1. What is a Marketing Copywriter?
A marketing copywriter wears the two hats of marketing and copywriting. In this dual role, both functions are interrelated and used to encourage customer engagement and purchase. A marketing copywriter can turn their hand to marketing, copywriting or both.
A copywriter creates persuasive content to motivate customers to click on a link, dive further into a website, and ultimately part with their money for a product or service. They write copy that engages with a company’s target audience and tells them why they need to buy their wares.
Copywriting is the text you see on a website, the content of a blog or social profile, the message of an email, the headline and description of a Google ad, and the sales information within a company brochure. Copywriting is the written word that compels viewers to want to become part of a business community, sign up for an offer or further information and buy a product.
Marketing utilises copywriting to achieve a company’s marketing goals. The definition by The Chartered Institute of Marketing is “Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.” Marketing considers a company’s offering, how much it charges, how it delivers products or services to its customers, and how it tells its customers about its products and services.
A marketer uses a variety of tools, such as branding, a website, social media, advertising, PR, events and special offers to gain the attention and recognition of potential customers and generate traffic and leads. They use copy to communicate with their customers about why they should choose their product over another and persuade them they are making the right choice.
A marketing copywriter helps businesses with their copywriting, marketing or their marketing and copywriting on an ongoing or ad hoc basis. Their goal is to get products or services in front of a company’s target audiences so that they start thinking “Why am I living without it?”
2. What does a marketing copywriter do?
What a marketing copywriter does is wide-ranging and depends on the company sector and business goals.
With a marketing hat on, a marketing copywriter develops a marketing strategy and builds a specific marketing plan of action, which is constantly revised and updated. To do this they monitor market trends and perform a competitor analysis, cultivate a pricing strategy, nurture targeting strategies and create advertising campaigns.
The growing popularity of digital marketing in today’s world has resulted in many companies focussing their efforts on online marketing channels such as their website, Google, and social media as these offer a cost-effective and measurable way to interact with targeted audiences in real time. A marketing copywriter is fully equipped to support the increasing need of digital marketing support for companies.
A digital marketing copywriter may do many activities on a day-to-day basis so that they fit and work together to achieve the best results. They include:
• Shaping branding, tone of voice and audience personas
• Creating, designing and optimising websites
• Improving search engine optimisation, SEO
• Tracking and analysing website traffic and advertising ROI
• Running display and search advertising campaigns to build awareness and capture intent
• Building audiences on social media
• Creating email campaigns
• Managing online events
Now with a copywriting hat on, a marketing copywriter also does many things behind the scenes to help write amazing, targeted and optimised copy for online and offline marketing campaigns. These include:
• Research
• Interviewing
• Planning
• Understanding goals
• Editing
• Proofreading
• Managing projects
• Sourcing images
• Planning and implementing content marketing campaigns
• Measuring the impact of their copy
3. What skills does a Marketing Copywriter have?
Marketing and copy are everywhere you look. From the adverts you see on your Facebook feed or Google search to the emails you receive in your inbox; everyone is constantly engaging with marketing and copy. This often results in everyone having an opinion on how to market or write about a product or service.
Marketing and copywriting needs to be strategic, well-researched and driving measurable results. So, the skills a marketing copywriter needs are specialist and diverse. They include:
• Research – to understand the market and to find the right story angle.
• Great listening skills - to understand the real pains and needs of customers.
• Curiosity – to ask questions and start a conversation, find out why things are done the way they are and suggest new alternative approaches.
• Understanding the target audience - to give people what they desire, we need to know target audiences inside out.
• Storytelling - use data and turn it into genuine stories of a brand.
• Great copywriting – to optimally connect with your audience.
• Creativity – thinking of new ideas, approaches and ways of communicating to constantly improve customer relationships and perceptions.
• Adaptability – flexible approach to a new project, client or trend.
• An eye for detail – grammatically correct content is essential to build trust as a brand leader.
• A wide vocabulary – to choose the right words that fully engage your audience.
• The ability to see different points of view – not getting stuck in your personal thoughts helps you adapt and generate new ideas.
• Strategic – to understand all factors that impact a business and develop an action plan. Content strategy development to create meaningful, cohesive, and engaging content to attract target customers.
• Time and project management – often handling several projects at one time, a marketing copywriter must keep all balls in the air, stay on track and meet deadlines.
4. How to hire a Marketing Copywriter?
You may be a small business struggling to keep up with website, blog, and social media content, a media agency or marketing department who needs specific marketing or copy support, a start-up business juggling many urgent priorities, or an established company who needs a marketing strategy rethink.
You can hire a freelance marketing copywriter to manage your marketing and copywriting needs. Here are the steps to hiring a marketing copywriter to support your business.
Firstly, create a list of your marketing and copywriting needs. Would you like to increase your social media presence, is SEO a priority, do you want to establish regular blog posts or fine-tune your email campaign?
Decide on your budget to manage your marketing and copywriting costs. What can you realistically afford? Is it a one-off project or an ongoing retainer fee?
Search and review freelance marketing copywriter websites. Is it easy to navigate? Can you view their portfolio and are testimonials featured on the site? You might prefer a local marketing copywriter as it is easier to work with someone who holds the same work hours and who you can meet in person.
When you find a good fit marketing copywriter for your company needs and culture, it is often best to chat with them to discuss your business needs, how they think they could help your company, how they will charge, what information sharing is required, and how you would work together. This will vary depending on the type and extent of work you require.
You should hire a freelancer with the experience and knowledge that best suits your requirements within your budget.
About H Kennard, Marketing Copywriter
Thanks for reading my blog. I offer copywriting and marketing support to help businesses engage and build relationships with their target audiences, increase leads and boost growth.
I help SMEs, media agencies, start-ups, and busy marketers connect with their customers, through effective, flexible, and cost-efficient marketing communications and engaging content.