Why Copywriting Matters in Online Marketing
Copywriting | 27 Sep 2011
Since the internet was invented, people have been trying to use it for sales. The advantages are obvious: Millions, even billions, of customers are organized neatly into targetable subcultures. It’s no exaggeration to say that the internet is coming into its own as the most potent advertising tool that has ever existed. This doesn’t mean that the fundamental principles that guide marketing have changed, however. In fact, these techniques are more vital than ever. The classic mailer that defined the ages passed is not considerably different from the modern email campaign. Of course, many of these principals have been lost as internet marketing has become more accessible to individuals working from home. Many of these self-taught marketers never bothered to examine the tools that made their trade the juggernaut that it is. One of those tools is Copywriting.
Copywriting is a form of writing that emphasizes persuasion. A potent mixture of prose and psychology, copywriting aims to draw customers over the brink of doubt and compel them to action. This was not an easy task even in the days of catalogs; it is far more difficult now. Having lived in the age of multimedia, consumers of today are more skeptical and cynical than ever. So, has copywriting outlived its usefulness? Not at all, quite the opposite. The skill of copywriting has become even more vital. There are several reasons why online marketing in particular can benefit from copywriting.
The Fundamentals of Marketing Haven’t Changed
The internet may have brought about many changes in the way companies do business, but marketing itself relies on the same principles that it always did. Yes, the medium has changed dramatically. However, how people respond to persuasion, and why, is deeply ingrained into each culture. Marketing throughout its existence has been a ceaseless quest to discover how to best take advantage of these compulsions.
What many online marketers unwittingly have at their fingertips is decades of research, testing, and proven methods. Many of the discoveries made are based in the skill of copywriting. Language is one of the most powerful tools in the world, and copywriting has been a long quest to take advantage of it. By utilizing copywriting as part of a campaign strategy, marketers can take advantage of all the experience that has been dedicated toward marketing in the past.
The Infrastructure Responds to It
Search engines are by far the most powerful platforms for online marketing. What is the most powerful factor in how search engines determine content ranking? Copy. Words are the most potent ranking devices available to online marketers, and copywriting is a study on how to use the right ones. Little amounts of copy won’t rank, and stuffed copy will drive away customers. The key to making effective copy then, is to use the principles that copywriting has been establishing for years.
Copy is More Important than Ever
With the advent of the radio and the TV, onlookers began decrying the decline of reading. When the internet began to displace both of them, many people were surprised to realize that the average person began spending a massive amount of time—just reading. They read many different things: Up to the minute news, entertainment stories, blogs, and fiction. We may now, for the first time in history, communicate more by text (From phones, from emails, from chat rooms) than by voice.
Written words aren’t dead, not by a long shot. They certainly aren’t dead in online marketing. The jaded consumer of today actually expects more text. They’re leery of attempts to draw them in with cute pictures and videos. What they want is information, and presenting information in the best way is how you sell your product to them. This is the domain of copywriting.
Finally…
It should be evident that copywriting is necessary to good online marketing. Managing without it is like trying to play a guitar with no strings. It is as necessary a talent to marketing as any. For the online marketer, it has the advantages of consistency, support, and even emerging necessity. Any marketer could be served by a solid education in copywriting, and it’s not by any means impossible to get. Many books are available that cover every period and innovation in the history of marketing. Many collections treat ads with a clinical eye—judging fitness by strictly defined metrics. Others take the perspective of psychologists, and even artists. In the end, copywriting is just a measure of words. Words, however, have power, and as an online marketer, you would be wise to harness that power for yourself.
Related posts:
