I was asked by a friend yesterday how copywriters are able to write authentically.

It was a great question, one of those plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face moments.  It went right to the core of what I do.  How are copywriters able to write authentically?  How is copywriting better than writing that comes from the source?

Strangely, I don’t think I’ve ever tried to explain it before.  I’ve talked about process.  I’ve talked about tone.  But never about how I’m in a position to sound authentic about a subject that I’m not an expert on (there are actually quite a few of those).

I flubbed the answer, giving an expansive version of, “That’s just what I do.”   I gave examples.  I talked about how I gather information, and re-assemble it in different ways.  But I didn’t say why I can do that and someone else can’t.  “Because I’m a good writer” gets to the base of it, but it doesn’t go much further.

I think that the question is based on the following premises:

1. Websites require useful content.
2. Useful content must come from a reliable source to be valuable.
3. A non-expert has a tough time sounding like a reliable source.

Everyone can agree on those points.  Now more than ever, content is what makes things move online.  You can’t just throw writing at a template and expect results.  It has to be worthwhile.  If you’re not helping someone gather information or perform a task, you’re bounced.  And you’ve got about a half of a second to prove it.

As a copywriter, you are intimately aware of this with every word.  It all has to count.  There is no filler.  It is poetry in the form of a landing page.

So you study.  And you prepare.  And you play by the best practices you can find.  You create authenticity by assuming the voice, the vernacular, the viewpoint of your audience.

Copywriting is technique, too.  It’s creating words in a way that people will read them.  Expert writing can be very brief, assuming the audience already knows a lot about what they’re saying.  It can also be protracted, assuming all details are equally important.  Copywriters find the kernel, and then use structure, space, and timing to say what needs to be said.  It’s balanced.

My friend who asked the question is a climber, so I thought about a real answer last night using climbing as an example:

Climbers come to a route with tools and technique.  Both are only as valuable as the experience with which they’re used.  As the climber ascends, she uses different methods to link moves together.  Maybe a stem, a mantle, protection here or there, whatever the rock calls for.

But the real thrill comes when she gets to the spot that’s calling for something else, something unique.  She has to think, to imagine, to invent a move that’s different.  It works, because she created it for that specific purpose, that moment on the rock.

That’s how I try to use words.