On Copywriting
I didn’t plan to, but I became a copywriter.
I had always been a writer, but a few years ago I needed a job and was hired by a creative agency to write for websites and other marketing materials. I couldn’t even define copywriting, yet there I was, a copywriter. Whatever that meant.
I wasn’t alone. Outside of the marketing world, few people understand what a copywriter does. And that makes sense since the word itself doesn’t give the definition. It was originally coined to describe those who literally copied manuscripts. This was before the printing press. They used ink and parchment. They had no backspace when they messed up. Life was hard for them.
Then it got harder. Technology put them out of a job.
Because the printing press made copying obsolete, scribes had to pivot to creating content used for mass consumption—advertisements, promotional material, political propaganda information. Stuff like that. Only the best copywriters survived.
The threat of copywriter extinction happened again with the advent of the internet. And it’s happening now because of AI. Only the best will survive. That is, until the inevitable, civilization-ending war with the bots. Then we’ll all wish we had just stuck with copying ancient scrolls.
What exactly is copywriting?
In short, copywriting is textual persuasion. The whole point of it is to inspire action. Buying your product. Signing up for your program. Joining your revolution. Stuff like that.
While the goal is always persuasion, copywriting can take many forms. There was a time when it was tracts and manifestos. Now it’s product descriptions, advertisements, sales sheets, blog posts, articles, and books. But regardless of the form, any written communication with the goal of motivating people to action is copywriting.
Why does good copywriting matter?
The answer is obvious—because nobody is persuaded by bad copywriting. Your copy is the primary voice of your brand. It needs to be strong and engaging. And you need to be saying something valuable.
Bad copywriting is boring, like a person who drones on and on about a subject without paying attention to whether or not your eyes are open. You hate that, right? So why would you do that in your written content?
Bad copywriting is also unclear and confusing. Nobody wants to work hard to understand what you’re saying. Clarity and simplicity matter.
And worst of all, bad copywriting is based on deficient research. If you want to persuade people, you have to know who they are and convince them that you know what you know, you know? This takes a lot of research skills.
The bottom line is that bad copywriting is too ineffective to lead people to make a decision. Good copywriting, however, connects with readers. It draws them in and piques their curiosity. It builds credibility and turns clickers into customers.
Yeah, but can’t AI write good copy?
It can certainly write copy. But good copy? Nope. This is a digital hill I will die on.
AI produces formulaic, generalized text that’s full of cliches. That is not good, by any standard.
A caveat, though, is that AI can write pretty good copy, but you have to know what to ask it for and feed it exactly what it needs to write less shittily. And if you can do those things, then by all means betray your species and exclusively use the bots. But knowing what to feed it is the hard part.
What goes in must come out. If you give AI general prompts for your copy, it’s going to spit out generalized content nobody will care about. Easy to write. Easy to ignore.
So what makes me better than AI?
I’m glad you asked. I might have been clueless when I started my copywriting journey, but I’ve learned some things along the way.
1.Personalized research is more important than ever
AI can tell you about your industry, for example. But it can’t tell you about your company in your specific market. That’s what makes the difference when you’re trying to convince your audience to choose you over your competitors.
I get to know your business, your audience, your market—and, most importantly, you. The copy flows from there. And it’s distinct and compelling.
2. Quality (human-generated) content is necessary for SEO
Google’s new Search Generative Experience (SGE) is changing the way people engage with websites. Now more than ever, Google is prioritizing sites that offer authoritative, substantive written content.
And Google, despite being sub-human, ironically favors human-generated content. In fact, it’ll ding you for using AI-generated text. I write copy that both humans and algorithms love. Just doing what I can to bridge the divide before our AI-powered kitchen appliances rise up to enslave us.
3. The best copywriting is clear and clever
Tight sentences and a relaxed tone are a winning combination, especially for long-form content.
4. There’s always a story to tell
Since ape-men sat around fires and grunted tales of three-headed monsters sneezing out the stars, our species has always known that there’s power in storytelling. Stories are persuasive. And every topic, no matter how dry, can be couched in narrative. This is truly the human touch that no bot can beat.
With all that persuasion out of the way—hire me
I didn’t plan to, but I became a copywriter. Now, I’m carrying on the rich tradition of scribes who arrange words into sequences that make a difference before having to adapt to some sort of technological catastrophe. We could use a break for a couple of centuries. But our will to survive is strong, so we’ll be ok.
And like I said earlier, the whole point of copywriting is to inspire action. So here’s your opportunity. Reach out, and let’s chat about how I can help you with your copy needs.
