You know what drives me nuts? Well, many things – but professionally, it’s my spell-check telling me on a semiweekly basis that the word “copywriting” is spelled wrong. It’s not – it’s a real word! Not a typo, spell-check – I promise. But my arguments with technology aside, the word “copywriting” brings with it yet more challenges. For one, people wondering, “What is copywriting?”
What Is Copywriting: The Copy Side of the Story
Going back to spell-check, yes, I can understand why my computer might think I accidentally sandwiched the words “copy” and “writing.” It doesn’t make that little red squiggly line any less annoying. But, taking it from technology’s perspective, let’s break it up into perfectly spelled, individual words – starting with “copy.”
Copy is what we writers call our words. Mostly, it’s applicable in the marketing and advertising world where “the stuff we do” is broken into two segments: copy and graphics. Graphics are the images and layouts – the pretty “stuff.” Copy is the words – the descriptive “stuff.”
Why not just call it “words?” There’s a long version of the story for fellow writing geeks (or those of you who simply enjoy trivia) here, but the short version includes duplicable type moving through newspaper reproduction from the manuscript through the typesetter “copy.” Since newspapers sold ads and someone had to write those ads, eventually those writers were dubbed copywriters, thus setting them apart from other journalists, novelists, etc. for all of eternity.
They say you learn something new each day – you’re welcome.
What Is Copywriting: The Writing Piece
No, I don’t have any nifty trivia for this piece of the pie – it’s pretty straightforward. Writing is what we do.
So moving onto putting it together: Writing is what we do, copy is what we write – hence, “copywriting” (take that, spell-check).
The Nitty-Gritty of It All
OK, so we’ve defined what copywriting is – but what does it all actually mean? Well, as mentioned, copywriting is primarily rooted in the advertising world, but these days, there’s quite a bit of crossover between advertising and marketing – as far as production is concerned, anyway. In its simplest form, copywriting is the copy that supports or complements graphics to create a cohesive message.
Think brochures, fliers, posters, and, yes, advertisements.
Style
What further sets copywriting apart from other forms of writing is the style. For example, consider a press release. Press releases aim to get down into the nitty-gritty details of the who, what, where, when, etc. – but they do so in a journalistic way. Press releases typically have unlimited space so that the writer can present relevant information as needed – provided, it must be short enough that people will publish it and want to read it. In contrast, copywriting needs to convey a message in a way that memorably presents information about a given product or service. It’s generally more succinct and can take on any variety of tones.
Tone
This is another one of the things that makes copywriting different from other types of writing – copywriters write in so many different styles, you’d never know that all of their materials came from the same person. Think of it as an opera singer who stops in the middle of “Evita” and starts instead rocking out to Izzy Azaleas’ “Fancy.” Totally different styles – but done well and by the same artist.
Like a song, every written material has a tone – some more intentional than others. For example, think of brochures you’ve come across – take a law firm and a travel company.
Not to stereotype or anything, but odds are that the law firm’s brochure was written in a pretty straightforward tone. Most likely, it was very professional and, well, let’s be honest – likely a bit dry.
Now, think of the travel company’s brochure – again, not to stereotype, but the brochure most likely had copy that made you feel excited. The words likely painted a picture of an adventure to come, enticing you to beaches, zip lines, scuba diving, and any other number of escapades.
Did you feel that same sense of adventure and freedom when you read the law firm’s brochure? If you have an odd sense of humor, perhaps – but most likely, no. This is what tone does: It gives you a feeling when you read the words (aka, copy).
Work It
Copywriting is, at the end of the day, sales copy – its whole purpose is to make you want to learn more about or purchase a product or service. That said, it takes a different approach than other forms of writing.
Take, for example, a blog post or byline; either of these materials is meant to provide information to the reader. Yes, there may be an underlying motive to point toward a sale or develop a lead – but on the surface, these are meant to provide information and to develop brand awareness and traffic for the organization, often in the form of Web traffic.
In contrast, copywriting has one straightforward purpose: sell.
And there you have it – the very straightforward, to-the-point answer to the question “What is copywriting?”: It’s succinctly, cleverly written copy that sells.
Easy enough, right? (Cue the laugh track.) If only …