If you’re wanting to market your business in a way that increases leads and generates more profits, you may have heard the term ‘copywriting audits’ on your journey.
A copywriting audit is an integral step to taking your marketing to the next level. It’s an opportunity for you to have a wordsmith expert run their eyes over your business’ copy, and tweak so that it connects more to your customers and entices them to reach out to you to do business.
You may have considered engaging a professional for your own copywriting audit, or may be interested in doing it yourself. Either way, you’ve come to the right place.
Below, we’ll outline everything you need to know about copywriting audits, what they are and why they matter.
What is a copywriting audit?
A copywriting audit is a systematic review of the copy across all of your media – your website, email templates, digital ads and print media.
If you own a business, no doubt your business has a website, digital marketing and print media of some kind – even if it’s a simple brochure or business card. This variety of media represents your business. It’s the image of your company. And it will make an impression – for good or bad. Sometimes it can be the first and only impression that your business will make with a new prospective client or potential strategic business partner.
Why bother getting a copy audit done?
There are many reasons why – but the key is that you want your copy to connect with its readers in a way that gets them to convert to paying customers.
Below, we’ll list 4 key benefits derived from a copy audit.
Professionalism, spelling and grammar
We all make mistakes. Even ‘perfectionists’ are human. If we have to execute a deliverable in a hurry, it’s easy for copy to be left with poor grammar or spelling mistakes.
Consider the following email that one of our clients recently wrote to attendees of a seminar. They (hilariously) finished the email by saying “I look forward to seeing all of your smiling feces”. Fortunately, one of their colleagues picked this error up before they sent it. Thank their lucky stars.
An audit will review all of your content and ensure it presents professionally with no spelling or grammar faux pas.
Tone of voice
Extended periods of time may lapse between the writing of various copy, making it is easy for an organisation’s copy to develop several different and conflicting tones of voice over time.
For example, your website might present itself in a laid back, casual and friendly tone of voice. Whereas your email correspondence and digital ads may have an overly professional and academic tone of voice. This can send mixed messages to prospective customers as they transition through your sales funnel, creating barriers for conversion.
Even with a consistent tone of voice, the copy needs to ‘flow’ well, incorporating appropriate transitions, ideal rhythm of wording and with a variety of sentence structures to make it interesting for readers.
The goal of the copy auditor is to make your brand’s voice consistent and flow well across all customer touch points.
Calls to action
Digital and print media can be ineffective without a clear call to action. Due to the hundreds (or thousands) of marketing and branding messages that we’re exposed to on a daily basis, it simply isn’t enough to show your brand. Your brand must be accompanied by a compelling offer and a clear call to action.
Perhaps your call to action is to offer a free trial or discount… but only for a limited time.
Perhaps your call to action is to contact your business for a free quote.
Whatever your call to action, copywriting audits will ensure that this is clearly communicated in an effective way.
Equipped with considerable story telling abilities, the copywriter will assess if we need to incorporate more fear, emotion or desire into your messaging to move your target audience to take action.
Improve conversions by addressing your target audience
The creation of every bit of copy across your organisation’s media should stem from one fundamental consideration – ‘Who is my target audience?’
That question in turn should demonstrate an understand of many successive questions – How old is my target audience? Where do they live? What do they fear or desire? What does their daily routine look like? What might they already know about my company, or industry? And so on.
By focussing your messaging around your target audience, your digital and print media can be vastly more effective – speaking to their desires, fears and pain points.
A copy audit will highlight areas for improvement – identifying copy that seems to forget who the intended audience is.
In a nutshell, a copywriting audit will whip your organisation’s brand messaging into shape – adjusting it to connect more powerfully with your target audience. In turn, this leads to a higher conversion rate as your customers come to pay you for your products and services.
What is involved in a copywriting audit?
Firstly, you’ll need to choose a copywriter to complete the audit – not an easy task.
Be sure to select a copywriter who has demonstrated extensive experience and skill.
Copywriters who specifically offer ‘copywriting audits’ probably are a better choice than generic copywriters, because they had narrowed down their skillset to an offering that is quite unique and specific in its purpose.
Once you’ve selected your ‘word-smith’, the copywriting audit can be completed in three basic phases:
Phase 1: the research.
The copywriter will seek to understand your brand, your target audience and your marketing goals.
Phase 2: the review.
The copywriter will review all of your existing digital or print media and audit it for the aforementioned points. It’s likely that your chosen ‘word-smith’ will ask many questions during this process and some back-and-forward discussion will ensue.
Phase 3: the work.
Finally, the copywriter will provide drafts of proposed replacement copy for you to review and either accept or decline.
Phase 4: monitoring and improvement.
This is not a ‘set and forget’ process. You should be actively monitoring and reviewing the analytics for your copy, to see what areas have improved, worsened or stayed the same.
Has the audit led to higher conversion rates? More money in the bank?
You can then continually improve until your copy gets better and better. There’s no such thing as copy that can’t be improved in some way.
Copywriting audits are also a “must” before selling your business
Copywriting audits don’t just matter when you own your company yourself. It also matters a great deal when go to sell your business and proceed to your next venture.
This is because having profitable copy that translates in real dollar value can greatly contribute to increasing the value of your business. A brand presented consistently and professionally is always going to be worth more than one that is not.
Having good copy that consistently brings in new leads, and converts them into paying customers, is an excellent value booster that shows potential buyers that your company is able to consistently bring in money. It may lead a prospective buyer to propose a higher offer, leading to more cash in your pocket after a sale.
To achieve top dollar for your business, your brand needs to be presented in the optimal manner to a prospective buyer.
So if you are considering selling your business, consider working with a professional business broker who can advise on all aspects of a business sale. A company like Lloyds Business Brokers is an example of one of these brokers. They act on your behalf, and aim to sell your business at the best possible price.
If you’re not thinking of selling your business anytime soon, you may still wish to partner strategically with one of these professionals or other companies. In this case, it will be equally important for your business broker to present itself consistently, professionally and on point.
Final words
In summary, there are many benefits to auditing your copy. Some benefits are felt immediately – such as an instant improvement in conversion rates. Other benefits can be long term with positive ripple effects lasting decades – obtaining key strategic business partners or finding the right buyer for your business when it comes time to sell.
Get in touch with the team here at Copyshipper and hire a copywriter if you’re looking for a professional to run their eyes over your copy. They’ll improve it so that you can better connect with your customer base.
Important disclaimer: This blog post contains paid links. Copyshipper does not advocate or promote any third parties (or any of their products or services) that are mentioned in this post, in any way. Please make sure any service you engage or any product you buy is right for you.
