Words matter. Whether it’s your website, email content, social media posts, or paid ads, the right words are the core of any digital marketing strategy. That’s where high quality copywriting for businesses comes in! If you’re looking to turn visitors into repeat customers, it takes more than just making things sound nice – it’s about persuading and engaging your audience to ensure that your business can ‘bee’ found online.
In this handy guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about copywriting for businesses, from what it is and how to do it, to how copywriting can help your business succeed. Plus, we’ll also help you decide whether to keep it in-house or reach out to professional copywriters (like us!)
Skip To:
- What is Business Copywriting?
- Why Effective Copywriting is Essential for Any Business
- Types of Copywriting for Businesses
- Foundations of Effective Business Copywriting
- Quick Tips to Elevate Your Copy
- A Final Word: Can You Do Business Copywriting Yourself?
What is Business Copywriting?
In a nutshell, copywriting is the combined art and science of writing words that persuade. An art, because it takes a certain level of creative thought. A science, because in today’s online world, there are numerous guidelines and methodologies required to actually make an impact.
Whether it’s a website page, an ad, or a blog post, the fundamental goal of any good copywriting is to get people to do something: buy, book, subscribe, read more, or even just remember your brand. It is slightly different from generic content writing in the sense that it is more sales-focussed and about driving conversions, whatever that looks like for your business. In this way, well-crafted copy acts as a 24/7/365 salesperson!
Examples of strong copy include:
- A marketing email that is opened (and read!)
- A product description that drives a sale.
- An Instagram ad that makes people click onto your site.
- A website ‘about’ page that leads people to explore your services.
Why Effective Copywriting is Essential for Any Business
A business without effective copy is like a ship without a sail: swept up in the torrent that is competition without the means to efficiently target your audience and move in the direction of your end goal. This is especially true if your business operates online in any capacity.
There are four key things that copywriting will help you achieve. And they’re not small by any means:
1. Solidify Your Brand
Every word on your website, social media, and marketing materials should reflect your brand’s personality, values, and unique selling points. Like a logo and business colours, your copy builds recognition and trust. Whether you’re wanting to sound friendly, professional, quirky, or high-end, your copy should match that aim across each and every channel.
Without strong copywriting, your business can feel inconsistent, unprofessional, and worst of all, forgettable. If this is the case, you’ll be missing out on a primary way to differentiate yourself from competitors and create a lasting impression among consumers.
2. Increase Conversion Rates
It’s all well and good to receive ad clicks or website visits, but it doesn’t mean much if your audience doesn’t take action. Well-written copy will convey exactly what it is you can offer, and the benefits that this has for consumers, guiding audiences towards making a decision. To put it bluntly: boring, unconvincing, or confusing copy can lose you potential sales.
3. Improve SEO and Rankings
As SEO specialists, improving rankings is always on our minds – and it should be on yours too! If you’re new around here, SEO (or search engine optimisation) is what helps your business appear on Google when customers search for relevant terms. Good and accurate copywriting practices play a huge role in getting your site to rank higher.
Google prioritises well-written, informative, and engaging content, and so truly valuable copy can skyrocket your business up the page rankings. If you support this by naturally implementing keywords and cultivating user-friendly formatting (such as a mobile-friendly interface), your chances become even better.
The ins-and-outs of SEO are beyond the scope of this post. However, we’ve been ‘busy bees’ indeed, and we already have multiple comprehensive guides to this elusive term from how long it takes to start working to how SEO and PPC work together if you’re feeling some extra reading!
4. Maximise the Performance of Your PPC Campaigns
If you’re spending money on any type of Google Ad or any other pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, your copy needs to work extra hard to justify the cost. Even a perfectly targeted and highly visual ad won’t convert if the wording doesn’t persuade customers to click, buy, fill in their details, and so on.
To avoid paying more for fewer results, your ad copy should be clear and engaging – it can help to run some quick A/B testing if you have different copy versions available. There’s plenty to think about, from the formatting of Google Ads to maximising local impact, and we have an entire beginner’s guide to PPC copywriting that’s got you covered!
