Why you need a good copywriter

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WHY YOU NEED A GOOD COPYWRITER

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Why is engaging a Copywriter for your business one of the most important things you can do?

Let me rephrase that.

Why is engaging a good Copywriter for your business one of the most important things you can do?

Mission critical infact.

It’s surprising how many CEO’s and similarly influential people in the corporate world will invest thousands of pounds on a great website. Before completely wasting the effort and investment made in it by filling it full of poorly written copy.

I’m using the phrase ‘copy’ here in a fairly casual manner. For most people it describes the written content on a website. From About Us and History to Frequently Asked Questions, Terms & Conditions and Contact Us. Plus all points in-between.

Why you need a good copywriter

But it also refers to the written copy you find in magazines and newspapers, brochures, leaflets, advertising and marketing material and any other print or digital medium that requires the written word.

So good copy is essential. And yes, whilst a lavishly designed leaflet, expensively produced glossy magazine or great website will create a great first impression, the market that you, they and everyone else is in demands a little bit more than that. Take, for example, the artwork and photographs that may be included in a magazine or digital brochure. They might look absolutely sensational, outstanding images taken by a professional photographer who was especially hired to take them.

Fantastic stuff. But a picture doesn’t always paint a thousand words. Because it’s usually those thousand words that will make someone’s mind up as to whether they are going to be your customer or not.

So they’d better be good.

Remember what I said about ‘making words dance’? Good copy has them doing the waltz.

Great copy has your words dancing the tango.

And if your Copywriter is going to make them do the tango, he or she needs to have the following qualities:

To Be a Good Writer.

Sounds obvious doesn’t it? But there are plenty out there that aren’t. One of the reasons for this is that business owners will often look to cut the occasional corner by asking someone in the office to put some copy together for them. Now that person might be a great HR Administrator or be as good as it gets when it comes to doing your VAT returns.

But does that make them a great writer? Someone who has mastered the English language, has an in-depth knowledge of grammar and punctuation and a vast vocabulary to call from, a mastery of words and diction that helps turn something ordinary into something sublime.

And over a decade’s worth of proven experience and expertise at putting that art into everyday practice.

You wouldn’t ask your car mechanic to take a look at the wiring in your house and neither would you expect your accountant to know how to sort out a major IT malfunction.

You engage a specialist. Make sure you do so with your copywriting as well.

To Have A ‘Can Do’ Attitude

A good Copywriter is never phased by what you might ask them to do or expect from them.

Whatever your requirements are will be met with a positive response. If they need to find out a little about you, your company and the product or service that you offer then they’ll do that and they’ll do so in their time, not yours.

A good Copywriter loves the challenge of research, of finding out new things and approaching a commission from a completely different angle.  They’ll have a mountain of resources at their disposal which means, rest assured, that they are never going to just copy and paste something and send it your way, neither will they ever become over reliant on Wikipedia as their sole resource.

Challenge them, they love it. Challenge me.

I’ve written specialist pieces for individuals and businesses that offer an enormous range of products and services including the following:

How to remove wasps nests from your loft and ten decorating tips for the home.

The trend of the conical corset and a response to a critical feature written by a tabloid newspaper against the wearing of and fashion of corsets.

A series of blogs for a motivational speaker and ex-professional footballer.

One of the reasons I love my work so much is the element of the unexpected that accompanies it. I genuinely never know what I am going to be asked to do, write about or carry out some in-depth research for.

That’s a ‘can do’ attitude. Make sure your Copywriter has it.

 To Be Original

Easier said than done of course. There are, after all, only so many ways you can write about anything before you end up repeating what someone else has previously said.

I beg to differ.

Being original means taking a few risks and having the occasional leftfield approach in your work. If the subject being researched and written about is traditionally seen as being rather tedious or predictable, a good Copywriter will find an entirely new approach for it and deliver material which feels fresh, lively and very readable. Whilst an injection of humour never fails.

Like the blog I wrote about decorating (above) for example.

It’s a topic most people don’t even want to contemplate. Ever. So they’re hardly going to want to read about it.

I introduced the Dalek into the story and the hits that story and the client’s website got as a result went through the roof.

All because of an injection of originality into the proceedings. Make sure your Copywriter has that sense of adventure plus the vision needed to create something new and exciting out of something that is usually perceived as being old and boring.

To Understand Your Customers

Darren Huckerby, Iwan Roberts and Jeremy Goss at Miscellany Launch

The best Copywriters are focused 100% on the experience and needs of the person reading the copy that he or she has written.

Infact they’ll be looking to empathise with and relate to your customers even more than you do.

To write copy that sells, it needs to touch the reader on an emotional level.

Think of some of the most popular and successful TV advertising campaigns of all time. It’s exactly what they do. It’s exactly what the supermarket giants do each and every Christmas. They spend millions of pounds on adverts that rarely, if ever, feature their stores and the products they sell.

John Lewis’s Christmas TV advertising campaigns are the department store’s most profitable return on investment, proven results which validate its continued investment in creativity.

Whilst Sainsbury’s 2015 Christmas advertising campaign, the one that featured a CGI cat racked up nearly 38,000,000 viewings on You Tube.

Do the maths. What if just 1% of that number all spent just £10 extra at Sainsbury’s that year as a result of seeing that advert, one that made them smile before it made them want to shop.

That advert worked because it got in touch with their customers on an intimate level. It tugged on their heartstrings. Isn’t that just a tiny bit calculating and devious?

Absolutely yes it is. And it worked.

You need to commission a Copywriter who can get in touch with your readers on that emotional level.

Exploring their feelings and using the power of empathy. By doing so, just as Sainsbury’s did with Mog the cat, you are priming them for your sales pitch and increasing the likelihood they will follow up being a visitor to your website by becoming a customer.

A customer who appreciates you because you have shown that you understand them and their needs.

Whatever your Copywriting needs are, I am confident I can meet them and not only fulfil your wishes but exceed them.

Wake up your written word. Give your copy the opportunity to dance.

Get in touch today so I can let you know what I can do for your business. E Mail me at edward@couzenslakemedia.com or call 01243 551604.

Ed 06/22

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