How to Write Better Copy for Your Creative Business
There’s no foolproof template for impactful copywriting; and no single right – or wrong – way to do it. It isn’t necessarily about sounding polished or professional – it's about sounding like you.
Different audiences respond to different approaches, structures, tones of voice and you’re not trying to speak to everyone. You just need to speak to the right people, in a way that catches their eye. Before actually putting pen to paper though, you need to have an in-depth understanding of your audience so that when it comes to speaking to them with your copy, you know what to say to truly connect.
Once you’re certain of who you’re speaking to, there are a handful of guidelines and techniques that can elevate writing from ‘good enough’ to something that will resonate with your people. Think of them as tools you can use as you draft, write, and tweak copy rather than formulae you must follow; and never be afraid to experiement.
Four Ways to Write Better Copy (to make sure your words have impact)
✴ WRITE WITH A CLEAR, DEVELOPED PURPOSE
Ask yourself ‘what does this page/blog/post/ad/paragraph need to do?’ This will be the grounding statement that ensures you stay on topic, write copy that has meaning, and end up with a piece of writing that supports your creative business. For example:
Content: ‘About Me’ website page
Needs to: Tell visitors about the history that brought me to this point + help people get to know who I am.
Plus: Contribute to visitors’ decisions to work with me.
In this case, you could summarise this as “My About Me page needs to inform my clients and connect with them on a personal level”.
Having a clear purpose allows you to stay on track – sharing the right information with the right tone of voice and direction. Without it, this website copy could turn into a monologue about your childhood pet that ends with a disjointed CTA telling people how to work with you. Whilst you’ll have a page of writing, it’s not going to be much help. On the other hand, a page that shares your backstory, touches on your values, and offers a personal anecdote alongside a gentle nudge to contact you, would be far more effective.
You will often find that you can categorise a lot of the copy you write into a few different brackets, based on purpose. What these categories will ultimately depend on how you serve your clients but they might include:
✴ Inform – Copy on the homepage of your website or in your social media bio would typically fall into the inform category. IT tells people who you are, what you do, and how they can get in touch without digging into too many personal details, or attempting to persuade them to take action.
✴ Connect – This is where your About page comes in as well as copy on social media or in email newsletters – here you might be slightly more informal, sharing personal anecdotes, opinions, and other small details that let people see who you are and what you have in common.
✴ Convert – Any Services pages, sales pages, product descriptions, or paid ads would be written with conversion in mind. In these places, copy is more persuasive, addressing pain points, offering solutions, and honed in on carrying potential customers from interested to invested.
✴ Educate – Blog posts, social media content, even Services pages to a degree, can all be used to provide extra value to a client, teaching them more about an aligned subject or an offering of yours. Content in this category typically helps to build trust and authority in your space.
Writing with purpose keeps your copy meaningful and worthwhile – both for you and your audience. Ensuring every word you write has a reason is step one in writing better copy for your business.
✴ UNDERSTAND, EMPATHISE, SOLVE.
The typical (see: traditional) structure for sales copywriting focuses on audience pain points. These are specific frustrations, challenges, or problems your audience is experiencing — the things keeping them stuck, stressed, or searching for a solution. It names them, reminds readers how much they negatively affect their life, and then offers up their product as the cure-all to solve their problems.
While this can be often be a little too direct, for businesses like ours, the general concept is a solid one to keep in mind when copywriting on your website, or through more marketing-focused channels because the flow is tried and tested. For a gentler approach to this traditional format, try:
✴ Understand – Begin by demonstrating that you know what your reader is going through. Name their situation clearly and specifically enough that they feel genuinely seen, not spoken to in vague generalities.
✴ Empathise – Acknowledge the emotional weight of their discomfort or dissatisfaction. This isn't about dramatising their problems, or making them feel worse about their situation, it's about showing that you get why it’s so important to them.
✴ Solve – Position your offering as the natural next step. Not a hard sell, but a clear and confident bridge between where they are now and where they want to be.
To write copy that hits home and makes you stand out as the business to work with, structure your copy to nail those three elements and show people you not only see their struggle but you see where it hurts. That you you know exactly how your offerings can bring ease or more joy to that part of their life.
✴ PAINT A PICTURE OF THE FUTURE – AND MAKE SURE YOUR CLIENT IS THE MAIN CHARACTER
Solving the problem is not as simple as telling your people what you do (in fact, that’s the opposite of what you should do). Your goal is to help them envision what the future looks like, to help them see what changes when you’re around. This can be done in a couple of ways, including:
✴ Sharing the benefits of your offering (and following up with the features, if your audience appreciate those kinds of details). The intricacies of what you do can certainly be helpful to support a decision but what your audience really care about is how you change their life. People want to feel the difference you’ll make in their life and showing them what the future like is a great way to reassure them that you see what they want and can deliver on it. Emotion is a powerful driver when it comes to decision making.
✴ Remembering that you’re not the main character. When it comes to copywriting, your client is the protagonist and you’re simply a supporting character in their story; bringing them closer to their happily ever after. Don’t make the mistake of getting the roles switched over here: You are the protagonist in the story of your business, you want people to care about what you do, but ultimately you must remember – and show, with your writing – that you’re joining in your clients’ story to make their life better.
✴ DON’T BE AFRAID TO EXPERIMENT
Not every strategy works for every business, and the only way to find out what resonates with your audience is to try things on for size. Review your analytics regularly, pay attention to what gets engagement and what gets ignored, and don't be precious about changing course. Test different tones on social media, publish the blog post you're not sure about, and see what happens. As long as your decisions are rooted in what you know about your audience – and you're actually paying attention to the feedback you get back – experimentation is one of the most valuable tools you have. You might be surprised by what lands.
Copywriting for your creative business shouldn’t be formulaic – honestly, the most memorable writing rarely is. And the techniques above are a starting point, not a ceiling.
You're allowed to break the structure, to take risks, to write something unexpected and see how it lands. Not every piece needs to follow a formula. But it's stronger when it's a conscious choice, not a lack of direction.
If you're struggling with copywriting for your business, the best solution can often be to take it off your to do list entirely – and replace it with 'Email Lauren'. If that sounds like what you need, explore my copywriting services today, and reach out when you're ready.
