Breaking Down the Different Types of Copywriting Services

In today’s digital landscape, marketers and companies rely on copy—the marketing written word—to shape their brand voice, increase awareness about their product or service, lead readers down the sales funnel, and communicate with a search engine’s algorithm (to increase visibility on SERPs, or Search Engine Results Pages).

At its core, copywriting is a company’s voice—one that needs to be well-positioned, persuasive, and trustworthy. Yet, that voice has many different applications. In this brief breakdown, we’ll touch on a few of the main copywriting services in the market, why they’re relevant, and how our copywriting agency can help.

What Are Copywriting Services?

Copywriting services are (essentially) the different forms copywriting can take. Think of this: someone tells you they’re a writer. Yet, this blanket term can have many different meanings—they could be a novelist, playwright, poet, screenwriter, journalist, and they could even be a copywriter.

To the writer, all those different variations of the written medium could be the different professional copywriting services they offer. They might help doctor scripts, write treatments, do extensive research for a magazine spot, the list goes on and on.

The copywriter, alas, can have the same stable of offerings. But what are they, exactly?

Marketing — The Clever Salesman

This type of copywriting traces its bloodline back to the origination of copy itself. It’s been romanticized (looking at you, Don Draper), tried, tested, and tried again. And, when it comes to copywriting for marketing, while you might think of slogans, ads, and billboards, it’s applications are much broader.

The marketing copywriting service typically does two things:

1. Accurately showcases a product/service without sounding “sales-y”
2. Persuades the reader to act

When it comes down to it, the marketing copywriter pulls from the same themes as Mad Men. They need to understand your brand like it’s their kin, then understand your audience like they’ve been married to them for years. They harmonize these two understandings into written text that communicates your brand seamlessly, compelling the reader to invest or opt in to you.

Within this service, there’s:

• Ebooks and lead magnets
• Ad test
• Print, online, digital publishing, google ads, etc.
• Sales reports
• White papers
• Case studies
• Outbound email campaigns
• Business plans and proposals
• Press releases

These are the marketing materials that are at the forefront of your content creation. They’re your scouts. Your frontline. Your sentinels that march out into the world to introduce your brand and gather information in order to produce great copywriting.

They’re what you want potential customers to interact with, ultimately deciding that your product or service solves a problem they currently face, or can improve their lives. There are many ways to shape this language and—usually—the best practice is honesty.

Creative — Wit & Brevity

The sheer name of this category does other copywriting services a, ironically enough, disservice. Why? Because all copywriting is, to a degree, creative. Most forms of copywriting aren’t “point and shoot,” they take critical thinking, a dynamic and thorough understanding of language, and marketing know-how.

With that being said, some writing services are more creative than others. Thus, welcome to the creative copywriting service. Here, witty and creative copywriters produce:

• Advertising campaigns
• Attention-grabbing concepts
• Songs or jingles
• Pitches
• Concept design
• Brand development
• Commercial or video treatments
• Ad copy

If you’re having difficulty understanding your brand narrative, identifying the right target audience, and communicating your message effectively, then no matter who you employ, it’s unlikely they’re going to be able to step into your current story and lead with something compelling. For example, hiring a Press Release copywriter can help identify the storyline you are trying to convey without sounding overly “markety” to your potential customers or other businesses.

Maybe, just maybe, you need to go back to the drawing board. And you need to do so with Copycat Copywriters at your side.

From generating memorable slogans and pitches, concept development, to identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your current brand narrative, creative copywriting does all things (you guessed it)—creative. This service lends itself to the types of projects that, while structured, draw from that reservoir dexterous writers can tap into.

With this service, it’s not just about the written word. It’s about all that orbits it. And sometimes, it has nothing to do with writing at all.

It has a lot more to do with art.

SEO — Humanizing The Robot

Today, companies are all in competition to reach the front page of Google. Why? Because when was the last time that, after a search, you left the first page of results? Exactly. Thus, on-page SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has become a popular marketing strategy used by marketers across every corner of the digital landscape, and SEO copywriting services are now even regarded as a subtype of professional copywriting.

And while digital marketers draft battle plans, professional copywriters are their soldiers.

