Who Needs Copywriting?

Communication is a crucial aspect of everyday life.

Regardless of whether we are talking about people as individuals the businesses and brands that they help to run, the ability to communicate with other people is critical to success.

In a world where tools are so readily available to distribute that communication – either widely or to a very specifically targeted segment of your audience – the ability to communicate effectively is a massive leg-up on the competition.

When we talk about marketing, we are effectively talking about communication.

The Relationships Between Marketing, Communications and Copywriting

In fact, the American Marketing Association defines marketing as, “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

There are many different types of marketing and the types that you employ will be dependent on your marketing strategy.

Some examples of marketing include:

Inbound Marketing

Customers make contact with the marketer in response to numerous strategies employed to grab their attention, which is known as inbound marketing. Email marketing, event marketing, content marketing, and web design are examples of these strategies.

One goal of inbound marketing, which includes content marketing, is to position the company as a reliable source of useful information and problem-solving solutions, resulting in increased consumer trust and loyalty.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

The process of building a marketing/technical plan to boost exposure within one or more search engines is known as search engine optimisation (SEO). This usually consists of two parts.

On a technical level, SEO entails using the right keywords, content, code, and links to ensure that a website is properly indexed by the main search engines.

On the marketing side, SEO refers to the process of focusing on specific keywords in order for a website to “win” in search results. This can be accomplished through optimising a website to perform well in the algorithms used by search engines to determine rank, or by purchasing keyword placement. SEO programmes are frequently a mash-up of many features and tactics.

Outbound Marketing

When the word inbound marketing became widespread, a newer term for traditional marketing was coined: outbound marketing.

The marketer initiates contact with the customer through outbound marketing methods such as television, radio, and digital display advertising. It is frequently employed in order to affect consumer knowledge and preference for a certain brand.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing focuses on using individuals with sway over potential consumers and tailoring marketing efforts to them in order to spread a brand message to a bigger audience.

Instead of promoting directly to a large group of consumers, influencer marketing encourages or compensates influencers (such as celebrities, content creators, customer advocates, and staff) to spread the word on their behalf.

What do all of these strategies have in common?

They rely heavily on copywriting and communication. Even an influencer marketing campaign relies heavily on your ability to tell your influencers about your product or service in a way that will make sense to their audience.

So, who needs copywriting?

More specifically, who needs a copywriter?

Anyone who is involved in the marketing process.

Whether you’re a business owner, a marketing manager, a digital agency owner, a copywriter can add incredible value and save countless headaches and time to bring clarity and creativity to the process.

Why?

Because almost every business task or marketing campaign rely on words.

Words Matter. Make Them Count

A copywriter should have been involved in every piece of marketing text you encounter. You’ll need a copywriter whether you require a catchy social media caption, a 5000-word ebook or a new page for your website.

Why? Because great copy requires a lot of effort.

You’re always surrounded with instances of copywriting, all of which are of variable quality. Writing great copy is really difficult – and not everyone can do it. Hours or days of brainstorming, scribbling, and amends go into the most convincing, alluring texts.

This is a time-consuming process, particularly for people who aren’t copywriters.

Of course, experience helps, and more often than not this process can be much quicker with the assistance of a copywriter.

You need a copywriter if you can’t seem to find the time or the language to compose your own copy.

‘But I can write it myself!’

Here’s the thing with writing copy.

Yes, the vast majority of people in Australia can write. They can compose a sentence. They can use spellcheck or Grammarly.

But can they stir the emotions of their reader?

Can they paint a vivid image in their head?

Can they fill a reader with confidence?

Make them believe in you?

Convince them to meet you?

Spend money with you?

That’s the difference between writing and copywriting.

Beyond being able to conjure emotion and influence with your words, the basics of writing are super important too.

Allowing a non-writer to work on your text might be costly as well: according to Global Lingo, 59 percent of web viewers will abandon a site if they see poor grammar and spelling.

So, if you’re going to produce customer-facing language on your own, make sure you have it checked by a professional before you publish it. Even a fast review will assist to improve the quality of your text, which will be money well spent when the leads and sales start pouring in.

Another key consideration before committing to attempting your own copywriting is time.

Can you afford to spend hours, days or even months pouring over what to write and how to write it?

It is amazing to think of how much money some business owners leave on the table by spending their own valuable time trying to write copy, when they could be completing billable work.

Do you need a copywriter? A checklist.

How do you know if you need a copywriter?

Here are a few simple questions you can ask yourself to understand if you need a copywriter on your marketing team.

Do I need text for a customer-facing website/document/advertisement/caption or article?

If you answered ‘yes’, you will undoubtedly require the services of a copywriter, either to write the text or to proofread it.

Do my existing marketing platforms adequately convey my business’ or brand’s key messages?

A copywriter will add great value if you answered ‘yes’ to this question.

Do I actually understand the key messages I want to convey to my audience?

A copywriter will help you develop this crucial foundation for your marketing and communications if you answered ‘yes’ to this question.

Do I have a copywriter on my team?

Even if you don’t have ongoing copywriting requirements, it pays to have a good relationship with a writer you trust. If you answered ‘no’ to this question, it might be a good idea to start a conversation with one.

Do I have time to write my own text?

Before you say ‘yes’ to this question, think about where that time is coming from. Is it coming from billable work time? Is it coming from important after-hours time? Are you asking staff – who should be working on billable projects – to supplement their main role with attempted copywriting?

If your answer is ‘no’ a copywriter can help you complete copywriting tasks efficiently.

Do you need a copywriter?