Benefits of Hiring a Copywriter For Your Sustainable Brand

Hi sustainable shop owners! It’s been a minute since we shared resources for you here, but hopefully our past Shopify tips and influencer strategy have proved helpful. To reintroduce myself and this series, I’m a copywriter, designer, and digital strategist for small, sustainable brands. Before I worked with conscious brands—like a fair trade fashion company, ethical chocolate maker, handmade jewelry business, etc.—I was a writer and editor in Los Angeles, overseeing editorial for influencer blogs and ghostwriting for celebrities. Now, I apply these big-picture strategies (and lots of creative magic) to help brands I align with launch and thrive!

When it comes to hiring creative help for your small biz, you have an abundance of choices to make. Too many. You’re used to doing literally everything yourself so when you finally can hire, even if it’s a freelancer for a few hours a week, you might not know where to begin.

I have to say, copywriting falls by the wayside a lot of times and I understand why. While other pieces of the digital strategy puzzle (such as getting your website up and running) essentially require you to hire an expert (unless you know how to code, for one), you might be able to cut the copywriting fee by doing it yourself. I mean, you’ve been writing in some sense your whole life.

I get it! Few of us can invest in every aspect of our business that we’d like—so no hard feelings if certain creative can’t be your first priority.

So it’s no surprise that I have to make a case for hiring a copywriter more often than I do design or social media. We set out to build their website, ask for the content, and it hits them—we need to put words on these pages! And they need to speak to our ideal customer, and they need to be SEO friendly, and accurately depict our product, and on and on. 

But copywriting IS vital to the branding process, and even if you aren’t able to invest in it this second, you should know why it’s important and what to look for when crafting your brand story. (And to go a step further, if you are hiring someone for brand strategy, you’ll definitely want to make sure this is part of the service!)

benefits of hiring a copywriter for your sustainable brand

develop brand voice

You need to develop your voice in order to speak to your ideal customer. If you aren’t speaking specifically to the person you want to buy your product, you’ll have a hard time selling it. A copywriter can first help you develop this voice (part of the branding process), as well as convey it on your website. Your website’s tagline, About page, and product descriptions are just some of the places to apply your voice.

tell your story

Your website needs to tell a story and not just any story. Gone are the days where consumers are just looking for a fair trade or sustainability label… you need to show why your brand is unique and this goes beyond certifications. We should want to buy from you not just because you’re sustainable, but because you’re also x, y, and z. While your brand aesthetic conveys this story, copywriting meets it half way to paint the full picture.

establish consistency (and make your life easier)

You need to have text on your website regardless of whether you hire someone, but enlisting a professional can help you not only develop your voice and tell your story, but do it with consistency across all pages. Once you’ve polished your site copy, you can make it work for you by repackaging that content across other platforms:

• Blog. A blog is important to keeping customers updated and engaged with your story. It also supports strong SEO. The rest of your site copy can serve as a jumping off point, or at least a blueprint for how to convey tone. (Read more about why you need one here.)
• Newsletters. Chances are you’re also revving up your email marketing at this time. This is another place you need a consistent voice to come through.
• Social media. When you’re developing those first few Instagram posts, branding and website copy will give you something to go off of. Social media is all about bite-sized content. It’s amazing how many posts you could turn something as simple as your company bio into, as a way to introduce and engage with users.
• Digital ads. As a copywriter, I often pull snippets from a brand’s story to develop those first few ads or boosted posts. It usually requires minimal editing to turn part of your story into a compelling ad.
• Professional documents. Whether it’s press releases, proposals, or partnerships, an established voice and story will help you keep these documents in line with your business goals, and save you a ton of time!

Have you noticed the effects of copywriting on your business? Let me know any questions you have and I’ll try to help!