Copywriting - What A Copywriter Does

Copywriting is the use of words to advocate an entity- a person or business, or concept- an opinion or idea. It should not be confused with Copyright, which is one's legal exclusivity over a literary or artistic work. An alternate definition, as used in the advertising world, has copywriting as-- the use of words (marketing copy) to communicate a sales message to sell a product. The aim of marketing copy or promotional text is to persuade the reader or listener to take action on the service or item being offered.

Generally used to connote media promotions, a copywriter is responsible for ads in television, radio, magazines, newspapers and others. The job likewise loosely applies to writing in print media. But reporter or writer is the more appropriate designation when promotion or sales is not engaged in.

Copywriting is also the skill of presentation via: billboards, brochures, white papers, catalogs, sales letters, direct mail material, web page content, online ads, e-mail, press releases, and other marketing stuff. Most copywriters are employees of advertising agencies, PR firms, or media establishments. And usually part of a creative team, with each member contributing a specialized know-how to produce advertisements.

What a Web Copywriter Does

In simplest terms, copywriters are wordsmiths-- who create the textual elements of a promotional undertaking. Copywriters of the online (internet world) and offline (real world) realm are similar. But today a dividing line has been drawn between the two. Real world copywriters are now usually referred to as advertising copywriters. Their internet brothers and sisters now prefer to be called as web copywriters-- as a means of differentiating one from the other.

Long time web copywriters, who have engaged in their craft for decades, posit that what works on magazines, newspapers and other print media have been found as inappropriate online. These experts, though years of actual experimentation with thousands of internet transactions claim to have been able to identify the methodologies that work online. It could therefore be said that the expertise of web copywriting is now in a league of its own; totally distinct from that of media advertising.

Despite the difference, the common thread remains: the parallel aim of producing leads, customers, sales and ultimately-- profit for their employers.

Meanwhile, the distinction between ordinary web content against the output of web copywriters likewise needs to be made. Ordinary website contents are intended to inform, entertain or teach the site visitor; while copywriters are always out to convey a marketing or sales message.

What a web copywriter does can be compared to what a magician does. Tricks of magic make money appear from thin air. Copywriters perform similar "magic"-- making money appear from almost nothing... just making use of words.