Copywriting; what is it? Oh my goodness, I’ve been there, once upon a time I didn’t understand what the term copywriting meant. I’d heard the word bandied about but didn’t actually understand what it was.

A couple of years ago, I did some online courses to help me understand what copywriting was and how I could use my skills as a writer and transfer them in to copywriting.

Now I get to explain to people with confidence exactly what copywriting means, the difference between Web Copy and Blog Copy (that’s another blog post) and furthermore, how it can support small businesses.

If you’re unsure what copywriting means, it’s the words used on marketing material to sell your services or products. It’s the written art of persuasion, getting people to take action; to buy your product, to click on your link or to sign up to your mailing list.

My best way of telling small business owners what copywriting is, is to first ask them if they are naturally great at talking about their small business. I ask if they find it easy to say out loud to other people, or in their social media video content, what their product or service is and how it helps solve their ideal clients’ problem. I then ask if they struggle to write down what they’re saying, if they struggle with their written words meaning the same as their verbal words? (I hope you’re still following as I’m going somewhere with this, trust the process). So they’re good at talking about their business, but they need some help writing about their business.

And the best way for a small business to sell their product or service is to focus on what problem that solves for their customer. People searching the internet are generally looking for a solution to a problem, be it they’re looking for birthday or Christmas gifts, a new TV, clothes – they have a need and are looking for something that provides the answer to that need. (Don’t judge the hyphen in that sentence, sometimes it’s necessary and it isn’t AI).

Copywriting is taking that solution (your product or service), writing about how it solves your client’s problem and following this with a call to action, such as clicking a link to buy. Enter stage left, this is where I come in! I will write that content in a non-salesy way so that it still sounds like you, and not the same robotic AI content we read and see everywhere. I bring the character back to writing, woohoo!

So if you’re good at chatting to people in person, or on your social media videos, about your product or service, but need help with actually writing about it – that is what a copywriter does (don’t judge the hyphen again, it’s all me).

If you’ve made it this far, thank you, and if you’re interested in me being your copywriter, have a look at my services page to find out more.

Gemma xx