5. Build a Relationship with Your Customer
At the heart of any business is the customer. Likewise, the customer is also at the heart of effective copywriting. Adapting your communication style to your specific audience, and offering high-quality, professional, and customer-focussed copy ensures that your audience will feel seen and understood.
In short, a business that builds trust and fosters rapport with customers through great copy will keep them engaged for longer, encourage repeat business, and build long-term loyalty.
Types of Copywriting for Business
Not all copywriting is created equal! Different types serve different purposes and so should be approached differently too. Once you know about copywriting, you’ll likely see it everywhere, from video and radio scripts to poster taglines. However, the most successful businesses will likely use a mix of the below examples.
1. Website Copywriting
As your online business headquarters, your website is often the first impression customers will get, meaning that your words need to sell, inform, and rank well on search engines. This might look different depending on the specific page. For example, the homepage copy might be more focussed on grabbing attention and concisely delivering your USPs. Alternatively, your ‘about’ page might take a lengthier approach, telling your brand story and catering to emotion.
2. SEO Copywriting
Search engine optimised copy will help to ensure that your content ranks on SERPs (search engine result pages). This can include everything from implementing keywords naturally into the body content to summarising and creating bold and persuasive meta descriptions. The golden rule, as with any SEO venture, is to put the reader first. Search engine bots aren’t your potential consumers, and so it’s no use trying to appeal to them with malpractice. In fact, doing so can only harm your SEO efforts.
3. Blog Copywriting
Blog copywriting is an effective way to demonstrate your authority and relevance to potential customers. It can also act as a means to capture the attention of new audiences, guiding them through the customer funnel. Additionally, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, business blogs can be SEO powerhouses. They keep your web content fresh, establish you as an authority in your industry, and drive traffic to your site – all of which are much loved by search engines. Wondering what to write about? There’s a blog for that!
4. Social Media Copywriting
Social media copy faces unique challenges: namely, the ever-decreasing attention span of users alongside the huge amount of content on platforms. So, it is important that social media content remains short and engaging, highly relevant to your audience, and actionable. Using content pillars such as memes and trends can be a great option to keep your content varied whilst staying up to date.
5. Email Copywriting
A great email campaign will keep customers coming back. In other words, it’s all about increasing open rates, keeping readers interested, and driving engagement. To achieve these effects, email copywriting will typically be highly targeted and often personalised content, which mostly aims to nurture leads.
Foundations of Effective Business Copywriting
So, let’s quickly recap: we’ve covered what business copywriting is; how copywriting helps businesses succeed; and the various types of business copywriting. But what makes copy effective? How do we translate all this copywriting theory into practice? Ultimately, it depends on your specific circumstances and what it is that you’re trying to convey. Whilst the list of foundations can be quite subjective, here are 5 key tenets that can aid in achieving the best copywriting strategy:
1. Clarity Over Cleverness
Jargon and complicated words don’t impress most audiences – they confuse and complicate. Keep it clear, simple, and customer-friendly by opting for words that your potential customers will understand and respond to. This also goes for structure! Short, snappy sentences and paragraphs tend to communicate messages better than sprawling and dense text.
Do:
“Get your carpets cleaned in York today.”
Don’t:
“Revolutionary textile sanitation solutions for domestic dwellings.”
2. Speak to Your Audience
The best copy feels personal. Understand what it is that your audience is looking for, and address their needs, questions, and pain points within the copy itself. This means getting your empathy hat on and thinking like a consumer – why are they reading this copy? What are they looking for? Keyword research will be your best friend here. Use your findings and work backwards from your target audience’s queries to create a relevant and thought-out editorial calendar of valuable and meaningful content.
Do:
“Tired of blocked drains? Our expert plumbers can fix it fast!”
Don’t:
“We offer plumbing services.”
