So, you’ve got a small business that offers an amazing product or service and words escape you in describing how ground-breaking, innovating, and incredible it is… but you still need the world to know. This is where copywriting comes in to play an award-winning supporting role in the act that is your business. 

What is copywriting and how can it help my business?

Copywriting is the art and skill of carefully creating intentional text, also known as “copy”, for the specific purpose of promoting a product, a service, or a brand. The goal of copywriting is to garner interest and attention from your target audience and motivate them to make a desired action, such as purchasing your product or increasing conversation around your brand or service. Ultimately, the aim of copywriting is to increase your brand’s exposure and your business’s revenues. 

Types of Copywriting

Copy comes in many forms and appears in various media. It’s important to tailor your copywriting to the specific platform that you are writing for, partly because your platform will dictate the kinds of audience that you will reach, and partly because different media have different styles and restrictions in terms of length. Here are some common types of copywriting:

Social Media Copywriting:

This can involve writing captions for Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or even writing the content that will accompany reels or videos like TikTok. The world of social media is massive and can tap into a huge market for your business, with billions of active users who spend up to 2 hours per day, on average, scrolling their feeds. Depending on the platform, though, you may have to be super convincing in a super tight word limit, because, let’s face it, we are the generation of consumers that loses interest fast. So, the challenge for a copywriter on social media is to get your audience to read a lot without reading a lot. Sounds impossible? A good copywriter can really work magic here!

Brand Copywriting:

This is a particularly creative form of copywriting that is intended to create a unique and compelling story around your brand. The goal with brand copywriting is to introduce your audience to your voice, your vision, and your values with the hope of connecting with your target audience. This could be done through blog posts, website content, or through a larger social media marketing campaign. There is a lot of power in making a successful connection through brand copywriting!

Technical Copywriting:

This type of copy is written for marketing materials, like flyers or brochures, research articles, manuals, instructions or product guides. This is typically found for technical businesses, like a software or healthcare company. A copywriter for this type of content would usually have foundational knowledge or expertise in the field that they are writing about in order to effectively communicate the technical jargon about a business’s product or service. Writing from expertise can make all the difference in convincing your audience of your business’s superiority in the market.

PR Copywriting:

Public relations, or PR, is a huge part of the marketing game. A PR copywriter usually works with traditional media platforms to advertise and promote a brand. They write content that is used for press releases, newsletters, articles, and speeches to generate a momentum around your brand and ensure that your brand or business has a positive public image.

Email Copywriting:

Email is a highly effective, more personal form of communication. Since it is delivered personally to your inbox, it can include content that is not just intended for the public, but specifically for those who sign up to a business newsletter for “insider info.” Good email copy has a unique ability to stand out from all the other emails that may make their way into your inbox, such as through a well-targeted meaningful subject line and highly specific, engaging content. And if you make it to the end, then you’ll find a call for action that they’ve hopefully convinced you to do, like making a purchase or signing a petition. 

How to get started

Now that you’ve identified different types of copywriting and thought about which one(s) may help your business’s bottom line, how do you get started with the juicy stuff? There’s still a bit more work to do before you begin to spew words out into the ether. Do some background legwork in order to tailor words in the most effective way. Here is what we suggest:

Identify your target audience

Who are the people that you really want your content to reach? Who do you ultimately want to buy your product or service, or begin a dialogue about your brand? These are the people you will need to befriend. Learn everything you need to know about that (but not in a creepy stalker-ish way). What is the age group? Do they live in a particular region? What are their interests? What platforms is your target audience using? Knowing your audience’s demographics will help inform where you want to publish your content, in turn dictating the length of content and what styles you should adopt in your copywriting. A good copywriter will go one step further and get to know their audience at a deeper level, like the challenges they face and the desires they have, which will give you more ammo in building trust and connection with your target audience and being better able to persuade or influence them. Talk about psychology 101!

Find your voice

Your voice is everything when it comes to copy. Besides the actual content or the “words” themselves, the way they are put together and the style that you choose to write in are the ways in which your audience will connect with and learn about you, without personally knowing you. This is your brand voice. Are you or your business formal and focused on the facts? That should be reflected in your voice. Are you going for a humorous and witty image to share with your audience? It’s important for that humor and wit to come out into your copy. Maybe as a brand, you want to show that you’re hip and connected with pop culture because it’s an important reflection of your brand and what you are trying to sell. That, my friends, is your voice. Whatever voice you adopt, make sure you tie it back into your business or brand and the target audience that you’re looking to make an impression on. The last thing you want to do is create a mismatch between the copy you produce and the product or service you’re trying to sell. #awkward

Ultimately, behind the words that are written on a page (or, well, a post or reel or website) are people like you and me who are seeking to connect, learn, and share with each other. Words are the tools we use to connect with each other, and copywriting is a powerful skill and an art that can use these tools in order to persuade and influence your intended market. If you have a small business and want to explore the many ways that you can build your brand and reach a wider audience, Metric Mane can help you create solid copy and content with your unique brand voice.