What is copywriting
Copywriting is one of the most effective and powerful and profitable ways to grow a business.
Also known as sales copy, or just copy for short. Copywriting is really just writing, using words and arranging and writing down those words in interesting and persuasive combinations in order to increase brand awareness. Customers to take action, get them to buy something or whatever else it is that you want to achieve. So if you've ever written any kind of business or marketing content in order to try to persuade or convincesomeone to do something, then you, my friend, have donecopywriting and you can call yourself a copywriter.
All right? Congratulations. Here's your certificate. Gee, thanks so much. Hey, Mom, I did it. Posted on social media about your business and an offer. You have that's copy. Have a section on your website that asks people to sign up or fill out an application or download something. That's copy to send an email to your customers, wrote a tagline for your business, a sales page, a white paper, a lead magnet, anything at all to promote your business. It's all copy. Of course, there is a difference and a pretty big one between good copywriting and bad copywriting and a fewdetails that you should know about what really goes into this whole copywriting thing, whether you want to do it yourself or hire someone to help you out.
So let me walk you through that. Now, starting by covering the two Things that copywriting is not.
Number one, copywriting is not copywriting. Now, I appreciate if you're just listening to the audio here and not looking at the screen, then that is going to sound like the most messed up and confusing statement ever. Copywriting is not copywriting. But the fact is, what we're talking abouthere is copywriting, which is creating copy inorder to get customers to take action. Copyright, on the other hand, is the legal protection of intellectual property that protects original, works Of authorship and the creators who made it, or in other words, all that law stuff. Number two, copywriting is not content writing, but there is An overlap and a bit of a gray area here.
So it's important to understand the Differences between copy and content.
But then don't worry too much about getting caught up in the details after this. Basically, copywriting is one directional, it's outcome Driven, it’s persuasive and compelling, and it's designed and written with the intention of getting someone to take some kind of action, ideally immediately, and ideally in some kind of trackable or measurable way. So you can decide whether your copy is effective or not. Content writing, on the other hand, is more engagement and awareness focused. It's there to build good will and create relationships and is willing to do it over a longer period of time. This blog right here that you're reading no wis a good example of content, not copy. But if I were to include a call to action that asks you to do something like, say, for more information on the Digital Marketing Academy.
Well, then that would be copy, but copy buried inside content. Like some kind of copywriting inception. Anyway, that's why I don't want you to get too worried over calling it copywriting or content writing. Because at the end of the day, it's really just about making sure you're using the right tool for the job and doing it in the best way possible. Which leads me perfectly to my next point,
which is that the best copywriting comes from copywriters who have a solid and foundational understanding of marketing strategy and marketing principles.
Now, every platform and every medium and every channel has its own style and tone and personality and you need to take this into consideration when you're writing copy. For example, a cold email is going to look and feel and sound very different than an email that you're sending out to your customers or your subscribers. And an organic social media post is likely to have a different feel and level of assertiveness than compared to, say, if you were running it through a paid ad or actually spending money to promote this to brand new people. Not to mention, each platform has its own style and parameters and content guidelines.
For example, writing an ad for, say,Google Ads is going to look very Different than an ad written for YouTube. This is because with Google Ads, well, it's searchbased, so the intent of the user is different. Not to mention you're limited on the kinds of media that you can use and the number of characters you're allowed to put in your ad. Compared to, say, a YouTube ad, which could be three minutes or five minutes or ten minutes, it allows you to use video and audio and graphics and all kinds of other fancy pants editing stuff.
That said, there are rules and guidelines and principles that have stood the test of time and have been aroundfor tens, if not hundreds, if not thousands of years. Fun fact the first record of copywriting is said to be this little document right here, the Egyptian Papyrus of Slave Sham, which dates back to 30 BC. But we've gotten a lot better since then. So let me walk you through some of the most important fundamentals right now,starting with features versus benefits.
The best copywriters know that we ashumans are emotional creatures who make decisionsbased on feelings first and then just if your decisions with logic after the fact.
This is why a cardinal sin in copywriting is to simply state the features and all the things that someone's going to get rather than what actually matters, which is the end result, the outcome, and the benefit that your customer will experience as a result of doing business with you. In today's hyper competitive world, where customers have seen it all and heard it all and probably tried it all before, they're unlikely to respond to anything that claims to be better.
This is because a better is subjective. So is it faster or cheaper or more reliable? Or does it come with more high fives? And B they won't believe it because again, they've been told that things are better before and rarely did their expectations line up with what they actually received. The solution then is to be different, to find someway to be unique or new or novel or interesting or creative and ideally, something that your competitors are going to be unable or unwilling to copy.
Okay, next, the single CTA, which may bethe very most important point of all.
As I covered earlier, one of the biggest differences between content writing and copywriting is that copy is designed with the intention of getting someone to take some kind of action. This is why it's important to keep things as clean and clear and as concise as possible, ideally with one single call to action. And by ideally, I mean basically just have one call to action and make sure to tell them exactly what to do next and why it's in their benefit to do so.
For example, if you really want to become a better copywriter, then one of the best things that you can do is learn how to use and apply the 15 psychological marketing triggers that make people buy from you. So to help you do that, I've linked up a Blog right here with those 15 psychological triggers that will not only show you what they are, but also how to use them. So make sure to check that out,