7 copywriting content tips that are key for your business to recover and thrive post-COVID
COVID changed us. Our work, our play, our loved ones and our businesses. In 20 years, we’ll still be talking about the COVID blip.
COVID changed the trajectory of many businesses’ operations and marketing. If you’re reading this as a business owner, well done. You’ve survived the virus gauntlet or taken the brave step of starting during the upheaval.
As COVID spread, vast numbers of businesses and customers migrated online. This online shift has amplified the necessity for high-quality, results-oriented copywriting content.
Don’t let the virus infect your business health moving forward. Read on to discover the most significant shifts due to COVID and how you can boost your business immunity and thrive.
E-commerce leap and staggering online statistics
According to McKinsey & Company, we’ve done “The Leap”. During “The Leap”, e-commerce businesses experienced ten years of growth in three months.1
This unprecedented shift forced many businesses to upgrade their digital presence and investment. It drove many enterprises into the online market space for the first time.
Like the virus, demand for e-commerce and digital presence spread at astronomical rates.
Staggering digital statistics:
- 3.74 billion indexed web pages (changes daily)2
- 1 billion monthly Instagram users3
- 396.5 million Twitter users4
- 319.6 billion emails were sent daily in 2021, and over half the world’s population uses email5
- 2.91 billion monthly Facebook users (Q4/2021)6
- 756 million LinkedIn users.7
So that’s a lot of people in the digital space – online is where it’s at. And what is the key ingredient to feed this new hunger for digital survival and growth? Effective, connective copywriting content.
Whether you’re bricks or clicks, you need an online digital presence. COVID has dragged us kicking and screaming (or clicking and screening) into a new era.
Post-COVID survive and thrive business tactics
Businesses need to be where potential people and sales are. How do you ensure your business stays healthy with the increased influx of online customers and enterprises?
You need to embrace the online space to win the digital race. And the way to do this is with high-quality copywriting content that connects and converts.
Compelling content is like the nutrient boost your business needs to grow and succeed.
7 tips to succeed in the COVID induced digital migration:
1. Have a voice, but don’t be sterile. It’s time to chat
People connect and buy from people. Lovely logos and brand colour schemes aren’t deal breakers for your customers. Clients want to connect with the real people that make up a business.
So write in your voice, not a generic, all be it very professional, voice. People like chatty copy. Throw in a ‘hey’, an ‘umm’, or even a ‘wowsers’. Don’t lecture them as one of the generic crowd. Make them feel like you’re chatting one on one.
A good tip is to write like you’re explaining something while sitting face to face with your good friend.
And if you can make them smile or laugh, your customer will find you even more enticing.
2. Show yourself
COVID forced so many of us to disengage and shelter. Now more than ever, we want to connect.
Time to unmask. Potential clients want to see the person they’re dealing with as a real human being, warts and all. Show a few happy, smiling images of you and the team.
Consider showing people your dog, your favourite book. Or the coffee stain you managed to achieve by 09.15 on a crucial workday. They might love dogs or reading. And let’s face it, we’ve all had the irony of a beverage stain on a ‘ grrr – not today’ kind of day. And in that single image, they’ve connected with you.
3. Help and educate – once they trust you, they’ll buy from you
The AWAI’s 2022 Copywriting Pricing Guide states:
“In 2021 we started seeing a shift away from “sell, sell, sell” to helping people solve problems and have better lives.” 8
If you help people solve a problem or improve their knowledge, they’ll see you as an authority in that field. And that aids connection, sales and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). This blog post discusses how Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (E-A-T) impresses Google.
The 80/20 rule is a good guideline. Make 80% of your content helpful and informative, and the other 20% can be a soft sell.
4. Be social and mix it up with a digital smorgasbord (but only if it’s filling)
As the statistics above show, people are on different online platforms. Don’t limit yourself to only your website. Research where your ideal clients are likely to hang out.
Choose a few other platforms to help with connection, brand awareness and conversion. Spend time learning and building a presence on a platform. But make sure you’re not spreading yourself too thin. Effective presence on one platform will outperform thin, irregular efforts on many platforms.
5. SEO is now more crucial than ever
With the increase of businesses online, enterprises need to prioritise SEO. SEO is multi-faceted, and it’s not only about keywords and title tags. You also need a speedy, well set up, healthy website and a vital dash of legitimate backlinks to succeed with SEO.
It may be time to have your site audited by an SEO developer to ensure its tip-top health.
Increase your SEO knowledge. Courses, training or research will help you build backlinks in a safe, credible way.
Writing Google-friendly copy takes different skills and practice. Develop your SEO writing or review this blog post on how to recognise a skilled SEO copywriter.
6. People first, robots second
Always create copywriting content for humans, not Google bots. Spot on SEO will get you found organically. But if your writing doesn’t flow or connect, then the person with the dollars will likely move on.
7. Consider copywriting content as a routine business booster
Successful digital marketing needs regular, high quality, targeted content. You may need to regularly:
- Update your site
- Produce helpful blogs
- Maintain connections with a newsletter
- Do social media posting and schmoozing.
Schedule these tasks into your weekly business routine. Or engage a copywriter to take the hassle out of writing for your business.
New world, new opportunities. Embrace copywriting content to recover and thrive
COVID has catapulted more buyers and businesses into the online landscape. As we remove the masks and face this changed world, we’re unlikely to go back to the way things were. The need for clear, helpful messaging that’s easy to read and connects with clients is vital.
Quality, results-orientated copywriting is here to stay – time to embrace it.
