Copywriting: Modern Marketing's Glue

Many modern marketing approaches move in tandem with technological advances, utilizing up-to-date tools to keep up with the growing use of the internet. These tools are used collectively to grow audiences by monitoring, testing, and iterating marketing strategies.

Growth marketing consists of various elements including CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation), SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), UX/ UI (User Experience/ User Interface) design, and analytics; but allow me to hone in on one practical, creative element underpinning all of these elements: Copywriting.

The Lifecycle of the Click

When executed correctly, these methods work harmoniously; feeding and blending into one another. Actions or ‘clicks’ will be visually guided by the use of effective design, then, those clicks will be monitored and revised using site analytic techniques and methods. But, no one would ever take any action if they don’t understand why they should, which is where clear, concise copy comes into play.

What is Copywriting

Sitting somewhere in between behavioral science and art, copywriting is the process of composing persuasive text to convince readers to take some form of action; whether it be signing up to a newsletter, making a donation, or making a purchase.

Why It’s Important

From a business perspective, it’s used to generate more leads, hence more sales. However, there’s also a duty to promote products harnessing potential to ensure proper usage in its target community. For instance, a ground-breaking product may get developed but never have the chance to enter the larger market because it was not accurately depicted, promoted, or described.

A Few Rules for Writing Effective Copy:

Rule no. 1

Know Your Audience

A website for a veterinary clinic will have different copy from a website for a theme park. Determining the correct TOV (Tone Of Voice) should be the first step in producing good copy. The copy should be in line with the tone of the product/ service for the site: exhilarating and joyful copy for the Theme Park, comforting and reassuring copy for the Veterinary Clinic. The TOV proves to the reader they’re on the right track for their search from first glance, keeping them engaged to continue reading.

Rule no. 2

Clarity

Your audience should always understand why the text they are reading is useful for them. Do not fill your sentences with unnecessary information, only include what they need to know and, more importantly, why they need to know this information. For Short Form copy (headlines, sub-headlines, social media posts) this will be a matter of words, for Long Form Copy (blog posts, press releases, technical analyses) this will be a matter of words in the sentence and sentences in the paragraph.

Rule no. 3

Brevity

Be brief.

Rule no. 4

Honesty

Do not lie to your audience. Not only may this result in legal troubles (depending on the severity of the false message) but it will irritate the reader and build a bad, unreliable reputation around your company, costing you a.) a potential customer and b.) a return customer/ return visitor. You must always maintain a good rapport with your audience.

Rule no. 5

Editing

Edit. Then edit some more. Copywriting is a creative and destructive process, you should trim the text of any unnecessary information by referencing and iterating the other rules until you get to a point where you’re happy with the copy, or better yet- until you’ve convinced yourself that you’re happy with the copy.

How Copywriting Resonates with Other Growth Marketing Elements:

CRO

Conversion Rate Optimisation is monitoring how many people visit your site or make an action. If your copy is clear, the visitor understands the product to a level which is substantial enough for them to make a decision on an action.

One way of doing this is by acutely summarising your product in a headline. People do not dwell on sites unless they are captivated at first glance. You should write headlines as if it is the only information that is available to the reader about your product, aiming to secure an action straight off the bat.

Honest copy instills the customer with a sense of validation, reassuring them that, in the future, your product will continue to deliver accurately. It also directly affects your analytics, good input = good output.

Therefore your copy must be true to the word. This is particularly important for early stage products. For example, do not make false promises: “Sign up to receive access to our Beta” and then not provide such access. This will corrupt the data going into your analytics because the customers are recorded as being interested in your product on the pretence of a deliverable. Would they have signed up if the Beta was not on offer? You’ll never know, and now your projections for future analyses are stunted.

SEO

Search Engine Optimisation is a method which improves quality and quantity of network traffic to a website from search engines; targeting natural, organic results. SEO writing involves choosing keywords to include in your text and other places on the site (meta tags, titles, etc.) for the search engine to scan and flag them for relevant searches.

Unlike writing copy for short form content like a twitter post, choosing SEO keywords is less creatively liberal. It’s a reverse engineering process, logically choosing keywords which highlight your text as briefly and effectively as possible will be most advantageous in ranking your page higher up in the results list.

UX/ UI

By combining captivating copy and eye-catching design, your site will increase the retention time of visitors, thereby increasing the likelihood of an action being taken.

The tone of voice used in the copy should match the design choices of the website. Using the Theme Park and Veterinary clinic example again; bright and warm colours along with exhilarating and joyful copy being used for the theme park website indicate to the visitor that they’re in the right place to find thrilling rides and amusement, and not the place for them to bring their dog with an upset stomach.

Entering a new site can be dis-orientating, especially when the site is text-heavy. Creating shrewd prompts for the user to easily navigate across the site will increase accessibility: this can vary from choosing appropriate page names in the nav bar to the choice of text for additional links on pages.

A/B Testing

A/B testing is used in growth marketing to determine which version (A: the control version or B: the variable version) of the site produces better results. When it comes to A/B testing, the predominant changes to be made will be to the written elements of the site, after all, these are the prompts for actions to occur. This may include adding names to email subject lines or tweaking headlines and headers to see which perform better in the testing variable version. In fact, A/B testing for online marketing was inspired by the principles found in direct response marketing popularised in the early 20th century.

Transcending the Digital Threshold

Unlike the other online marketing elements, the effects of copywriting can seep into the physical world. Providing clear, concise copy consistently across all mediums of your product will generate public buzz through word of mouth.

The rising concerns with privacy surrounds targeted ads with an invasive nature, associating online marketing’s big data approaches with a negative connotation. When hearing a recommendation from a friend or a co-worker, it feels much more genuine than having an ad hurled at you. This is because targeted ads are synthetically personalised by a third party using a third party tool, something which is widely known by the public. Whereas, hearing a recommendation from a real person is a genuine personal exchange because they know you on an individual level.

Writing copy which accurately depicts the product will increase the likelihood of a recommendation. If the reader can effortlessly understand the benefits and use cases of your product from your promotions, they’ll be able to recite that information effortlessly to others. Don’t just write copy that sells, write copy that sells selling.

Butterfly Effect

At its core, copywriting is simply about communicating. When it comes to selling a product, choosing what you communicate will invoke different types of actions. These actions are what drive the analytics modern marketing is heavily based around; picking what you say, how you say it and when you say it will steer the market which you’re analysing in different directions, so pick wisely.