How much thought do you put into the words that appear on your web pages? 

In your headings, captions or headlines?

Or your call–to–action (CTA) buttons?

What about the words that make up your brand messaging?

If the answer is anything other than “a lot”, you should keep reading this article.

The words that speak for your brand, for you, are crucial to the success of your business as a whole—especially online.

That’s where copywriting comes in. 

And, make no mistake, copywriting is a true art form. It is difficult to master, but all-powerful when mastered.

Copywriting bridges the gap between your brand and your audience. Good copywriting goes beyond being just words on a screen or a billboard. It’s a written approach that manages to convince billions of people, every day, to make buying decisions.

Whether that’s exchanging dollars for a product or service, contact details for newsletters, or donating to a good cause.

Copywriting gets your reader to act.

It plays into their buying intent and gives them a slight push over the edge into decision-land.

Effective copywriting drives a reader to decide by speaking to the reader’s needs: their unfulfilled desires, unresolved problems, and unachieved outcomes. 

It gains the reader’s trust in your brand.

Gone are the days of quiet bragging. Say “no more” to websites that say a lot without addressing the reader’s needs. 

Because it’s all about what the reader gets out of their experience with your brand. 

By engaging with you, and buying your products or services, they’re agreeing with your brand, one based on trust.

When your copy—the words that copywriters write—speaks to the reader on a 1:1 level? 

That trust is solidified. 

But here’s the thing: you still need to stand by those words. They still need to speak to who and what your brand stands for or doesn’t stand for. 

And you still need to, “put your money where your mouth is.”

Why you should care about copywriting

Copywriting consists of the words—otherwise known as “copy”—written by a copywriter to elicit a buying decision from a target audience. It’s the art of writing for readers first. 

Sounds simple enough, but copywriting in–and–of itself is not exactly a walk in the park.

Despite how easy Don Draper makes it look in his office on Madison Avenue, copywriting is an art form that even the best copywriters need years to master. 

Mastering copywriting skills takes thousands of hours of writing, researching, and more writing—10,000 to be specific. 

Before writing a stitch of copy, you research. Fact is: your research writes more than 50-80% of your copy for you. And, there are no shortcuts to it, so don’t skip or wing it.

Research skills are important for mastering the art of copywriting.

Research consists of understanding the client’s clients, and getting into their hearts and minds. 

This includes granular nuances, such as: 

• What they think and speak
• What’s important to them
• What motivates them
• Why they use a product or service, and
• Oh so much more

The best way to do that is to develop Ideal Client Profiles (ICP) that map out the clients you want to sell to. The ones you know need your product or service, want your product or service and will use your product or service. 

When Clickex builds your ICPs, we become our version of a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on your business. 

And, this is before our fingers even truly touch our keyboard.

How copywriting works

When it boils down to it, copywriting is about being enough of an SME in your field to fire on all cylinders for your digital marketing. 

Copywriters worth their salt also take the time to understand your brand voice and its corresponding archetype to nail the right vocabulary, cadence and tone for your audience.

Copywriters understand your business from the front–to–back, including your customers. 

Copywriters will write hundreds of headlines and pieces of copy. 

Each piece of copy is thoughtfully crafted, maxing out a copywriter’s writing skills in the process.

To the point that the number of words is counted out for each—all of which speak directly to your ICPs.

Imagine being able to speak directly to a reader, 1:1, through copywriting. 

Now that is magic. 

Different types of copywriting

The ultimate goal for how we approach copywriting is getting someone to convert. It’s a copywriting philosophy from Copy School called conversion copywriting. 

With conversion copywriting, the writing goal is to increase conversion rates by turning readers into buyers. It’s not SEO copywriting—writing for search engine optimization—though they share space on your website. 

Search engines care more about meta titles, meta snippets and meta descriptions.

Don’t get us wrong: SEO matters. 

A lot.

Readers only care about what’s in it for them.

There’s only one goal in mind: for the reader to take a specific action. To fill out a lead-fill form on your website, to directly purchase a product or service you offer, or to join your newsletter.

That’s what drives business online forward. It’s important to first–and–foremost take a conversion copywriting approach to your website.

It’s an absolute must to rank first on Google.

But, if your on-site copy doesn’t speak to your visitor's unfulfilled desires, unachieved outcomes or unresolved problems, how do you expect to turn them into a customer? 

The straight answer is you can’t.

So, you must write for your readers first. 

Always. 

Then write for search engines later. 

Unfulfilled desires, unachieved outcomes, and unresolved problems

Colloquially known as your reader’s jobs, pains and gains:

• Unfulfilled desire: what does their happy ending look like?
• Unresolved problem: what's their pain point?
• Unachieved outcome: what is the most important gain they need and want right now?

AI and copywriting

As we roll into a brave new world, how does the increasing emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) fit into the world of copywriting? 

It’s a great question and one to consider closely. Whether you like it or not, AI is here to stay.

Within the last year, we have seen AI software grow in popularity from ChatGPT, which can write entire marketing strategies, all the way over to Jasper.ai, which delivers on-brand SEO content. 

Writing, and marketing in general, is becoming a lot easier thanks to these impressive AI tools. 

While these tools could never replace a master copywriter, they could eventually have enough training to understand the basics.

Will AI kill copywriting?

It’s a question we ask ourselves all the time. 

And, our answer is no. 

Much like all forms of art, copywriting is subjective. Despite taking a scientific approach to copywriting with all the research, copywriting is largely very subjective.

And, subjectivity is inherently human. 

Making copywriting inherently human.

Maybe even more importantly: it will remove the most taxing and least satisfying parts of the copywriting process.

Research. 

AI puts an end to that arduous process.

But, while AI can copywrite, it’s ultimately a human that controls it and signs off on the copy. 

And unless you give in entirely to AI there will always be a human involved in the copywriting process. 

So, no. 

AI will not kill copywriting. 

AI will enhance copywriting.

As in, AI enhances the creation of content marketing and accelerates the process of writing for content.

Here’s the thing: when you couple AI technology with intuitive human thinking, you get a final product that is unmatched by anyone else. 

It is uniquely yours. 

Great copywriters combine AI with timeless techniques, based on functional frameworks and formulas, to become even greater copywriters.

Philosopher and emperor Marcus Aurelius once said, “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."

The obstacle becomes the way. The AI bottleneck is the way forward. 

Final thoughts

Conversion copywriting is the art of turning readers into buyers with words. 

It’s not so much selling a product or service, as it is creating a buyer for the product or service.

It’s the messaging that connects with the reader on a fundamental level. That answers to three needs: their unfulfilled desires, unresolved problems and unachieved outcomes.

Agitating their problems and then providing solutions turns readers into buyers. 

Taking a reader-first approach by using conversion copywriting strategies, and building trust between the reader and your brand. 

By speaking to them on a 1:1 level. 

And it’s a major key to your overall business success. All you need to do is deliver on those promises. 

Build a comprehensive library of copy with an ICP discovery. 

A library of copy with endless use cases, especially for use on your website. And company-wide to create a unified front for your brand. 

Where you all speak through the brand, equally.

With custom conversion copywriting principles, you build a brand you can lean on in two, five or even a decade from now. 

Want to learn more about how Clickex is the next best click for powering your growth? Chat with our team today and let us show you how to build a legacy brand through the power of the internet.