3. Include Strong Calls to Action
It should be easy for your audience to know exactly what they should or could do next. Most of the time, this will be the action that you set out to promote in the first place, whether that be buy a product, book a place, subscribe to a mailing list, or call for more information. Including a call to action (CTA) at the end of your copy makes this easy and clear to follow and could even be encapsulated in a button or link.
Do:
“Book your place today!”
Don’t:
“We have places available sometimes.”
4. Establish an Emotional Connection
In most cases, people buy based on emotion and then justify their purchases with logic at a later date. Ethically tapping into consumer feelings like trust, excitement, or urgency, can be an effective way to show how your business can satisfy their wants or needs.
However, it is important to avoid malpractice in such cases. One such example is negative YMYL (your money, your life) content which relies on inaccurate, misleading, or deceptive copy and could potentially harm a person’s health, finances or safety. Not only is YMYL generally immoral and upsetting to read, but it is also heavily frowned upon by Google and so can harm your SEO, especially in the medical or legal sectors.
Do:
“Drinking this tea can be a refreshing addition to a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle.”
Don’t:
“Drinking this detox tea will flush all toxins from your body instantly.”
5. Always Keep Your Purpose in Sight
At the core of copywriting is purpose. Without purpose, then it’s just writing. Each piece of content should serve a clear goal – whether that’s educating, entertaining, informing, or persuading your audience to take action. By keeping this purpose in mind, you can ensure that the message remains relevant and effective. So, as you write, always ask yourself what’s the goal here?
Do:
“Discover the mattress that gives you the best night’s sleep. With our 100-night sleep trial and free delivery, you can experience the comfort of our memory foam mattress risk-free.”
Don’t:
“Our mattresses come in different sizes and materials, and you might want to think about which one is best for you. A mattress is important because everyone needs to sleep and deserves a good night’s rest.”
Quick Tips to Elevate Your Copy
Now that we’ve got the fundamentals down, let’s talk extra tips! Here are some of our favourites:
- Write how you talk: Keep the copy conversational and natural, without sacrificing the brand’s tone of voice.
- Use bullet points and lists: They both break up long text, making it easier to skim for readers.
- Use the active voice: In most scenarios, writing with an active voice is much punchier and more impactful than passive voice. For instance, “We deliver fast results” is stronger than “Fast results are delivered by us.”
- Infuse some wit: A clever turn of phrase is a welcome addition, particularly in headings or subject lines. It can spark curiosity and increase relatability.
- Don’t be afraid to try something new: Originality is in. Experimenting with fresh tones, styles, content, or even formats can make your brand stand out in a crowded market.
- Learn from your competitors: Using keyword research as a starting point, assess the ranking content for strengths and weaknesses. What do they do well? How do they engage the audience? Are there any gaps in their writing? What could you add into your piece?
- Be cautious with AI: In moments where time and energy feel scarce, it can be tempting to whack a prompt into ChatGPT and call it a day. Whilst we’re not debating the fact that AI can be a useful tool in some respects (such as idea generation), it has led consumers to crave authenticity and a human touch. The truth is that if you take the time to craft your copywriting, you’ll benefit your consumers with original content whilst improving your own skills: a win-win that AI just can’t replicate.
A Final Word: Can You Do Business Copywriting Yourself?
Anyone can write, but not everyone can write compelling business copy that captures attention, engages customers, and drives results. So, whilst it’s more than possible to write your copy yourself, you should consider if you have the skills and understanding to translate your writing into results. Luckily, there’s lots of great information out there these days – such as that found on our digital marketing blog. Additionally, there are plenty of excellent online courses out there that can teach you these things, such as those hosted by HubSpot.
However, if you’re short on time and don’t know where to start, outsourcing to professionals (like us!) ensure that your content is not only well-crafted and thoroughly researched, but also tailored to achieve specific business goals. By entrusting experts to craft your copy, you can focus on what you do best, whilst we provide the high-quality content to elevate your brand and improve your overall marketing efforts. Sounds good right? We’re just a message away!
