When it comes to hiring creative help for your small biz, you have an abundance of choices to make. Too many. You’re used to doing literally everything yourself so when you finally can hire, even if it’s a freelancer for a few hours a week, you might not know where to begin.

I have to say, copywriting falls by the wayside a lot of times and I understand why. While other pieces of the digital strategy puzzle (such as getting your website up and running) essentially require you to hire an expert (unless you know how to code, for one), you might be able to cut the copywriting fee by doing it yourself. I mean, you’ve been writing in some sense your whole life.

I get it! Few of us can invest in every aspect of our business that we’d like—so no hard feelings if certain creative can’t be your first priority.

So it’s no surprise that I have to make a case for hiring a copywriter more often than I do design or social media. We set out to build their website, ask for the content, and it hits them—we need to put words on these pages! And they need to speak to our ideal customer, and they need to be SEO friendly, and accurately depict our product, and on and on. 

But copywriting IS vital to the branding process, and even if you aren’t able to invest in it this second, you should know why it’s important and what to look for when crafting your brand story. (And to go a step further, if you are hiring someone for brand strategy, you’ll definitely want to make sure this is part of the service!)

benefits of hiring a copywriter for your sustainable brand

develop brand voice

You need to develop your voice in order to speak to your ideal customer. If you aren’t speaking specifically to the person you want to buy your product, you’ll have a hard time selling it. A copywriter can first help you develop this voice (part of the branding process), as well as convey it on your website. Your website’s tagline, About page, and product descriptions are just some of the places to apply your voice.

tell your story

Your website needs to tell a story and not just any story. Gone are the days where consumers are just looking for a fair trade or sustainability label… you need to show why your brand is unique and this goes beyond certifications. We should want to buy from you not just because you’re sustainable, but because you’re also x, y, and z. While your brand aesthetic conveys this story, copywriting meets it half way to paint the full picture.

establish consistency (and make your life easier)

You need to have text on your website regardless of whether you hire someone, but enlisting a professional can help you not only develop your voice and tell your story, but do it with consistency across all pages. Once you’ve polished your site copy, you can make it work for you by repackaging that content across other platforms:

• Blog. A blog is important to keeping customers updated and engaged with your story. It also supports strong SEO. The rest of your site copy can serve as a jumping off point, or at least a blueprint for how to convey tone. (Read more about why you need one here.)
• Newsletters. Chances are you’re also revving up your email marketing at this time. This is another place you need a consistent voice to come through.
• Social media. When you’re developing those first few Instagram posts, branding and website copy will give you something to go off of. Social media is all about bite-sized content. It’s amazing how many posts you could turn something as simple as your company bio into, as a way to introduce and engage with users.
• Digital ads. As a copywriter, I often pull snippets from a brand’s story to develop those first few ads or boosted posts. It usually requires minimal editing to turn part of your story into a compelling ad.
• Professional documents. Whether it’s press releases, proposals, or partnerships, an established voice and story will help you keep these documents in line with your business goals, and save you a ton of time!

Have you noticed the effects of copywriting on your business? Let me know any questions you have and I’ll try to help!

The post Benefits of Hiring a Copywriter For Your Sustainable Brand appeared first on Eco Club.

The first post I have features a few important Instagram tips for sustainable brands. Shop owners, let us know if these resonate with you and what questions you have!

casting too wide a net

If you’ve gone through the branding process for your business, you’ve narrowed in on your target customer and where they hang out. The challenge with social media is to find out where those same people are hanging out on each platform (like Instagram, Facebook, etc.). Brand strategy is too often left behind when sustainable businesses sign up for Instagram. It seems like this big, popular place full of opportunity, but it’s also easy to get lost in.

When I offer social strategy to clients, I’m offering to research where their target client/customer is on Instagram (which is quite the process in itself), and then provide a plan for connecting with those people. Sometimes they have a clear target market and other times we have to do a little bit of branding refresh to get there. But it’s always worth it to nail this as soon as you can, otherwise you’ll waste valuable time and resources creating content for an audience that isn’t there.

not telling your story (or focusing on the wrong part of your story)

If sustainability, ethical production, and conscious consumerism are part of your brand’s values, it’s safe to say that one of the qualities in your target customers is their desire to know the story behind the companies they support.

A lot of Founders think these values should be a given in any brand, and don’t want to capture only discerning buyers. They also have been inspired by many sustainable brands themselves, and want to differentiate themselves by choosing a new angle. But unfortunately, ethics and sustainability aren’t a given, for everyone you may be boring or potentially “putting off” by expressing these values, you’ll find a whole lot more shoppers that have never even heard of the term “ethical production” and want to learn more!

That doesn’t mean your story should be the same as everyone else’s. Because guess what? It isn’t. It can’t be, because you’re different. Therefore your origin story, how you came to connect with those values, and how you came to make every decision in your business is different. What you need to do is find an engaging way to tell this story on your website and your social channels. Get inspired by some of our favorite brands who tell their stories through creative content on Instagram, here.

One last note about storytelling on Instagram. It’s easy to think that you’re sharing the same details over and over again. Your process, your collaborators, your designs. Often small businesses, particularly sustainable ones, don’t have a ton of resources to constantly create brand new content. Don’t be afraid to re-package and re-share content every now and then. Not every one of your followers sees every one of your posts, and Instagram content gets buried fast. Yours is a story you’ll tell again and again!

working with the wrong influencers

The good news: there are plenty of conscious lifestyle influencers on Instagram. The bad news: there are plenty of conscious lifestyle influencers on Instagram. And while many of them exist within the same niche, they ALL have a different audience to speak to and create content for. You’ll know you’ve worked with the right influencer for your brand when you have measurable results (ie increased traffic, followers, sales, etc.), but that’s the best case scenario. So how do you increase your chances of achieving success with your influencer strategy? You have to make sure they fit your brand. Here’s what I mean:

• They have a complementary aesthetic (because if their followers like them, they’ll like you!)
• They represent your ideal customer (if they’re into what you sell, we want their followers to be too)
• Their price point aligns with yours (do you sell $800 dresses, but your influencer promotes fast fashion on Amazon? probably not the perfect fit)
• They engage with their followers (do not be opposed to micro-influencers with major engagement!)

Sustainable brands, I hope you’ve found these tips helpful! Leave your Instagram handle below so we can see how you’re telling your unique story!

The post 3 Mistakes Sustainable Brands Make on Instagram, And How To Fix Them appeared first on Eco Club.