A thing to know about copy

This may come as a surprise, but it is not the job of any of the internal employees to write sales copy for a website, a brochure, sales letter, or even a postcard. Sales copy is written from a position of persuasion.

Most employees are matter subject experts, not writers

Typically, employees tend to write sales copy from the perspective of features and sometimes, if you’re lucky, benefits. The simple truth is nobody buys features. You can say that it is made of titanium, that it has eight cylinders, that it's medical grade stainless steel, or that you have a complete law library on site, but the simple truth is none of these matter to a prospect.

Now, you may decide to go a little deeper and say what the benefit of those things are. This is better, but it's still not good. The problem is that someone who works for your business is probably trained in your industry, not writing.

They are probably not trained in copywriting. Writers not trained in this specific style almost always default to writing about only features and benefits. If the goal is to sell more of your product or service, you do not want to have this kind of copy being produced for your business.

Copywriting is an art

The simple truth is copywriting is an art. It is the marriage of a prospect’s desires with the features and benefits of your solution, using persuasive copy that is designed and engineered to get the prospect to take the actions that you as a business owner want them to take. This must be done in the right sequence. When a piece of copy is improperly structured, you end up having the prospect jumping to conclusions or making assumptions that may not be correct nor get them to take the actions you want.

Use professional copywriters

Professional copywriters know this, and they're trained to walk your prospect along the path, building up trust, giving them reasons to act, answering questions that they may not even know they have. This is done in a way that is engaging without being pushy. Proper content creation builds trust and positions a prospect to not only buy your product or service but also to become engaged with your company, making them more likely to buy again as well as to refer.

Use the internal staff to strategize with external writers

The brand CMO and director of marketing should participate in copy-strategy conversations and work while professional, EXTERNAL copywriter(s) and content producers do the writing. Do not just assume the writer can do the job without guidance. They will need input and you should always have a hand in to make sure your message is correct.

Your staff knows how to do their job, so let a copywriter do theirs. I hope this article has given something to think about for your marketing copy. If you need some direction on hiring an appropriate writer, let us help.