Content is king. You’ve probably have heard this saying thrown around as businesses increasingly move online and everyone’s fighting for a piece of social and web.
The goal at the end of the day is: Get more customers and sell more products.
While many people think they can write, the issue is whether or not what you write connects with your customers and brings them back repeatedly to your website. In my experience, most business owners are in too deep to know exactly how their business has evolved or what’s new and newsworthy enough to evoke a response from their target customer. That’s when you need a super hero – not Spidey, but someone who picks out words to earn their daily bread and butter – a copywriter.
If you haven’t come across the term ‘copywriter’ before, there’s a good chance you need one. A copywriter works with words and writes different content for clients on a daily basis. So what you read on your favourite website, or that glossy brochure that leads you to buy clothes at your favourite store, could be the work of a copywriter.
Think of a copywriter as a connoisseur of words. Similar to a vintner, he or she thinks about how they want you to feel after reading about a client, picks out words carefully, mixes them in various combinations and finally comes up with a product that leaves you satisfied and wanting more.
Copywriters come in all shapes and sizes, from those who write about everything to those who focus on a few areas.
My tip for picking a good copywriter? Look at their personal website (not Facebook) and their portfolio and see how it makes you feel. Do the words on their website show a person you’d like to work with? How much care have they taken to create their own website?
You need a copywriter if:
- The words on your website and content are dull and boring (you know it and everyone on staff knows it but no one knows what to do about it exactly). A copywriter brings in a fresh pair of eyes, new ideas and can help you identify what your customer really cares about. Dull and boring – be gone!
- You are thinking of creating content such as blog posts, brochures, news articles and need easy-to-read and shareable content. If you don’t have the time or in-house expertise to create these yourself then it’s time to look for a copywriter.
- You have customers who eagerly ask for regular content from your business, i.e. in the form of newsletters or press releases or even updates to technical type of content.
- You suck at writing (and you know it deep down!)
- You need a fresh pair of eyes and new ideas to help you in re-positioning or rebranding your business and you don’t have forever to wait or the staff to do this.
Here are a few definitions to help you when you’re looking for the right type of writer for your business:
- Copywriter – a person who writes the text of advertisements or publicity material is the traditional meaning. I don’t necessarily agree with this Mad Men type of definition as copywriters these days do a lot more diverse types of writing than what’s covered by this definition.
- Content writers are professional writers who produce engaging content for use over the Internet. A copywriter can also be a content writer (check out their portfolio to see what they’ve written in the past, or ask for samples of writing).
The next post will cover how you can find your dream copywriter – stay tuned!
Rashida Tayabali is a copywriter covering health and wellbeing, business, women’s lifestyle, corporate communications and parenting. She loves nothing more than a good book, finding the right words and a cup of tea strictly in that order. Connect with her www.rashidatayabali.com.au