Think about meeting someone for the first time, and consider the avenue the conversation wanders down; eventually, you’ll find the question, “What do you do?”
This is quite possibly the toughest question posed to online copywriters, because it’s hard to explain exactly what we do. When I respond to this question, I always say, “You know that stuff you read on your favorite store’s website? I write that.”
That’s when the deer-in-the-headlights look hits, and my conversation fades away.
What if, instead of that dry answer, I said, “I’m a storyteller”? In fact, that’s what I’m becoming – one of the Internet’s best storytellers, and I’m doing it because it’s necessary.
As copywriters, we need to convert to telling stories to keep our work relevant.
Consider further the salesperson trying to sell a television. Does he just tell you the brand and refer you to Google? No; he tells you a long drawn out story about all the cool things the television can do for you.
You hear all about how that television will make your life better. It’s a story, and it is what copywriters have been doing for a long time.
Businesses that don’t write and who don’t know how to write for their websites are beginning to tie sales, i.e. storytelling, to content marketing. Finally, clients are beginning to tie their content to storytelling, which leads to sales.
Copywriters must become storytellers, if they aren’t already, to fill this need rising in corporate America.
Add in the fact that many Americans have learned to tune out advertisements, and the necessity for storytelling copywriters becomes clearer. What gets the most shares and likes on social media? That’s right – stories.
It’s obvious what the public is asking for, and giving them what they want is how sales come in droves. When it’s this easy for customers to go elsewhere for services, businesses are forced to give them what they want.
The people want stories. They want something to read, share, and experience. Similar to face-to-face sales, stories are becoming necessary on the Internet.
Stories are how the company relates to the customer, pulls them in, and keeps them reading, then buying. The copywriter’s sales storytelling is the modern face-to-face sales pitch.
America is pulling out of the stores and pulling into their living rooms, where the convenience of shopping at home is much more tempting than talking to a salesperson.
Tell a story today. Convert some sales, and give the people what they want most. We’re all writers; we all have it in us to make the transition from dry sales pitch to storyteller. This transition is going to be easy compared to other transitions we’ve dealt with as copywriters, such as social media “updates”.
How are you changing your copywriting to fit client’s needs? Let us know in the comments below.
