When site visitors can instantly click away to something else, capturing attention that drives results is more crucial than ever. So, what’s the secret weapon that turns website visitors into leads and casual readers into loyal customers? The answer: effective copywriting.
Promotional, advertising, and marketing materials are all forms of copy that focus on building brand awareness or selling products and services. These materials may include blog articles, marketing emails, case studies, catalogs, website landing pages, and more.
However, good copywriters know there’s more to the craft than slinging a few persuasive words onto the page. This post covers everything you need to know about copywriting, exploring its core principles and best practices for the ever-evolving marketing landscape.
So, What is Copywriting?
Have you ever scrolled past an article or ad without a second thought? You probably didn’t consciously think about it then, but it was likely because the text just didn’t seem interesting enough to make you want to click on it. This is a common challenge of marketers.
Compelling copywriting is the reason that people pay attention to anything with a marketing message. Effective copywriting grabs attention, but it doesn’t rely on outlandish claims, falsehoods, or irrelevant info. Instead, it builds trust, which converts website visitors into loyal customers.
Good copywriting focuses on the needs and desires of the consumer and connects those needs to your business goals. To succeed in marketing today, you need killer copy on your side that accomplishes numerous things — or hire freelance copywriters who can do it for you. Great copywriting does the following:
- Connects with consumers authentically and authoritatively to build trust in your brand
- Adapts to shifts in SEO best practices
- Provides the right type of information for consumers based on the consumer’s stage in the buyer’s journey — for instance, don’t send a customer testimonial email message to someone who just bought your product. Save that for the people who are still considering a purchase.
- Persuades consumers to take an action, such as providing their information or making a purchase
Copywriting is the art of crafting persuasive language that speaks directly to your audience in a way that guides them along the buyer’s journey. Great copywriting sparks a connection, ignites interest, and ultimately persuades someone to take action — whether that is signing up for your newsletter or hitting the “buy” button.
Trends Shaping Copywriting in 2024
The perception of good content changes over time, as does what an audience finds engaging or persuasive. What captivated audiences last year might leave them scrolling past this year. While staying ahead of the curve on trends in copywriting is important, the importance of content quality and audience engagement remains constant.
What changes do you need to know about in the world of copywriting for 2024? We’ve identified several copywriting trends you should pay attention to throughout the next year, whether you’re a copywriter tasked with creating irresistible product descriptions or a marketing professional involved in strategic direction. Understanding these trends is the key to copy that maximizes click-through rates and engagement.
Sustainability and Ethical Practices Improve Brand Image
Consumers are no longer just buying products. They are investing in brands they believe in. Sustainability and ethical practices have become major influencers of brand image. Customers are eager to support businesses that care about climate change, pollution, fair trade, and other global issues.
Statistics show that 84% of consumers avoid shopping with brands that don’t adhere to clean, environmental practices, and 62% choose sustainable products over other options.
2024 is the year to ensure you highlight sustainable and ethical practices as part of your brand’s journey. Copywriters can help weave that narrative. Here are some strategies:
- Tell a story. Facts and figures are important, but stories resonate. Tell the story behind your sustainability or ethical choices, outlining your goals and the steps you are taking to achieve them. Use your copy to make an emotional connection with your audience.
- Focus on transparency. Don’t shy away from showcasing your brand’s commitment to sustainability and ethical sourcing. Explain your practices, whether you use eco-friendly materials or follow fair labor initiatives.
- Highlight certifications. Does your brand hold certifications for sustainable practices or ethical sourcing? Have you won any sustainable business awards from your local Chamber of Commerce? Showcase them proudly in your copy! Certifications and awards offer credibility.
- Explain the “why.” Don’t just tell consumers what you do – explain why it matters to you, the community, and the planet. Help consumers understand the broader impact of your sustainable and ethical choices.
Email Drives Conversions
While optimized landing pages top the scale when it comes to conversions, with the best-performing pages attaining a conversion rate of 11.45% or higher, the average conversion rate is only 2.35%. This highlights the fierce competition for conversions. But email marketing is a hidden champion – still.
Emails boast a click-through rate of 8.93%, significantly higher than other channels. Email marketing delivers a whopping $36 in return for every dollar spent, providing the highest ROI of 3600%! So, dust off your email copywriting strategies in 2024.
Because 45% of U.S. consumers respond more favorably to personalized emails, businesses need to tap into personalization tools to learn more about their customers. This means the strategy is less about the “email blast” and more about crafting targeted messages that resonate with individual customers’ needs and preferences. And that leads us to…
Personalization Wins Sales in 2024
Personalization is a winning strategy because it resonates deeply and makes customers feel like they’re getting a deal just for them. In fact, personalized CTAs drive 202% more conversions than generic CTAs — a phenomenal boost to help you reach and surpass this year’s goals.
