How Good Copywriting Can Help Grow your Small Business

Published November 2019

For me, copywriting is one of the best businesses that anyone can get into. Why? Every type of business needs a copy. In copywriting, medium-sized businesses to huge corporations can increase their profit and business value. I consider this an advocacy. It’s a skill that helps both the business and its’ consumers.

The thought of being able to put into words the true value of a product or service is a blessing on its own. Converting these products and services into sales? Divine. Because as a result, it produces two unique effects:

  1. Businesses increase their profit and production therefore expanding their consumer audience reach.
  2. Consumers can now use these products and services even more.

I have been treading that line between content writing and Copywriting for years now. I started as a blogger way back when aol.com told me I got mail. I wrote a lot of blogs, movies, food, tech reviews, social commentaries, articles and captions as a hobby.

I was not aware that while working for real estate sales and marketing, I was doing copywriting for myself and the company. Apart from traditional face-to-face selling, I used digital marketing through emails. Back in 2012, I remember using Mailchimp to run my own email marketing campaign.

“In sales, if you’re working as an employee, you have to treat the business as your own.”

And that I did.

I sent out tons of emails explaining the many benefits of buying a property. I told clients that purchasing properties is an investment on its own. I had to convince them that I wasn’t trying to sell these properties to make money for myself. I showed them that the impending market appreciation of these assets can generate either a passive income or a high resale value in the future. Hence, money in their pockets. And boy, did it pay off!

I achieved a very high closing rate through these emails. During that time, I wasn’t even aware that the emails I wrote were written in the form and style of copywriting.

Now whether you have a precise idea of what copywriting is or not, imagine it as a collection of words written towards the intention of making people believe a certain product and easily buy whatever it is your selling.

So if anybody asks me how long I have been a copywriter? I would say almost half of my life.

Copywriting, as I see it, is nothing but a bunch of sales strategies written down as if you’re talking to a client face-to-face with every intent to close the deal through a series of persuasive writing techniques. Yes. It’s empathy on paper. And something that almost every salesperson fails to understand…

Empathy is the key to good copywriting. While everyone may have this particular trait, not everyone can translate it into words.

You can be the best media buyer out there but without copywriting know-how, might as well toss that $200 social media course out the window right now. If selling is an art, then good copywriting is the brush that paints that image for you.

Imagine kung magaling ka na mambola pag face to face, what more if marunong ka rin mag close ng deal sa pamamagitan lamang ng tamang mga salita at pananalita? Ayan ah, tinagalog ko na.

That being said, I recently realized that this is where I am actually good at.

It is knowing the exact words to say to turn would-be buyers to current buyers and eventually- repeat buyers. It takes a generous amount of empathy to emphasize in words how a product or service can make a huge impact on people’s lives.

You see, when I was a teenager, my dad had this book lying around the house. It’s called The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino. I remember my dad swearing to the book’s effectiveness and telling me that I should read it one day.

My dad was an insurance salesman who used the many strategic selling approaches he learned from this book to turn himself into one of the best salesmen in his company. His many plaques and trophies of achievements still sit on that same small section of our house.

So fast forward, and while working for sales, I managed to pick that book up and read it with passion. Og Mandino mentioned something that I still consider one of the best secrets in sales up to today. It’s something that I haven’t forgotten all these years.

“The secret to selling is to make it look like you’re not selling.”

You see, the cardinal rule of copywriting for me is to make it about the buyer. And not just about any product. A person may be able to use a product or service but I always ask myself- Do they need it? How can I convince them that they need it without sounding like I’m asking them to need it?

Well, that’s where copywriting comes into play. It discusses to its readers the true value of things in a very clear way. And instead of telling them- Here’s what I can do for you, copywriters should always be aware of that one question that buyers always ask themselves- What’s in it for me?

Most business owners self-advertise their products and services with only one thing in mind- how they can display their products’ assets or capabilities. And most of these ads fail because they missed out on that one unanswered question.

Because copywriting is not about a carousel of descriptions and item specifications. It is a colorful display of real-life benefits. It’s all about putting yourself in your client’s shoes. It’s all about finding ways to show potential buyers how a product can be meaningful and not only useful.

The whole copywriting expertise is an act of bonding and a showcase of trust. If you can show proof that a product or service works and have ready testimonials of other people attesting to its authenticity and usefulness, you can turn any kind of business into a profitable money magnet machine by straight-up telling customers how their life can be better if they do make that sale.
Copywriting is also a combination of empathy, creativity, and a desire for helping people realize the true value of things. That amazing ability to express real emotions and honesty through words. It is layered with tactics, strategies, conversion principles, good content, SEO, and a bit of psychology to deliver a clear message of necessity instead of superfluity. The ultimate goal is to encourage people to buy and continue buying.

That’s why I charge clients based on the value of the project and not how I value myself or my skills. If at the end of the day, what I have written for clients produced results and increased sales, then I have done my job well.

Today, copywriting is used in a variety of ways across a diverse range of online marketing tools. From video ads to newsletters, product descriptions, blogs, articles, Facebook ads and Instagram posts, emails, any kind of print or web copy, landing pages etc., it always plays a very important role in turning these ads into converted sales.

So let me help you. As a business owner, you can now focus on other aspects of your business. Let me do the dirty work for you. Go ahead and get that extra 2-4 hours bonding time with your kids, or that romantic date night you promised to spend with your wife. Letting me help you will not only improve your business, it will also make your life better as a whole. Knowing that there’s someone out there you can rely on and that you can trust.