The Art of Copy
Imagine for a moment…
Words inked on white…
Phrases succinct…
Punctuation tight…
Ink glistening the moment before it dries…
When you notice a word…
It’s fine, you think.
It’s just a word…
The phrase is strong, the message is good, the feeling is right…
And that word…
It gnaws at you.
Like a half-peeled scab on a fresh growth of skin, you know…
It’s gotta go.
You scratch through it.
You start again.
This is what you do.
This is your art.
I was never good at painting.
I can't sculpt worth a damn.
My piano playing is down to chopsticks.
And in so many cases, I wish I could use whatever blog post ChatGPT throws at me and be happy with it, but in truth, it will never happen. True, some clients may not even realize the difference (although I argue with that), Google SEO might still rank the site (although that's not necessarily true), and it will look like I have more content on my site than I do (although half of it will be voiceless, pointless, grammatically correct meandering), but this... this is my art.
For years, I never thought of copy as an art. I studied playwriting in college. I grasped onto the lessons of filmmaking and storytelling. I studied those who studied Joseph Campbell, Robert McKee, Syd Field. I read every three-act structure and beat sheet book there was. I studied Aristotle, Shakespeare. I had entire scenes from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead memorized. I was on my way to being a scholar.
But then I wrote ads. And Creative Directors, and Clients, and audiences would sometimes ask me, where's the art?
I didn't think of Copywriting as art. I thought of it as a transaction, or as a project. A client needs me to say something, a brand needs me to write something, a team needs me to come up with a line or a CTA. It all felt very plug-and-play.
But over time, the words started to matter. The message had to be a little clearer, a little punchier. The voice needed to be stronger. And the content needed to move the reader just as much as Shakespeare. And I started to question my own process.
And then I began to study advertising like this one from Apple:
And this from Cadillac, written in 1915:
And then my manifesto hero from 1997:
With ads like these, who needs Shakespeare?
But okay, let’s not get dramatic.
Still, writing like this, it’s not transactional. It’s not a project. It’s a truth, and a truth that we all experience. And that is where the art lies.
This is the difference between a writer and an AI writer. It’s not just words. It’s not just hitting a character count. It’s finding out the relationship between the subject, the noun, and the direct object. It’s discovering the connection between the solution that’s offered and the audience that needs it. This is what separates your work from ChatGPT, or Claude.ai, or Copy.ai. The art is what separates your message from any 300x250 on Facebook.
Putting Art into Pay
Now, are you supposed to go write the next “Let’s Motor” for your site? Or for your small business? Of course not…
But then again, why not? After all, it’s the obvious next progression. Even as Virginia —one of the most important writers of the 20th century—says, “Writing is like sex. First you do it for love, then you do it for your friends, and then you do it for money.”
And here you are… ready to make money. Ready to get your service out there. Ready to make a change.
Ready to create art, create content, and create drive.
We can do it in a thousand different ways, we need to be true to you. Your website is your storefront. It's your handshake. It’s your pulpit. And often, your very first interaction with your next customer. Your the site is the delivery you need it to be. It’s the story you need it to tell, whether its for a brand you’re creating, a product you’re selling, or a message you’re sending. You’ve got seconds – if that – to make an impression, so what you say and how you say it matters.
Content is King. And Queen.
And Pauper...
Just writing buzzwords on a page won’t cut it. The copy you put out there marries strategy with creativity, and psychology with storytelling. The words you use are about getting into the mind of your reader, understanding their pain points, their desires, and their aspirations. Then speaking their language in a way that gets them to act—and in a way that says you’re the answer to their problems.
So just as Wuthering Heights had every young romantic in the world swooning, so must you have audiences swooning for your brand. And no matter how flashy or well-designed your site is, if the words aren’t doing their job, people will move on without a second thought.
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
The Writer’s Touch
Using AI or templates for your copy is really appealing – it’s cheap, quick, and “good enough,” right?
But I said it before, and I’ll say it again: your audience knows when they’re being fed something robotic. AI is everywhere. The human story is what sets you apart.
Search engines and SEO gets you found. But a good copywriter doesn't just write for Google or Bing. They write for Bob. And Ginger. And Miguel and Maya. Real people with real emotions, real problems, and real goals. People who want to be inspired. They want to be entertained. And they want a solution to their problem.
In other words, they want art.
As Shakespeare said…
The object of art is to give life a shape.
The object of your copy is give your brand its shape.
There is no difference.
Let’s get to work.
Ready to take your website to the next level? Let’s chat. Because at the end of the day, words matter – and the right words can change everything.
