Stop wasting words: Why you should partner with a strategic copywriter
A common complaint from many small business owners is that they hired a copywriter to create some web copy, blogs, or even social content, but nothing has changed. The copy hasn’t converted, they’ve had zero new enquiries, and they’re not quite sure what they’ve paid for.
Let’s be clear, this is not always down to a fault on the part of the copywriter they engaged to do the work. If the client doesn’t have a strategy, and they’ve just commissioned some off-the-cuff content with an unclear brief, then nine times out of ten, it was never going to work anyway.
That’s a common issue in the industry, but there is a way to ensure that your content works for you and brings proper return on investment.
Strategic vs regular copywriting
Until early 2025, I didn’t know what a strategic copywriter was. I could write clean, error-free and readable blogs, social posts, newsletters, award entries, product descriptions, taglines… You name it, I wrote it, often all day long. But I always felt something was missing. Clients would never share their stats with me, and usually, I had no idea whether the content was landing with the intended audience. Most of the time, I didn’t even know how what I was creating aligned with a client’s business objectives or marketing plan (Hint: most of the time, they didn’t even have a marketing plan).
Without even realising it, I was leaning into the strategic side of writing. I’ve been a member of ProCopywriters, the UK’s largest professional association for commercial writers, since 2023. When they announced a series of member webinars and accompanying accreditation for strategic copywriting, I found the missing piece of the puzzle.
When you partner with a strategic copywriter (and I mean truly collaborate and embed them into your organisation, not just treat the relationship as transactional), you are working with someone who:
- Avoids templates and generic copy (AI-generated content, anyone?)
- Connects with, and works towards, your business objectives
- Considers your customer journey
- Always has the bigger picture in the back of their mind when they’re creating
- Considers audience insight
- Works iteratively: analytics and data will inform their ongoing approach
Why it matters
As humans, we have an ever-shortening attention span - in 2025, the average was around 8 seconds. There’s fierce competition from other businesses and increasingly AI-generated, sloppy content, which means that potential customers are turning away from their social feeds and turning to starting conversations in their DMs and other places. But they don’t do that if your copy and content don’t grab their attention, or highlight the problem you can solve for them.
Businesses need to ‘stop the scroll’, or at least start those conversations to convert customers. You need measurable results, not just pretty words. The economy is squeezing a lot of sectors, and budgets are precious - you don’t need to waste words - or money - on something that is not working for you.
How does a strategic copywriter work?
We are focused on results, on honing and refining your content for maximum impact and return on your investment.
A strategic copywriter won’t just ask what you want to write about. They will:
- Ask about your customers’ challenges and pain points, and the problems they need to solve
- Want to know what’s stopping those potential clients from converting, by using the data from previous campaigns and marketing efforts
- Need to understand your core promise, offers, and values
- Immerse themselves in your branding and messaging, soaking up your tone of voice, your likes and dislikes, and understand how people search for you
- Identify and create relevant calls to action (CTAs) to get those conversations started
- Check in with what your competitors are doing and how they are getting business in your sector
We also want to know about conversion rates, click-through rates, bounce rates and other useful stuff, not just vanity metrics such as likes. Often, strategic copywriters will also have marketing experience and will advise on marketing planning and strategy, which is exactly what we do.
So, next time you need a wordsmith, please consider partnering with a strategic copywriter, rather than a writer who will just execute your instructions.
Red and White Media was established in 2023, and we work with small to medium-sized B2B (and B2C) firms on their messaging and content. We have worked with brands including Travelodge Hotels over the last eighteen months. Call or email us today - will you be the next client to benefit from our experience?
