What makes TED Talk speakers enticing to their audience? Simple. They use words to inform, educate, motivate, or inspire. They have these emotions in their words that even when read on the transcript will still evoke the same emotions in the reader. This is what people are looking for when reading a blog from your website, social media, or any brand posts.

This is how copywriting works! For instance, you flavor your product or service descriptions with spices of emotions. You give your audience an idea of what your product and service mean to them.

Copywriting is the value-driven message you share with your audience to persuade them to try your brand. But today is where popular marketing means hundred-dollar videos, and eye-catching images, how far can copywriting take you?

What is Copywriting

Copywriting used to be about ads but is now a broader term for all forms of content online and in print, covering everything from ‘About us’ pages to whitepapers. Copywriters can write emails, captions, blogs, and entire ebooks.

Whether you want to increase your brand awareness, get higher conversion rates, have more people share your content, and understand your customer, nothing works better than good old copywriting.

Good copy is clear, concise, and accurate. It must speak with your brand voice and communicate with your audience emphatically.

But there is also bad copy that can hurt your business in the long run. Readers notice everything especially when they are trying to get to know what you sell. Typos and errors in mechanics and syntax are some of the things noticeable to users.

Copywriting is the art of making people feel, think, and respond the way you want them to. It is a call to action on a bigger scale: what should they do after reading?

Types of Copywriting:

67% of marketers reported their content generated demands and leads. 72% also stated that these help educate customers about their products while 63% stated that content helps build loyalty and retain customers. Below are the types of copywriting your business can use to inform, educate, entertain, and persuade.

Ecommerce product descriptions: 81% of customers research more about an item they want to purchase. A quality ecommerce description matches with the product specifications and its value to the customers.

Ad copy: Copy that can convert traffic into potential customers. It answers all customer inquiries, showcases brand value, and addresses all potential doubts of the product efficiency.

Direct response copy: Copy that persuades the customers to take action right after reading. Making a purchase, signing up for the newsletter, and following the brand’s social media accounts are some of the immediate goals you can persuade your readers to do.

Website content: Multimedia content to generate traffic to the website.

• Page content: All the information to see on your website.
• Articles and blogs: 60% of marketers create at least one content piece each day. Consistency in posting articles and blogs can increase traffic by 272% in 30 days.
• Metadata (SEO): A data about data. It is what the search engines index to lead the traffic to your web pages organically.

Is copywriting in-house or outsourced?

Almost everyone can write something good. The reverse is also true: not everyone can write well.

If you have an in-house marketing team, you probably already have a copywriter, or you can hire one. The better they know your brand, the easier they can come up with the best content.

On the other hand, many small to medium businesses may DIY their marketing tasks and can find full-on copywriting challenging if not outright impossible.

Whether you hire in-house or outsource a copywriter, here’s what to consider:

Skills

• Writing short-form copy in several brand voices for organic search, social media, and paid advertisements.
• Tailoring messages to various client segments and channels using data insights and analytics.
• Creating press releases and working together on advertising campaigns while updating website content to boost SEO.
• Monitoring copy performance and iterating continually.
• Incorporate storytelling with emotions, sales language, and call-to-actions.

Budget concerns

In-house copywriters have less upfront costs than outsourced copywriters but they cost more over time. Depending on what your employee contract entails, you have to pay for their taxes, benefits, and incentives, which you won’t spend on a third-party copywriter.

Content requirements

How often do you need copy and which platforms will you use it for?

It makes sense to hire an in-house copywriter when you need them 24/7. Script writing for your daily podcasts, subtitling your YouTube videos, or replying to your community on social media. These tasks sometimes require you to hire a team, and you can definitely get support through outsourcing.

Agencies can also handle high-demand copywriting work.

How to tell if you need to outsource a copywriter

• You don’t have any skilled writers on staff.
• You don’t have a team with sufficient experience in technical writing or other areas in content writing.
• You need to increase copywriting to keep up with the business’ increasing growth.
• You need copywriting at a faster turnaround.
• You are entering a new market.
• You are in search of adaptable, scalable answers to your seasonal or project-based content needs.

Remember, when you outsource copywriting: your input is necessary. Copywriters need your prompt and thorough feedback to write within expectations. When you outsource copywriting, you can tell you’ve found a good team when they ask the right questions and help you articulate what you want.

The more communicative you are, the faster you get what you want.

Outsourcing Copywriting to the Philippines

According to Hubspot, 82% of businesses are actively investing in content marketing with 69% focusing on SEO. Compelling copy draws 7.8 times more traffic and better brand recall. Every business lived to be remembered and agencies have experienced copywriters to take the tasks.

Benefits of outsourcing copywriting to the Philippines

English is the Philippines’ official second language. It’s not surprising to see Filipinos with superior command in writing using the universal language. You can easily outsource to give your audience something to read or to improve your SEO, or because of the following benefits outsourcing copywriting can give to you:

• Faster turnaround: Experienced copywriters write quicker. They are used to writing pieces after pieces of content by taking into account your preferences and readers.
• Reader-friendly content: Outsourced copywriters can adapt their language to the target audience. Jargon and technical terms for your peers, and authoritative but friendly style for lay people who may not understand the industry jargon.
• Content with Strategy: Experienced copywriters look into your competitors to make sure you stand out. They also use SEO best practices.

How to get started

Like most tasks you outsource, the most important aspect of outsourcing copywriting is being clear on your goals.

At USource, we ask specific questions about your company and your goals for the copy, along with technical details like word count and content frequency.

• Task specifics: Type of copy needed, preference in submission, word count, preferred turnaround times, the subject and the keywords.
• Goals for the copy: Increasing organic traffic, signups, sales, etc.
• Target audience: As much information as you can about your audience demographics
• Project specifics: The project management and communication tools you like to use, and your instructions and other preferences.

Once we get your project underway, we follow a guideline in the copywriting process.

• Research and audience assessment: This is where we use your business information, your competitor’s information, and your audience to conceptualize an article.
  
  What is your audience reading?
  What are the trending keywords in your industry?
  What keywords (short form or long-tail) can you use to dominate the search?

We may submit an outline to you first, to confirm we’re going in the right direction.

• Initial draft: From concept to first draft. Depending on what type of copywriting you ask for, this is where all things are written.
• Editing: Our editor checks all written content to make sure it matches the client brief. This is where the content is ironed as near to perfection as possible.
• Submission: We get you the edited and polished first draft for feedback.
• Draft and proofing: It’s uncommon, but if we get comments and feedback from the client for changes needed, this is when we get it done.
• Publication: If you also signed up for help in publishing, we draft and publish the content on your behalf in your chosen platform, like WordPress, Mailchimp, your social media, etc.

Copywriting is an investment because words move people to desirable actions. When you build a positive relationship with USource, like many of our clients, you can always come back for copywriting and other services during peak marketing seasons.