However, the digital landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. With Google phasing out third-party cookies in the Chrome browser in the second half of 2024, marketers are losing access to a wealth of user data previously used for audience targeting. With 64.73% of users browsing the internet through Chrome, this shift challenges traditional personalization strategies that relied heavily on this readily available information.
So, how do businesses adapt to this change and provide copywriters with what they need for content personalization? It’s simple. Now, more than ever, it’s time to develop in-house solutions to better understand your audience. Investing in website analytics and AI personalization technologies can help you collect valuable first-party data directly from your customers.
Analytics tools provide insight into user behavior on your website, revealing their interests and browsing patterns. AI takes this a step further by analyzing the data to identify trends and predict customer preferences.
Brands that invest in analytics and new AI personalization technologies retain access to information that maximizes their returns. Proving that AI is crucial to the future of content, 91% of businesses surveyed stated they plan to leverage AI for content creation in 2024.
Brand Voice Consistency Boosts Organic Traffic
If you rely on organic traffic to capture new leads, brand voice consistency continues to be one of the most important aspects of copywriting in 2024 and beyond. But what exactly is a brand voice?
To start, it’s about going beyond simply stating facts and features. Yes, Google values E-E-A-T copy, but brand voice is about leveraging your brand’s expertise and authority to create content that resonates on a deeper level.
Share real-world stories. Use storytelling to connect with your audience. Offer actionable advice. Focus on how your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness solve customer pain points. Give your readers an experience beyond simply reading about what experts everyone in your company is.
Consistency in brand voice means ensuring uniformity on all platforms where your brand communicates. Your brand should have a distinct, recognizable voice that is aligned across all channels, including your website, social media, emails, and more. Writing from a foundation of expertise and experience helps you create compelling content and foster brand recognition and trust.
7 Timeless Traits of Professional Copywriting
Trends aside, some things rarely change. It’s essential to understand what constitutes a good copy. These seven aspects are time-tested traits of effective, professional copywriting.
- Consumer-facing
Consumers want content that meets their needs, and so does Google. So this one is a double-edged sword — how well your content performs for a specific person doesn’t just impact whether you make that sale. It could affect whether you get a chance at a future opportunity.
Good copywriters identify consumer motivations and create content that speaks directly to those motivations. Effective copywriting answers questions upfront, ensuring that consumers find the information they need without having to leave your site. If you bury the information, you force consumers to leave your site to find what they seek. When that happens, you lose the sale, and your behavioral metrics (such as time on page and bounce rate) are negatively impacted. That can lead to poorer performance in the search engines.
2. Authentic and Trustworthy
Consumers today are bombarded with information. Standing out requires more than flashy headlines or empty promises. Many people understand that not all content on the internet comes from a place of expertise and authenticity. Consumers are tired of being sold to; they want to connect with brands they can trust.
That makes it critical to inject authenticity into your marketing efforts, from emails to social media posts. This means shifting your messaging from “buy this” to “here’s how this can help you.” It might not lead to an immediate sale, but it offers respect to your audience and empowers them to make the right decision when they are ready.
Authenticity involves showing the real people, struggles, and victories behind your brand. Be human and relatable. Yes, you are a company, but you are run by real people. Embrace and reflect your brand’s core values. Authenticity starts from knowing exactly what you stand for and what you want to achieve.
Good copywriters adhere to your brand’s mission, vision, and values while finding opportunities to reinforce your authority with accurate and helpful information. This cements your business as an industry expert consumers can trust.
3. Social
Web pages do not exist as isolated islands of information. They are interconnected with your entire digital presence. This means that every piece of content you create, from website copy to social media posts, contributes to your overall brand narrative.
Here’s why a unified approach matters — consumers seamlessly switch between channels. By ensuring your copywriting reflects a consistent voice and message, you create a cohesive experience. Marketing content is, at its core, inherently social. If the message or product is not good enough that people want to share it or talk about it, then what’s the point?
Consider how you can weave social engagement into your copywriting with the following strategies:
- Integrate short answers into content to target featured snippets. Answer common questions directly within your content. Yes, you have your FAQ page, but why send people somewhere else when you could give them information you already know they are curious about? Integrating information like this increases the likelihood of your content appearing as a featured snippet, which can drive more traffic to your site and increase user satisfaction.
- Create shareable one-liners for platforms such as X. Craft catchy, bite-sized content specifically designed for short messages.
