What is copy­writ­ing?

Copy­writ­ers want to get readers to make a com­mit­ment, a purchase, or any other action through good content. Whether it's a TV com­mer­cial or online content, the text plays a very important role. Even the most emotional images in tele­vi­sion ad­ver­tis­ing don’t have the desired effect without the right dialogue.

First things first: copy­writ­ers are not content writers like jour­nal­ists. In contrast to content writers, whose aim is to inform the reader with their texts, copy­writ­ers aim to elicit a response from their readers. Nev­er­the­less, both text forms tend to mix together, as companies in­creas­ing­ly prefer in­for­ma­tive content over simple ad­ver­tis­ing messages as part of their content marketing strategy.

As a copy­writer, you write a wide range of texts: from blog posts and web articles to social media content and product de­scrip­tions. The potential fields of ap­pli­ca­tion for copy­writ­ers are not limited to the internet. In addition, copy­writ­ers are re­spon­si­ble for im­ple­ment­ing various marketing measures. This applies, for example, to the following offline marketing measures:

• Direct e-mailing
• Postcards
• Product ad­ver­tise­ments in news­pa­pers and magazines
• TV and radio ad­ver­tis­ing
• Brochures for trade fairs
• Posters
• Coupons
• Product packaging and labels

However, copy­writ­ers today mainly write texts for online marketing campaigns. Examples of these online marketing measures include:

• Product de­scrip­tions
• Product ads for online platforms such as Google and Facebook
• Demo videos
• E-mail marketing
• Case studies high­light­ing the benefits of a product
• Articles and blog posts
• Articles about customers and tes­ti­mo­ni­als

It is par­tic­u­lar­ly important that you as a copy­writer can easily reach your target group. Whether online or offline: ad­ver­tis­ing texts are addressed to potential customers and should open up a dialog. If you use the direct contact correctly, new customers can be acquired or existing customers can be retained.

Depending on the type of product or service being promoted, copy­writ­ers often create several posts as part of a marketing campaign. They must know which content and which tonality are in­ter­est­ing and ap­pro­pri­ate for the target group and which aren’t. In addition, the overall message of the text and graphics must remain con­sis­tent. Being creative and willing to deal more closely with a possibly new, unknown topic are ad­van­ta­geous char­ac­ter­is­tics for a copy­writer. Depending on the re­spec­tive product or service, the copy­writer must be able to adapt the tone of their text, e.g. to sound more serious or funnier.

Often no specific degree is required for a job as a copy­writer. Many people changing career paths start out in this field as junior copy­writ­ers in an agency. Nev­er­the­less, training as an ad­ver­tis­ing copy­writer can be prof­itable in many ways. On the one hand, strategic thinking and brain­storm­ing are en­cour­aged and basic knowledge about topics such as dig­i­ti­za­tion is conveyed. On the other hand, trainees already gain valuable practical ex­pe­ri­ence as a result of the dual training program. Whether you are a trained copy­writer or are changing careers, the following char­ac­ter­is­tics es­pe­cial­ly help with text creation:

• Feel for languages
• Cre­ativ­i­ty and imag­i­na­tion
• Com­pre­hen­sive general knowledge
• In­quis­i­tive­ness
• Will­ing­ness to learn
• Ability to research

A copy­writer’s success can be measured by the number of actions (so-called con­ver­sions) that are triggered by the cor­re­spond­ing marketing measure. If you want to ex­plic­it­ly make a potential consumer complete an action, you should include commands such as "order now" or "visit our online shop." This is called a call-to-action (CTA). Note the following three points to generate a response from the reader:

• Determine in advance who you want to reach with your content and actively address your target group.
• Convince the reader of how good the product or service is by high­light­ing the USP (unique selling propo­si­tion). Here, you should answer the question of how the product or service differs from the com­peti­tor’s products.
• Per­form­ing an action should be made as simple as possible for the reader. If you would like the reader to watch a video of the product, then write: "Click on the video to see the unique range of functions."

A total of 27 million pieces of content are shared online every day (as of 2016). But how do you prevent your ad­ver­tis­ing message from drowning in this flood of in­for­ma­tion? Companies are in­creas­ing­ly turning to copy­writ­ing experts to achieve a better position in Google searches, to win over more customers and, last but not least, to present them­selves as a brand with in­di­vid­ual and value-added content. Depending on the purpose of the text, different types of copy­writ­ing are used. Below we explain some of the ap­proach­es in more detail.

By using certain keywords (search terms), search engine op­ti­miza­tion copy­writ­ing achieves the best possible placement in the Google ranking. It is ir­rel­e­vant whether the text is intended to serve an ad­ver­tis­ing or in­for­ma­tive purpose. It is more a question of in­te­grat­ing suitable keywords into a text as ef­fec­tive­ly as possible. Keyword stuffing isn’t the answer, but keywords should be used in such a way that they clearly outline the theme of the subpage. The in­for­ma­tion content of SEO texts has become in­creas­ing­ly important in this context (keyword content marketing). Copy­writ­ers have to adapt to these changes and write extensive texts as much as possible.

In sales copy­writ­ing, the copy­writer faces the challenge of con­vinc­ing the reader of the ad­van­tages of a product or service and ul­ti­mate­ly per­suad­ing them to buy or use it. But that's easier said than done. In addition to a con­vinc­ing writing style, profound creative skills and knowledge are required, often only available to marketing experts. The following strategy is rec­om­mend­ed in order to convince the reader to make a purchase:

1. Com­mu­ni­cate your message to your target audience in a clear way and address them directly.
2. Identify the problem that your product or service can solve. Describe the problem from the point of view of potential customers and as graph­i­cal­ly as possible in order to gain approval and trust.
3. Highlight why previous ap­proach­es cannot resolve the problem.
4. Explain how you found out how the problem could really be solved.
5. Point out to the reader how he can receive the product or service and therefore solve the problem.

Technical copy­writ­ing is the writing of topic-specific or industry-specific texts, the creation of which requires a high level of spe­cial­ist knowledge. The aim is to provide added value to readers using spe­cial­ist knowledge. That is why technical copy­writ­ers are usually not pro­fes­sion­al copy­writ­ers, but experts in their re­spec­tive fields. After all, the task of writing a text on the evidence of hy­drochlo­ric acid should be left to a chemist rather than a sales copy­writer. The challenge for the copy­writer is that the texts are aimed at people who also have spe­cial­ist knowledge. Therefore, the content must be detailed and factual. In addition to ad­ver­tis­ing material, a technical copy­writer also writes blog articles, magazine articles, as well as operating in­struc­tions.

Content copy­writ­ers write content for websites and focus on a specific topic. Website visitors receive in­for­ma­tion about the topic and are informed of any new de­vel­op­ments. As a content copy­writer, you usually create how-to articles and step-by-step guides. Es­pe­cial­ly important is the appealing and in­ter­est­ing design of the articles. If a potential customer finds a text both en­ter­tain­ing and in­for­ma­tive, they are more likely to make a purchase.

Creative copy­writ­ers write about a topic they’ve chosen them­selves, but integrate certain products or services into their posts. There are some parallels to the principle of sales copy­writ­ing, since potential customers should be convinced of how good the product or service is here as well. Creative copy­writ­ers also often create company slogans or headlines and design concepts. Many creative copy­writ­ers have a marketing back­ground, others are simply talented in pre­sent­ing topics in an appealing way.