Copywriting: Fact or Fiction?
By Sarah Knowles | February 28, 2023
Like any creative venture, there are a LOT of grey areas when it comes to copywriting.
We’re not saying we wrote the rule book or anything …
But, when you’ve been professionally writing copy for clients as long as we have, you learn the nuances of what works, what doesn’t — and what is just complete B.S. when it comes to copywriting industry “best practices.”
Speaking of best practices, that brings us to our first myth: copy is one-size-fits-all.
COPYWRITING MYTH #1: COPY IS ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL
Best practices are worthless if you’re not testing them.
What works for your people, your niche, your offer, etc. is not going to work the same for someone else. You can’t copy and paste someone else’s writing and expect the same results.
Dale Carnegie said, “When you’re dealing with people, remember you’re not dealing with creatures of logic but creatures of emotions” — emotions that are always evolving with time and in different cultures, contexts, etc.
While there are smart, big-picture copywriting rules and practices you can use as guides, your copy, ultimately, won’t perform unless it’s written based on the data, trends, and attitudes of YOUR unique audience, industry, etc.
COPYWRITING MYTH #2: THE SHORTER (OR LONGER) THE BETTER
Can you believe that, in this day and age, people are STILL getting hung up on word count?
Good copy is all about CLARITY and SIMPLICITY — neither of which are determined by length.
Here’s our rule of thumb: Use as many words as you need to communicate the concept well and NO MORE. Easy, right? Sometimes, this looks like a 5-word headline and, sometimes, this looks like a 1,500-word sales page.
As long as your copy checks these four boxes, you’ve done your job:
Adds value and is useful in and of itself
Achieves its objective of educating, informing, entertaining, persuading, etc.
Captures your interest or attention and compels you to keep reading or take action
Is easily digestible
What’s important to remember is that, YES, people still read long copy — IF, it’s valuable information they need. People DON’T, however, read boring or unnecessary copy.
COPYWRITING MYTH #3: ALL AD COPY IS SALES-Y, DECEPTIVE
Sometimes copywriters get a bad rap. As if we’re using our evil powers of persuasion to trick the masses into buying stuff they don’t need.
And, to that, we say: BFFR.
We, obviously, can’t speak for everyone, but what good, authentic copywriters do is help excellent businesses sell high-quality products or services that solve real problems.
And, by helping people solve problems and providing value to the people that want or need it (even if they just don’t know it yet), there’s no “convincing” involved.
If there’s one thing that many businesses have learned the hard way, it’s that, in the end, deceiving your audience only does more harm than good.
BONUS MYTH: COPYWRITING IS EASY, ANYONE CAN DO IT
You don’t need a fancy degree to be a copywriter, but it IS a finely crafted skill that goes well beyond the basic notion of “writing words.”
Clear, compelling, thought-provoking, emotion-driven, persuasive copy is an essential component of a social media marketing strategy
Blaise Pascal, French Mathematician and Philosopher, said it perfectly: “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter” — AKA it is extremely difficult to clearly distill an idea down to a few words (which, oftentimes, is all you have in social media).
Luckily, AMR has a team of excellent and experienced copywriting experts ready to help you level up your brand online. Check out some of our work and see for yourself!
Sarah Knowles
Sarah is a Social Media Content Creator at AMR Digital. Sarah is a professional wordsmith, and when she’s not behind a keyboard, you can find her in the window seat of an airplane on her next adventure or in the constant pursuit of trying to be a morning person.