Types of Copy and What To Use For Your Business

Ed Pronley

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April 1, 2022 (Updated: May 4, 2023)

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Copy is text that’s published digitally or in print for an audience to consume. You likely use copy to create materials and pieces for their marketing and advertising campaign or for use on your company website. But you can use copy in many different areas of your business to help communicate ideas, promote your brand, or inform your clients and customers about different industry topics. Whatever the reason for using copy, it’s helpful to determine what style of copy is most beneficial to your company and the best way to craft it. In this article, we discuss:

 

How Can High-Quality Copy Help Your Marketing?

High-quality copy is important for your marketing because it can help convey ideas and attract your target audience more effectively. In 2021, 56% of organizations said that strategic content organization creates a moderately successful campaign for them, and 22% said that it creates a very or extremely successful campaign. That means that when those companies focused on creating quality copy and content, it helped improve the success of their marketing efforts. But what does that mean exactly?

Well, it often depends on the goal you’re trying to accomplish. But overall, it’s helpful to include information that your readers find informative or helpful to their needs. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 74% of B2B content marketers say that the biggest contributing factor toward the success of their content marketing campaign was the value their content provides to readers.

One of the best ways to start creating effective copy and content is to understand the current content marketing pyramid. That includes the different types of content you can create and how they work together to promote your business and brand. Start by reading our free eBook on the content marketing pyramid and learning the best ways to attract your target customers and clients.

“CopyPress gives us the ability to work with more dealership groups. We are able to provide unique and fresh content for an ever growing customer base. We know that when we need an influx of content to keep our clients ahead of the game in the automotive landscape, CopyPress can handle these requests with ease.”

Kevin Doory

Director of SEO at Auto Revo

Types of Copy For Your Business

Image via Pexels by Jessica Lewis Creative

Here are some of the main types of copy and how you can use them for your business:

SEO Copy

The main goal of search engine optimization (SEO) copy is to attract your target audience and promote your brand more easily. The written content that this type of copy creates often includes things like blogs, resource articles, and eBooks. This content helps to build a relationship with your audience while giving them useful and informative content that relates to your field or industry. While creating this content, the copywriter also focuses on practicing effective search engine optimization to ensure the copy ranks well on Google and other search engines.

SEO involves different strategies to communicate to search engines what your content is about and ensure that readers stay on your webpage for longer. That includes things such as:

  • Improving content readability
  • Filling out metadata
  • Generating backlinks from other domains
  • Targeting specific keywords

 

SEO copy differs from other forms of copy, like advertising and commercial copy, because it doesn’t always outwardly sell products or services. Instead, it focuses on developing relationships with readers to build brand loyalty and trust. Then, it entices readers with well-placed calls-to-action to encourage them to interact with your company further. That’s why it’s one of the most common forms of copy companies create for a content marketing campaign.

Email Copy

Email copy includes marketing materials, newsletters, and other content sent directly to your audience’s inboxes. This helps to personalize the marketing experience for your clients and consumers. It also helps to deliver information straight to your audience in a channel they’re more likely to read and consume. When writing email copy, most businesses use a more informal or conversational tone to build a relationship with their audience and humanize their brand. But the content of email copy can vary according to what industry you’re in and what you want to share with your audience.

Some emails might be SEO copy that focuses on giving readers quality information. Other emails might be advertisement copy that informs readers about a new product or service, or maybe even a current promotion the company is running. Looking for a great email copy example that also provides you with excellent content marketing knowledge? CopyPress has a newsletter that delivers digital marketing information, trends, and news straight to your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter today to stay up to date on what’s happening in the marketing world and find new ways to boost your own campaign.

“CopyPress gives us the ability to work with more dealership groups. We are able to provide unique and fresh content for an ever growing customer base. We know that when we need an influx of content to keep our clients ahead of the game in the automotive landscape, CopyPress can handle these requests with ease.”

Kevin Doory

Director of SEO at Auto Revo

Advertisement Copy

Advertisement copy is the most traditional form of copywriting. You can use both printed and digital content to entice people to buy your company’s products or services. That generally includes things like online advertisements, product descriptions, direct mail campaigns, and billboards. These types of ads can help your businesses generate larger brand awareness, which helps in attracting more people to your company through either qualified leads or direct sales. If you’re running a digital marketing campaign, advertisement copy can also increase traffic to your website and potentially boost its overall ranking in the SERPs.

Commercial or Script Copy

Commercial or script copy is a type of copy that your company may create for radio or television ads, company videos, and other visual content. Similar to advertisement copy, this style of copy helps to increase your company’s brand awareness and spread the word about the products or services your business offers. But you can use it for other reasons as well.

For instance, if you provide HR management services to businesses, you might use this style of copy to create a series of videos on payroll and time management or produce an online course to help your audience of HR professionals learn more about industry topics. Those videos can help boost audience loyalty and trust, which can allow your company to develop a stronger relationship with its consumers or clients, potentially securing some partnerships in the process.

Brand Copy

Brand copy is writing that a company produces to create a stronger brand image, voice, and tone. That can include things like company slogans and jingles. This can show an audience what your brand represents and provide a more human experience to them. However, you can also pair your brand copy with other forms of copy to add your brand’s voice to different marketing styles. For instance, when your team is creating marketing materials, you may be strategic with your copy so you’re appealing to both current and potential customers by combining branded copy with advertisements for new sign-ups.

