5 Types of Copywriting Your Business Must Know
Every business needs to know how to market themselves and there are 5 types of copywriting your business will need to master to do it effectively.
Image by talha khalil from Pixabay
As a marketer, you need to be aware of different copywriting types and their uses, in order to incorporate them into your marketing strategy.
As a marketer, you will be tasked with creating and working on a variety of different marketing strategies.
And a lot of marketing strategies today use several different types of copywriting as part of their content marketing plans.
A powerful copy, when used right, can make a huge impact on readers.
But in order to make a strong impact, the type of copywriting you should use is suited to the situation.
When you work within a marketing team, you need to know when to use each of these different styles of copy.
Because that is the only way you can ensure that your copy is able to make the impact it was designed for.
Today, the world of marketing is quite different compared to a decade or two ago.
People today require that marketing strategies provide value to them, such as information or entertainment.
That is why it is so important as a marketer to know the right type of content for each situation, in order to maximize your ROI.
Let’s take a look at five of the most popular types of copywriting, and discover when and how to use each one of them.
Types of Copywriting and Their Uses
4- B2B Copywriting
5- B2C Copywriting
What is Copywriting and How Does It Help?
Copywriting today is an important part of a marketing professional’s domain, either as a content/copywriter, marketer, or content strategist.
Copywriting is a way for businesses to connect with their target audience.
A good copy, or rather an effective copy, is one that moves its audience into acting the way you want them to.
If your copy promotes a service or wants its readers to sign up for something, then a well-written copy will be able to influence its readers into doing so.
And with so many companies today relying on content marketing to establish a brand identity, your copy needs to have its own distinct voice in order to stand out.
Because without its own unique identity, your content would be lost in a sea of similar copies, failing to make the impact that was desired.
However, with consumers looking for greater value, it’s a great time to make sure that your copy shines and stands out in order to establish a strong brand personality.
Today, whether you are new to marketing or a veteran in the field, you need to know when and how you can use the different types of copywriting for maximum impact.
Let’s take a look at five of the most popular types of copies you can use to boost the impact of your marketing strategy.
1- Website Copywriting
The art of website copywriting is a skill that is one of the most important types of copywriting a marketer should be aware of.
A good web copy is one that grabs a reader’s attention at a glance
As its name suggests, this type of copywriting deals with the content that is used for different web pages, such as your homepage, landing pages, etcetera.
According to a study conducted by the Missouri University of Science and Technology, viewers spend approximately five seconds or less on a section of your website before moving on.
At that time, it is quite difficult to grab the reader’s action and connect with them sufficiently in order to drive the action you desire.
And that is exactly why website copywriting is one of the most demanded types of copywriting for marketers nowadays.
The idea behind a successful web copy is quite simple though.
The factor that is common in all successful web copies, is that each page on your website works towards a single objective.
If your business specializes in speechwriting services, then each webpage should discuss only one type of speech, such as your best man speech writing services.
To put it simply, each webpage, or section of a webpage for smaller websites, should discuss one single objective, so as to not confuse the reader by throwing too much information at the same time.
However, you need to ensure that while the copy needs to drive towards a single, distinct action, the text should not be repetitive.
Rather, your headlines, different paragraphs, calls to action, and even images should be designed to drive the action you want, albeit in different manners.
Why Is It Used:
No business today uses a website that serves no purpose.
At the very least, your website is designed to inform potential customers why your services or product can help solve their issues.
However, information that drives a user nowhere is useless to a business.
That is why your web copy should be structured in a way that slowly influences and drives the reader into taking an action that you want from your customers.
Now that action could be signing up for your services, subscribing to your products, or even just viewing or sharing your digital content.
Whatever the action you require, your web copy should be able to influence your readers into performing it.
2- SEO Copywriting
SEO copywriting is all about optimizing the content you write in a way that makes it easy for search engines to assess and rank higher.
Rarely does one look past the first page of search results.
Google, DuckDuckGo, MSN, Yahoo, and many other search engines rank content published on different websites on the basis of different metrics.
Globally, marketers prefer Google as their search engine benchmark.
And although every business wants to increase traffic onto their website, that will be an impossible feat if it doesn’t rank higher.
Higher traffic means a greater amount of leads, and more leads mean more revenue.
However, with a lower rank on Google SERP, you will be hard-pressed to increase traffic, if you receive any at all.
Therefore, the first step to optimizing your copy for the search engine is identifying the right keywords to rank for.
There are many tools that can help you select your keywords, including SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Google Keyword Planner.
Once you’ve done with the process of keyword research, the next step is to analyze other websites that are ranking high on your chosen keyword.
You should check out how they have structured their content, what topics are they covering, and any additional or supplemental keywords they might be using.
All this research will help you understand the type of content you need to produce in order to rank high on Google SERP.
Why Is It Used:
The reason why SEO copywriting is used in marketing is quite simple to understand.
By ranking your content higher on a search engine’s results for a specific keyword, you will be increasing the visibility of the copy you have published.
If your content is easy to find and view, that would expose it to more prospective readers.
And the more readers you get, the greater number of potential leads will you have to convert, boosting your revenue generated.
Today, as many businesses are relying on content marketing to promote their brand, there is fierce competition to rank higher.