This copywriting service takes an understanding of both robots (Google’s algorithm) and humans (the readers on the other side of the screen). While blackhat SEO practices used to the standard, in today’s world it’s not just about communicating to a string of code. It’s about writing compelling, informative, and digestible website content (that remains on-brand) which happens to also speak to robots.

And with Google continuing to punish websites that produce low-quality, keyword-stuffed website content, more and more skilled writers are following the siren call and landing in the expansive world of SEO.

SEO copywriting works to accomplish:

• High ranking results from search engines
• Increased company profile visibility
• Audience engagement
• Compelling product descriptions
• Reader retention

While many believe that using keywords and SEO practices tends to neuter one’s ability to produce quality copy, that’s a cop-out. Although—especially for long-form pieces—keeping a user engaged, the information pointed, and leading them to an action is a difficult endeavor, it’s exactly the type of job any writer should be able to accomplish.

A well-structured and highly-targeted SEO campaign might increase a company’s visibility on the internet and generate thousands of leads. Yet, what’s going to keep them there?

The writing.

Content —A Word for Everything (We’ll call it Web Content)

Content—the broadest, least-specific, most overused term in all of media. And while we might not entirely know what it means to you, we’re positive that we can do it. Why? Because essentially every single piece of copy that lands somewhere on the internet or in print is content.

To call a copywriter a content copywriter—in today’s waters—is the same thing as calling a painter an artist that works with paint. Why? Because content writers were, at a time, once thought to work in digital marketing, specifically in the blog copywriting sphere. With the evolution of the internet (really just Google, to be entirely honest), the line between website copywriting services and traditional copywriting services became very, very blurry.

Here at Copycat, we don’t see the difference. With that being said, a few types of projects that fall under the content copywriting umbrella include but are not limited to:

• Web content
• Catalog and inventory copy
• Blogs (all forms)
• Articles
• Written words
• Anything we’ll ever write

With that being said, the closest thing to “content writing,” for us, is web copywriting. Web copy is essentially any piece of text that lives on a company’s digital storefront (blog excluded). From landing pages, homepages, to product descriptions and service offerings, every part of your website needs to tell a story.

Here, that’s exactly what we do—thread a narrative into even the most “stale” of pages.

Technical — The Engineer

These writers are the engineers of the technical copywriting world. This service typically requires a creative that can take complex subjects, systems, ideas, or technology, then break down that information into easily-digestible pieces—typically pointed at a larger or niche target audience.

Essentially, this is a service that requires a thorough knowledge of a particular industry. If there’s a new company on the market that’s introducing an innovative piece of technology, they’ll be hard-pressed to hire a general copywriter who is going to be able to communicate their brand, product, and science. Outside of the sheer skill set it takes to write any piece of technical content, this copywriting service offers:

• Explainer video scripts
• User manuals
• Data sheets
• FAQs
• Knowledgeable base articles
• Scientific breakdowns
• White papers
• Blogging
• Marketing copy

Typically, this is the most specialized service in the world of copywriting. Companies with a high-level or complex product offering—especially B2B—need to find a copywriter that understands their industry, their product, and can communicate these concepts intelligently.

And while finding these writers was once a difficult endeavor, now you have us. Here at Copycat, our technical team is filled with Copycat Certified writers who have worked in myriad industries across countless verticals.

Copycat Copywriters — A Full-Service Solution

With the many different services professional copywriters offer, you might find yourself wondering which one it is you need? More often than not, it’s multiple. Yet, writers are dynamic. They have strengths and weaknesses and, while one might be a brilliant social copywriter, you wouldn’t want to trust them with your eBook.

Here, we take your content needs, brand, and your overall objectives, then structure a team that can handle any of the above writing services. We ensure that you’re not just getting Copycat Certified writers, but that these writers are optimally positioned to excel at whatever project you need. Should you require any of the above services, reach out through our website and request a free piece of content.

We’ll introduce you to the team, learn about your brand, and generate a free piece (of your choosing) to demonstrate the quality of our work.

Sources:

Digital Agency Network. Is Email Marketing Still an Effective Strategy in 2020. https://digitalagencynetwork.com/email-marketing-still-effective-strategy/

Study.com. Types of Copywriting. https://study.com/academy/lesson/types-of-copywriting.html

Radix. The Seven Types of B2B Copywriters. https://radix-communications.com/seven-types-b2b-copywriter-one-best/