Why Is Copywriting Important?

Why Is Copywriting Important?

The words you use when you’re describing your business and services have to be expertly chosen. Especially when you think about how much noise there is out in the world right now. Is it easier to communicate than ever before? Technically, the logistics are easier, yes. But when it comes to clear, confident communication, the way we have to fight through the billions of words overtaking people in every place, both physically and online, can feel totally overwhelming.

In reality, though, copywriting is so much more than just a collection of words that describes your business. What it should be is a complicated string of information that goes through proven steps of sales psychology, teaches the person reading (listening, or watching) to trust you, and then break down every possible object the person going through your words has. And if that sounds complicated, it’s because it is. Supposed copywriters who say it’s simple are usually guessing. They don’t know any better.

Plus, you need to sound like you while all of these things are happening in the background, working behind the scenes of your copy, or else you won’t be able to build trust.

And, the way you put words together will attract certain types of people. If your copy doesn’t sound like you, but instead what some “expert marketer” thinks you should sound like, then the interactions you have with people who want to talk to you based on your copy are going to be totally exhausting.

Copy has a unique and strategic job in your business. And if you treat it like a collection of words, you are going to have serious struggles when it comes to growing and scaling.

So, where do we see copy out in the wild? And what do you specifically need it for?

There’s a lot of confusion around copy and content, and I feel like this is the best time to clear that up. Content is when you use words on specific, often public, platforms. This can be a script for a YouTube video or a 60-second blurb for TikTok. Technically, all copy is content. But, not all content is copy.

Copy is writing with a strategic purpose inside your business. You are using words in a certain way to build toward a specific outcome. In general, content is just a collection of words you put out into the world so that people can find you.

If using strategic copy is like playing chess, then splashing words across the internet is like playing checkers. When it comes to your business, wouldn’t you rather be playing chess?

Back to what copy looks like in the wild. You can find copy literally everywhere. Whether you find good copy or not, that’s a different situation. Copy is on billboards around your house, in mailers that end up on your kitchen table, in the emails and newsletters that seem to flood all of our inboxes these days, and on the website you’re looking at right now.

Copy is any strategic language that has proven systems running in the background to move people to act in a specific way.

For example, if I write, “Learn the Behind the Scenes Magic of Strategic Copywriting Without Having to Pay Thousands of Dollars,” that’s a headline and I’m trying to grab your attention. If I write, “Don’t miss out on this opportunity that your competitors are sure to take action on, enroll today,” I’m using the idea of scarcity and a direct call-to-action to try to get you to do one specific thing: enroll in my course or program.

Real copy has a clear objective. And, in general, it needs to have a specific objective that does one thing in an overall process. That’s what I mean by strategic copywriting.

The thing about nonstrategic copy that you need to know most, though, is that using it will do something truly tragic to your brand.

How Nonstrategic Copy Ruins Your Brand

The absolute biggest obstacle that any business needs to overcome is mistrust. This happens at different levels as people interact with you, your website, your various social media profiles, and your speaking engagements, podcast episodes, courses etc.

When you use copy that isn’t strategic, meaning that it isn’t part of a specific step in a larger process, then you are damaging your brand. How? You aren’t fighting mistrust with its most worthy adversary: consistency.

People don’t like to talk or think about consistency. I get it. If you were picking characteristics for a kickball team to play the game of your life you’d want excitement, intrigue, curiosity, creativity, and humor. Consistency probably wouldn’t be your first pick. But, if you were picking characteristics for a partner in life, you would want them to be consistent, right?

You want someone who is there for you when they say they will be. Your deepest desires are really to find someone who helps you pay the bills and clean up around the house. And when people are picking a partner who can help them in their professional lives, they want that same level of consistency. It makes sense, doesn’t it? 

Without consistency, you will never be able to earn the trust of the people who need your help most. You will never be able to uplevel your influence or impact. You will never see the business growth you’re enthusiastically hoping for.

This is why copy needs to be part of a bigger plan. This is also why you need to make sure all of your messaging—which is made up of the types of words you use and don’t use and how you say and don’t say them—needs to influence every piece of copy you put out into the world.

Achieving consistency is only possible when everything matches. If you’re trying to make everything match, it helps to have a standard of what you want your messaging to sound like and what you want your copy to do as part of a bigger plan. The more you know.

What Using Informed Copywriting in Your Business Can Do

What do I mean by “informed copywriting”? According to my definition of copy, it must be strategic and based on proven systems, but it must also clearly have an end goal.

By the end of this class, you’ll realize that while one of my goals was to help you better understand what informed copywriting can do, another goal I had was to share an important resource with you. Something I’ve created to help you better understand the systems that should be running behind all of your words.

When I take a look at the words and steps you have going for your business, I should see something clear that all of your words and systems are pointing to.