And evaluating your competition, and then using this model to create your own structure and process, will make it easier to do so.
3- Product Copywriting
Product copywriting, as the name suggests, is content that is all about displaying and promoting your product.
A product, no matter how good, won’t do well if no one knows it.
And while copywriting is, by definition, all about promoting something, this type of copy is used specifically for product pages, descriptions, and product launch announcements.
When we talk about describing something, normally we would think about drawn content that explains the intricacies of the item we were talking about.
But if we consider that our product copy is designed specifically for our customers, then adding too much detail might end up confusing them.
The best way to write for your customers is by creating a copy that speaks about solving their problems and addressing their desires.
One way to talk about solving your customers’ problems, is by ensuring that your copy focuses on the benefits you provide rather than an in-depth look at individual features.
GIMP graphics software does a great job of that.
Instead of getting into the features of the tools in-depth, it rather opts to highlight the benefits of those features.
That is how good product copywriting can be done.
Why Is It Used:
Essentially, the reason this type of copywriting is being done nowadays is because consumers today have a shorter attention span.
Too much information thrown at them at the same time only ends up confusing them, making it nearly impossible to convert them.
That is why product copywriting is fast becoming a trendy copywriting skill, where you need to find the balance between effective promotional copy, and disseminating adequate information.
Moreover, with e-commerce quickly becoming the most profitable option compared to brick-and-mortar storefronts, marketers identified an issue that needed to be resolved.
The issue was that without being able to compare two similar products physically, how could companies ensure that the consumer would opt for their product?
Well, in answer to that, product copywriting offered a way to promote products, effectively combining the tasks of informing and promoting into a balanced mix of the two.
That is often why you will nowadays see that many popular copywriting courses online are now teaching the art of product copywriting.
4- B2B Copywriting
These companies offer services or products to other businesses, such as a building owner offering co-sharing spaces for smaller companies looking for a physical place of business.
B2B is an acronym that stands for Business-to-Business.
But for many people, the difference between companies that offer B2B services or B2C services is quite vague.
Essentially, the thing that makes them different is their target audience.
Writing for individual consumers is different compared from writing for another business.
The type of copy you create will need to be targeted in order to appeal to people who are in the industry representing businesses.
And while you still have to promote your product and services by being engaging and persuasive, you also need to speak to their pain points.
Let’s take the example above where we discuss GIMP.
If we talk about that tool, many others on the market are arguably better at it at designing and image manipulation.
However, its fourth benefit, the one that allows for support for different programming languages, is one that solves the issue for those who are looking for a design tool they can modify to their needs.
While that feature may not be so useful for an individual designer, someone whose company has specific design needs might benefit by creating scripts and adding new features as they need them.
That is how you can make high quality content appealing to another business.
Why Is It Used:
The reason for using B2B copywriting is that different segments of the market respond to different styles of content.
Marketing copy that connects with and speaks to individuals might not be as effective when your reader is someone who is looking for solutions to his business needs.
That is where the concept of separate B2B and B2C copywriting came into being.
One style of marketing copy deals with targeting general consumers, by appealing to their needs and desires.
The other targets business owners and representatives, by highlighting their pain points and talking about how you can help alleviate them.
This distinct difference allows for better targeting of your content, ensuring a greater return on investment on your marketing copy.
And by identifying your target market, you can ensure that you create the right kind of copy as a marketer.
5- B2C Copywriting
Just like B2B copywriting above, B2C copywriting is a type of marketing copywriting that is designed to connect with individuals and general consumers.
B2C copywriting is all about creating copy that speaks to a consumer’s desires.
The acronym stands for Business-to-Consumer, and this style of copywriting is designed to promote your products or services directly to the people who are in need of them.
Think, for example, the case of a bakery owner who wants to promote the special kind of pastries his shop creates to the public.
Here, the purpose of the copy is not to solve a problem for your reader.
Rather, this type of marketing copy would be all about speaking to the wants and desires of the bakery’s target consumers.
The purpose, in this case, would be to prompt an action.
That action could be to increase foot traffic inside the shop.
Or it might be that the shop wants people to try and order a specialty item, thus boosting sales for the shop.
Whatever the reason, at the end of the day, your copy would need to connect with its readers, speaking to their desire about trying a new sweet or savory treat.
Why Is It Used:
As we discussed, the purpose is simply to promote a product or service directly to the consumers, by connecting it to what they desire.
But there is a caveat when we talk about the effectiveness of a good B2C copy.
Essentially, in order to create a good B2C marketing copy, you need to know the target audience well.
Moreover, you also need to understand their likes, dislikes, wants, and desires.
That will help you create a copy that targets what they crave, and effectively promote your product or service to its target market.
That is also why you’ll often see the words like “succulent”, “decadent”, “rich”, “luscious”, and many similar words when a marketing copy describes good food.
Conclusion
That brings us to the end of the topic, where we talk about some of the most popular types of copywriting, and why they are used by marketers.
Effective copywriting is like a powerful call to action; You just can’t ignore it.
As a budding marketer or even a veteran, you need to keep yourself up to date on the types of marketing copies that are popular nowadays.
By knowing what is working for your competition, you will be able to create a better marketing strategy, catapulting your business to the front of the pack.
