Copywriting is an important part of your digital marketing strategy, but it must be properly planned out and executed in order to fulfil its potential.
A professional content writer knows the difference between the types of copy required in various situations and how it should be used to help move leads through the marketing funnel. Not deploying the right content at the right time can disrupt the user journey and leave customers with a less-than-satisfactory experience. Instead, you want a copywriter who knows their SEO techniques from the email marketing methods and will optimise every area of your marketing for the best results.
Establishing a consistent style and tone of voice for your brand copywriting is important, but despite similarities across all your content, each piece must be written for its specific purpose. That means it will meet the expectations of its target audience and help them to fulfil the task they and you are wanting them to achieve on your website, social channel or other interaction with your business.
The key to understanding copywriting is to remember that it’s very goal-driven. It’s not just the case of a content writer putting together articles, posts or emails as a nice-to-have asset, but to encourage the reader to complete a particular action. Sales copy often culminates in a call-to-action (CTA), but this can’t just be tagged on to the end of a generic piece. All of the copy should be leading to this point, making it feel like an inevitable destination rather than a sudden diversion.
When thinking about the different types of copywriting, there are a number of elements to take into consideration. They include the overall aim of the piece, the context of where it will be published and the industry you’re operating within. This will help you and your copywriting team to match up the projects and services required to successfully market your business.
You should think about including some of the following in your digital marketing strategy:
Can come in the form of blog posts, landing pages, guides, product descriptions and evergreen information about your company.
Email copywriting
Including an attention-grabbing headline, compelling message copy and CTA.
Conversion copywriting
Aimed at convincing the reader to buy a product or service.
Marketing copywriting
This broad term encompasses everything from sales pages and ads to direct mail.
Technical copywriting
Gets to the heart of a niche subject.
PR copywriting
Targeted at industry stakeholders, who communicate the message further.
Succinct written content to go alongside visuals on paid ads.
B2B copywriting
Business-to-business targeted content.
B2C copywriting
Business-to-customer focused content.
Direct response copywriting
Compels the prospect to share their email address, make an appointment or sign up to a webinar.
Social media copywriting
Resonates with audiences on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as Pinterest, Airbnb and LinkedIn.
UX copywriting
Focuses on end-to-end interactions with the user to offer them the best possible experience.
To understand where to deploy the various types of copywriting throughout your digital strategy, you’ll need a working knowledge of the marketing funnel. This concept is a useful way of organising your content and other assets to ensure they’re serving a purpose and guiding leads onto the next stage of the process towards your desired outcome. This is most often a purchase of a product or service.
When you think of marketing as a funnel, it’s wide at the top, getting narrower as your audience moves through it until it’s been refined into the perfect demographic for your business. There are five distinct stages and each of them should be furnished with content:
Before anything else happens, you need your audience to know you exist. At the awareness stage of the funnel, you’re focusing on initial exposure and not the hard sell. Potential customers may not even realise they have a problem your company can solve when your copywriting first piques their interest.
As the funnel content moves them onto the next stage, their interest should start to become an active desire to see how your business can enhance their lives. You should be building up your credibility at this point and demonstrating what makes you a
By this point in the sales funnel, prospects will be comparing your solution to those offered by others. It’s up to you to differentiate it and explain the value it can deliver on everything from performance and pricing to packaging.
A pivotal stage in the content marketing funnel is when the customer takes action, as it’s when they make the decision to purchase. Fulfilling the user’s needs and expectations at this point is critical so as not to lose the sale.
In marketing, the relationship with a customer shouldn’t finish after a transaction has been completed, as there’s an opportunity for the individual to be returned into the funnel once more. Get the strategy right here and you can see a future of repeat purchases stretching out ahead of you.
Funnel content must be written with the specific stage in mind otherwise it won’t serve its purpose. Come on too strong trying to convert a lead early on and you risk scaring them away, while failing to signpost them on to the next phase means you could lose them before you’ve even moved past gaining their interest on social media.
Deploy techniques correctly, like brand messaging, tactical discounts, informative content and CTAs, and you will find success. Guiding your customers through the content marketing funnel should lead them to purchase and on to become loyal customers, but only if you get it right.
In answer to the question, ‘do you need a professional to write copy for your business? The correct response is ‘yes’. After all, you’re never going to get the best results by asking amateurs to do any task no matter what field you’re operating in and to make the most of potential leads, you need someone with a high level of copywriting skill to guide your audience through the funnel to success. At Axonn, we have a team of professional copywriters at your disposal to do just that.
Writing persuasively treads a fine line between gently applying pressure, highlighting all the benefits of products and services, and pushing too hard. Inspiring action in people is what a copywriter does and is an area they’ll have been trained in over time. It’s often not until clients see the work of a professional copywriter that they realise just how specialised it is and the value it can bring to a business.
While there may be the potential to train someone up in-house to write website copy, this will need to go beyond just a flair for creative writing. One of the drawbacks of this approach is it can take a significant amount of time and resources without any guarantee those skills won’t leave the organisation. Hire a professional copywriting service and the expertise will already be in place and there will be multiple copywriters to fall back on.
Employing the right copywriters for your business is important, so don’t be afraid to ask candidates for examples of their work and to quiz them on their credentials. Draw up a shopping list of the skills you’re looking for before you make your final decision. It should include:
To bring customers on board using the right level of pressure.
Clear communication
To showcase your products and guide your customers through the funnel.
Tone of voice
To be appropriate for both your brand and your audience.
Succinct writing style
To ensure the message isn’t lost in too much copy.
Understanding of audience
To keep your customers at the heart of your messaging.
Knowledge of the funnel
To ensure each stage is catered to carefully.
Ability to distil the essence of a product or service
To best market it.
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