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Why You Need a Content Marketing Copywriter

There are numerous roles within a content marketing system, including directors, writers, editors, producers, strategists, data analysts, graphic designers, and customer advocates. Content marketing copywriters provide an essential service within this marketing system framework, using excellent writing skills to engage with audiences and encourage people to take action. Whether you’re putting together your own marketing team or considering what freelancing skills to draw on for a future campaign, it’s important to consider the role of the content marketing copywriter.

What Is a Content Marketing Copywriter?

Content marketing copywriters provide the text-based elements for your marketing campaigns, including blogs, video scripts, and e-mails. They create engaging stories that ultimately encourage the end user to take some form of action. Without copywriters, even the best content in the world is unlikely to result in many conversions because there’s no clear way for the end user to transition from reading to acting.

Copywriting vs. Content Marketing

The terms “content marketing” and “copywriting” may seem interchangeable, because the best marketing campaigns often use both techniques simultaneously for improved results. But they’re actually very different.

Content marketing is the creation of value-added content that attracts an audience.

This may be a blog entry, a video, a podcast, a white paper, or a photograph. The aim of content marketing is to develop a relationship with an audience of loyal followers, engendering trust while building a strong reputation.

Copywriting is the creation of engaging prose that encourages an audience to take a specific action.

Common actions include making a purchase, subscribing to a mailing list, or leaving feedback.

Combining Content With Copywriting

Why combine content marketing and copywriting? The simple answer is that neither technique is as successful alone:

Content

Great content may improve your ranking on Google so that your page appears in more search results, and it may even increase the number of visitors to your website, but at that point you’ve only won half the battle. You want your content to drive conversions, and on this point, your finely crafted work may fall short of the mark. Studies indicate that 47 percent of B2B buyers view from three to five pieces of content before they even engage with a sales representative, which indicates how difficult it is to convert visitors into customers. You must employ copywriting techniques to give your work the edge.

Copy

A copywriter is basically making a sales pitch. Unfortunately, people don’t like sales pitches, with 70 percent of consumers distrusting advertisements. In fact, internet users are going to great lengths to avoid seeing advertisements, with 11 percent of the global internet population using ad-blocking software. Great content providing valuable solutions people need encourages those people to look for you, circumventing the problems facing traditional forms of advertising. In other words, it isn’t enough to sell well — you need something worth selling.

The Role of the Copywriter

The skill of the content marketing copywriter is not in telling an audience to make a purchase, but in providing the evidence that convinces an audience that making a purchase is the right move. Good copy nurtures a relationship, encouraging potential customers to take each new step in the journey to making a purchase. Common techniques for engaging with an audience include:

Catchy titles

The copywriter’s role begins from the moment someone sees your blog title. An eye-catching title with an interesting or unusual premise provides the encouragement for someone to click on it.

Good formatting

A well-formatted piece keeps people reading, and clear headers, bullet points, and charts ensure they know where to locate information they need.

Beneficial content

If a visitor gets something out of your content, he or she is more likely to keep reading, and to take action as a result. Being informative, factual, and fun helps to keep eyes on your page.

Call to action

A visitor has read to the bottom of your article, but what next? A call to action encourages the next step in the process, recommending the visitor signs up for free updates, subscribes to a newsletter, visits a social media profile, or goes to an online store.

How to Find Great Content Marketing Copywriters

A content marketing system has a lot of moving parts, and requires numerous people with unique skill sets, including strategists to define goals and set schedules, content creators to meet a regular publication demand, and analysts to track the level of success. Small business owners may take on a lot of those responsibilities personally, but as the business grows the demands of content marketing make it necessary to bring in assistance. Employing talented individuals to fill the various marketing roles is a costly endeavor, which is one of the reasons why statistics from Demand Metric reveal that even though 90 percent of organizations market with content, 62 percent of companies outsource those duties.
Outsourcing frees up a lot of time and resources, making it possible to bring important skills to your marketing team without the heavy investment of taking on full-time staff. Using a content marketing agency or marketplace is a good idea, as it makes the search for the writers you need quicker and more efficient, and improves the chances of finding real talent.

Final Thought: Make Content With a Purpose

Content marketing is a proven strategy with the potential to reap amazing benefits, costing up to 62 percent less than traditional marketing yet generating three times as many leads. But not all content is created equal. Content without a purpose often fails to generate the expected results, because it fails to engage the reader or encourage him to take action. A content marketing copywriter has the skills to signpost the way along the path to making a purchase, creating prose that promotes a read-on mentality while providing the clear calls to action that help people to understand what they need to do next.