Website Copy

Companies use website copy to promote its business and brand through the internet. You can create multiple pages on your website, each focused on one of your core topics and products or services, or host a blog or knowledge base section where visitors can learn more about a certain subject. With well-written copy, each one can entice clients and customers into making a purchase or signing up for a service. It also helps your business effectively communicate the products or services it sells, especially on an e-commerce website.

When writing website copy, it’s often best to pair it with SEO copy, to ensure the website ranks well on search engines. That includes targeting different keywords and improving the content’s readability. Good SEO also ensures that website visitors easily understand the content and improve each webpage’s overall bounce rate and time on page metric.

Social Media Copy

Social media copy is what companies use on social media posts to attract more followers to their brand, communicate industry news, or promote their products and services. When writing this style of copy, most companies use more of an informal tone, but that can vary from business to business. Generally, the tone you decide to use will most likely depend on your target audience and the pages or influencers they follow. Though the copy for social media posts is important, it’s often most useful when paired with visual content, like videos and pictures.

Videos and pictures help to grab the scroller’s attention, and the copy finishes the job by explaining exactly what the post is about. You can also use social media with other areas of your company’s digital marketing campaign. That includes using your social media platforms to share pieces of SEO content, like blogs and articles, video content, such as online courses, and information or articles from other trusted industry sources. Sharing other sources besides your own can help build trust with your audience and demonstrate your business as something that knows what high-quality content looks like.

White Paper Copy

White papers are long forms of written content that read a lot like research essays. They often explain a current problem or challenge that your target audience is facing and offer potential solutions for it. Each white paper dives deep into the topic they discuss, often citing statistics and other scholarly or industry sources to help support their argument or claim. They also forgo almost all forms of advertisement copy, not often mentioning a company or the products and services it sells.

This positions the company as a thought-leader in the industry and builds trust with its readers. That’s because, instead of just selling what you have, you’re often providing your audience with an analysis of a problem and potential solutions, free of charge. You’re also giving them a document they can continue to reference whenever they need to and share it with others in the industry who might find it interesting, thus increasing your brand awareness even more.

Related: 11 Steps For Finding White Paper Topic Ideas (With Examples)

Public Relations Copy

Most companies use public relations copy to convey a message to their target audience, publicly thank consumers and clients, or notify their audience of something important, like a product recall. This helps to display the company as a professional source of information, as well as a trusted source of goods and services. You might also use public relations copy when making statements to the press or communicating with news departments. This ensures your brand stays in a good light and always communicates everything it needs to without sounding unprofessional.

Technical Copy

Technical copy is used most often by businesses in the technology industry. This style of copy talks extensively about a product or piece of software and the benefits it can offer to a business or consumer. Using this type of copy allows your customers to see how the product or service can meet their needs and solve their problems before making a purchasing decision. Often, these documents and content include a lot of technical details and data about a product and the specific ways your customer can interact with it. They also use more professional and technical language versus a conversational tone.

How To Create Expert Copy

Here is a list of steps to help you create excellent copy for your business and its needs:

1. Understand Your Target Audience

Understanding your target audience is important because it helps you know what they want to see from your business. Do they prefer a more conversational and laid-back tone? Or perhaps they like a very professional and technical style to their written content that just produces the facts? Knowing exactly what your audience wants to see in their copy and how to deliver it allows you to write engaging sentences that really capture your readers’ attention.

Consider using tools like Google Analytics to learn more about your target audience, including their age, demographics, and interests. It’s also helpful to see what style of copy and content your competitors are producing and how they hold up to your own. CopyPress currently offers a content marketing analysis tool that compares your content with your top three competitors. Request yours today to see what keywords your competitors target and which of their webpages are currently ranking the highest.

“CopyPress gives us the ability to work with more dealership groups. We are able to provide unique and fresh content for an ever growing customer base. We know that when we need an influx of content to keep our clients ahead of the game in the automotive landscape, CopyPress can handle these requests with ease.”

Kevin Doory

Director of SEO at Auto Revo

2. Know Where the Copy Fits Into Your Sales Funnel

When you create copy for your business, it often comes with a purpose. For most businesses, or more likely, all businesses, it’s to help bring clients and customers down the sales funnel until they finally decide to make a purchase. But companies will need different copy depending on where they entice customers from within the sales funnel.

For example, if you want to attract more people to your company’s website at the top of the sales funnel, it’s going to be most effective to create advertisement or commercial copy to increase your company’s brand awareness. However, if you want to target people more in the middle of the funnel, it’s better to produce SEO and website content to give your audience more information about your products and services.

Related: How To Create a Marketing Funnel With Examples

3. Talk With Experts

Talking with experts can help you understand exactly what type of content you need for your business, and some can even help you create that copy to attract your target audience more effectively. For instance, CopyPress offers a range of services to help companies create excellent copy and content for their business that encourages their clients and customers to make a purchase. Schedule a free call with us today to see how we’re able to help you boost your marketing campaign and develop strong content that fits your business needs and helps you reach your goals.

Understanding the different types of content and how they can benefit your business allows you to create more effective marketing materials. These materials can attract your target audience more effectively and improve your marketing strategies to help your company grow and develop.

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Ed Pronley

CopyPress writer

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