Ideas become reality when brought to life with the right words.
Here at MarketSmiths, we believe most words are filler, but in the right hands can become an engine driving your business forward. That’s why for over a decade, we’ve leveraged our robust copywriting quality control process to deliver copy our clients rely on for stunning ROI.
Of course, truly compelling copywriting demands more than knowing the difference between a semicolon and em dash or what separates AP from Chicago style. To that end, read on to learn about the five strategic ‘shoulds’ compiled by our copywriting experts you can check against to elevate your brand’s messaging above and beyond the competition.
Great copywriting should articulate your value.
Your company’s proposed value defines how your customers see you. But if that value isn’t properly messaged, it’s not good for much.
Effective, humanistic copywriting is the most direct way of making readers aware of your brand and building a case for why your offerings can be vital to their lives. Take the popular online design platform Canva, whose home page reads, “What will you design today?” It implicitly tells you that Canva is a design platform for anyone, while also doubling as a call to action for the reader to start designing. And in case it’s not clear, the subheader more explicitly states Canva’s core value, “Canva makes it easy to create professional designs and to share or print them.”
But inevitably, others in your sector will offer the things you offer—everyone knows Photoshop, after all. It’s not enough to tell your customers that you’re the best at what everyone else does.
So great copywriting should express your brand difference.
In doing so, when your customer needs a product or service you’re known for, they’ll think: “[Company_X] can do that, but I’m going with [Company_Y] because…” Your brand difference follows that “because” in the consumer’s mind.
So how do you get there?
As subject matter experts and thought leaders in your field, you’ll first need to identify the particular value propositions that set your brand apart from the competition. Share these differentiators and related proof points with your copywriters so they can get to work on messaging that both pinpoints and elevates those value propositions in the reader’s eye.
Still, your value and differentiators aren’t enough; the fact is that there are a lot of businesses out there that offer something that may not fully resemble your offerings but get enough of the way there that customers are okay making the compromise, whether that’s for price or brand familiarity reasons. Rather, the best way to talk to your prospects and your audience is by saying the right things in ways only you can.
So great copywriting should empower your perspective.
Whether you’re communicating directly to consumers or trying to show other businesses you know your stuff, your copywriting strategy is one of the most direct ways you can embody your brand’s voice, tone, and spirit.
With sharp, specific language that hits your messaging while complying with your brand identity, you become empowered to own the topics and trends dominating your sector. That way, you can have customers eyeing offerings in your wheelhouse thinking: “I really like the way they said that; that’s exactly how I think about it too.”
For example, the opening of this Fiverr blog post leverages the author’s lived perspective to elucidate what it’s actually like to work remotely: “Forget what you see on social media about working remotely by a sunny beach while sipping cocktails decorated with colourful tiny umbrellas. You may get to enjoy it, occasionally, but only after several hours in front of a laptop, trying to get as much work done as humanly possible.”
In leveraging perspective, Fiverr can then make a case for why you actually need the five things the article claims you’ll need to effectively work remotely. And even if doing so doesn’t lead to a sale now, you’ve planted a seed in your reader’s mind that over time will grow and influence a future purchase.
Because great copywriting builds affinity.
The three tenets we’ve discussed until now—value, difference, and perspective—are inextricably connected. In the right copywriter’s hands, these can create something truly ineffable: an emotional connection with your audience.
Let’s face it: whether we like to admit it or not, people aren’t fully rational beings. The emotions we all feel are universal—transcending languages—and drive almost everything we do—and all it takes is one word to lift that mood. That’s why great copywriting is such an invaluable asset.
And all that’s just the beginning. By emotionally connecting with one customer through copywriting, you can create a self-sustaining environment of brand evangelists who actively want to promote your brand to others.
So great copywriting should fuel culture.
Simple yet emotionally potent copywriting can cultivate and center an entire cultural landscape around your brand. This means that by delivering on-point copy, you have the potential to create conversations that ripple outward throughout the landscape you’re looking to target. So when Microsoft—indisputably a leader in a number of tech domains—weighs in on the issue of whether workers should return to the office, their perspective as a leader will inform how others think about that issue.
All of a sudden, you and your brand become synonymous with your sector. So if you’re a flower company and a customer wants to purchase flowers, they’ll get excited at the prospect of purchasing your flowers now and in the future.
That’s how to make great copywriting yield great results.
With the right copywriting strategy emphasizing value, brand difference, perspective, affinity, and culture, instead of reacting to your industry, you can lead it, go to market quickly, and let competitors react to you. Suddenly, instead of silos, your marketing becomes more interconnected, improving your ability to make your campaigns top of mind for customers—all to yield more mileage out of every initiative and drive exponential growth.
Of course, it’s not enough to know what goes into great copywriting if you lack the copywriting talent to make it happen at the time and volume you need.
MarketSmiths’ Content Catalyst copywriting program is replicable and scalable, and can connect our dedicated team of copywriting experts to your brand—all so you can make more incredible things happen. Get in touch with MarketSmiths today!
