’s no better way to connect with customers than by using storytelling techniques. Copywriters appreciate any opportunity to explore their creativity.
Regardless of whether you or the customer is the main character, your business will always end up saving the day,
Your website, for example, can introduce a cast of likeable characters, offer a backstory, describe a setting, and detail common dilemmas to build dramatic tension.
People from all walks of life appreciate a story, especially when the events are true. This appreciation for authenticity makes the appearance of testimonials, professional credentials, brand videos, or staff photos all the more important in cementing your credibility.
Case studies, FAQ pages, blogs, gallery pages, and social media posts are fantastic ways to elaborate on your company’s achievements.
You obviously don’t need to tell a story to market your business. Still, it can prove quite effective in showcasing your company’s best qualities.
Appropriate Readability for the Customer
Readability is another essential component in capturing the interest of a potential customer.
Readability refers to how easily a person can understand your text. It evaluates your sentence length, word choice, grammar, and overall structure.
Various formulas and tools, like the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, can help determine your website’s reading level. Higher readability scores indicate copy that is easier to read. Lower scores suggest more complex language.
A website selling baby clothes will read differently than a company marketing software to engineers.
A big part of copywriting requires that the writer maintain the reader’s interest as they guide them along the buying journey.
Formatting the copy into short, readable sections makes the copy skimmable and more accessible. A well-designed ad or website with attractive colours, fonts, and images goes a long way toward supporting the copywriter’s work.
A Clearly Stated Value Proposition
As a business operator, you probably know why people prefer your company over a competitor’s. Copywriters will often highlight a company’s merits by describing the most notable features of your products or services.
Features are the specific attributes or characteristics of a product or service. For example, a smartphone might have a 108 MP camera, a 6.5-inch display, or water resistance. Likewise, a plumbing company may provide 24/7 service by Journeyman plumbers.
Benefits explain how those features improve users’ experience or solve their problems.
A smartphone’s benefits might include capturing stunning photos, enjoying a larger screen for watching videos, or not worrying about accidental spills. A plumbing company offers peace of mind by being available around the clock for emergencies and employing experienced professionals who can tackle any job.
While both are important, benefits often hold more weight in persuasive copywriting. Benefits resonate more emotionally with the audience by addressing their needs and desires. Features support the claims about benefits, but without clearly communicating the advantages, potential customers might not see the value.
Compelling business copy strikes a good balance between all elements. However, focusing on the benefits typically leads to better engagement and conversions.
Anything that sets your offerings apart from others in your industry should be featured prominently within the copy.
Placement for Keywords
Analytics or SEO specialists provide copywriters with the relevant words they need to incorporate into the copy. Doing so in a natural way improves search engine visibility.
Keywords should be sprinkled throughout the copy without drawing attention to their placement. Any odd phrasing on account of keyword stuffing (trying to cram as many keywords into an online page as possible) could prove distracting for the reader and subsequently hurt its ranking in Google.
Is Your Copywriting Meeting the Customer’s Expectations?
Every business will present itself in its own chosen way. No matter the style of copy you employ, you want it to reflect your business appropriately. If you’re not writing the copy yourself, you must ensure your copywriter has everything they need to align the content with your goals.
Never underestimate the power of your words to capture attention, drive action, and make lasting connections. If you could use a second set of eyes on your current text, or a copy refresh, Agency Media has copywriters on staff who are ready to assist.