What is Copywriting?
Copywriting is the art of persuading people, promoting your products or services while also providing your company a brand voice.
The primary goal of copywriting is to convince people to perform a certain action, such as buying something, signing up for something, or converting to another kind of conversion.
Advertisements, web pages, brochures, white papers, social media material, and corporate taglines are all examples of copywriting, and that’s just scraping the surface.
However, copywriting entails a lot more than simply words. The content in these documents is referred to as “copy,” which is why the term “copywriting” was coined. Copy that is well-written delivers a captivating narrative and reflects your company’s image. It tugs on the threads that cause whoever reads what you’re writing to make a decision.
Copywriting isn’t about selling goods or services; it’s about selling emotions and a way of life. Copywriting is all around you, even if you don’t know it.
In fact, simply glancing through your inbox will provide some apparent instances of copywriting. Copywriting includes restaurant promotions, catalogues, fundraising letters from charity groups, and sales letters for various products and services.
What is a Copywriter?
A copywriter is a professional writer who produces the text, or copy, that appears in marketing and promotional materials.
You may have heard a number of misconceptions about authors, such as the idea that authors are born with talent and that you can’t “learn” to write.
Perhaps you’ve heard the contrary, that writing requires little talent and that anybody can do it.
Both of these misconceptions are false when it comes to copywriting.
Copywriters are experts who have studied and honed their trade. Although none of us are born with the ability to create great copy, it is a talent that almost anybody can acquire with practice.
Copywriting has remained a relatively elite profession that few people enter, maybe owing to the misconceptions surrounding writers.
However, as a copywriter, this works to your benefit since well-trained copywriters are hard to come by.
Who needs Copywriters?
Nearly every company relies on copywriting to succeed.
Businesses would be unable to communicate their messages with prospective consumers in order to grow their markets, or with existing consumers in order to keep them, engaged copywriters were not employed.
Websites, non-profit organisations, service providers, and brick-and-mortar shops are all included.
All of them need and employ copywriters.
Other Fortune 500 firms, like Apple Inc., rely heavily on copywriters. They have large marketing expenditures, and a part of those funds will go to copywriters directly.
You don’t have to work for Fortune 500 businesses if you don’t want to.
Many different kinds of businesses, both large and small, use copywriters, including:
- Investment companies and financial institutions
- Pharmaceutical and medical supplies businesses
- Manufacturers of food
- Non-profit organisations
- Car mechanics and hair salons are examples of local service providers.
- Coaches that specialise in fitness, personal development, and other areas
- Dentists, physicians, and other medical professionals
And this is only a tiny sample of the kinds of businesses that need your expert copywriting skills.
Whatever your particular hobbies and experience, the copywriting business will almost definitely have a great fit for your abilities.
Skills to be a good Copywriter?
So, what makes for excellent copywriting? There are a few things that may elevate mediocre copy to the next level. As a novice, these are the top 10 things you should concentrate on:
1. Grammatical Correctness
If your content has mistakes in spelling or punctuation, it may detract from your final objective. People have a poor impression of a brand, product, or service when they find a copy mistake, particularly short-form copy.
One or two grammatical errors buried in a 1,000-word blog article, on the other hand, may be overlooked. A few-lines spelling mistake on the site or in a sales email is considerably more important.
2. No jargon
Remove any words that are unique to your industry from your text.
If you’re a lawyer, you should be able to communicate with someone who isn’t a lawyer. If you’re a doctor, make sure your content is understandable to those who aren’t in the medical profession.
Slang and acronyms should be avoided at all costs. Slang is generally seen as unprofessional (unless it’s part of your brand image), and you can’t assume that everyone knows what your acronyms mean.
Great copywriters can take a complicated topic and break it down into words that even a fifth-grader can comprehend.
3. Persuasive
Persuasive copy is important. You must write in such a manner that someone is persuaded to do the desired action.
What are the benefits of purchasing your product? What are the benefits of signing up for your email newsletter?
You’re not selling timepieces; you’re selling opulence. You’re not selling insurance; instead, you’re selling security. Determine the emotions you want to elicit in the reader and then select the appropriate word combination to elicit those emotions.
4. A powerful call to action (CTA)
Only half of the fight is explaining your brand, goods, services, or business purpose. You must also provide your audience with a clear call to action.
What is your copy’s ultimate goal? It should be obvious to anybody who reads it.
Make sure the message has been communicated if you want them to purchase anything. People should not be placed in a state of limbo. Conversion-oriented CTAs should be written.
5. Search Engine Optimised
This is a unique feature of website copy.
It’s always in your best interests to create material that’s search engine friendly. Use keywords that can help your sites rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) (search engine page results).
Keywords are only one of many variables that go into creating high-ranking content. While SEO-friendly content is essential, it isn’t always the deciding factor. As a result, don’t cram keywords into your text if it degrades its quality.
Future Career Prospects:
For decades, copywriting has been studied and acknowledged as an important component of marketing.
Businesses have always struggled to find new methods to reach out to prospective consumers and effectively convey what they have to offer.
In our contemporary information era, this is even more critical. People nowadays are continually bombarded with conflicting messages across all kinds of media.
“We wouldn’t be in business if we didn’t have excellent copywriters.”
The Oxford Club’s Julia Guth
Every company wants to stand out from the crowd, which is why many of them spend a lot of money on marketing and copywriting. The future of copywriting — and those of us fortunate enough to work in it — seems to be bright.
Copywriting is a highly sought-after talent that companies need to stay afloat. This is why copywriting is a thriving business with good compensation and an almost limitless supply of work. You’ll always be in demand as long as you put in the work to master the art of copywriting, and you’ll be able to enjoy the high pay and stability that come with being a copywriter.
Examples of Copywriter job titles
Marketing Copywriter
Brand Writer
Social Media Copywriter
Senior Copywriter
Copywriter (Part-Time)