Copywriters: Disappearing into Obscurity or More Relevant than Ever?

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For better or worse the glamorous days of the cocktail swilling, designer suit wearing, fast talking Madison Avenue copywriters are behind us. Copywriters, in the classic sense, are a dying breed. The position of the traditional copywriter is being eclipsed by a newer, more technical model with all sorts of bells and whistles.

The term “Copywriter” doesn’t cover the simple definition it used to. It is now used as a blanket term that covers writers inhabiting a wide range of specialties and skills.  

Types of copywriter job titles include:

Online Article Copywriting, SEO Copywriting, Website Copywriting, Copywriting for Publishers, Agency Copywriter, and Freelance Copywriter

Let’s talk about the different breeds that exist today:

Traditional Copywriter
-includes Copywriting for Publishers, Agency Copywriter

The traditional copywriters of today are an updated version of that Mad Men creature we love. They usually work for creative agencies in a collaborative environment, attending client and strategy meetings, coming out with a creative brief and working closely with art directors and other creatives.  Brainstorming, scribbling furiously, writing, rewriting, “killing your darlings” and writing again - a typical day for a traditional copywriter. They are coming up with ingenious slogans, copy for print ads, radio, television, and increasingly digital and interactive media. Today’s traditional copywriters are using a lot more analytical and market research to reach their audience. Cocktails may still occasionally be on the menu, but hashing out ideas over a quick coffee is more the order of the day.

SEO Copywriter (or Content Writer)
-Often employed in-house or contracted out directly for businesses
-Includes Website Copywriting, often Freelance

Digital, mobile, social media, web, all of these shiny new(ish) elements of marketing strategy involve a hefty amount of Search Engine Optimization. SEO has become so relevant and important to the success of online marketing that possessing that skill set has skyrocketed in demand. SEO copywriters have the ability to create content so engaging that people want to share it, promote it and link to it. This has become vital in search engine ranking, driving traffic to websites, and ultimately establishing trust and reputation with potential clients. SEO copywriters are the new whiz kids and there is an element of what they do permeating every form of copywriting. You may recognize them sitting in a dark corner of a coffee shop muttering about “keyword density”, “adwords”, “gizmos” , “indexing”, “linking”, “spiders”, “splogs” and “widgets”….etc

Content Strategist

-Shiny new term for do-it-all copywriters, often employed by agencies or in-house directly for businesses
-includes elements of SEO Copywriting, Website Copywriting, Online Article Copywriting and Traditional Copywriting

Strangely enough, this type of copywriter doesn’t necessarily do that much writing. While many content strategists do produce their own copy, the main facet of a content strategist position is that of strategist. Surprise! They come up with the action plan for the copy being produced for a project. They do keyword searches, set key phrases and linking, and may then hand that over to a copywriter to do the actual writing. Often they come from a copywriting background and have a track record of expertise in crafting compelling, shareable content packed with well-researched keywords. These experts are in demand.

The Need for Words

Just like the advertising/marketing world itself, the role of copywriters is ever evolving. The value of strategic, creative, well-written copy will never be lost in obscurity. It will continue to be relevant as long as the written word is a key form of human communication. But the position of a copywriter will morph and adapt to the new media as it comes. Today’s copywriters have the ability and the necessity to be more hands on with the strategy, using analytic research more than ever and applying the principles of good SEO. Fear not! Copywriters will continue to be an integral part of marketing world for many, many years to come.

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By phyatt with 1 comment

Social Media’s Impact on Marketing

The use of social media has become ubiquitous in business strategy, incorporated in marketing plans from multinational corporations to mom & pop doughnut shops. It has gotten to the point that if your business doesn’t have a social media presence it seems suspect, a sign that you don’t have the resources or are simply behind the times.

For a marketing vehicle to get this kind of universal implementation, it must change the very face of marketing itself. So how can we define social media’s impact on marketing?

Here are the Top 4 Ways Social Media has Impacted Marketing

Immediate Data

Data has always been at the centre of marketing decisions, but with the birth of social media marketers have more information than ever at the tips of their fingers. Targeting has never been easier or more efficient with the abilities many platforms provide to choose their audience based on a multitude of demographics. Hyper-targeting is allowing businesses to reach their clients in a way that was never available before without expensive, time consuming market research. Marketers are spending less money in traditional media like print, not because print is losing relevancy, but because it is less efficient than social media.

Tracking the results of a campaign has become a lot easier as well. With social media the numbers roll in while you watch, monitoring and measuring reactions in real time.

The 2-Sided Conversation

Social media’s interactive nature has allowed businesses to reach their audience in a completely interactive way, creating a valuable (though not without its pitfalls) back-and-forth.  For the first time companies have been able to create a real dialogue, eliminating the middlemen and speaking directly to their audience. This gives businesses new options to speak not only through a well-strategized corporate representative, but directly from the employees, the experts and other customers. Marketers can now take the time to nurture new leads before directly selling to them - what a wonderful opportunity to build relevancy in a new way. Hearing a brand’s story from “real people” like front-line employees creates trust. Add to that some great, well-placed content to build a reputation that the skeptical consumer of today can relate to.

Shifting from Interruption to Inbound

The way that consumers are hearing marketing messages has largely shifted from interruption (tv commercials, pop-ups, spam) to inbound (videos, blogging, webinars, content marketing). This means the audience has increased control over what they see, when & where. Truly effective marketing has begun to evolve from specific campaign talking points to a brand-aligned conversation that is not always about products. For marketers to make a valuable impact it is vital to adjust their messaging to fit mobile formats, providing quick hits of info in smaller, more bite-sized pieces.

The New Marketing Category

The popularity of social media has in essence created the new category of DIGITAL MARKETING, a genre buzz word that covers marketing and advertising using mobile devices and digital media. In reality what has been created is a new set of platforms to reach the audience.  What marketers should really look at is how social media has changed the way we should categorize marketing strategies. Social media has a hand in several categories including advertising, customer communications and public relations. Digital marketing is not something to be tacked on to a campaign; it should be integrated. The ability to reach people instantly, optimally, and interactively has the potential to magnify the impact of the message if properly integrated.

The Song Remains the Same

At the end of the day, the heart of marketing hasn’t changed. Messaging content needs to stay creative, clever, entertaining and ultimately engaging to the audience. Businesses need to reach the right people at the right time in the right places and have something to say. All the old tactics are there – simply updated using increasingly efficient tools and technology. At the end of the day no matter how flashy and fun a new mobile platform may be, if the return on investment isn’t there, it’s back to the drawing board.

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