You know that it’s necessary for your business to best reflect its products and services through compelling copy, and that’s where tech copywriters come in.
And once you get started working with a copywriter, it’s time to make the most out of the partnership and create killer copy that’ll serve your business.
Through a smooth partnership and collaboration with your copywriter, it’s way more likely that you’ll end up with landing pages, blogs, and email campaigns that convert.
So, here are some dos and don’ts for working with copywriters when creating content for tech.
Be clear about your expectations
Remember to be clear from the get-go. You can include basic information like format, length, deadline, and type of content, or more details, like target audience or insights into your customers’ preferences.
Seasoned copywriters will expect this information, as they’re used to incorporating business intelligence into their craft.
Not providing a good brief is like asking an architect to build a house without providing a blueprint. The outcome can be good or bad, but it’ll definitely not be the home you imagined in your head.
Organize them into a proper brief
A brief shouldn’t only centralize different resources but also explain exactly why they matter.
Links without context, 100-page PDF files with no bookmarks, and access to a messy “/resources” directory aren’t helpful and will only result in more questions.
Here’s one rule of thumb: If the copywriter needs more time to examine the resources than actually to produce something out of them, your brief could be better.
Connect the copywriter with your design team
Do you want the final piece to include a featured image, infographics, banners, and other visual assets? If so, it’s worth putting the copywriter in touch with your designers.
When coming up with the assets, designers will inevitably check the source material provided by the copywriter. Such questions might also arise:
What’s more important in this section?
Should all text be in the banner or only a part?
If everyone’s connected with tools like Slack or email, it’s much faster to address those questions. At the end of the day, there will be better synergy between art and copy.
It’s also why the copy-first approach is usually best.
Consider connecting your copywriter with developers too
Connecting the copywriter directly with the developers can be very useful (and sometimes necessary) for projects that involve technical documentation.
That said, be mindful. Designers are used to working with copywriters, whereas most developers aren’t. That means devs might need help clarifying exactly what’s required from them.
Seasoned tech copywriters counteract this by asking questions that help translate code and architecture into business value. If you plan to connect the dev team with your copywriter, it’s helpful to keep the more business-savvy developers in the loop too.
Invest in long-standing partnerships
Just as with any supplier, you’ll benefit from building a trusting relationship with a copywriting partner.
Project after project, the onboarding phase will get smoother. The copywriter will have more time to get to know your product and service, as well as the stakeholders.
It’s even better if you’re able to share a higher-level strategic view with the copywriters. For example, if they’re not only working on one landing page but also on a series of LPs and their connected subpages, they’ll have a firmer grasp of the role and goal of each asset.
For niches, go for the specialists
Sometimes, the copy needs to be about very technical products, technologies, and procedures that cover a very niche area.
Moreover, niches stack up. Suppose you provide infrastructure compliance for web3 unicorns in Central Asia. A specialist copywriter in that niche will be harder to come by.
When that’s the case, it’s ideal to find a content partner that has experience writing about at least some of these areas (web3, infrastructure, startups, compliance, etc.). That said, a generalist will likely get stuck on definitions and nuances and struggle to produce something compelling.
There is more to copywriting than SEO
It used to be that lots of keywords, a generous document length, and numerous links would be enough to make a piece of content rank highly. Well, that time has long passed.
Google works hard to identify (and punish) pages that try to mask low-quality writing with SEO tricks. Of course, there are basic SEO principles that always apply, like proper formatting and relevant links.
Just be wary of dull, simplistic formulas, like more keywords = better ranking. The search engine giant is one step ahead and might tune its algorithms at any time to curb these schemes.
Speak the language of benefits
It’s impossible to talk about Google and SEO without reaching a handful of “maybes”. But in copywriting, there are some certainties. One of them is the language of benefits.
Great copy conveys very clearly why a product or service can provide value to the reader. That’s because it emphasizes what the benefits are for the customer. It doesn’t have to be pushy. It’s about facts: Showing that product x solves problem y.
You can help the copywriter explain the benefits of your product or service by mentioning your USPs in the brief. How do you then evaluate if your copy does it successfully? When in doubt, ask yourself:
Is this piece of content helpful to my customer?
Does it help my business in converting a potential lead into a customer?
Grammar rules and a consistent style are important
A typo in a landing page title is similar to a stain on a shirt during a sales pitch. It’s distracting and undermines the whole thing.
In order to appear more professional, it’s important to keep the bases covered. Watch out for typos, disjointed sentences, and paragraphs with conflicting styles within the same document.
Just as we iron our suits, touch up our makeup and check the mirror before an important meeting, we should be aware that slip-ups will be judged. They aren’t necessarily detrimental, but it’s always good to be vigilant.
Don’t forget to have fun
All that being said, the world’s not only made up of business meetings. If you’re selling volleyballs by the beach, is a neat suit really appropriate?
No, it’s plain weird and out of place.
With copy, too much attention to grammar can make the message stiff and boring. An occasional wordplay, emoji, odd spacing, and other deviations can make the content lighter and might even provoke a chuckle or two.
The main idea here is that if your tone of voice is more conversational – using strict grammar rules could prevent you from meeting your mark.
The key here is intent. It should be intentional and have a purpose.
In the end, it’s all about communication
These tips offer a general guideline on how to collaborate with a tech copywriter. From setting clear expectations to focusing on quality over SEO, these tips can help strengthen any partnership.
But the most important thing will always be communication.
When in doubt, ask your tech copywriter what they need and what would make the final product better. At the end of the day, you’re both working towards the same goal: delivering great content that’ll do justice to your product or service.