Copywriters know how to write. Great copywriters know a lot more than just that and have the ability to produce content that sells products. This is what it is really all about: making people trust brands and buy their products. And it is no easy job these days, when people are literally fed up with false claims and promises and empty corporate lingo.
What makes a great copywriter? First of all, we are talking about a great wordsmith who can entrap the audience into reading till the end. Secondly, we are talking about the flexibility to adapt to various customers and niches, so that each piece of content is in the tone of voice required by the respective customer. Otherwise, all types of content would sound the same and there would be no competitive advantage for any company.
But let us not digress too much and get to the gist of things, namely the essential skills which make a great copywriter.
- Psychology
A great copywriter is a great psychologist. It takes this skill in order to understand what language and what type of persuasion to use for the target audience. After all, one does not address a stay-at-home mum in the same way in which one would address a retired citizen or a college student.
Every demographic group has its specific pain points, interests, likes and core values. Only a good psychology of people helps a writer envision what their audience would like to read and what arguments they are willing to accept and believe.
- Storytelling
Writing a great story is not easy. It seems easy when you read one, but there is a lot of thought behind every word and every sentence. However, great copywriters can spin stories without spending too much time on them (they do not have a lot of time for each piece of content anyway).
A great story has a main character, it has action, it has a dramatic moment of suspense and it has a satisfactory end for everyone. Putting together all these elements is an art, and not everyone possesses it.
- Focus on Closing a Sale
Writing a great story is not enough: it must conclude with a call to action towards making a sale. It must create the desire and the urgency in all the readers to fill that order form or pick up the phone and place the order.
Many otherwise great copywriters fail at this basic point in their requirement: they spin amazing stories but never ask for a sale. What you do not ask for, you will never obtain, that is a generally accepted rule.
- Research
On many occasions, copywriters are approached to write content pieces on topics they are unfamiliar with. This is where great research skills come into play. You would never guess from a gifted copywriter’s work that they had very little knowledge of the topic before writing about it.
The best copywriters know how to find trusted and reputable sources of information, pull statistical data and numbers to substantiate their claims, and compare sources in order to eliminate false information and inaccuracies from their texts.
- Being Authentic
It is hard to find real people behind brand images these days. The human touch is almost gone from business interactions, being replaced by automated emails, chat bots and pre-recorded phone messages. When they start reading a piece of content, prospects want to feel that an actual human being wrote it. Laugh not, there are tools able to generate texts, and many articles sadly sound like they were generated by such a tool.
The brand personality needs to mix well with the writer’s style and create something interesting, useful and fun to read, educational and informative and with a certain something which keeps the reader engaged.