*Updated for 2023. A guide for new copywriters, small businesses, or anyone who needs help writing for a website, promotion, blog, event, an email, or social media.
These simple steps have helped me get results for my own business, and for my customers.
Get to know the scene
Get started.
Starting any writing job can be daunting. Be clear on your brief. Here’s a simple and effective copywriting brief.
Define who your customers are, what you need them to do, and what you need to achieve.
Check out your competition and similar businesses.
Look at other websites and social media. Scroll through feeds, stories, and social media profiles. Sign up to newsletters, and read through websites and blogs.
It will give you a head start.
Knowing what your competition and other businesses are doing will give you more options.
Everyone is feeding from social media. Ideas, trends and language are borrowed and adjusted to suit.
You can still be original and break a few rules, but it will save you time and give you confidence in your writing.
This will also help you get to know your customers. Read all the comments and reviews and do as much research as you can.
Write for your platform
Are you writing for a website, social media, a blog, email, or print?
If you’re new to writing for a particular medium, study the content from a range of businesses, and think about how you can structure your content, and write to stand out and compete.
Updating a website, or writing new website content
A big job for anyone. A copywriter has the advantage of seeing a business through fresh eyes and will be tuned into defining the benefits and organising the job.
Be clear on the brief, do lots of research and get to know your client and their business as much as possible. Here’s a helpful guide to writing awesome website content from Semrush. It includes tips on SEO, an essential part of website writing. Make sure you’re up to date with the latest techniques.
Social media
Instagram and Facebook are popular hubs for small and big businesses. You can reach a new community locally and beyond.
However, that pesky algorithm can be challenging for businesses!
Instagram and Facebook prioritise posts that have the most comments and interaction. So ask questions, use polls and competitions, make some reels, and add captivating, high quality images. Follow potential customers and make sure to interact with others and build your community.
X (Twitter) and threads is all about the chat.
For some businesses, this is clearly their medium. If you follow Channel 4 on Threads or Twitter you’ll know their quirky, off-beat and fun style comes across as naturally entertaining, making them an appealing account to follow.
X is still popular, and is useful for finding new leads and contacts. Here’s a good guide to Twitter from Sprout Social.
LinkedIn is great for business-to-business. I’ve found many customers this way.
Buffer has some of the best tips around on how to make the most of social media, here’s how to create a social media marketing strategy.
Written blogs, reels and video content
Ideal for engaging with customers and enticing new customers to your business.
Short and helpful reels and videos are big in 2023. It can seem daunting for some people to go live and make a reel, but they will help you stand-out.
Find your niche and follow content creators that you can relate to. It will help you develop your own skills.
The written blog is by no means dead. People want answers, information and insight. And a written blog can provide just that, and massively improve your SEO.
Here’s a few of my tips on how to write an effective blog post.
A blog can match you to your perfect customer.
Email marketing
Talk to new and loyal customers through newsletters, and create action-enticing campaigns for events and product launches.
There’re many ways to tackle email marketing. I like these email marketing tips from HubSpot.
From my own experience, the key is to build a steady database of email contacts, making sure the email addresses are clean and up-to-date.
Segmenting your data and tailoring campaigns to different groups of customers will bring the best results (something you can’t do on Instagram or Facebook!).
Use incentives and promote your newsletters wherever you can.
Tips to keep your style consistent across all platforms
Remember to keep your visual style, tone and writing style, consistent across platforms. It will help build trust with your customers. Some businesses create a style guide to keep communications looking and sounding consistent.
Always keep your target audience in mind. I highly recommend creating customer profiles.
Consider how your content will look on different devices.
If you’re writing on a Word doc for example, it’s going to look different on your chosen platform, and different again depending on the device.
Will your customer be on their phone, scrolling through social media? At work reading an email on a huge screen? Or lounging on the sofa, browsing products on an iPad or laptop?
Many copywriters will tell you not to worry about the layout, and to focus on the words. You might find that the best way.
I like to format my content as I go along, and structure how it will look as much as possible.
Of course many people will view your content on a phone.
Always break up chunky lengths of text with sub-headings. No-one wants to be faced with a huge block of text.
If you can, always preview your content on the platform, and on different devices, before you publish it.
Keep it simple. Keep it sweet.
Keep it simple
The best results I’ve had (in terms of sales, website views or responses to content) are from short and well-structured pieces of writing.
It’s really tempting to write about every fantastic thing your business or promotion has to offer.
Most people won’t read long pieces of content.
Apart from a few exceptions like informative website pages, a blog, complex or luxury products. Stick to a few key benefits and add natural links to more information.
A short, targeted and confident message will encourage people to take action
An example event email layout that got results for me:
An enticing or emotive subject line
Step away from the computer… the first drink is on us!
Headline
Copywriting event of the year
A high quality relevant image
A benefit driven introduction
Join us for a day of marketing chat and advance your writing skills to compete with the best.
Content
1-2 paragraphs or a bullet point list.
A testimonial from a champion in your field or a happy customer
A strong call to action
Book now to receive your 20% early bird discount.
Contact details and a link to your website
If you’re writing copy to sell, keep the structure simple and content short.
Keep it sweet
Write in a positive frame of mind and in the active voice.
You’re not writing a report. You’re talking to people.
Create a sense of action.
Be clear on your benefits and what you’re offering.
Ask the question “So what? What’s in it for me?”
Some useful advice I received when I started out.
Show with an image or testimonial, or blatantly say what the benefits are. A financial saving, piece of mind, enjoyment, the problem you are solving with your product or service, knowledge to help you move forward etc.
Always include a strong call to action.
I found some businesses are reluctant to add one thinking it’s too pushy, but it’s not. It’s giving people the option to take up what you’re offering.
Be bold and confident. If you avoid giving people the option I would wonder why.
Grammar and spelling are important.
You will be judged on it. Here’s a grammar cheat sheet.
Keep the customer at the heart of your marketing
Get to know your customers.
Talk to regular and past customers, read reviews and comments, go to events, speak to customer services or staff on the ground level.
I moved to a marketing role from a customer services background. It seemed like the marketing team were oblivious to what customers really needed and wanted.
We were constantly sorting out problems – miscommunications, confusion over prices and details, the list was endless.
And then I moved to marketing and got lost in the bubble of writing.
It’s inevitable. It’s easy to forget the whole customer process and just focus on what you’re doing.
Know what’s important to customers and clear up any problems. You can then concentrate on the benefits
Why do people go to you? What makes you unique?
Do you have a particularly smooth buying process, do you give customers piece of mind with your tight security checks, or get through the jargon and do the hard work for customers?
Maybe you have friendly, experienced staff who know their products inside-out, nice comfy arm chairs and calming surroundings, or offer an eco-friendly approach (high on the agenda at the moment).
Whatever your business, find out why customers like and respect you.
A final note
It’s difficult to know what people will respond to. Sometimes it’s the least likely promotion that will get results.
Like a two-line, plain text email with a link to your website, or a heartfelt or funny social media post that’s not really related to your business but helps you gain trust with your customers.
If you’re working on a campaign use a variety of promotions on different platforms. And if you use the same promotions all the time, it might be worth shaking things up.
Rules are there to be broken and change will make people look.
I hope you enjoyed this blog.
If you would like me to write for your website to help you attract the customers you want get in touch for a chat!
Vanessa