- Spark conversations. Throughout your copy, pose engaging questions or observations, giving readers a chance to engage with the information.
4. Scannable and Visual
Only 80% of internet users read headlines, and just 20% of users reach the end of the copy.
Good copywriting captures attention through concise, scannable content. This includes using headlines, bullet points, and subheadings to break up text. But it’s not just about how you present words on the screen. Incorporating visuals, such as graphics and videos, can capture attention and improve information retention.
The advantages are clear: Brands that utilize short-form videos see the most ROI. Users are drawn to content with colorful visuals. They’re also more likely to remember information supported by images — something you can’t ignore if you want to raise brand awareness and maximize retargeting opportunities.
5. Mobile-focused
In 2015, mobile phone access to the internet exceeded desktop access. As of 2023, mobile users comprise 58% of web traffic globally, meaning most purchases occur on smartphones and tablets. You can’t afford to not write with mobile users in mind.
Mobile-focused copywriting includes:
- Short paragraphs to avoid walls of text on mobile devices
- Bullet points and subheadings to break up text further
- White space that makes the content easier to read on any screen
- A responsive site design to adapt to different screen sizes
- Fast loading times and minimal layout shifts to avoid disrupting the user experience
6. Fresh and Relevant
While content optimized for search engines is important, the best content goes beyond simply being keyword-stuffed. Search engines like Google prioritize fresh content because it often indicates new information, which users seek.
Keyword research is still valuable, but relevancy — the “why” behind user searches — is just as important. Craft content that directly addresses your audience’s current questions and pain points.
Thought leadership has an important role to play in this. Publish content that tackles industry challenges, responds to changes, and reveals the latest trends and developments. Don’t shy away from sharing your brand’s unique insights.
ALSO: 7 Advanced Keyword Research Tools for 2024
7. Conversion Focused Aligns With Business Goals
Every piece of copy you create, from website landing pages to social media posts, should be focused on achieving specific business goals. Forget vanity metrics like views and followers. The true measure of success lies in driving conversions.
Effective copywriting aligns with business goals, ensuring that content is not only engaging but also strategically designed to convert. It’s better to have 100 views with 50 that convert than 1,000 views with only 10 that convert. Always keep the bottom line in mind.
How Can Businesses Benefit From Copywriting?
Are you struggling to turn website visitors into leads or social media followers into customers? The solution might lie in the power of effective copywriting. As we’ve seen, compelling copy is more than a catchy phrase. It’s a strategic craft.
The traits of good copywriting can be applied to all types of content marketing projects. Here are just a few types of copywriting your brand may require:
- Product descriptions use strong marketing language to educate consumers about a product’s features and benefits. They often paint a vivid picture to help consumers envision themselves using or enjoying the product. The goal is to persuade the consumer to make a purchase. Additionally, well-crafted product descriptions prioritizes SEO to transform simple product pages into organic traffic magnets.
- Landing pages are the first portal into your brand for consumers who journey in from ads or organic search results. Content on these pages should address a consumer’s needs and questions in targeted parts of the buyer’s journey. A strong landing page includes a clear CTA to guide the visitor to the next step.
- Sales letters or emails are often targeted to specific audience segments or those who have taken some previous action, such as signing up for a newsletter. You can craft informative emails, entertaining content, or persuasive messages that highlight the urgency for a hard sell. Whatever the approach is, the communication should attempt to enhance the consumer relationship with your brand and include a CTA of some type.
- Blog posts are typically more focused on brand development. The copy on these pages tends to be educational or entertaining. It’s meant to create your brand culture, position you as a leader in the industry, or provide something of value that readers are likely to share. High-quality blog content can improve your SEO rankings, attract organic traffic, and establish your authority in your niche.
- Social media posts are similar to blog posts, except they’re much shorter. In 2024, it’s important to consider video platforms like TikTok if you plan to target younger demographics effectively. Engaging content on social media can create a community around your brand and foster customer loyalty.
- Long-form marketing collateral can include white papers, case studies, and even ebooks. The point of these pieces is to position your company as a thought leader or to operate as a lead-generating tool. For example, you may offer a free ebook answering common questions about a topic in your niche for anyone who signs up for your email newsletter. This can grow your email list and nurture potential leads with valuable information.
You can outsource landing page copywriting — and the creation of just about any other marketing content. The key is to provide plenty of information about your brand voice and goals to aid freelance copywriters, just as you would for an in-house team.
Find Copywriters for All Your Content Marketing Needs
Looking for copy that captivates your audience, boosts sales, and brings in more traffic? Hire copywriters who know how to craft compelling marketing content.
