Strategic copywriting vs the other sort

I've recently been hired by someone who needs a "strategic copywriter". That got me thinking - aren't all copywriters "strategic"?

How can you come up with ideas, and copy, if you don't know what the business objective is? I really struggle unless I have a clear understanding of what needs to be communicated, why it needs to be communicated, how it needs to be communicated and what the objective is. An invisible target is hard to hit!

But then I thought about it a bit longer.

Developing a strategy requires thought. As Henry Ford observed "Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it." If it was true 100 years ago it is certainly true today - I've seen a lot of briefs where the thinking is absent, or hopelessly woolly. The marketing people are not just outsourcing the writing but the strategic thinking too!

Considering the matter further, maybe this is what is meant by "strategic copywriter"? Someone you can dump a mess of information on and who has the ability to a) make sense of it all b) turn it into a compelling message/story that has some chance of achieving your business objective. Yep, I guess that makes me a strategic copywriter.

So, what's a non-strategic copywriter? Presumably it's someone who lacks that thinking/problem-solving ability.

You hire them when you just want "content", someone to simply fill a space with words. These don't really have to do anything other than strike the right tone of voice. Make people feel comfortable with your brand, welcome, valued, loved...like pouring them a nice warm word bath in which they can wallow, or composing soothing mood music to accompany them on the customer journey.

What sort of copywriter do you need - strategic or non-strategic? And how do you tell the difference? Read their website or LinkedIn profile with care. If you see the word "sell", "sales", "persuade", objective" or "results" then they are probably strategic. If you see phrases like "word nerd", "word ninja", "in love with words", "wordsmith" or they tell you how much they loved writing stories while they were still in nappies then they are not strategic.

Full disclosure: in recent years I've found myself doing more of the relatively mindless mood music type copywriting. Why? Because it's what a lot of clients want. Because it's easy (I can do it with a coffee while listening to Spotify, brain in first gear). Because the money will come in handy for heating the house this winter. And buying my round in the pub.

If you found this article interesting you might enjoy my book "The Authority Guide to Creating Brand Stories That Sell" available from Amazon