Why copywriting matters
My first gig was for ROXY — yes, like the surf brand. I fell into it, really. I met ROXY’s creative director at a party and told her I was a writer (I was 22, so truthfully, I was just writing bit pieces for an art magazine). A week later, she emailed me to ask if I did any copywriting. I said yes.
That was…more than a white lie. Before her email, I had never even thought about copywriting before. I went into the field blind, learned as I went, and never took a course or worked at an ad agency. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was about to discover one of my best skills.
Because I’m completely self-taught and do all sorts of other writing work, you might think that I’d say: Copywriting is just like any writing. But it’s not. And yes, copywriting matters.
01. People want to feel respected and seen. Good copy does that.
I have a friend who circles typos in books anytime he finds them. They drive him nuts because “it feels like the editor didn’t take it seriously enough.”
This is what bad copy does for brands, too. When your customer reads a newsletter, blog post, even a social caption, and the copy feels clunky, they notice. And that copy becomes a direct representation of your voice. Bad copy implies a sloppy brand (that doesn’t take its audience seriously enough to put in the time). That’s why copywriting matters — and why it matters the most when it’s mediocre or worse.
People want to feel seen. They want to read copy that speaks directly to them and treats them with respect (meaning it gets to the point to honor their time, and it doesn’t treat them like idiots). And they want to feel like there’s a human behind the writing — which, inevitably, brings me to AI.
02. Copywriting matters because it reminds us that there are real humans behind brands.
We get bombarded by marketing content, sponsored posts, and ads every day — on TikTok, on Google, on billboards, or on obnoxiously long podcast commercials. There’s no escaping it. That’s why when a brand has a strong voice and tone that’s charming/funny/authentic/earnest/creative, we perk up just a little. And the way that you create a brand voice like that is by showing the humans behind the curtain.
People want to feel seen. They want to read copy that speaks directly to them and treats them with respect (meaning it gets to the point to respect their time and it doesn’t treat them like idiots).
So yes, you can have ChatGPT or Jasper or whatever do your copywriting for you, complete with SEO-optimized keywords, but you’re going to get copy that sounds like everyone else. An echo chamber of AI-generated fuzz.
Great copywriters know the reason they do this work for a living is because magic happens when they combine their own voice with a brand’s voice to produce copy that doesn’t feel like copy. It feels like a conversation between two friends over drinks.
03. Stories matter.
Chances are you’ve got competitors in your field. What sets what you do apart?
You can likely give me an elevator pitch on this, but the truth is: your audience doesn’t care. Because telling them how cool you are compared to your competition makes it about you. And your potential customers want to feel (and should feel) like your brand is about them.
Yes, you can have ChatGPT or Jasper or whatever do your copywriting for you, but you’re going to get copy that sounds like everyone else. An echo chamber of AI-generated fuzz.
Here’s an example I learned many years ago in a digital marketing class that I come back to often: pizza.
Little Caesar’s, Papa John’s, Pizza Hut—we know them all, but could you tell me the difference between each one’s pizzas?
The answer (I hope) is no. And that’s exactly what Domino’s realized years ago. Business was bad. Domino’s needed to try something different. So, instead of making yet another Super Bowl ad about how good their pizza was, Domino’s decided to tell a dramatically different story. They made their story about innovation. Suddenly, their customer was the kind of person who believed in technology for the greater good (or at least the greater appetites), not pizza. And that story helped Domino’s grow at such a significant rate they outstripped all the competition.
To do all that, they used storytelling. And storytelling requires — you guessed it — copywriting. Creative copywriting. The kind that AI can’t do. (Just a friendly reminder.)
I could go on forever, but as someone who runs a copywriting business, I know how to edit. If you’re reading this and thinking: wow, yes, copywriting does matter, but you’re not a copywriter, get in touch. I’d love to talk to you about telling your brand’s story. Cheers.
Written by Kit Warchol, founder of Nunc Studio. Kit has nearly 15 years of experience as a writer, content strategist, and editorial director for brands big and small. Past clients and content partners include the University of Southern California, Squarespace, KonMari by Marie Kondo, RMS Beauty, Buck Mason, and Current/Elliott. She also has a robust freelance writing career with personal essays and articles published in/on ELLE, Fast Company, Coveteur, ARTINFO, The Rumpus, Food & Wine, and more.