As you skim through your sea of emails, newsfeeds and notifications, what determines whether you engage with a piece of content? The answer is copy—simply defined by Merriam Webster as “the text of an advertisement.”
Good copy is an absolute requirement if you want your organization to stand out in the era of information overload. Hiring a copywriter who knows how to string words together in a way that compels your audience to action is invaluable. Here’s why.
Proper grammar=credibility
It may seem like a trivial element of communication, but if you’re trying to appeal to an educated audience, grammar can make or break you. Seriously—the second readers notice a grammatical error or two on your page, they’ll automatically view your organization as less credible.
A good copywriter has the power to make your brand sound trustworthy. The little things that most people couldn’t care less about—verb tense consistency, proper commas, using the right form of “your”—can damage your brand if used incorrectly. Lucky (or maybe unlucky) for copywriters, their brains have been trained to spot those errors in every piece of writing they see. Good copywriters are allergic to linguistic mistakes. No matter the size, mission or status of your organization, you need someone with that skill set on your staff!
Adaptable writing
We all know someone who changes their behavior depending on who they’re with. Usually this is seen as shady and fake, but copywriters are experts at using this skill for good. They’re able to predict how certain groups of people will perceive content and then tweak the messaging to best resonate with each subset of your audience. They’re word magicians, if you will. This can be used to your advantage so that everyone from Gen-Zers to Baby Boomers finds your advertising captivating and relatable.
Consistency
Copywriters are also the key to ensuring that your style and branding are consistent across all platforms. Though your content may be the brainchild of dozens of contributors, you don’t want some of it reading like a research paper while the rest sounds like a teenager’s Facebook status. A copywriter will help you strike that middle ground in order to portray yourself to the community in the best way possible.
Think about it: when you click on an organization’s Twitter profile, you get a feel for its personality after reading just a few tweets. Some accounts are filled with cute hashtags, exclamation points and reaction GIFs, for example, while others stick to the facts and hard-hitting headlines. There’s no right or wrong way to brand yourself—what matters is that you once you’ve chosen a style, you stick with it. Copywriters will help your organization’s content seem like it’s coming from a single, all-knowing source rather than a clustered compilation of thoughts.
More engagement
When used in tandem with captivating graphics, good copy is the key to user engagement.
If you only have a few words to get your point across, a copywriter will help you choose the right ones. A compelling sentence can lead to a click, a click can lead to a donation and a donation can lead to a lifelong supporter of your organization. And to think it all started with a 40-word Tweet.
In sum, copywriters are the unsung heroes of your organization. If you don’t have one yet, you should consider hiring one. In a world that’s positively overflowing with content, they’ll make sure that yours is engaging, consistent and, of course, grammatically correct.
