PR and marketing copy – how to add value

Each marketing tool you use as a business requires tailored copy, but no matter which channel it’s appearing on, all marketing copy should be persuasive and motivating and establish a connection with the audience – this is what brings added value.

Most people could write copy about the company they work for. As long as they have a foundational level of understanding about the company and the features and benefits of the products or service it offers, they could put some words on a page. But how valuable is that copy?

Don’t underestimate good PR & marketing copywriting

Sometimes we underestimate good PR and marketing copy because it’s so easy to read that we don’t even think about it. It gives us the information we want quickly, and we may even enjoy reading it. But when we come across bad copy, we know it. It jars and you have to re-read sentences to understand their meaning, or there is so much jargon you don’t really know what the author is trying to say. Sometimes it’s more subtle than that and the copy is just a bit boring or has been written in a way that doesn’t sound right so we give up halfway through and move on to something else that is easier to read.

Here are some top tips for how to add value to your PR and marketing copywriting to make sure it hits the mark every time and gets you the results you want.

Seven top tips for added value PR & marketing copy

1. Experience in your niche – it stands to reason that the more experience a PR and marketing copywriter has in your specific sector of the market, the better the writing will be. An experienced writer understands the context of new legislation or market pressures, they appreciate the impact of product launches, and they are able to help to identify what topics to talk about to get your business noticed and ideally position you as an authoritative voice in the market. Whoever you have tasked with writing your PR and marketing copy, make sure they have experience in the field.
2. Understand your audience – don’t try and write for everyone. If you are writing a press release that is appropriate for two sectors in the same market, it’s worth tailoring the press release for both audiences. If you are writing blog posts for different audiences on your website, it’s worth sectioning the blog off for different target markets so you can tailor the copy for each one. Otherwise, you end up with a piece that doesn’t really capture the attention of any of your audiences because the message gets confused.
3. Talk about the benefits – this may sound obvious, but so often I see copy written by companies that are focusing on the features of their products more than the benefits. You may be excited about the specific technical features you can offer in a product, and you may understand that these features are what differentiate you from the competition, but to add value to these features you need to talk about how they benefit your audience. Be obvious about how your business can make their lives easier. This is how you will persuade them to get in touch.
4. Write for a specific platform – as I said in the introduction, different platforms require different approaches to writing copy. Sales brochures and web copy should be more sales focused, while feature articles in trade magazines and blog posts should be more informative. LinkedIn posts meanwhile can offer a quick and immediate insight into the latest news from a business, while newsletters can be more friendly and chatty in their tone. Being able to identify what kind of copy is needed for each platform, adds value to your marketing copy.
5. If you wouldn’t say it, don’t write it – a common mistake in writing copy for PR and marketing purposes is changing the way you or the person you are writing for, would talk in real life. Of course, when writing copy, we might need to temper a passionate opinion or meet the professional requirements of a publication, but sometimes this is taken too far, and copy is written in a way that doesn’t reflect how that spokesperson would talk in the flesh. Sometimes words are used that people don’t normally say when talking in conversation, or unnecessary jargon is included. This makes it hard for the audience to identify with the copy and therefore less likely to absorb the message you are trying to get across and less likely to engage with you.    
6. Imagine you are the reader – I have come to the conclusion over the years, that empathetic people are the best PR and marketing copywriters because they can really put themselves in someone else’s shoes. Even if they haven’t had the same direct experience, they can accurately adopt the voice of the person they are writing on behalf of, but they can also precisely imagine the pain points and needs of the audiences they write for. Putting yourself in the position of your audience can help you to write the most powerful copy to build a genuine connection.
7. Keep writing – in order to add value to copywriting, experience matters. Not just experience in a particular niche of a specific market, as I talk about above, but experience of writing copy for different platforms, for different companies, for different spokespeople and targeted at different audiences. The more you write, the more value you can bring to your copywriting.

Make a connection

Writing copy is not a quick and easy thing to do. Even with the use of AI the amount of editing needed to fact-check, and to make it sound like you, rather than a generic amalgamation of everyone else talking about the same subject, takes time and effort. But it’s worth taking the time to do it properly rather than making do. It could make the difference between your audience making a connection with you or moving on to one of your competitors.

If your PR and marketing copy is falling short and needs some added value, whether for a feature article in a trade magazine, a blog post or your company newsletter, contact me at helen@blogwrite.co.uk and I would love to help.