Do We Still Need Copywriters?
By Anna Johnson on April 29th, 2010More and more Internet marketers are foregoing long sales letters on their webpages these days and opting for either a combination of video and sales copy or just a video and an order button. With so many Internet marketers using videos to convey their sales message… do we still need copywriters?
The answer is an overwhelming YES. If there are words involved – whether they are spoken, as in a TV commercial, radio commercial, infomercial or online video or written, as in a print ad, direct mail piece, catalogue or web copy – a copywriter is required. And, underlying these words, is the story to be told.
Videos need to be as carefully planned and constructed as sales letters, just as TV commercials have always needed to be as carefully planned and constructed as print ads.
Someone needs to put thought into the offer, the unique selling proposition or customer value proposition (depending on whether you prefer a ‘USP’ or a ‘CVP’), the hook or angle, the features and benefits to be explained, the story or narrative. And that’s not to mention what you SHOW in the video e.g. talking head, slide show or action of some kind.
Traditional ad agencies have teams of two individuals – a copywriter and an art director – to work on, respectively, the words and visuals of a TV commercial. ‘One-man-band’ Internet marketers may do it all themselves now, but as production values and consumer expectations rise, expect to see art directors play as much of a role in producing marketing videos as graphic/web designers do in producing web pages.
The skilled copywriter is certainly not going away. Copywriters who have confined themselves to sales letters, however, may wish to expand their skillset to the nuances of online video. Again, just as there are differences between writing TV commercials and writing print ads, there are key differences between creating a compelling online video and writing a persuasive sales letter.
And while some copywriters may wish to continue specialising in sales letters, those copywriters wanting to take advantage of the growing trend towards marketing videos would do well to learn and develop their online video writing skills.
April 30th, 2010 at 11:41 am
I couldn’t agree with you more about the need for copywriters…with everyone seemingly going with a video on their site or squeeze page, they still need to be constructed properly. I’ve seen so many people just put up videos that have no direction and definitely no USP.
I think a lot of people think that by just having a video on their site will do the trick, but like you said, they still have to be put together in the right manner, using the right words in order to see success. That was a great post on your part.
April 30th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Thanks for your comments Ron. The days of people sitting through boring, directionless Internet marketing videos are coming to an end (if they haven’t already) and they will increasingly only watch videos that are interesting, compelling, etc… videos that are well written, in other words.