Yes, you want them to point to you, but that’s just one step. If I point all of my copy toward me, there isn’t any way for people to pay me to work with them, and that means I’m not really giving them the best help.

There is a lot of confusion about this right now because of the impact that influencers have. But if you take a look at the net worths of a lot of influencers, the only time they are significantly higher than average is if that influencer has a clear way for people to spend money on something they have or a service they provide.

When you use proven systems of words to show people that there is a way for them to get the help they need by investing in your solution, that’s when you will see the business growth you’ve been wanting. That’s the power of informed copywriting. It sounds awesome, right?

And it is, but it doesn’t work without the right facts, solutions, and realistic know-how.

So, now that you know all that, how do you know if you really have the facts you need about why copywriting is so important? Let’s find out together.

Questions to Ask Yourself About Copywriting

There are a few questions you can ask to figure out if you understand as much as you need to when it comes to copywriting. But before we get into that, let’s take a quick mindset break to talk about something that’s happening in your brain, running in the background, that’s trying to sabotage you from learning this right now.

Because I understand sales psychology, I know that whether or not you're conscious of it, your brain is asking the important question “Why should we listen to her? How do we know that she’s telling us the truth?” The “her” in this question is me, Kristin Spencer. And I get it. 

When I was first learning how to be a professional copywriter, I joined a course that promised it would teach me everything I needed to go. But the woman who taught me was only teaching us surface level things. Most of her money came from sharing her wisdom about copywriting with people who wanted to learn to be copywriters, not from working directly with clients. And the only real way to fully understand the answer to “Why is copywriting so important?” is to use deep, tested knowledge with real-life professional humans.

That’s why I finished that program, still felt like I needed more, and I went out and hired one of the most successful copywriters in the digital marketing space today: Christa Nichols. She’s worked directly with Russell Brunson from ClickFunnels, she helped me connect with well-known and respected copywriter Jim Edwards, who I’ve worked with on things he hasn’t shown one other person. She’s also written copy for Dean Graziosi and Daymond John (yes, the shark and CEO of FUBU).

But the best thing about working with her was that after she taught me the real sales psychology that goes on behind the scenes, she found people for me to work with and supervised me while I learned how to partner with actual businesses instead of theoretical ones. She also encouraged me to be vocal about the fact that I’m the only certified copyeditor doing this kind of work, which means I bring a whole different level of clear and concise communication.

I earned my copywriting badge by doing actual writing for real clients and making sure that they got the results they had been hoping for. And I had an expert cheering me on and giving me feedback every step of the way. In fact, Christa still looks over my offers for me and I look over hers. We help each other keep pushing to be that much better than our competition.

So, now that we’ve taken that break and addressed the conscious or unconscious questions your brain had rightly asked, we can get back into the questions you can ask yourself to see if you need more help when it comes to understanding why copywriting is so important.

Bring on the questions! Let’s ignite your curiosity!

Do I know strategic copy when I see it?

If you’re looking at copy that’s written by other business owners, you should be able to tell what they’re trying to do with that copy. Is it a call to action? Is it building one of the four types of awareness? What is the goal of those specific words?

Do I understand the steps of sales psychology a potential client or customer needs to travel through mentally before they are ready to purchase?

If you don’t know what the steps are, you won’t be able to take anyone through them. Or, if you’re hiring a copywriter to take your potential clients or customers through this process, you won’t know if they’re taking people through the proper steps. Whenever you invest time or money into something, it’s important to know whether the thing you’re investing in has the potential to deliver on what you want it to do, right?

Do I know what types of awareness I need to build based on where my potential client or customer is right now?

There are different stages of awareness, and they need to happen in a particular order. If you aren’t sure what that order is, you won’t know which piece to deliver next when you talk to someone who has already gone through one or more stages of awareness when it comes to your product or service.

Do I understand how to find a qualified copywriter if I don’t want to write my own copy?

Earlier I mentioned that there are a lot of people who call themselves copywriters who are just guessing. They don’t know what needs to happen behind the scenes so that your words are strategic and aimed at a specific outcome. If I hadn’t wanted more and found and hired Christa to be my mentor, I would be one of those supposed copywriters.

If any of your answers to any of those questions isn’t a clear “yes,” then a great next step for you would be the Your Confident Copy Academy. I’ve built it to help you know how to answer these questions and so much more. Because I want you to have the knowledge and facts you need to be winning in your business.

Don’t wait to get the clarity you need so that your words have the confidence we both know they can. Sign up today using the button below.

Otherwise, I invite you to check out my podcast, Your Business Story, where I answer some of these questions in a less direct way without as many awesome bonuses.

I hope you found so much value in this masterclass, and I can’t wait to hear what a difference this information makes in your business as you write awesome copy with speed, to help your potential clients and customers take action.

You are amazing, I believe in you, and your business story matters. Talk soon.