What Does a Copywriter Do in Marketing?
Copy is the text that sells products and services. Without copy, websites, advertising, and marketing materials are little more than a jumble of colors and images. Marketing copy is all around us – whether we like it or not.
A marketing copywriter is essential to how a brand presents itself to the world.
Advertising and marketing trends come and go – but the importance of expert copywriting has remained the same throughout history. In this post, we examine what marketing copywriters do, and the profound impact they have on businesses.
Let’s dig into it.
What is a Marketing Copywriter?
A marketing copywriter prepares content that encourages consumers to purchase products and services. These writers specialize in persuasive writing designed to hook people’s attention, capture their interest, and nurture it into a decision.
Marketing Copywriter vs Content Writer
The terms marketing copywriter and content writer are often used interchangeably. While both write content, there are a few key differences.
Copywriters….
- Write to sell.
- Generally create short, attention-grabbing text to evoke emotion.
- Write website copy, sales copy, advertisements, emails, eCommerce product pages, etc.
Content writers…..
- Write to inform.
- Typically write longer pieces of content to showcase expertise on a topic.
- Write blog posts, long-form guides, eBooks, whitepapers, etc.
This is not to say there isn’t any overlap between the two professions.
Both marketing copywriters and content writers need an understanding of SEO, proper grammar, and how to create messaging that resonates with readers.
The Bottom Line
Whether you’re an agency or a business, it’s crucial to understand that marketing copywriters and content writers have very different skill sets – only a few have both. When hiring a marketing copywriter, be sure to ask for samples specifically of web content, email messages, advertisements, and so on. The ability to write a killer blog post doesn’t always translate to killer web copy.
What Do Marketing Copywriters Do for Businesses?
A marketing copywriter plays a big (and often underappreciated) role in the business world.
Your marketing copywriter is responsible for shaping your brand voice and creating messages that sell your products/services. In many ways, copywriters pull all other marketing activities together and develop a direction.
Let’s put this in perspective.
When building a brand new website, everything starts with the copy:
- Copy informs the world what the website will be about and who it will speak to. This informs SEO specialists how to craft their strategy around the right search terms/phrases.
- Copy informs the brand’s personality. The brand personality directs graphic designers to set a color scheme, build animations, and craft visual effects on the website.
- Copy forms the website’s visual hierarchy – where messages should be placed on the page. This directs web designers as they build out the page.
- Copy informs site visitors where and how to take action. This helps developers build out the site’s navigation.
In short, a marketing copywriter plays a critical role in how messages are created – and how brands present themselves.
The Bottom Line
A copywriter builds the foundation of brand messaging – and this is no trivial task. They are more than just writers; they are business strategists that bring companies to life with words.
When you hire a marketing copywriter, you need to get an understanding of how they manage these tasks to build the strongest foundation for your designers, developers, and everyone else involved in the project.
What Skills Should You Look for in a Marketing Copywriter?
A marketing copywriter should bring many different skills to the table – beyond just writing.
Obviously, copywriters need excellent grammar, storytelling prowess, and the ability to quickly capture people’s attention. When you search for a marketing copywriter, they need to have skills that go beyond the basic call of duty.
These are the copywriting skills they should have:
- The mindset of a student
- The relatability of a teacher
- Empathy
- SEO knowledge
- User experience awareness
- Understanding of how images and text work together
- Smart time management
- Excellent communication
- Adaptability
These are just a handful of skills to be mindful of in your search for a marketing copywriter.
Copywriting is only part of any creative endeavor. An elite copywriter has a baseline understanding of graphic design, SEO, and web development – and how they all work together to achieve the end result.
How Much Does a Marketing Copywriter Cost?
This is one of the most subjective questions in the digital space – with an insanely wide range of answers. Webpages and landing pages can go anywhere from $100 per page to $500 or more. We’ve seen agencies charge over $1,000 for a landing page.
At Razorcopy, we charge anywhere from $200 to $300 or more for a webpage, based on volume. See our white label pricing guide.
Now, you can find marketing copywriters who will write a webpage for next to nothing. But chances are you’ll end up spending a hefty chunk of time editing/rewriting.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to copywriting, you (almost) always get what you pay for. It never hurts to start with baby steps. Work with the marketing copywriter on a small project – maybe just a single webpage. This is to gauge their process, quality, and if it’s worth pursuing a long-term partnership.
Pro tip: Never, ever request a copywriter to write free samples for you. This sends a message you don’t value their time. Skilled copywriters will laugh at this request – and probably give you the finger.
Think about it: would you ask a plumber or electrician to do a trial job for free so you MIGHT pay them to do another one? Forget about it.
Where Do You Find a Skilled Marketing Copywriter?
You can hire copywriters all across the web. You don’t even need to leave this website to find one!
The quality of writers has a very, very large range. You’ll find good, bad, mediocre, miserable, and outstanding writers – at all different price points. The best thing you can do is look into their expertise, past work, and ability to adapt to different niches.
Try to get a feel for the writer’s process with other businesses and creative workers. The perfect marketing copywriter (for the perfect price) is out there. You just need to do some proper digging.
Whether you’re a digital agency, entrepreneur, small business, or marketing manager, Razorcopy is your one-stop content fulfillment team.
If you’re ready to outsource content creation, look no further. Get in touch today and tell us about your copywriting needs.
