Copywriting is often misunderstood, its true value to a business not always apparent. So if you’ve found yourself wondering how copywriting can help your business, then this article is written for you.
When done right, copywriting can be a very powerful way for a business to deeply connect with its existing customers, to specifically engage with new target audiences and to dramatically increase conversions and sales.
I’ve been writing for over 15 years, but it was only when I really started to study the art of copywriting that I realised just how much extra goes into this craft…
A quick note on what copywriting is…
Copywriting is the words – known as the ‘copy’ – that are written to encourage the target audience to take a desired action. This action is often sales related, but can also be to encourage sign-ups to courses or email lists, or to steer people towards informational content to further immerse people into a brand.
A copywriter can help a business by writing copy for:
- Websites
- Landing pages
- Email newsletters
- Email welcome sequences
- Sales funnels
- Social media posts
- Video scripts
- Product descriptions
- Banner ads
- Direct mail
- Print ads
- Advertorials
- Outdoor ads
- Press releases
- Crowdfunding campaigns
- Outreach
Can’t I just write it myself?
You might be forgiven for thinking that anyone who can write can do all of that already—or even prompt an AI app like ChatGPT to do it (more on why that’s a bad idea in this AI article). After all, most of us fire off dozens of emails every week, and they get written just fine, right?
To a certain extent, you’d be right. But the key to understanding how copywriting can help your business is rooted in the truth that there is far more to copywriting than ‘just writing’.
At first glance, it may seem easier to write a 10-word web banner advert than a 3000-word blog post.
But when you think that a copywriter may only have 10 words to play with for that banner ad, and a key message to convey, then it’s clear to see that the words chosen to get that message across are vital.
Ironically, less words often makes it harder to write, not easier.
And before a single word is written, a copywriter has a stack of work to do to make sure they can do the best job. Looking at the less obvious work that a copywriter does will help to explain just how much a good one can impact your business for the better…
Develop empathy with the business and its customers
In order for copywriting to best help your business, it needs to be effective copywriting.
And the only way it can be effective is if the copywriter understands both the business and its customers. This is done through empathy.
There’s a photograph of a bridge on my homepage because that’s how I see the role of a copywriter. The words I write for a business are written to build a solid and long-lasting connection between a business on one side and its customers on the other.
Therefore empathy is a hugely vital skill for any copywriter to have.
How does a copywriter develop empathy?
1. By asking questions
Empathy is developed by asking deep and intelligent questions to really dig down and better understand the business, the products/services, and the problem they solve for the customers.
Nobody knows a business better than those who work there, and so copywriters tend to ask a lot of questions of staff to build their understanding and empathy of the business, as well as to glean all the information they can from the business regarding its customers.
Because the truth is, only with genuine empathy can the right words be written that will actually engage and connect with the target audience. And when that happens, relationships and customer loyalty develop.
This is a huge benefit for any business. Research suggests that it is around six times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an existing one (source).
So crafting the right words to connect with existing customers should be a priority. And the chances are high that if the copy connects with those people, it will also connect with potential new customers who have the same problem as your existing customers that your products or services solve.
2. By creating customer profiles
As part of their empathy-building process, copywriters will often generate customer profiles, fleshing out personas or avatars to really get under the skin of the ideal customer.
This is my preferred method, even if a business already has some written. Creating the customer profile lets me get into the life of the ideal customer, thinking about their daily life, their interests, hobbies, key drivers, fears, dreams etc
I find the process of getting to know the customer’s persona fascinating, and even go so far as to give these fictional people a name and a mugshot!
This customer profile then helps me when I’m writing, as I can picture this person and write the words that will connect best with them and their needs.
3. By understanding the psychology of the customer
Customer profiling is a powerful way for a copywriter to get into the psyche of the ideal customer. And understanding the psychology of the target audience is a vital skill that can be the difference between good and great copy.
While empathy breeds compassion and cognitive understanding of the ideal customer, psychology takes this to a whole new level by helping the writer to feel how the ideal customer feels.
And knowing this enables a copywriter to fully understand which message that person really needs to hear, and which words to use to best convey that message to them.
4. By learning your brand tone (or creating one)
Whenever someone in your business is writing copy, it’s important that the tone of the words matches that of the brand so that customers feel there is only one brand voice. This helps to strengthen that all-important trust between the business and its customers.
Imagine, if you got home from work one day and your significant other started speaking in a way that was completely different from how they normally speak. You’d be wondering what on earth was going on, right? Why are they speaking like that? Who is this person?!
It’s the same with a brand’s tone.
A good copywriter will spend the time looking at the company’s existing marketing material to let the tone soak in. And if the business doesn’t have a tone guide one, copywriters will take the time to develop one, digging down into what the brand is about and the types of words it uses (and doesn’t use).
This ensures that before a word is written, the copywriter knows the tone and voice in which to write.
It also highlights one of the big benefits of a copywriter and a business building a lasting relationship with one another. After a while, the tone becomes natural for the copywriter to write, meaning less toing and froing with the client to get the copy just right.
So, if we take all of those hidden things of what a copywriter does into full consideration, it’s easier to see that a copywriter does way more than just writing catchy words and slogans. Those words will have been through many layers of consideration and filters to be distilled down to the final copy. And as a result they will be laser focussed to convey just the right message in just the right words, from your business to your customers.
And that’s the real benefit of how copywriting can help your business.
Now that the ‘hidden’ parts of a copywriter’s role have been brought into the light, let’s take a look at the more visible aspect – the writing.
Choosing the right words
Being able to write is obviously a crucial skill for any kind of writer, from journalists and novelists through to content and copywriters. But in all of those disciplines, being able to write is not enough. Choosing the right words is also vital.
Even the difference between one word and another can make a world of difference. As mark Twain once said:
“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
Mark Twain
For copywriters, choosing the right words can often be the difference between a successful piece of copy that really connects with the intended audience, and a piece of copy that doesn’t even get read beyond the headline.
From all of the customer profiling and empathy development work mentioned earlier, a copywriter will better know just which words will best connect with the intended audience.
SEO savvy
While not generally regarded as a necessity for certain types of copywriting, whenever copy is being written for websites, landing pages or blog content, understanding how search engine optimization works is a huge benefit to businesses.
All of the blog posts I write are tailored to rank on search engine results pages, and being able to tap into genuine organic traffic is a huge benefit for any business. And where social media posts are soon forgotten by the social algorithms, ranking blog posts tend to be more evergreen.
My journey to copywriting came through blogging and content writing. And as a content writer I could find myself writing about anything, from investing in REITs to explaining how Amazon’s affiliate program in India works.
And I learned to do keyword research using tools like Surfer SEO and Keysearch to plan out content silos (also called topic clusters). This really helps to move the needle for businesses, allowing them to pull in organic traffic to blog posts, and eventually turn those cold leads into fans and customers.
Blog articles and content marketing fall more into content writing than pure copywriting. But there is a lot of overlap – read my content vs copywriting article for an explanation of the differences between them.
How copywriting can help your business – the key takeaway
If your business is going to put all of that effort into creating great products or services, you want the words that are written to promote and support them to connect deeply with your ideal customers.
Through empathy and thorough customer profiling, a copywriter can truly understand the business that they are writing for, the pain points of its potential customers and how a particular product or service can benefit those people by providing a solution to their problem. If this is done right, then more sales happen naturally.
So ultimately, effective copywriting can help your business to grow by selling more to existing customers and by attracting new target audiences. If you’re looking to hire a professional copywriter to help build your business, I can help. Feel free to get in touch with me here.