Copywriting. You’ve probably heard of it before, but you might be asking yourself, what exactly is it and does my business really need it?

Well, I’m going to answer both of those questions for you today. But first, let me give you an illustration.

Let’s say you are a new small business owner, and you’re just getting ready to open your first storefront location. And for the sake of this example, let’s say your business is going to be a specialty food store – you know, one of those fancy little shops with the fine wine and amazing cheese. Those are my favorite.

Anyways. So you’re sitting there in your little shop going over the logistics of opening day, and you’ve decided a few things. First, you need to do some advertising. Maybe you should create a banner with some wording that draws people in. And perhaps some flyers to pass out to the community. Oh, and how about some gift certificates to give out to the first 100 customers? Wait, you should probably have some sort of letter or pamphlet written up to promote that gift certificate deal, otherwise no one is going to know about it. Speaking of pamphlets, you’re going to want to create some sort of mailer or in-store guide with all your coupons and deals for the week. All the other stores are doing that sort of thing, so you best get on it. Wow that’s actually a lot of material to create.

And that’s just some of the items you’ll need for your storefront. It can be tough to rely solely on foot traffic to keep your business profitable, so you’re going to need a web presence as well. Which means you will to need to build a website, and that website needs to have content. You know, bios, an “about” section, pages about your products. You might even consider selling your products online, in which case you’re going to need an online store with enticing product descriptions that make potential customers want to buy without being able to physically touch or see the product, which takes some skill. Oh, and you’re going to need to a blog. Maybe you can write about different cooking techniques, or what to do with all that fancy wine and cheese. Definitely write about things that will educate your customers on the products you sell. You could talk about food pairings and how to host the perfect cocktail party. So many ideas! So many things to write about! So much value to be created!

See all those words in bold above? The areas that mention content creation, marketing or writing? Those are all things that a copywriter can do for you.

Essentially, a copywriter is someone who creates valuable written material to be used for promotional purposes, and they do it in a way that entices your audience, creating a desire to come back for more. Anything that has to be written within your business – including newsletters, emails, pamphlets, flyers, web content, blogs and white papers – a copywriter can create. And you should definitely hire one to do those things for you. I know, I know, you may be thinking, yeah but I could just do all those things on my own! Why do I need to hire someone to do it for me? Why indeed.

Well, you could do it yourself, but if you’re not a writer, and you have a million other things to do in order to get your business going, do you really want to spend the time and effort to write ‘copy? And risk having it be sub-par? I’m not sure it would be worth the risk. In fact, attempting to write your own copy may in fact lose you money in the long run. I’m telling you, those words are way more important than you think, and I’m about to tell you why.

While there are many benefits to hiring a skilled copywriter, here are just 7 reasons why your business needs to invest in copywriting:

 

You have great ideas but no time to write about them. Or, you have the time but you can’t articulate what you want to say.

Maybe you’ve got great content ideas swirling around inside your head. Going back to the specialty food shop, maybe you’ve got a list of content ideas for blog posts about exotic foods, fine wines, cooking techniques and more, but you simply don’t have the time to write them out. Or maybe you have the time, but you just don’t have the skill. There’s no shame in that. We all have our own talents. Why don’t you stick to what you’re good at, and let someone who’s skillset includes wordsmithing take a stab at creating some amazing content for your website and/or blog. I promise you won’t be disappointed. You’ll probably feel relieved to have all those ideas out of your head, and the daunting task of writing them out cohesively off of your plate. It will let you move on to bigger and better things. Like growing your business.

 

Good copy will communicate with your audience in a way that they will be able to understand and relate to.

It’s one thing to write well, but can you effectively communicate with your audience in a way that they will understand? For example, you could talk about your specialty food shop, laying out the facts in a matter-of-fact (but boring) way, but will this really reach the heart of your readers? Will it make them want to keep reading? Will it turn them into loyal customers?

Your tone and writing style need to be exciting, engaging and really reach out to your readers, meeting them where they’re at. The words you write are a reflection of your brand, and you want your brand to be unique. Which means no boring, cookie-cutter writing that could have been written about anything, anywhere. It needs to be uniquely you, and a copywriter can do that for you. Which leads me to my next point.

 

All promotional materials, web content, newsletters – everything that involves words – need to jive with your brand.

A good copywriter will be able to take a brand and run with it, weaving your unique tone into all content across all platforms. This is essential to gaining and maintaining loyal customers because, whether they realize it or not, they are judging your business based on the words you use to describe what you do. They are subconsciously deciding if your brand is a good fit for them, based on the personality your portray through your content, so it’s a good idea to make those words count.

