While we live in an age of visual communication, words (whether spoken, read, or written) are the main characters in every human endeavor to construct, convince, or cajole others into action.
In the realm of marketing, the need for effective wordsmithing couldn't be more apparent than it became in 2020.
In what is known as the "rush to digital," businesses began discovering that marketing online (ie - engaging customers with fresh content, making their websites more user-friendly, sending useful information and creative offers to clients via email, etc.) was was not only cost-effective, but made a significant impact on their bottom line.
Prior to the global pandemic, spending on digital marketing worldwide was expected to explode from $332 billion in 2019 year to $526 billion in 2024. But that number skyrocketed in 2020, when 10 years of anticipated growth in e-commerce sales occurred in just 90 days.
At the heart of this accelerated growth across all industries was the skillful application of copywriting: the strategic arrangement of words into a narrative arc that moves potential customers along a journey.
Conventional wisdom teaches that the building blocks of stories are three parts -- beginning, middle, and end. While this was a plausible structure in elementary school, when constructing the customer journey, it becomes far more nuanced.
In reality, stories don't have a beginning, middle and end. They have a before, during and after. And the job of copywriting, is to show potential customers where they are before encountering a particular brand, product, service — and where they’ll end up after engaging with it.
Gone are the days of hard selling. Today's buyer is more discerning and knows to look elsewhere if a proposition feels too forced. In order to speak to their customers in a way that feels authentic, brands must clearly communicate the benefits, features, and results of their products or services.
The key to doing so comes down to crafting a compelling brand message that helps potential customers connect on a personal level. And the best way to to this is through storytelling.
In this era of digital marketing, businesses must effectively accomplish three things:
1. Help the customer clearly identify their problem, as well as pin-point where they are on the path to solving it.
2. Offer a solution to the customer that aligns with their emotional and logical sensibilities.
3. Prove that their product or service is the best fit for solving their problem.
Savvy businesses understand that all of their marketing efforts should take their customer through a journey. Applying copywriting strategies to brand messaging is the most powerful way to guide potential customers through that journey -- or story -- in a way that ensures they emerge as the hero.
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