I have no doubt that your people can write. And this may sound silly but I put it out anyway. Good copy is not written but crafted.
What's the difference?
A hell of a lot really.
You see, many of your people know how to write to inform, to educate or to entertain. But for them writing is a side interest. They write because writing supports the main event.
For instance, IT professionals write reports and other documents.
Copywriting is about selling in words. And you have two target markets: 1) humans and 2) Google. Yes, you have to ride two horses with one arse, so to say.
I've descended from an accomplished horseman nation of the Huns, but I've never seen anyone pull it off. You need either an exceptionally large arse or tiny horses. And even if we consider that the Huns rode small horses, the arse-horse ratio still doesn't add up.
So, copywriting is basically about selling in writing. As the copywriting legend John E. Kennedy, at the dawn of the 20th century defined is, "salesmanship in print". So, here is a short comparison...
| General Writing | Copywriting |
|---|---|
Editorial focused |
Marketing focused |
Idea, product, concept or services driven |
Client driven |
Focus is on sharing information, instructing, informing and educating |
Focus is on solving a problem and selling a product/service |
It's about what's happened |
It's about what it means to clients |
Interesting |
Action invoking |
Journalism |
Salesmanship in print |
Objective: Inform, educate, dazzle and amaze readers |
Objective: Create a new client |
Well, I could even say that diving is diving is diving. Well, think of water diving (acrobatic jumping into water), scuba diving, skydiving or even dumpster diving. Huge difference.
Hopefully it's a touch clearer now.
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