Why You Need To Learn Copywriting

Are you a coach? Spiritual entrepreneur or online business owner? Wondering why you need to learn copywriting?

Story time! I was speaking with a potential client a few weeks ago, when the client said something that took me by surprise.

She told me she’d hired a copywriter.

And I was shocked!

Copywriters can be literal gold in your business. They can save you time and headaches, and often they can tell a way better story than you ever could.

But with that being said, I have also have a lot of reasons why I wouldn’t hire one if I was just starting out.

Why You Need To Learn Copywriting

Here are a few reasons why:

Problem #1:

This was an entrepreneur right at the beginning of her journey. She’s just starting her business and hadn’t even solidified her branding or business idea yet.

That’s already a problem because you’re essentially letting someone else drive the ship. If you don’t have a clear idea about who you’re serving or how exactly you’re helping them, then all the beautiful copy in the world won’t save you. If that person is making all that stuff up for you, they might potentially be building something on paper that you don’t even want to build.

Problem #2:

If you don’t know how to do something, it might seem logical to hire that task out. However, there are few problems here. If you don’t have any idea about how to do something, you won’t have any idea what good work looks like. So not only will you potentially hire the wrong person for the job, but you won’t have any clue about what their quality of work is really like.

Problem #3:

The third problem is that most people cannot afford to outsource jobs at the beginning of their business! In this particular case, that wasn’t true. But for most people it is.

Most brand-new entrepreneurs definitely need a thirst for knowledge and some DIY-love in the beginning of growing their business and brand. You have to get your hands dirty and learn about all kinds of things you’d never even thought about before. That’s just the nature of the online business world.

Problem #4:

Even if you have lots of money to spend in the beginning, at a certain point you’ll have to write your own copy! It’s almost impossible not to in a small business. Hiring out someone means you have to give them enough time to write for you. In the online world, often you’ll have a great idea for a post or product and you won’t want to wait around until you can fit it into someone else’s schedule.

Even if you hire out someone to write your social media posts, there will still be a time that you don’t want to wait around for someone else. For example, you are probably posting your own Instagram stories and many of the captions you use on those are copy, just like everything else.

What is Copywriting?

Copywriting is simply writing–but with the intent of selling something, telling a story or promoting your brand.

So basically everything pertaining to your business (except the legal stuff) is copy: your Instagram captions, your bio, your sales pages, everything.

In other words, if you write anything that a potential follower, customer or client might read, then you need to have a basic understanding of copywriting.

You will need to know how to communicate your ideas, how to captivate the reader, and ultimately how to get likes, clicks or sales.

My Copywriting Story

When I started my business, I thought I had copywriting dialled. However, there was a bit of a learning curve. I was good at writing for the corporations that I’d worked for before. I was good at writing blog posts.

However, I was not so good at writing about me. In fact, my natural inclination to hide myself away really hindered my progress in this area.

For a long time on my blog, I never showed my face. I never shared my stories. I wanted to be invisible. But guess what? That didn’t work.

What does work is connection. Sharing your soul. Sharing your stories. Being your true genuine self, not some corporate robot nor some academic goody-goody. Turns out, people don’t want perfect. They want real. They like humor. Quirkiness. Spark!

And they can 100% sense your energy through the screen.

(In fact, I’d argue that your energy is your number one marketing tool! But that’s a story for another day.)

My Secret Trick To Writing Great Copy

The first secret is that there is no big secret. For most people, just sharing yourself is enough.

Okay yes, we need good spelling, grammar, and clarity too. We can’t go too overboard or people will be confused, which is never good.

The best secret of all is to simply sound like you.

For this, I like to use the Best Friend Test:

Try to write as if you’re sending someone who already knows you and loves you an update.

Then when you’re done, re-read it–out loud preferably.

Does it sound like you’re talking to your best friend?

Or did you accidentally turn into a robot? Did you rely a little too much on those routine phrases that made you sound smart in essays, back in university?

Why You Need To Learn Copywriting: Final Thoughts

Perhaps right now you’re thinking “Oh no! I don’t want to write forever!” So rest assured you don’t have to. When your coaching business or brand is big enough, there will be ample opportunity to hire out your copywriting. However, it’s still important to have a grasp of the basics as well as a good sense of who you are in the online space first, so that the job of your future copywriter will be easy breezy lemon squeezy.

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So tell me: what’s your relationship to copy like? Do you feel comfortable writing about your services or products or do you get major Fear of The Blank Page>?

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I hope this post convinced you of why you need to learn copywriting! But it’s not a drag, I promise.

These days, copywriting is one of my favorite things to do in my business! I feel relaxed and confident when I write, and no longer stress so much about “looking professional”. (I mean, I left the corporate world already so why would I want to keep doing that?)

Hopefully you enjoy reading what I write! If you have any copy-specific questions, drop ’em in the comments!

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