Why is copywriting important for generating leads?
Lead Generation
Key takeaways
- Copywriting is a type of writing that seeks to persuade, convince and nurture leads.
- Different types of copywriting are used on different parts of your website.
- Good copywriting should aim to generate awareness and interest in your brand, point them towards your solutions and eliminate objections they may have before encouraging them to make an enquiry.
- Good copywriting is also about good search engine optimisation – the two are complimentary.
How can you turn a lead into a client?
This is one of the crucial questions that occupy the minds of every digital marketer. Our job is to generate leads and then help turn those leads into enquiries. Believe it or not, one of the biggest tools at our disposal is the humble written word. In digital marketing, we call this copy and the act of writing it “copywriting”.
Often overlooked, like a superhero’s sidekick, copywriting elevates great website design and graphics, working in partnership with good user experience to make Leads into Clients.
So, how does copywriting help generate leads for your business?
What is a lead?
Firstly, let’s define our terms.
In digital marketing, the definition of a Lead is someone who is interested in your product or service. The lead might not be ready to buy yet (we call this a “cold lead”), but as they interact with your brand (either online or in person), they should warm up and become a “warm lead”.
It’s important not to warm up leads that are not suitable for your services; it’s just a huge waste of time for you and them. Therefore, ensuring that they are “qualified” for your service at the earliest possible point in their journey towards enquiry is really important.
Nurturing your leads
Once a prospect has discovered your brand, we say that they are right at the top of your Sales Funnel. This lead must now be nurtured.
“Nurture” might seem like a strange word to use here, but it just means starting a conversation or building a relationship. This is done by providing value through a series of touchpoints. That “value” can take many forms but it’s usually informational to start off with.
Moving through the funnel: AIDA
Right now you might be thinking: “what is the marketing Funnel and who on earth is Aida”? Is it some new online supermarket… sorry, no!
AIDA stands for
- Awareness
- Interest
- Desire
- Action
It describes the process that a lead goes through to move from a lead into an enquiry; it’s the steps of the funnel.
This is why great copywriting is so important and good SEO companies will be able to tailor your copy depending on where consumers are in the funnel. We need to move a lead from cold – to warm – to ready to buy. Copywriters need to understand where the consumer is and meet them in that space. Otherwise, no matter how good the copy is, it won’t convert and provide those leads, conversions and sales.
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Top of the funnel: Awareness
This is the very beginning of the customer journey; prospects have become aware that they have a problem and are looking for information on potential solutions. At this stage, they may not even know your product or service exists let alone how it can benefit them.
The primary goal here is to educate and raise awareness and your copy should centre around that.
Typically users will either seek out answers or be easily diverted by an advert they happen upon that seems to suggest a solution. When seeking answers for themselves, they may type queries into search engines.
This is why it’s important to blog. If users select your blog and it successfully answers their query, you may have successfully moved them to the top of your Sales Funnel.
Although blogs include words, they are not always a form of copywriting. Blogs are informative and therefore are a type of content writing, which is different.
Copywriting tends to be persuasive and wants to move a user towards a set action. Content writing tends to be purely informative.
Blogs make your leads aware of your brand but are not always strictly designed to move users through the Sales Funnel.
However, depending on the type of search term your Leads use, the search engine might pull up a list of Ads or Sales pages instead. Here, copywriting is crucial, as the headline on your Ad can make a user select your Ad over that of a competitor.
Time to move to the middle of the funnel.
Middle of the funnel: Interest and Desire
By this point, your prospect is more aware of their problem. They are on your landing page where the purpose is to convert a visitor into a lead. There are several ways to use copywriting to move the Lead through the Sales Funnel. Here are just a few:
1. Lead Magnets
Lead magnets are free, highly desirable resources given in exchange for an email address. This might be a checklist or a cheat sheet a prospect can download, a webinar or an e-book…you get the idea. All of these things require good copy so that the resource adds real value to the prospect.
2. Sales Pages
Sales pages are the pages on your website that explain your service and how it will solve your Lead’s problem. The copy on Sales pages needs to demonstrate that you know their pain points and present your solutions in a way that overcomes their objections. Some key points to cover on these pages are:
- Build a relationship by showing you understand the struggles they face.
- Overcome objections they may have
- Lower any perceived risk
- How are the benefits of this service relevant to them?
- Present an attractive offer.
3. Case studies
These showcase how well you’ve worked with other clients before. They should demonstrate your major successes and how you met those goals. They are a form of social proof and allow Leads to see your services in action.
Bottom of the funnel: Action
The final stage of the Sales Funnel. This is the point where the client takes action. They have connected with you and your solution and have a desire for it. Here, copywriting needs to communicate the action that you want the Lead to take. This is known as a Call To Action (CTA). Some examples are:
- Let’s talk
- Learn more
- Download now
- Contact us
Copywriting and SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It refers to all the activities involved in helping your website rank higher on the search engine results pages.
Copywriting and SEO are inextricably linked.
Without finding out what search terms (called “keywords”) Prospects are typing into search engines, you could write copy till the cows come home and no one would ever find your website.
Ranking highly in organic search is one of the best channels you have for inbound lead generation, so great copy needs to not only meet the consumer where they are and use the right language to convert; it must also use the right keyword language to help users find you.
New to the idea of SEO? Find out more.
Good SEO (and copy) brings users to your website, and good copywriting helps convert those users into leads.
We believe that these two elements are so closely intertwined that we have baked them into our KnowShowGrow framework. Our framework helps us build long-term sustainable growth for our clients because it seeks to help your website generate a steady stream of enquiries.
To generate leads online, you need to:
- Know who you are, and the benefits you can bring to your clients
- Show who you are on your website effectively, eliminating risk, removing objections and demonstrating competence.
- Grow your online audience and warm up leads, through great SEO, content marketing and link building.
Interested in our framework? Learn more
Copywriting: essential for generating leads
Copywriting is crucial to generating new leads.
Without great copywriting, your sales funnel will bring in far fewer leads, leak more and convert less. Making sure your website is nurturing leads at each stage and moving them from cold to warm is essential to building your business.
But great copywriting is not the only thing that matters. Your brand, website and SEO all need to work well together if your website is going to generate the leads needed to build long-term sustainable growth.