Your 7-Step Guide to Effective Copywriting for Small Businesses
Practical tips for a crash course on business copywriting.
Photo by Kristaps Grundsteins on Unsplash
Copywriting is an art that takes consistent practice and effort to hone. But done right, skilful copywriting enables a brand to connect with its audience and build a meaningful relationship.
If you’re a small business owner with a limited budget and need tips for effective copywriting, this blog post was written for you.
Growing a small business can be challenging, especially if you’re singlehandedly running the business while building your brand from scratch.
Copy plays a vital role not just in defining your brand image and positioning in the marketplace, but also in forming a memorable connection with your audience.
Your message matters. To sell, first, you need to connect.
But let’s start at the beginning.
Table of Contents
What’s the Difference Between Copywriting and Content Writing?
Your 7-Step Guide to Effective Copywriting for Small Businesses
#1: Define a Clear Purpose or Goal
#2: Use Everyday Language
#3: Write for the Reader
#4: Keep It Short, Simple & Relevant
#5: Don’t Oversell or Exaggerate Claims
#6: Edit, Edit, and Edit
#7: Invite Constructive Feedback
What Is Copywriting?
In simple terms, ‘copy’ refers to the words used to sell a product, service, brand, or even idea.
In case you weren’t aware, copy (in reference to writing) doesn’t have a plural term, so it’s ALWAYS copy and NEVER copies.
It’s easy to underestimate the role words play in our lives. After all, we’re bombarded with content daily—from the moment we wake up to the second we hit the sack at night.
Being desensitised to ads and marketing messages is exactly why powerful copywriting is so essential. When was the last time a collection of words stopped you in your tracks? That’s the result of brilliant copy at work.
Copy should make you:
Pause
Reflect
Feel intrigued or inspired
Desire the product or service
It should make you think or feel a certain way, and prompt you to take action.
What’s the Difference Between Copywriting and Content Writing?
There’s a major difference between copywriting and content writing, though there is an overlap between the two.
Copywriting requires a careful choice of words to sell the brand, product or service. It involves conveying the message clearly using a few simple words. The shorter and simpler the words are, the more powerful the message.
“Copy is a direct conversation with the consumer.”
Content writing, on the other hand, seeks to provide useful information without being restricted by word economy. In fact, the more in-depth the content, the better it ranks on search engines.
HubSpot recommends an ideal blog post length of between 2,100 to 2,400 words for SEO, though Yoast claims that high-quality blog posts of 1,000 words or more are a good benchmark.
Examples of copywriting include advertising and marketing copy, as well as the text on a homepage or landing page to drive visitors to take a series of actions, such as:
Clicking on ‘read more’,
Filling in the contact form,
Hitting the ‘buy now’ button,
Subscribing,
Initiating contact by email, etc.
Content, on the other hand, refers to blog articles and in-depth product or service pages that provide detailed information on the subject. Good copywriting skills are valuable in creating compelling and engaging content but aren’t mandatory.
Your 7-Step Guide to Effective Copywriting for Small Businesses
Extensive eye-tracking studies by Nielsen Norman Group confirm that people are far more likely to scan online content than read word for word. This finding is supported by a HubSpot report that finds “73% of people admit to skimming rather than reading a blog post.”
This makes it all the more vital to ensure that your copy and content are reader-friendly and easily scannable.
Writing is a skill that can be honed with regular practice and language proficiency. If you’re new to copywriting, give yourself time to get good at it.
Meanwhile, this 7-step guide to effective copywriting will hopefully help your small business connect with and reach more potential customers.
1. Define a Clear Purpose or Goal
Having clear expectations of the copy will help you stay focused on your desired results. This keeps you on point in creating copy that’s relevant and targeted to the audience.
To define your purpose or goal for the copy, ask yourself the following questions:
What is your ultimate objective in this copywriting task?
E.g. to promote a product/service, for branding purposes, to generate leads or sales?
What is the core message you wish to convey?
If you had to distil the message into a one-liner, what would it be?
How would you like the copy to affect readers?
Do you want readers to feel a certain way or be driven to take a specific action?
Who is the primary target audience?
The more specific you can be about the target audience, the more personalised you can be in your writing.
Note: the target audience is never ‘everyone’, unless you’re selling ice cream, but even then, there are vegans and non-vegans to consider these days!
What kind of results would you like the copy to achieve?
E.g. number of leads, interactions, sales, etc over a specific period.
Having a clear purpose or goal allows you to assess the copy’s effectiveness and identify improvements for future copywriting tasks. Without direction, the copy will lack cohesiveness and clarity.
First, define the big picture, then, break it down into the key elements.
2. Use Everyday Language
“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.”
As highlighted in this list of copywriting statistics, copy that is understandable to third-graders gets 36% more responses.
Any jargon should be kept to a minimum and used prudently. Readers these days tend to skim content, which makes it essential to use simple language that’s crystal clear and self-explanatory.
Too many businesses make the mistake of thinking buzzwords and fancy terms make them sound sophisticated, but the simple fact is this: if your readers don’t understand what you mean, the copy has failed to do its job.
