Most marketing and web copy (a lot of web content is a digital form of marketing copy) is written not by specialist writers, but by the likes of general/freelance copywriters, webmasters, SEO techies or marketers.
While there are some advantages of having your web/marketing copy written by such people (and especially if you yourself are a layman), none of the above scenarios are ideal. For example, general copywriters don’t always grasp important marketing fundamentals while marketers, webmasters and SEO techies frequently struggle when it comes to the art of creating engaging, glowing text in a concise, pertinent and powerful manner.
Some people may be surprised to see ‘marketers’ (or marketing professionals) in this list, but it’s a common misconception that just because a person ‘knows about marketing’ or has a marketing degree then he/she is the best person to write your marketing copy. This isn’t the case in reality. The best person to write your copy is first and foremost a naturally talented creative writer but with business and marketing expertise to boot.
There is an important distinction.
It is a very good question, and the fact that company chiefs frequently fail to ask themselves this means they often miss out on a lot of potentially lucrative business.
The ultimate crux is that natural creative writing talent is a rare enough commodity without the added complication of additional business, marketing (and arguably technical) expertise. The truth of the matter is that very best people for this job are few and far between. Although, there are plenty who are happy to ‘give it a go’ as a side-line from their primary role. Many web/marketing copywriters fall into the role by accident or circumstance rather than being handpicked or headhunted on merit. So for example, the techie Webmaster ends up writing pieces to entice and engage customers, the freelance copywriter is engaged to create something on IT service provision in between jobs as a photographer and a food blogger, while the new marketing assistant gets lumbered with the task of sitting in the office typing up an ‘about us’ page while her colleagues swan off to an events jolly.
It sounds outrageous and exaggerated, but it is the kind of thing that happens on a regular basis worldwide. Moreover, this tends to be the with case some of the larger companies; the ones who can afford to employ Webmasters, copywriters and marketing firms. Typical SMEs tend not to have this ‘luxury’ and frequently end up entrusting the incredibly important task of creating the lifeblood of the firm – its marketing copy – to someone in-house. It could be a PA, it could be a manager, it could even be the MD himself/herself. What it usually isn’t is a naturally talented creative writer with business and marketing expertise to boot.
It’s a flaw that is all the more startling when you consider that it’s not just many companies worldwide who fail to recognise this damaging conundrum, but marketing departments, marketing directors and even entire marketing organisations/companies.
Please click to read more about an example of this.
Top quality web and marketing copy – the type that sparks interest, attracts customers and wins business - doesn’t just write itself. And, as discussed, it’s a very specialist skill, bestowed on an exclusive few, not the many.
When companies realise that their web/marketing copy isn’t working, their typical response is to have it rewritten either by the same person, someone else at the same company, or via one of the flawed scenarios mentioned above. That’s their choice, but it’s unlikely to improve matters, and it could be waste of time, costs and resources.
If you are serious about getting the best web/marketing copy for your business then the real solution is to entrust it to a serious talent in the art.
If you approach a typical marketing company you don’t know which of their employees will write your copy. Worse still, you’ll have to pay through the nose no matter how good or bad it is – or whether you use it or not. As such, the typical marketing company approach is a pretty high risk in terms of costs/returns, and with no guarantees.
On your hand, a better (and risk-free) option would be to request a free review of the web/marketing copy that you would like improving here and now. Paul will be happy to give you an honest opinion. The review is free and without obligation. Moreover, you do decide to ask Paul to improve your copy for you, then unlike any marketing firm, he is happy to do this free of charge – with the only proviso being that if you do decide to use any of his suggestions you subsequently pay the rate agreed in advance.
You should get far better web/marketing copy - no risk and win-win.
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