Copywriting is a process that many communications professionals are faced with on a daily basis. The need to create content that is persuasive enough for the target audience requires upskilling in the area of copywriting. When a communications professional is good at copywriting, it truly makes a difference in the written content that is created. While some are naturally great at it, thankfully copywriting is a skill that can be learnt and improved upon.
What is Copywriting?
Copywriting is a process that involves writing persuasive articles and materials that are used for promotional and marketing purposes. The words in these materials and articles are referred to as ‘copy’ and are usually crafted by a copywriter. Organisations need copywriting to effectively advertise their goods and services to potential customers and generate sales. It is a critical process that requires the services of a copywriter to help achieve sales objectives.
Who Is a Copywriter?
A copywriter is a professional writer who crafts persuasive copies to be used for marketing and promotional purposes. A good copywriter creates copies that would appeal to the target audience and convince them to become customers. These copies could range from emails and social media posts to product descriptions.
7 Skills Every Copywriter Should Have
As a copywriter, there are certain skills you need have to produce quality and effective copies for your client or organization. Some of these skills include;
- Content Writing
Copywriting differs from content writing. The goal of copywriting is to be persuasive enough for the audience to carry out your call to action. But a copywriter must understand the basics of content writing such as establishing a flow between paragraphs, writing in a conversational or relatable style and having a good understanding of grammatical structures.
- Understand SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Search Engine Optimization is a process in which you ensure your article is well-optimized to align with the questions people are asking or the information they’re searching for. It involves modifying your content to improve visibility and ranking on the search engine after it is published. There is no point in writing a good copy if it will not be discovered by the target audience. Copywriters must have a good understanding of SEO to create copies that will be visible to the right audience.
- Storytelling
Research has shown that emotions drive the purchasing behaviour of many people. Storytelling helps you establish that emotional connection with the audience you are writing for. A good copywriter would know how to incorporate stories into an article when possible so that the audience can relate to and connect with the information you’re trying to pass across.
- Be Inquisitive
Having an in-depth understanding of how the product works would make it easier to craft a convincing copy that your audience will find hard to resist. Always ask questions in areas you’re not clear about so you can be sure you are passing the right information when creating your copy.
- Effective Communication Skills
As a good copywriter, you should have excellent communication skills to help you to interact better with your target audience and get the correct information. This will help you to ask the right questions, be a good listener and it will help you to understand what they hope to achieve with the copy.
- Creative thinking
Coming up with a great copy takes time and can be a daunting creative process. And with a world that is constantly evolving, you have to think of new and innovative ways of crafting your copies. You can build on this by taking creative thinking courses or exercises.
- Research
The ability to conduct effective research is an important skill every communications professional should develop. As a copywriter, you want to be sure that you are not passing out misleading information with your copies. As a result, thorough research must be done.
Copywriting is a compulsory process that cuts across different industries. Every organisation that seeks to market and promote its goods or services would utilise the skills of a copywriter. Eventually, you become better at what you do by practising. The more copies you write, the better you become.
You can also take advantage of the different courses online to build your copywriting skills. With consistency and persistence in building the skills above, you can rest assured of becoming a sought-after copywriter.
