What is Copywriting? (Copywriting 101 For Beginners)

copywriting is one of the most effective and powerful and profitable ways to grow a business also known as sales copy or just copy for short copywriting is really just writing using words and arranging and writing down those words in interesting and persuasive combinations in order to increase brand awareness persuade customers to take action get them to buy something or whatever else it is that you want to achieve so if you've ever written any kind of business or marketing content in order to try to persuade or convince someone to do something then you my friend have

done copywriting and you can call yourself a copywriter alright congratulations here's your certificate oh gee thanks so much hey Mom I did it post it on social media about your business and an offer you have that's copy have a section on your website that asks people to sign up or fill out an application or download something that's copy2 sent an email to your customers wrote a tagline for your business a sales page a white paper a lead magnet anything at all to promote your business it's all copy of course there is a difference and a

pretty big one between good copywriting and bad copywriting and a few details that you should know about what really goes into this whole copywriting thing whether you want to do it yourself or hire someone to help you out so let me walk you through that now starting by covering the two things that copywriting is not number one copywriting is not copywriting now I appreciate if you're just listening to the audio here and not looking at the screen then that is gonna sound like the most messed up and confusing statement ever copywriting is not copywriting but

the fact is what we're talking about here is copy writing which is creating copy in order to get customers to take action copyright on the other hand is the legal protection of intellectual property that protects original works of authorship and the creators who made them or in other words all that law stuff number two copywriting is not content writing but there is an overlap and a bit of a gray area here so it's important to understand the difference between copy and content but then don't worry too much about getting caught up in the details after

this basically copywriting is one directional it's outcome driven it's persuasive and compelling and it's designed and written with the intention of getting someone to take some kind of action ideally immediately and ideally in some kind of trackable or measurable way so you can decide whether your copy was effective or not content writing on the other hand is more engagement and awareness focused it's there to build Goodwill and create relationships and is willing to do it over a longer period of time this video right here that you're watching now is a a good example of content

not copy but if I were to include a call to action that asked you to do something like say check out the link in the descriptions below this video for more information on the digital marketing Academy well then that would be copy but copy buried inside content like some kind of copywriting Inception anyway that's why I don't want you to get too worried over calling it copywriting or content writing because at the end of the day it's really just about making sure you're using the right tool for the job and doing it in the best

way possible which leads me perfectly to my next point which is that the best copywriting comes from copywriters who have a solid and foundational understanding of marketing strategy and marketing principles or in other words the best copywriters are not the best writers they're the best marketers this is because copywriting is really just taking your sales and your marketing thoughts and ideas and presentations and then putting them all into written form the way that I like to think of copywriting is that every single piece of copy that I write acts like a kind of mini sales

person for my business A salesperson that doesn't eat doesn't sleep doesn't get tired or frustrated or take time off for weekends or holidays or anything at all A salesperson that I can train once and then know that they're going to do their job perfectly and never have to worry about them messing up or saying the wrong things this is is because I can spend as much time as I want getting my copy perfect and then once that piece of copy is written and I believe it's as good as it's going to be I send it

out to the world and it just keeps on working forever bringing in New Leads and new customers and new sales but the real power of effective copy is that unlike traditional sales which is usually done one to one speaking to a single person at a time a piece of copy posted on social media or mailed to customers or sent via email can reach hundreds thousands even millions of people which makes it that much more important that when you write copy you do it well as the profit potential here for the right piece of Copy being

shown to enough of the right people is just massive now every platform and every medium and every channel has its own style and tone and personality and you need to take this into consideration when you're writing copy for example a cold email is going to look and feel and sound very different than an email that you're sending out to your customers or your subscribers and an organic social media post is likely to have a different feel and level of assert than compared to say if you're running it through a paid ad or actually spending money

to promote this to brand new people not to mention each platform has its own style and parameters and content guidelines for example writing an ad for say Google ads is going to look very different than an ad written for YouTube this is because with Google ads well it's search based so the intent of the user is different not to mention you're limited on the kinds of media that you can use and the number of characters you're allowed to put in your ad compared to say a YouTube ad which could be three minutes or five minutes

or 10 minutes and allows you to use video and audio and graphics and all kinds of other Fancy Pants editing stuff that said There are rules and guidelines and principles that have stood the test of time and have been around for tens if not hundreds if not thousands of years fun fact the first record of copywriting is said to be this little document right here the Egyptian Papyrus of slave Shem which dates back to 3000 BC but we've gotten a lot better since then so let me walk you through some of the most important fundamentals

right now now starting with features versus benefits the best copywriters know that we as humans are emotional creatures who make decisions based on feelings first and then justify our decisions with logic after the fact this is why a cardinal sin in copywriting is to Simply State the features and all the things that someone's going to get rather than what actually matters which is the end result the outcome and the benefit that your customer will experience as a result of doing business with you in today's hyper competitive world where customers have seen it all and heard

it all and probably tried it all before they're unlikely to respond to anything that claims to be better this is because a better is subjective so is it faster or cheaper or more reliable or does it come with more high fives and B they won't believe it because again they've been told that things are better before and rarely did their expectations line up with what they actually received the solution then is to be different to find some way to be unique or new or novel or interesting or creative and ideally something that your competitors are

going to be unable or unwilling to copy okay next the single CTA which may be the very most important point of all as I covered earlier one of the biggest differences between content writing and copywriting is that copy is designed with the intention of getting someone to take some kind of action this is why it's important to keep things as clean and clear and as concise as possible ideally with one single call to action and by ideally I mean basically just have one call to action and make sure to tell them exactly what to do

next and why it's in their benefit to do so for example if you really want to become a better copywriter then one of the best things that you could do is learn how to use and apply the 15 psychological marketing triggers that make people buy from you so to help you do that I've linked up a video right here with those 15 psychological triggers that will not only show you what they are but also how to use them so make sure to check that out now and I'll see you in that video