What Copywriting Is and Isn’t — And Why Should You Care?

“So you got something to do with copyrighting businesses? Trademarks and patents?” That’s the first question I often get when I tell them I am a copywriter.

Important distinction here: Copyrights and copywriting — completely different. No relation. Worlds apart.

No. I don’t do copyrights or trademarks. I write copy. More specifically, sales and website copy for coaches and course creators.

So what IS copywriting then?

Copywriting at a glance

That massive sales page that you have to scroll through to get to where they list the price? That’s copy. That email you got with the link to buy something? That’s copy. The Facebook ad you just scrolled past? Copy. That Instagram sponsored post that was trying to sell you something? Copy.

Copy is everywhere.

On a surface level, copywriting is any writing that helps you persuade someone to take an action — any action you want them to. Usually, the end goal is to sell them on your product, service, or brand. But every sentence of copy you write, has the purpose to make your audience read the next sentence. And the next. And then the next, until they have reached the end. If you wrote your copy well, your reader is now primed and prepared to take any action you want them to.

When copy doesn’t look like copy

Sometimes, you don’t even see it as writing. Have you ever attended a webinar that tried to sell you on something at the end? The script for that webinar was copy. Ever clicked on a link that took you to one of those annoying videos that you can’t pause or see how much of it is left? The script for that was copy too. Even the ads you see on TV, the words in those are copy too!

I first gravitated toward copywriting because I was “good at writing”. After all, I have been writing academic papers since college. I have worked as a content writer for a platform that sold cars. And I’ve worked as a grant proposal writer for a non-profit for four years. It only made sense that I take the next logical step and set up a copywriting business. It’s writing after all!

Boy was I in for a surprise! Turns out, copywriting has very little to do with conventional writing skills, or being what is typically seen as a “good writer”. It wasn’t about writing long intellectual sentences trying to prove some obscure point. It wasn’t about poetic descriptions.

It was about selling. It was about persuading.

The fact that my professors in grad school thought I was an excellent writer, wasn’t helping me write good copy at all.

Why?

Because complex or poetic writing rarely persuades people to buy things. If someone has to pause and look up a word while going through a sales page, chances are they’re not gonna keep reading. And if they don’t keep reading, chances are they aren’t buying either.

Why should you care about copywriting?

I launched my copywriting business in May 2020, and dedicated all my focus on learning to how to write good copy. I completely immersed myself in every copywriting book, blog post, YouTube video, and course that I could get my hands on. After months of writing, I have learned that the actual writing bit is barely 20% of the whole copywriting process. Probably even less.

Most of it is research and background work. It’s to do with understanding your own brand, getting clarity on your offer, identifying exactly who it is that needs what you’re offering. And then persuading them to buy. It’s about describing a problem your audience is facing better than they ever could, and then offering a solution to the problem.

Let’s get a little specific. Here are 4 things that copywriting lets you do:

Getting people to know and like your brand: Every time you speak to your audience, you are telling them something about your brand. It doesn’t matter what you’re talking about, on which platform, or on what occasion. Quite literally everything you say will leave your audience with an impression of who you are and what your brand is about. Words are powerful and they will shape the perception of your audience. Good copy means they will have a consistent and good impression of your brand.

Writing so that people want to know more about your product/service: If you got a business, you have to sell. And if you gotta sell, you have to tell people about your product or service. So you create content — promotional materials, Facebook ads, sales pages, landing pages, brochures. And all of these need copy. When you write really good copy, your audience feels heard. They feel like you see them, understand their pain, and know exactly what they need. And they trust you to deliver it to them.

Writing so that people want to buy what you’re selling: Copywriting, as I figured out, is presenting yourself, your business, and your product or service as authentically on paper, as you would in person. Let me explain. Think about the time when you first got excited about your business. Like, really excited. Call me superstitious, but I believe that the energy you feel when you talk about it affects the client you are talking to. And that energy needs to be present in your written word as well. Because when it does, more people are likely to hit that “buy” button.

Copywriting is “closing in print”: I’ve read so many definitions of copywriting, and this one by Dan Lok is by far my favorite. Copywriting is closing in print. It’s short, simple, and effective. It tells you exactly what copywriting lets you do. You got a business, and you want to sell. You want to close deals. Sometimes you can do that in person or over phone calls. But sometimes, all you can rely on is your written content. Writing good copy means you have the ability to close in print. And it’s a powerful thing.

There’s really no escaping copy. It’s… *whispers* … EVERYWHERE! Whether you’re buying or selling, or simply scrolling through your Instagram feed, you’re consuming copy. So, you should care. But you should care so much more if you’re a business owner, because the words you speak to your audience and your clients, decides if you are making a sale today.

P.S. If you’ve been trying to write your own copy, and it’s just one of those tasks you keep procrastinating on, or you feel like you don’t write well, check out this super cool freebie I created. Thank me later!