Strategy, Selflessness & Simplicity: The Top 3 Secrets to Agency Copywriting
Finally, client work has calmed down and you have the headspace to write your agency’s website copy.
So you begin.
We’re the…
We deliver
Our award-winning team…
Our expert solutions…
And it goes on like this for hours.
Type. Delete.
Type type type – backspace backspace backspace.
Despite your efforts, you find yourself staring at an infuriatingly blank document and remembering why you put this off for so long. As it happens, writing great agency copy isn’t easy. But it isn’t impossible. After all, you know what makes your agency great. And you know why clients choose to work with you.
The challenge?
Condensing it down into a clear, concise and captivating message that captures the whole damn thing. To get from point A (a blank document) to point B (a long list of high-value clients), you just need the right foundations.
It’s all in the strategy
Agencies often come at their copy from the wrong place. They think: “What sounds good?” instead of “What makes us special?” The secret’s in the strategy. This is where the war’s won and lost: it’s what sets you apart from the competition and what makes clients come back. This and not “what others are doing” or “what sounds edgy” is what should serve as the starting point for your copy.
If you’re lost for words, go back to the drawing board. Brilliant ideas can be born from a brain dump, so don’t hesitate to just start writing words and don’t worry about how it sounds (for now.)
Write for them, not for you
When you’re writing about your agency, it’s instinctive to start a sentence with ‘We’. But clients don’t want a long spiel about how you’re a rag-tag team of misfits on a mission to Mars. They just want to know how you’re going to get them more business. Think about your target clients: who are they? What makes them tick, what grinds their gears? What will help them to succeed? Once you feel like you’ve fully infiltrated their mind to stalker-like levels, get writing. By using language that speaks to their pain points and pipe-dreams, you’ll have a greater chance at getting on their wavelength.
One message at a time
We get it: you offer a huge range of great services. But if you try to squeeze them all into one strapline, you’re going to overwhelm your reader. For example:
We’re an award winning digital design agency who create stunning and seamless websites and help you get the most out of them with hyper-targeted digital marketing campaigns that transform your online presence and…
It’s too much information. Of course it’s great that you do more than just one thing, but your client can discover that for themselves through your website. This is your homepage; it’s your opportunity to wow your audience and communicate that one key selling point.
Remember, the kids loved Mary Poppins because she was a magic nanny, not because of the specific items she had in her endless bag. You’ve heard “the sizzle not the sausage” right? Well, this is the same thing. Sell the Poppins, not the Bag. If your copy can convince your clients that you’re going to come down from the sky with an umbrella and get their business booming, they’ll sign on the dotted line faster than you can say “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”.
About the author: Roland Gurney
Founder & Senior Copywriter | Treacle Copy.
Business is all about words. From your website to pitch meetings to LinkedIn, what you say matters. Get your messaging right and you can confidently win the kind of clients you deserve. You’ll stand out by really speaking to people, not at them. And that takes strategic thinking and sharp writing.
“That’s why I set up Treacle, to help creative and digital agencies uncover what makes them special, then tell the world. We’ve worked with agencies from one-person operations to multinational corporations. And the challenges are always similar; how do we attract bigger clients, differentiate in a crowded market, tell our story better, unite our team, generate better leads?”
Today, we use a structured and streamlined process to get to the beating heart of what makes your business brilliant. Then our team of strategic copywriters give you the words you need to take your agency to the next level. There isn’t always a silver-bullet solution, but there are lots of fundamental techniques to give your agency that all important edge.
Because the market’s noisy and competitive. So those who say the right things are the ones already ahead.
Did you miss Roland Gurney at Agency Growth Events Season ONE?
Livestreamed over three virtual events in Q4 of 2021, Agency Growth Events brought together experts from the worlds of Digital Agencies, Media, and Management Consulting to talk about How to Grow a Digital Agency.
Watch 📹 “Panel: Where to Play, How To Win? Productise Your Agency Services.” Roland Gurney and Lee Goff.
This topic is also covered in our recent Blog Post alongside other growth enablers. Read below:
How to Grow Your Digital Agency in 2023? Ten tips to unlock Agency Growth at Scale.
