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What Is Copywriting? The NEW Definition You Need To Know In 2025 | Alex Cattoni | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: What Is Copywriting? The NEW Definition You Need To Know In 2025
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- If you're still buying into the 1960s madman definition of
what copywriting is, you know, witty, one liners,
clever slogans,
and a cutthroat anything, it takes approach
to sales and marketing.
Then I'm sorry, but you've got it all wrong.
Especially today, thanks to digital marketing, the explosion
of social media, AI, and well automated everything.
The question to
what is copywriting has massively changed in the last few
years alone.
In this video, I'm gonna talk about what the job
of a copywriter really looks like today
and the three copywriting skills you should be
investing in pronto.
Keep watching.
Hey Posse, what's up? It's Alex coming at you this week
with a video that is long overdue.
I have really been meaning to do this one for a while.
It turns out that a lot of people are still asking
what is copywriting?
In fact, that search term got 38,000 searches
this month alone.
So let's talk about it. But first here is the definition.
According to Wikipedia, copywriting is the act
or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising
or other forms of marketing.
Copywriting is aimed at selling products or services.
Hmm, okay. Yes. Now to be clear, that is not wrong.
It's just leaving out like a lot of stuff.
It is pretty outdated in my opinion right now in 2025.
At the end of this video, I'm gonna share my modern
definition of what copywriting is,
but first, let's talk about how and why it is changed.
I mean, what in the heck happened?
Well, to really understand
how copywriting has changed over the years, we need
to go all the way back to the 15th century.
When the printing press was industrialized, it paved the way
for the first form of mass produced widespread copywriting.
The newspaper and back then newspaper ad copy was clear,
short, focused simply on problem solutions,
and in many cases, very, very direct.
And to be honest, advertising didn't really change much
for quite a while.
That is until the Mad Men era of copywriting
and marketing revolutionized the industry
and formed the definition of copywriting
that many still rely on today.
As the market grew more sophisticated
and options became more plentiful, writing attention,
grabbing hooks became like way more important.
And it was during this time
that copywriters started using psychology and storytelling
and status and ego and emotion in their writing.
Copywriters needed to know how to capture attention,
keep attention,
and how to persuade a person
to buy this product over the growing number of alternatives
that were quickly becoming available in the marketplace.
And of course, this is even more relevant today, thanks
to the rise of the internet and digital marketing
and social media, there has never been more noise competing
for your audience's attention.
And that is why I always say attention is the most valuable
currency in marketing that will never change.
But unlike before, getting attention is no longer enough
because after you get their attention, you then need
to earn their trust.
And that is getting a lot harder to do.
Now, you might be thinking, yeah,
obviously right, trust is important.
I'm sure it always has been.
And yes, that's true, but here's where things have changed.
And I think the best way to show this is
to tell you a little story.
So when I started in the online marketing world back in
2008, customer trust was more
or less the baseline or the default.
It was almost as if people just trusted anything.
If it was published online without asking too many
questions, you didn't have to work too hard
to earn that trust.
So for example, back then, I knew of so many businesses
that were making millions of dollars by selling a product
with barely any social proof, using a fake personality,
stock photos, and a pen name,
and never even creating a single piece
of content or a video.
It was all just ads directing
to usually a really ugly sales page.
It was usually like black text on a white background
with huge red letters and yellow highlight and underline
and zero images.
And I mean, that's pretty impressive if you think about it.
It really highlights the power of great copywriting.
But let's think about this for a second today, no matter
how good the copy is, would you buy any product online
that didn't have believable and real customer reviews
or social proof, or it wasn't backed by a brand
or a person who had at least some credibility or authority
or that you could verify was in fact a real person?
No. Why? Because we're smarter than ever before.
And unfortunately many
of us have been scammed one too many times before.
When you combine that with the flood of regurgitated hypey,
boring, watered down content, it all kind
of sounds the same.
It's really no wonder that skepticism
and distrust are now the new default,
which means winning the marketing game today is no longer
as simple as gaining and keeping your prospects attention.
Because after you do that, you then need to gain
and keep their trust.
And that makes our job as marketers, as copywriters,
and as business owners, a lot different.
And that job description
of being a copywriter just got a major update.
Copywriting and marketing today is not about just knowing
how to write catchy hooks
or persuading a person to click on the buy now button.
Sure, well, you do still need those skills.
They alone are not enough.
