What does a copywriter actually do?

A copywriter hammers out the words that sell, promote, educate and inform.

This means a great copywriter is gifted in the craft of writing hard-hitting words. These are the words that sell all types of products and services. These words also inform and educate.

A copywriter is an expert at successfully informing and/or persuading a precise audience.

1. The decal on your car's right side mirror: "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear" was written by a copywriter.

2. The instructions on your dental floss: Okay, so there are no instructions on dental floss. But if there were, a copywriter would write: "Remove a length of floss, grab both ends, slide between teeth, saw back and forth until sink fills with blood. Repeat."

3. Unfortunately copywriting is also the words in those horrible instructions that came with your kid's swing set last Christmas.

Humor aside, copywriters are also called upon to write audio visual scripts, magazine articles, speeches, newsletters and infomercials. Literally everything from annual reports to warning signs.

The list is truly endless. And being added to daily.

What a copywriter can’t do...

A copywriter cannot copyright something for you. This is the process whereby you legally protect everything from a book to a slogan. A lot of the time this happens automatically when you create something. But I suggest consulting a copyright attorney.

Since WordSleuth is no lawyer, he'll stop right here. Any knucklehead knows dispensing legal advice without attending the school that steals your soul might leave one vulnerable to litigation.

But, because the WordSleuth is a swell guy and doesn't want you stumbling around out there in cyberspace, here's where you can find the
U.S. Government's copyright site.

Why you need a professional copywriter...

You can always tell when someone is masquerading as a copywriter. Sometimes it's the owner of a business. Sometimes it's a friend or relative who got talked into it. The business owner writes about 45 years in the same location. Or about their  family, or about their donations to the local scout troop. If it's the friend or relative, they write the same thing, poor saps, they're forced to do it.

Some say who better to write about a business than the owner? That's like letting a death row prisoner decide their execution date. Neither person has an impartial opinion. As a result, what ends up on the page is nothing the customer wants to hear.

Q: What does a customer want to hear?
A: What’s in the bargain for them.

That's all any customer cares about. Like it or not most people are pretty greedy. So when they pry open their pocketbooks, their selfishness makes Stephen King's most evil antagonist look like the Pope. WordSleuth isn't here to philosophize about the human condition. I'm simply informing you that a professional copywriter is the person best qualified to communicate with your customers. To get through to them and increase your business, no  matter what you're selling.

Copywriter Emeritus Herschel Gordon Lewis says we live in The Age of Skepticism. I'm inclined to agree. If this is the case most customers are not only greedy, but they're skeptical of anything you tell them. I can't think of a harder sell.

"Why should I buy your widget?" "Down the street they sell something just like it for 20 percent less."  "Gimme a lifetime guarantee, and you got a deal."  "Gimme the kitchen sink." "Gimme your first  born." 

The only way to handle demands like these is to educate. The customer needs to be schooled in your product's features, advantages and benefits. The features equal the advantages you have over your competition. The advantages equal the benefits your customers get from dealing only with you or your product.

The words that do this most effectively are written by a professional  copywriter.

Don't believe the WordSleuth? Head over to the Copywriting Crimes page. You'll find an example of what happens when the wrong person writes copy.