The concept of creating content that is consistent with your brand is more important than most people realize. Often times your content, whether it be in an advertisement or online, is the first point of contact you have with a potential customer. If they see something that is dull and sends inconsistent messages, they’re going to label your brand as lackluster and boring, and they are going to move on.

Think about some of your favorite brands. You want to know one reason why you love them so much? It’s not because of their amazing prices or their speedy customer service, although those things are important too. You love them because of their personality – their tone of voice, the things they represent and the stories they tell. Whole Foods is a good example of this. Everything they print uses consistent branding, and that branding is interesting. It’s fun and quirky, original and unique. They tell an awesome story and they incorporate their values into everything they do. But that branding didn’t just fall from the sky – surely they had a very good copywriter on hand to help them write their copy. It definitely wasn’t taken lightly.

 

A good copywriter will create actionable copy.

Well-written copy will elicit a certain response from readers, whether that be to buy, share, keep reading, sign up for your email newsletter. Whatever. The point is that the copy is actionable, and that is what you want.

A good copywriter will create copy that is actionable. They will be able to generate a response from your readers and customers without sounding sleezy or salesy. Regardless of what response you want to receive, each piece of content is created to elicit an actionable response. If it’s not creating a response, it’s wasting space. And it’s not representing your brand well. You want people to be actively engaging in whatever it is you are putting out there, and the only way to do this is by creating actionable content, or content with a purpose. That can be hard to do. But a copywriter can help.

 

Well-written copy can increase your sales.

Going along with creating actionable content, well-written copy can help increase your sales dramatically by catering to the emotional side of potential buyers. Think about the difference between the bland and boring “here’s a cool product, click the buy now button” pitch and the enticing “here’s why you need this product and how it will make your life better” pitch. The second will most definitely work better in any scenario. But creating that perfect product pitch takes skill. It’s worth investing in some copywriting in this area for obvious reasons – more sales equal more money for you. It presents an excellent return on your investment.

 

You need SEO friendly content including keywords, headlines, blog posts, web pages and everything in between.

SEO (search engine optimization) is totally a buzzword right now, and it hasn’t always received the best reputation. But really it’s just optimizing your content so that it appears in search engines and ranks highly for certain target keywords. There’s nothing shady about it. You need SEO friendly content using highly targeted keywords on your blog post, front-page copy, headlines and everything in between. And it can’t be spammy – it has to be quality, useful content. It’s pretty much an art form, really.

It can be difficult to get SEO on your site just right, but a copywriter can do this for you. And over time, this will help you rank higher for keywords that will help your business grow in leaps and bounds within the online community.

 

Finally, a copywriter can offer you a much-needed outside perspective on your company.

Sometimes you get so wrapped up in your business that it becomes difficult to see exactly what you are doing right and wrong. You might think something sounds exciting and enticing when really it’s quite bland. No offense of anything, it can just be difficult to separate yourself from your work at times and really take an objective look at it.

A good copywriter will be able to do this for you. They will offer you an outsider’s perspective on your brand, and develop copy that works from that outsider’s perspective. They’ll explain things in a way that would make sense to the average consumer, not someone who it well versed in your business, such as yourself. Something that makes sense to you might not make sense to a customer, and it can be hard to tell the difference sometimes. Don’t worry, that is one of the many things a copywriter is there for.

 

In Conclusion…

There are many reasons why your business should invest in copywriting, but here are 7 ways a good copywriter can enhance, help and add value to your business:

1. A copywriter can help turn your great ideas into awesome, valuable content. Maybe you have great ideas but no time to write about them. Or, you have the time but you can’t articulate what you want to say. Either way, a copywriter can help.
2. Good copy will communicate with your audience in a way that they will be able to understand and relate to, and a copywriter can do just that!
3. He or she will help to create a voice for your unique brand. All promotional materials, web content, newsletters – everything that involves words – need to jive with your brand. Let a copywriter help you with this.
4. A good copywriter will create actionable copy. You want your content to elicit a certain response, otherwise it’s just wasting space.
5. Well-written copy can increase your sales. This is a no-brainer. Copywriting can help increase your sales.
6. A copywriter will create SEO friendly content for you website. You need SEO friendly content including keywords, headlines, blog posts, web pages and everything in between.
7. Finally, a copywriter can offer you a much-needed outside perspective on your company. They will make sure things make sense to someone – like a customer – who might not understand your business as well as you do.

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So, there you have it. 7 reasons why your business should invest in copywriting today. If you’re still on the fence, we’d love to answer any of your questions in the comments below. Or, if you’re thinking this copywriting thing might just be for you, contact us today to set up a free consultation! We can talk about all your copywriting needs and figure out what will work best for your business. We can’t wait to help you get started growing your brand today!

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This article originally appeared here, at TheStoryist.com – a sister company to JSL Marketing.