So what does copywriting actually look like right now
today in 2025?
Well, in my opinion, a great copywriter needs
to have these three skills.
Number one, content strategizing.
A content strategy is intentionally created
to pull your ideal audience into your world
and build trust for years.
Content and copy were looked at
as two completely separate things.
And I even did a video way back when
where I broke down the three key differences.
But today that is no longer the case.
They are very much intertwined
because of the huge web of touch points
that the average person takes interacting with your content
and marketing before they ever decide to buy from you.
As a copywriter and marketer, being able to create valuable
and memorable content in those touch points has never been a
more important part of the overall marketing picture.
Through blog posts
or YouTube videos like this one, social media posts,
free lead magnets that deliver real value like checklists
or guides or eBooks or quizzes
or anything like that, you can really increase the number
of touch points that your audience is taking.
Now, your content strategy might not generate much,
if any direct revenue, but it's invaluable
because this is what will feed your sales later on.
The main focus of your content strategy is
to attract new leads and build trust,
and you wanna create as many of those micro conversions
and touchpoints as possible
because those are leading indicators of how likely
that person is to buy from you later on.
So to help build out your content strategy
or a content strategy for your clients,
if you're a copywriter, I recommend following a three tier
approach where you have top of the funnel posts, middle
of the funnel posts, and bottom of the funnel posts
or content in general.
It'll look slightly different for every type of brand,
but here's a general guideline
to get you started thinking about your content strategy.
One, pull them into your world with that top
of the funnel content.
So this should be more of that broad appeal
that your non followers might find interesting,
but of course still related to
what you teach or what you offer.
These can be things like funny memes or opinions
or quotes, anecdotes, stats, relatable stories, polls
with the goal of, again, pulling people into your world.
Your CTAs for this type of content should be dead simple.
You want your audience to follow you for more.
Now the second type of content is that middle
of the funnel content
where you're educating and building trust.
So once a new lead comes into your world
and decides, Hey, you know what?
I like what this person has, I wanna get
to know them a little bit better.
Now it's time to show them what you're made of
for this type of content.
You wanna focus on delivering free value
that will genuinely help them.
Stuff like tools, strategies, tips, and frameworks.
This content really should showcase
how you can help your audience achieve their goals
or solve their problems.
That of course, will move them closer
to trusting you and buying from you.
And the perfect CTA to use for this type of content could be
to download some free lead magnet
or get some other type of resource,
and that is how you get your followers onto your email list,
which we know is really, really important.
And then finally, you have your third type of content,
which I call offer and nurture.
This is your bottom of the funnel content.
The people who have been following you for a while,
they probably already trust you,
but they haven't taken action yet.
So this is the type of content
where you wanna present an offer to those who already.
Now, these type of posts should be few and far between.
Remember, the purpose of your content strategy is not
to sell directly, it is to grow an engaged audience
and build a relationship with them over time so
that when they are ready to buy, they will buy.
And if you do a great job at number one
and two, then your bottom
of the funnel followers will already be on your email list
possibly, and they will already be seeing your
offers and promotions.
So we don't really need to work too hard at selling directly
on social media here.
But with that being said, it is totally okay
to present an offer every now and then.
You just don't wanna do this like all the time,
or you might throw a massive wrench into all this work
you've been doing to build up trust
and to really get your most loyal followers to stick around.
And a word of caution here,
creating content faster is not the answer.
It's about connecting with the right people deeper.
So be careful about creating content just for the sake
of creating content or using AI to generate fast
and cheap content that essentially says nothing.
Your content needs to say something, it needs
to make people feel something.
You need to be using your heart
and your brain to connect with your audience, to nurture
that relationship with them so that if they aren't yet ready
to buy from you, that is totally okay.
They are still gonna stick around.
Can AI help you generate ideas?
Of course, but trying to over automate
or shortcut this step is a big, big mistake.
If you wanna dive deeper into building out a content
strategy, then definitely grab a copy
of my social media cheat sheet
and check out my social media lead generation tutorial.
I will link both of those
for you in the description box below.
All right, so now let's move on
to the second most important skill you need
as a copywriter marketing.
So now that we've started to bring new leads, you know,
into your world
and you're getting them on your email list, it is time
for the next phase of a copywriter's job to kick in.
And this is more of the traditional stuff
that we typically associate
with the former definition of copywriting.
And yes, it is still totally important.
