To start a successful copywriting business, you need to find the right niche, identify your target audience, and then figure out ways to reach them. While it’s great to have talent and creativity, you also need to understand business to build a successful copywriting company.
Find A Niche
The first step to creating a successful copywriting business is to find a niche. A niche is a “small segment or category within the big market for a product or service”. For example, if you have a talent for writing SEO content, you could start a blog dedicated to SEO tips. Or if you are a clinical hypnotherapist, you could begin a blog offering advice on sleep training.
Even better, you could specialize in a particular stage of life and become the go-to source for content on that topic. For example, if you are a copywriter, you could specialize in helping clients write compelling resumes or cover notes. Or if you are an attorney, you could focus on creating compelling legal documents for businesses or individuals.
Identify Your Ideal Client
Once you have found your niche, it’s time to find your ideal client. An ideal client is a “client that is most likely to buy your product or service”. The ideal client for your resume writing services, for example, might be a recently laid-off manager looking for a little help transitioning into a new career. Or maybe an entrepreneur who is looking to take their business to the next level.
When you identify your ideal client, you can tailor your marketing and sales approach to best fit their needs. For instance, if you know that they are looking for a job change and need help with their resume, you could suggest that they try out your resume writing service. Or if you know that they run a business and are interested in exploring options for legal documents, you could suggest that they try out your legal expertise.
Decide How You Will Market And Sell Your Product
Deciding how you will market and sell your product is the second step to launching a successful copywriting business. There are many different methods for doing this, so you will need to find the one that works best for you. However, there are a few tried and tested methods that can help you to create effective marketing materials, pitch decks, and sales funnels.
The Yellow Pages
One of the most popular and effective methods of getting clients is through the yellow pages. The yellow pages are a phone directory where businesses can be found. If you call up the directory and search for the type of business you are running, you will find many different small businesses that may be interested in your services. You then simply need to choose a few and contact them. If they like your pitch and are interested in working with you, you can begin building a client list. This is one of the simplest, yet most effective, methods of gaining new clients – and keeping them!
Get Inspired
As a creative copywriter, one of the most crucial things you need to do is get inspired. Your business will be filled with exciting milestones and life moments that you can use to inspire yourself and your work. When you are stuck for ideas, look to your existing relationships – your network of friends, family, and colleagues. They will surely have something to offer that can help you to develop ideas for new projects. Consider what they might say and how they might react to a certain situation. You can use this as a basis for your creative work – whether you are writing an article or developing a marketing campaign. Your network of friends, family, and colleagues are your best source of creative ideas – so use them!
Content Is King
Generate engaging content and watch the leads come rolling in. The golden rule of digital marketing is: “Content is King”. Content is usually created to attract and engage with potential customers. In other words, content marketing is all about getting people to “come back for more”. To build a successful copywriting business, you therefore need to be putting out content regularly and consistently. This can be anything from an e-book to an educational piece for LinkedIn. It depends on your target audience and what will catch their attention. Research shows that having a larger social media following, on average, correlates to a higher conversion rate.
Social Media Marketing
Another popular and effective method of marketing is via social media. With over a billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media platform. It is also one of the most popular websites in the world, and it would not be surprising if you have a Facebook account. If you have a Facebook account, you can use this to your advantage by creating and growing a following there. This way, you can target potential customers and engage with them on a private level – as opposed to using generic social media handles that can be seen by anyone.
Generate Leads
The next step to getting clients is to generate leads. A lead is a “client or customer who has shown some interest in your product or service”. A lead doesn’t necessarily have to be a customer, either – it could be someone who is interested in your product or service and haven’t made the decision yet. Either way, you need to be collecting these leads and nurturing them into paying customers. The better your lead generation strategy, the better. This is where business development comes in. The more you develop and improve your business development strategy, the more successful your copywriting business will be.
Online Marketing
To generate leads and grow your business, you will need to be investing in online marketing. This could include anything from search engine optimization (SEO) to content marketing. Basically, you are trying to drive as much traffic as possible to your website through any available means. SEO is one of the simplest and most effective ways of doing this. As mentioned by Google, “SEO is the process of improving the ranking of a website or landing page in the search results”. When someone performs a search on Google, your website or landing page will appear as a result – potentially reaching the top spot. To have a successful SEO strategy, you therefore need to be focusing on creating high-quality content and optimizing for the right keywords. You can use free tools like Google Keyword Planner to find the right keywords and compare them to your competitors. If you are just getting started, aim to invest in SEO tools that can help you to develop and improve your strategy. Once you have mastered SEO, you can move on to investing in content marketing and outreach. These are equally as important – but a bit more complex. Much more can be said about digital marketing – and why it is so important to the future of any copywriting business. If you are interested, take our free 7-day crash course on search engine optimization and digital marketing, or contact us to schedule a personal phone call with one of our experts.