If you’re a small business owner feeling stressed and stretched, juggling your time and energies just to keep up with day-to-day priorities, you may not have considered the benefits of hiring a copywriter. Perhaps, if you have fleetingly thought about hiring one, you’ve rejected the idea believing they are a luxury your business just can’t afford. However, understanding the role of the copywriter, the significant value they can bring to your brand and your bottom line could be one of the best investments you ever make in your business. Here is a handful of reasons to hire a copywriter for your small business.
1. TIME. TIME.TIME.
As a small business owner, you may feel you have to be a Jack-of-all-trades and often you are taken away from your real passion. The reason why you went into business in the first place. Your day is a never ending list of priorities and you spread yourself thin across them all. Hiring a copywriter will allow you to make the most of your precious time. Imagine having an extra pair of hands so you can focus on what you are good at.
2. Expertise
The expertise of a copywriter should never be underestimated. Many of us, small business owners included, think ‘We can all write. Right?’ The truth of the matter is you may be physically and technically able to write – but chances are you won’t have the experience or expertise that’s required when it comes to balancing the goals and objectives of a business, with the needs of its audience. And that’s on a simplistic level. There are many layers woven seamlessly into effective, targeted communications. So leave the writing to the experts because bad writing can do more harm than good.
3. Strengthen your brand and positioning
The tone of voice (TOV/personality), consistencies, proofreading (quality control), good grammar and spelling are all vital in promoting a strong brand. If your prospective customers see mistakes and typos on your website or in your brochures they are going to assume you are unprofessional and shoddy. Not the ideal start to a new business relationship if it ever gets off the ground at all. Project a credible and professional image and your customers will be more inclined to trust you and not see you as some fly-by-night. A copywriter will ensure all your copy is polished until it sparkles. Your aims/objectives/value propositions/messaging and brand persona and positioning in the market will be imbued throughout your copy. Your clients will soon come to recognise your business without ever having to see your logo – such is the power of good copywriting.
4. Differentiate your business from the crowd
A good copywriter will get to grips with your competition and identify your true differentiators and value propositions. When you hire a professional copywriter, you aren’t just getting someone who can write great words, you’re hiring someone who will research your industry, your competitors and your service offering until they can identify what sets you apart. You might think you have the biggest, the smallest, the fastest, the loudest – but do you really? And what does that really mean to your clients? A good copywriter will identify the value – the ‘so what’- and then communicate that in a way that sets you apart from the competition and without the bargain basement language.
5. Increase traffic to your website
You may have managed to get your business online, but are your website and its content really working to grow your business? Or is it just there as a placeholder? Well-written copy will include just the right amount of keywords and your website will be stuffed full of search engine optimised (SEO) content. It will also be tagged and be set up with useful metadata to make the articles more searchable. Original content is highly sought after by Google and of course your audience. Your copywriter will help you identify the purpose of your website and will provide content that will motivate your clients to act. Internet marketing is a fast-moving sector and writers who understand the latest trends in SEO, social media and other forms of digital marketing will provide your business with an edge.
6. Create, develop and maintain your online presence
Having a strong online presence nowadays is a must. According to the latest surveys, over half of all shoppers start their research online, using a search engine first, rather than going to any specific website. And to use a search engine, you need words.
That’s where content writing comes in. You may have the perfect product for a specific client, but if your product or service doesn’t come up in the search, how will they find out about you? Relying on traditional advertising methods, like print ads or TV commercial can only help you so much (plus they are normally too expensive). If your online presence doesn’t match your presence on other media, you don’t exist.
Take heed though. Ensuring your content (and by extension, your business) come up in search results isn’t just about stuffing an article with keywords (because you can be penalised for that too). The most important elements which determine whether online content pops up or not are still quality and relevance.
7. Motivate, persuade, educate and inform your audience all the way down the sales funnel.
Copywriters understand the need for mapping key pieces of collateral at just the right stage of the Buyer’s Journey. They understand that a White Paper will serve more value early on rather than a 40% off promotion. Trust their advice and instincts. They know better than anyone how to target the message and target the audience. They will help you improve conversion rates of prospects to customers and they will highlight the benefits of ordering your product or choosing your service
8. Relationship building
Copywriters will help you bridge the gap between you and your clients. The one person who can adapt the relevant message to the relevant audience is the copywriter. They can mediate between you and your clients, and explain how your solution meets their needs. They can engage your customers, and motivate them to take action, and invest in your business. By being able to communicate directly with your audience, your clients will understand you really care about your relationship with them and care about their feedback.
Long, boring articles are off-putting. The same goes for empty buzzwords. Your audience is intelligent and they are going to see right through them, and they’re going to feel like you are trying to deceive them. Quality copywriting will foster a totally different experience – a positive brand experience.
9. Repeat business
If you want your business to thrive, you can’t just satisfy your clients’ needs once and be done with it. You need to build customer loyalty. You need to give them a reason to return to your business and pass on the message to other potential clients. Good copy is going to keep your clients’ interest peaked. Good copy will quite simply keep the conversation going. And a good copywriter knows how to do all of that.
10. Healthy bottom line
Time, brand strength, clear differentiators, customer engagement, thriving online presence, customer loyalty – all adds up to a healthy bottom line which as we can safely equate to strong financial growth and business success.
Do you still think a copywriter is a luxury you can do without?
If you would like to know more about how a copywriter can help your business why not check out our ebook – Essential Copywriting on Amazon. Or better still, drop us a line at info@eviemcrae.com
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