I'm talking about writing ads and landing pages
and sales pages and emails.
This is where strategy and problem solving and sequencing
and formulas and psychology and funnels
and sharing real specific results come in
where leads are taken through a funnel
and they're presented with an offer.
But the key here is that this is a continuation
of your content strategy.
You're still working on connecting with your audience.
You're still building trust
and delivering value through your email list.
You can't just stop doing
that when it comes time to sell something.
In fact, I would argue that you wanna do even more of it.
You need to show your audience
that you deeply understand them, what they're going through,
their problems, what they care about,
and that you care about the results and the outcome.
Knowing how to write punchy headlines
and persuasive ad copy is important of course.
But even more important is knowing how
to write conversationally, knowing how
to write a great story that evokes emotion in the reader
and empathizes with their pains, fears,
and desires, knowing how to effectively research
what those pains, fears, and desires even are.
Knowing how to use psychological triggers
and storytelling, how to identify and address objections
and how to sell without being forceful or pushy.
And that is what makes marketing effective.
And if you wanna learn how to write copy like that,
make sure to check out my right
and Ignite challenge
where you'll learn my step-by-step process
for writing a compelling and persuasive sales page
that connects and converts.
All right, now we need to talk about the third
and arguably most important copywriting skill today.
Yes, I am talking about branding.
The key to any successful business today is not just knowing
how to bring in new leads
and then of course how convert them into customers.
It's knowing how to keep them around for the long term.
It's knowing how to create a place
where people actually like to hang out online, right?
A community that they feel like they belong in.
So even if there is a cheaper alternative elsewhere,
which there is, they would never dream of leaving.
The goal of any copywriter, marketer,
or business owner should be
to keep your best customers coming back again
and again and again.
And this is really where branding plays
such a critical role.
I'm talking about messaging, belonging, identities, values,
and creating that long-term sense of loyalty.
This is why you do what you do, how you communicate
with your customers, and the vibe you set
inside your programs and offers
or with your customer support to create
that sense of community.
This should all be intentional based on the
impact you wanna create.
So often branding is just thought of as like a color scheme
or a font or a logo or maybe the lingo
or tagline that a brand uses.
And while that is certainly part of it,
it is nowhere near the full picture.
If you wanna dig deeper into branding
and learn how to create that full picture,
brand voice experience, make sure
to download my free brand voice checklist in the
description box below.
So you heard it here, posse in 2025, we are redefining
what real copywriting is.
So are you ready for this?
This is my modern definition of copywriting
and it's a long one.
Copywriting is content strategy,
copywriting is customer psychology.
Copywriting is brand messaging,
copywriting is building trust.
Copywriting is getting into the hearts
and minds of your customers.
Copywriting is crafting a cohesive buying experience.
Copywriting is getting and keeping attention.
Copywriting is overcoming objections.
Copywriting is solving problems.
Copywriting is strategizing offers,
copywriting is planning sales funnels and launches.
Copywriting is testing new hooks, new headlines,
and new CTAs.
Copywriting is crafting a brand voice.
Copywriting is storytelling.
Copywriting is identifying the right case studies
and testimonials to use in your marketing
and where to use them.
Copywriting is translating scientific, technical
or academic language into relatable messaging
that makes an impact.
Copywriting is sales, copywriting is communication,
copywriting is meaningful marketing,
and that is exactly what I teach here at the Copy Posse
and right here on my YouTube channel.
So give me a thumbs up below if you wanna see more
videos like this one.
And while you're at it, go ahead and subscribe.
And don't forget to ring that bell
to be notified when my next video goes live.
And if you wanna check out all
of my step-by-step video programs
where I outline every single strategy
and formula that I have used to build my business, go ahead
and check out my programs below.
I have definitely got something to help you with.
Everything from writing a sales page to email sequences,
to building a brand voice that resonates
with your dream customers.
I hope you found this video helpful.
I will see you next week. Until then, I'm Alex Chow for now.
All right guys, if you enjoyed that video, make sure
to check out the next one for me right here,
and you can click right here to get a free gift.
Listen to this average person is bombarded
with 10,000 marketing messages every single day,
which begs the question, in a world
where attention is the most valuable commodity,
how do you command it instead of demand it?
In this video, I'm gonna walk you through how
to create a spectacular, never the same,
totally unique brand voice that helps you stand out,
keep watching.
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