No matter what your job, there’s almost always someone who thinks they can do it better than you. And perhaps nowhere is this more true than in copywriting. Honestly, if we had a pound for every time we’d heard ‘I always thought I’d make a great writer’ or ‘you’re so lucky to have such an easy/creative/fun job,’ we’d be sunning ourselves in the Maldives right now.
Don’t get us wrong, we love what we do, but producing engaging, accurate and search-friendly copy isn’t as effortless as you might think. There’s so much more to copywriting and copy editing than knowing the difference between their and they’re, getting to grips with an adverbial clause and using semi-colons correctly. This is especially true when working online, in a medium flooded with great content and brands that are willing to pay big bucks for high search engine rankings.
There’s so much more to copywriting and copy editing than knowing the difference between their and they’re, getting to grips with an adverbial clause and using semi-colons correctly.
With budgets tight and product knowledge right there in your team, it can be tempting to take on the job of producing product descriptions, marketing copy or other written content yourself. But before you do, read on to find out just what it is that a copywriter does to make your content shine.
There’s more to copywriting than good grammar (but it helps)
We know that good grammar and perfect spelling is important. Error-free content is vital for a positive user experience and helps to build a customer’s confidence in your brand. In turn, this positive user experience drives return visits, boosting your numbers for higher search engine rankings. Good grammar and spelling is also rewarded by some search engines[i] (although Google, the most popular search engine in the world with somewhere over 80bn visits a month[ii], says it doesn’t penalise pages containing poor grammar).
All that said, there’s so much more to great copy than impeccable grammar. While most amateur writers will have an eagle-eyed focus on grammatical errors, the professional copywriter has the experience to know that their spelling and grammar is always on point, allowing them to focus on:
- Tone of voice: appropriate to your brand and connecting with your customer
- Unique content: new and different in a world drowning in dull and samey articles
- Accuracy: fact-perfect for fewer product returns and complaints and improved brand confidence
Planning and researching an article (it isn’t always easy)
One thing that sets professional, experienced copywriters apart from the enthusiastic amateur is the ability to plan and research well ahead of jumping in. Before we put fingers to keyboard, copywriters will plan out, section by section, every aspect of an article. They’ll research hard, seeking out the facts and figures that support the claims they want to make. They’ll also make sure they know their subject matter well enough to speak confidently about it.
Before we put fingers to keyboard, copywriters will plan out, section by section, every aspect of an article.
All this research and planning ensures that copywriter-written content sticks to the point, is factually accurate (especially vital for customer satisfaction when you’re selling products and services) and is supported by hard evidence. It also ensures a structure that’s easy to read and better for SEO (search engine optimisation).
And speaking of SEO, part of the work very likely includes keyword research. The Content Marketing Team has access to often expensive SEO tools, providing us with the very latest available data. This part of our planning work is a must for generating content optimised for online search, in the quest for improved search engine rankings.
Working at speed is important (your time is precious)
All that valuable time copywriters spend on researching and planning an article might seem wasteful but it’s actually a huge time saver. While an unskilled writer might find it hard to stick to a word limit or will take time going over and over a single sentence, experienced copywriters can fly through a well-planned article at break-neck speed.
One of the biggest cost savers for companies in choosing to outsource is, without doubt, the time that it gives in-house staff to focus on what they’re brilliant at. While you may be a good writer and have a lot of knowledge about your product, those are not necessarily the skills that are most valuable to your brand. A copywriter can take that insight and that passion and distil it down into customer-friendly content. This leaves you with the time you need to do what you do best with no need to agonise over sentence structure and that hard-to-start intro.
Copywriters are especially valuable when you’re in a time crunch. We’re used to working to ultra-tight deadlines and the longer we work, the quicker we get, using formulas developed through years of experience.
Copywriters are especially valuable when you’re in a time crunch. We’re used to working to ultra-tight deadlines and the longer we work, the quicker we get, using formulas developed through years of experience.
Copywriters have thick skin (but please be nice to us anyway)
It can be hard to hear negative feedback. Even the most constructive criticism hurts sensitive souls and it’s all too easy to focus on the bad, even when it’s mixed in with good. It can be equally challenging to give feedback, particularly to those who are senior to us.
This difficulty in accepting -and in giving- constructive criticism makes creating engaging content an onerous task. Additionally, when publishing online, public feedback can be especially crushing.
For professional copywriters, accepting and reacting to feedback from editors and from clients is part of the job. Even the very best copywriter misses the mark sometimes, which means that we’re always ready to take your criticisms and work with them to improve, whether that’s in a re-write, in making changes or in taking that feedback and adapting how we work on your brand communications going forward. And when it comes to public feedback? Well, that’s water off an old hack’s back.
We love your product (but not as much as you do)
One of the most common reasons potential copywriting clients give for producing content in-house without the aid of professional writers is this: “nobody knows our product like Bob (or Jeremy or Sue) does”.
We get it, you want your customer to feel all that passion you feel for your brand. You want to make sure every last feature of your product is written about in detail. You’re finding it hard to let your baby go. The trouble is, it’s all too possible to be too close to your brand or your product. When this happens it often results in over-long or over-descriptive content. Too-long sentences, tech-talk that most customers won’t understand or care about, articles that just don’t get to the point…
A copywriter is skilled in taking all that enthusiasm you have for your product and all your technical knowhow and plucking out the most vital bits. They have the ability to turn all the intel you give them into compelling copy that really sells your stuff, and without losing your brand’s voice.
A copywriter is skilled in taking all that enthusiasm you have for your product and all your technical knowhow and plucking out the most vital bits.
Why an editor is important (no writer is infallible)
When you work with an agency like The Content Marketing Team, your content goes through at least two layers of checks before it lands on your desk.
These checks are absolutely vital. Why? Because even the very best writers make mistakes. And because we don’t think that ‘too many cooks’ counts when it comes to copy. Before an article leaves our office, it’s proofread by its original writer and then by another member of the team. This means that errors and typos are weeded out and improvements made through collaboration. We also check that what we’ve written perfectly hits the brief you’ve set for us.
This kind of attention to detail can be harder to achieve in-house, where the focus tends to be on speed and budget, where bad habits can become ingrained throughout a department and where dedicated copywriting teams rarely exist.
The Content Marketing Team can help you produce great brand content
Even the most skilled team sometimes needs a helping hand. From keywords and SEO to sparkling product descriptions to make even the most mundane merchandise stand out from the crowd, we can provide the support you need.
Call us on +44 (0) 808 145 4416 or use our contact form.
[i] https://readable.com/blog/do-spelling-and-grammar-affect-seo/
[ii] google.com Traffic Analytics & Market Share | Similarweb
