So you have a slick new logo, print ads that are filling up brochure racks, and a website which is finally up-and-running. Great! These are all excellent ways to spread the word about your business.
However, there’s something you may have missed: The copy, or written text in your ads, is lacking. There might be misspelled words or choppy sentences — maybe none of it makes sense.
This is a problem.
Your website can have a beautiful design with immaculate detail, but if the writing is bland, confusing, and full of mistakes, users will find little reason to stick around. Content should be clear enough to inform and compelling enough to persuade, a balancing act that pays off if done correctly.
Good copy can improve SEO, or search engine optimization. SEO makes it easier for people to come across your website in Google’s search results. Using the right keywords and tags can help with this, but nothing’s more effective than posting quality content.
Nothing says “unprofessional” like poor grammar. Ads ridden with rough sentences are the same as ones that use roughly cropped, low resolution pictures — they both look bad. The less mistakes you have, the more credible you’ll appear, which is why it never hurts to have an extra set of eyes look over your content.
An ad full of style but low on substance is superficial at best, as consumers need convincing reasons to buy what you’re selling. Rather than list all of your product’s features, try to highlight the benefits of those features. In other words, sell a good night’s sleep — not the mattress.
When describing these benefits, try to hold off from using jargon that will go over most people’s heads. Business-specific phrases might make sense to you and your coworkers, but waxing poetic about these terms with customers can be the opposite of helpful.
When you’re constantly working to build your brand, it can also become hard to write from an objective point of view. Hiring an outside source to write for you leads to more customer-oriented copy, as they can talk about the company from their perspective — one which doesn’t include your own biases.
Writing quality content takes time. If you happen to own a business, this can be time you simply don’t have. Adding a copywriter to your team is a great investment, because it ensures that your company’s copy is just as effective as your designs.
As an anonymous author once wrote, “Design attracts, copy sells.”