Jargon makes reading a mental chore, which automatically puts off readers.
This doesn’t mean that writing in simple language is easier; on the contrary, it’s much harder because there’s no room for fluff.
“Simple can be harder than complex: you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”
3. Write for the Reader
Photo by Anna Demianenko on Unsplash
The rule of thumb in copywriting: put yourself in the reader’s shoes.
The #1 question for the reader will always be, “Why is this worth my time and attention?”
We’re all suffering from information overload these days, from emails to WhatsApp messages to social media content. It’s no surprise that a staggering 79% of people don’t read web copy at all; they merely scan and skim (source: Nectafy).
Coupled with our shrinking attention span, which has reportedly reduced to a mere 8 seconds, it’s all the more critical to write for the reader first and foremost, instead of your business.
It could be argued that if the copy is engaging enough to warrant the reader’s time and attention, it will undoubtedly benefit your business in the long run.
So while it’s important to promote your brand, product or service, first, ask yourself how it benefits your audience.
How does your brand, product or service solve the reader’s problem or deliver real value in a way that matters to them?
4. Keep It Short, Simple & Relevant
The details are important, but knowing where and when to elaborate is key to maintaining reader interest and engagement.
Detailed content should be reserved for dedicated product or service pages and in-depth blog content where readers are looking for comprehensive information.
To be effective, marketing copy should be short, simple, and relevant. This is particularly important on the homepage or landing pages that act as a funnel to direct the audience to relevant pages for optimal conversion.
User-friendly content formats include:
Short and punchy headings
Easily digestible paragraphs not exceeding 50 words per paragraph
Clear and concise bullet points
Highlighted keywords and phrases
Marketing copy, in general, should apply the mantra of less is more. Use fewer and simpler words, shorter sentences, and smaller paragraphs. The key is to strike the right balance between clarity and intrigue.
You want to provide just enough information to create interest and curiosity so that readers will want to take further action, whether it’s clicking on a link to keep reading, filling in a contact form, or clicking ‘subscribe’ or ‘buy now’.
Studies show that web visitors only read 20% to 28% of the content on an average web page. It is therefore imperative to ensure that your copy is scannable using short and concise content formats.
5. Don’t Oversell or Exaggerate Claims
Photo by Barefoot Communications on Unsplash
Consumers today are far more educated and discerning, thanks to easily accessible customer reviews, Quora discussions, and personal blogs.
According to Salsify's 2022 Consumer Research Report, 46% of U.S. consumers said they would pay more for brands they trust, a 30% increase from 2021.
Besides trust, authenticity has become equally important in consumer choices, as reported in a Stackla study on Post-Pandemic Shifts in Consumer Shopping Habits.
Their survey of over 2,000 consumers across the U.S., UK, and Australia revealed that 88% of consumers cited authenticity as a deciding factor for brands they like and support.
This makes brand credibility and transparency imperative for businesses to stay relevant and competitive. So the next time you’re tempted to embellish your product or service claims, make sure you have the data and evidence to back them up!
Exaggerated claims such as ‘the best’, ‘the most powerful’, or ‘#1 in the industry’ invite scepticism and distrust unless they’re supported by proven research or recognised industry accreditations.
6. Edit, Edit, and Edit
“It is perfectly okay to write garbage—as long as you edit brilliantly.”
Excellent copy is almost always a product of careful thought and painstaking editing.
It’s not the first draft that matters but the final product of rigorous and objective refining. Ideas need time and space to grow and mature. The same applies to writing, which is essentially an expression of ideas using the written word.
Objectivity is key in editing; don’t be afraid to hit delete and start over.
If you’re struggling to stay objective or you feel the copy is done—ask for feedback—which is coincidentally, the last step on my list.
7. Invite Constructive Feedback
This might be an unnerving idea, but you’ll be surprised at how beneficial it is to ‘see’ your copy from a different point of view.
It’s natural to get emotionally invested in something we’ve spent considerable time and effort on, which is why constructive feedback is invaluable.
Test your writing by sharing it with friends and family who represent your target audience and ask them what they think. Don’t feel obligated to accept their views; what’s more important is to weigh their feedback openly and objectively.
Look for similar views from different individuals—if more than two people feel a certain way, it’s an issue that needs to be addressed.
Don’t focus on the details, rather, analyse the whys if you get negative feedback so you can improve the writing to better connect with your target audience.
You can’t please everyone, so don’t worry about getting the copy perfect. Focus on your target audience (again, it’s NOT everyone), and put their needs and desires first.
To sell, first, you need to connect.
The more personalised you can be in your copy, the stronger the connection.
The growing call for personalised customer experiences is supported by Stackla’s study, which found “72% of people say they are more likely to purchase from a brand if it consistently provides them with a more personalised experience”.
The same applies to the reader experience. As HubSpot discovered, personalised calls to action (e.g. by location, browsing history, language, etc) perform 202% better than standard CTAs!
Need Professional Copywriting Help?
Are you a small business owner in need of professional copywriting services but don’t know where to start? Tell me about your business. I’d be more than happy to share my insights.
