This past year, I have learned so many copywriting lessons, which also double as personal life lessons as well. While they haven’t been easy lessons to learn, they have been necessary. I’ve experienced a lot of ups and downs this year compared to last year’s reflection. Despite the rocky road, I have grown in so many great ways that I’d like to share.
So, here are my top 3 important copywriting lessons from 2022:
1. Give long form content a fighting chance
Here I thought that I had to keep my blog posts at a medium length, about 500-700 words. I was a staunch believer in the idea that people just weren’t reading anything longform. That’s what we were told in school; that’s what we learn from podcasts about social media; and it’s what experts talk about with regard to our attention spans. So, I really thought I had to follow those ideas.
Don’t get me wrong: it is true, to some degree, that the shorter the better. In some ways, it worked out for me. My website traffic and online target audience engagement told me so. Additionally, the clients I worked told me so. But when I started to really read about what makes blogging effective, I consistently came across some jarring information:
People actually do reading longform content.
Why?
Value.
There is immense value in not only finding the answer you’re looking for, but also in having that answer explained in-depth. This is especially true when the longform content is, in addition to informing you, also showing you why the content is relevant.
Yes, be specific about content length when it counts. But longform content can “work” if it’s valuable, relevant and shows readers something progressively new and interesting. This is the copywriting lesson.
My most read blog post is over 1500 words long and it’s all about why education technology companies need case studies.
That told me to continue with longform content. And I did. And it allowed me to reach more of my target audience and secure business partnerships I wouldn’t have otherwise.
Why?
2. Show, don’t just tell
When I decided to make more longform content, I also decided to read more and watch a few instructional videos about how to do this right. I mean, there isn’t one “right” way to do this, but I wanted to know if I was going in the right direction.
One video I watched placed a lot of emphasis on target audience. As a result, I paid more attention to framing, target audience awareness and demonstration of my own skill and expertise.
In other words, I learned how to make my content more relevant.
I know this sounds like one of the copywriting lessons I should probably already know. But allow me to explain.
I leaned more into how-to, myth-busting and real-time demonstration blog posts where I not only show you what I know, but I also show you HOW I know it. In other words, I was a lot more specific.
For example, I wrote a three-part series debunking case study myths. In each post, I discussed what people often say about these myths, why they’re wrong and how I know they’re wrong using data and evidence.
My blog posts read less like a compilation of information and more like blog posts only I could write.
When people talk about content “working” for you, this is what I think they mean. The relevance of your content isn’t just in the topic or the answer. Rather, it’s in the usefulness of the content and how you fit into that equation.
3. Remember your superpower
In figuring out how to fit into that equation, I had to make an important shift.
I updated my services to better reflect how I fit into the nonprofit sector. This was a copywriting lesson, perhaps of all the lessons, that was hard to realize.
It meant that I had to reevalute my positioning as a nonprofit copywriter, key differentiators, expertise and skill. In some ways, I was not happy with what I realized because it explained many of my downs.
One of those downs was struggling to capture what I do well.
Hear me out: This is not what you think. Allow me to explain:
Nonprofit experience =/= communications professional experience
One of the things that many people in the nonprofit sector don’t often realize is that you’d be hard-pressed to find a nonprofit communications professional who also has frontline experience working directly with people in programs and providing services. Okay, maybe not “hard-pressed”, but it isn’t a common experience among many of those professionals.
I bring this up to say that someone like me, who has almost a decade of that experience, has done it all. I may not have ever been in a managerial position at a nonprofit, but I absolutely managed work, people and resources. Similarly, I may have never officially been a grant writer or a supervisor, but I absolutely wrote grants and supervised employees and students.
It’s kind of like a simultaneous gift and a curse.
When you have such varied experience, it’s hard to pinpoint what you were doing well and successfully as well as what you actually enjoyed doing. Then, you have to think about this in terms of business and sales.
Don’t get me wrong: I have asked myself these questions before. But it was even more important now that I was shifting my services.
So, I had to remember what brings my varied experience together.
My conclusion was what I had always known: strategizing, storytelling and clarifying big ideas.
Once I figured that out, I started to create more content around it. I also offer all three things as separate services.
Why?
Because I’m really good at it.
Over to you
This year has been quite a rollercoaster ride. It hasn’t been easy but it has been extremely rewarding. I’m really thankful for the journey and the copywriting lessons I’ve learned along the way.
I want to thank every single person who has ever read or engaged with the content on my website. It’s a real labour of love and I don’t take it for granted. I really enjoy being a copywriting and becoming a better one everyday.
It’s why I chose to share this honest reflection.
This will be my last post of this year, but I do want to leave you with one more note before I go:
Call-out for 2023
📌 I’m planning for the new year! If you are a nonprofit or a company that serves nonprofits that:
- is ready to refresh and/or revise their website content
- wants structure and process to clarify their big ideas
- would be interested in regular storytelling content on a monthly basis