Creative Copywriting has always been an integral part of marketing campaigns but, in a technological age, it has unconsciously become relabelled as ‘content writing’ since it overlaps with other elements of online communication, especially within social media.
Either way, writing good copy should be at the forefront of any marketing strategy that has the intention to increase brand awareness and persuade audiences to take a particular action.
Good copy is persuasive and captivating; it captures the imagination and exposes a product with all the colours and detail of a royal flush.
Creative Copywriting origins.
In the algorithmic world of search engines, it’s easy to see where creative copywriting sits and how keywords can help to facilitate ranking factors.
Today, there are many ways in which marketers can engage online audiences, but the general idea of maintaining the reader’s attention has always been at the core of copywriting.
Ancient Evidence.
The oldest evidence of creative copywriting dates back to 3000 B.C., when a fabric vendor, working out of Thebes, Ancient Egypt, advertised his shop as ‘Where the most beautiful fabrics are woven for each person’s taste’.
There have since been numerous findings of copywriting over the ages, including a Mesopotamian tablet advertising the skills of a lady who was an expert of perfume composition.
A brass plate from first-century China contained copy and a trademark for a needle shop, which indicated the use of branding for the very first time.
Printed Copywriting
In the 15th-century, the invention of the printing press revolutionalised advertising. With the production of paper, ink and woodblock printers already behind him, Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press played a key role in the Renaissance and spawned an era of mass communication –
https://www.printrunner.com/blog/printing-press-changed-world
This German invention inevitably initiated a succession of German newspapers from the early 1600s.
It wasn’t until nearly 100 years later, in 1702, that the first daily newspaper was published in England. With the Gutenberg press being able to churn out 3600 pages a day, the term ”the press” was then coined as a collective name for the abundance of expansive news publications flowing regularly through a printing machine.
Copywriting for advertisements.
Advertising was first used in newspapers as a way to offset the cost of production in America. The Boston News-Letter, published on 24th April 1704, broke the mould with an advertisement for an estate agent selling land.
With the introduction of advertising in books and newspapers proving to be so worthwhile to the readership, and quite lucrative for the publishers, you’d have thought there would be a constant demand for full-time copywriters by the mid-1700s.
However, this wasn’t the case, and the world’s first full-time copywriter didn’t appear until the mid-1800s.
Creative Copywriting as a profession
John Emory Powers (1837-1919) is regarded as the father of modern creative advertising and was the world’s first full-time copywriter. Until his time, other creative artists had worked as copywriters before moving on into other fields – possibly because the job wasn’t in such demand or not acclaimed enough to be able to pay as well as other creative professions.
Born in New York City, Powers quit his job as an insurance agent and moved to England to sell sewing machines. His marketing techniques were so good that the company, Wilcox and Gibbs, could not keep up with the demand –
http://advertisinghall.org/members/member_bio.php?memid=762
Powers was a great storyteller and, as part of his campaign, he would post full-page adverts in newspapers and create a story or play around the product. He knew that storytelling was an innate human attribute that connected people with relatable, common themes.
Powers also offered free trials to potential buyers to entice a sale, realising the power of rapport when providing unpressurised, no-obligation conditions.
Building trust and rapport ran through Powers like a watermark. When writing his copy, he would often encourage the company he worked with to be completely honest about their products and services.
No-nonsense style.
His writing style was to the point, without hyperbole and outlandish exaggeration. He avoided rhetoric, wrote in plain English and focused on the facts. Unlike 21st-century social media posts, he didn’t use pictures or illustrations in his ads but he did ask questions to elicit grounds for purchase.
His writing was so honest and to the point that he mentioned when a product was overpriced, substandard, and even rotten. He once saved a company from bankruptcy by mentioning that they were going to be bankrupt unless shoppers came by and made purchases before the creditors closed in.
John Powers was alleged to be an obnoxious man, disliked by many and difficult to work with, often causing tension with his employers. In his favour, he was said to be a man of his word and he aligned himself with honesty and reliability, encouraging the companies he worked with to be likewise and speak truthfully about practices, products and services.
His adverts may have consisted of short paragraphs – a style that works well today when trying to appease search engines – but the execution was perfect; captivating an audience with direct diction and stating nothing but pure, unadulterated facts.
Creative Copywriting for digital marketing.
It’s interesting how the origins of copywriting were seen in an artistic sense, painting a picture with words and almost exhibiting the work for passers-by to comment and make an informed decision.
Art is all about originality and aesthetics. There are some extremely imaginative individuals who are selling products online by using unique and captivating, creative copywriting techniques.
Whether using videos, podcasts, high-definition photographs or detailed infographics, there comes a point when words have to pave the way and direct attention to an action.
If the copy doesn’t tell a story or lacks a credible, polished edge, the digital aspect of the content is nothing more than a vain attempt to fill the feed –
https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2021/10/08/why-we-need-move-away-vanity-metrics-social-media
However, if the copy has artistic flair within its enunciation it becomes the centrepiece that is presented in such a way that it is recollected and revered enough to be able to carry the reader to a place where they can find what they so desire.
If you crave creative copywriting to cajole your curious customers, contact us without caution – www.washdigital.co.uk
Thanks for reading.
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