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Copywriting — The Art of Selling through Words
You may be familiar with this scenario: three people apply for the same job. They all have good academic backgrounds and work experience, but one of them stands out from the rest. Why? Perhaps because they have applied the same principles as those in copywriting: setting themselves apart, emphasizing their value and capturing attention with their words.
But then, does copywriting only have to do with words, communication or writing? Well, it actually goes further than that. It’s not just about writing texts that are correct in terms of spelling: in this article, we’ll break down its secret for you.
What’s copywriting and how can it be helpful for your business?
Copywriting is a branch of advertising and marketing that relies on the ability to write persuasive text for various purposes, such as websites, email marketing or social media. Its main goal is to encourage the user or potential customer to take action.
This action is not limited to a purchase — it can be related to other goals, including:
- Lead Generation. The process of gathering the contact information of potential customers who are interested in your products or services. This is usually accomplished by using a form
- Growing your social media audience. A subscription or follow can be the desired action. This way, you can gain more visibility and reach.
- Achieving user progression in the funnel. An average user will go through each stage in the marketing funnel from acquisition to conversion, retention, sale and loyalty. Our goal with copywriting is to guide the customer through each of these steps.
- Requesting more information. To get a person to contact you to find out more about a product or service you offer.
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How to make your Copywriting a success
Another essential part of copywriting is research. To empathize, connect and evoke emotions with your ideal customer, you need to know them. This requires research in order to understand their socio-demographic profile —gender, age, income, city and country of residence—, their academic and work experience, and their frustrations and motivations. It’s also crucial to understand their pain points — the needs they want to address because they are either facing a problem or looking to improve or optimize a situation in their life. Knowing who they are and what they need is when, through copywriting, three actions need to be taken:
- Writing texts that empathize with your buyer persona. At this point, it’s important to address those pain points that you’ve discovered in the internal research and do it in a creative way. You need to ask yourself: how am I going to communicate the message in a way that my client understands and is impacted by it? Stories are a very powerful tool. A good example of this was what Apple did when they introduced the iPhone 5 earphones, narrating how their engineers brought this new product to life. Apple’s new “earPods” were tested by over 100 individuals subjected to extreme heat and cold while exercising in a gym. It managed to have an impact and, at the same time, be relatable.
- Write down the benefits of your product or service that are related to your customer’s pain points. For example, if your customer has a website and is looking for a hosting service, but they have trouble communicating in English and don’t want to wait endlessly for support, you can highlight the benefits of your 24/7 online and/or telephone support in Spanish as a solution to your customer’s pain point.
- How are you going to solve your clients problem? Copywriting can help make clear what it is that you can solve for them and it can help you do it in a creative and impactful way. Let’s take a look at an example:
Apple never shows up at CES, so I can’t say I saw this coming. pic.twitter.com/8jjiBSEu7z
— Chris Velazco (@chrisvelazco) January 4, 2019
You can apply this persuasive writing technique aimed at sales and conversion to all the texts on your website: home, about me, product descriptions (in case you have an online store), landing pages, launches and pages where you explain the services you offer.
Copywriting is not writing pretty text
Copywriting is not literature — it’s a persuasive writing technique that’s essential for any business, because the texts on a website or advertisement are the first thing a customer sees. They are your introduction, the showcase for your brand and services. That’s why it’s important that people who take the time to visit your website feel identified, get excited, or sense that you have the solutions to their problems
Ikea is a good example of great copywriting:
Ikea is able to communicate its purpose and connect with its audience through emotions and empathy. The Swedish giant demonstrates how it’s possible to reach your ideal customer by focusing on what’s important to them.
Content writing and copywriting — same thing?
Content writing and copywriting are not the same thing. This is a common misconception, so let’s clarify what each one does and how you can learn to differentiate them:
- Content writing aims to inform, educate, entertain and provide knowledge, thereby gaining the trust of users.
- Copywriting, on the other hand, aims to achieve a conversion, closing deals and generating sales.
Now we’ve established the difference, it’s important to highlight that they make the perfect tandem. Together they create a strategy that you’ll need to implement in your business — because content generates trust and credibility, and if it provides significant value, it can attract subscribers who, through copywriting, can then become customers.
Don’t forget to put into practice some of these tips — such as immersing yourself in all the available online content, following the people who inspire you the most and, above all, losing the fear of making mistakes.
