Our Approach To Creative Copywriting (Why Working With Poets Is Rad)
In order to illustrate our—the collaborative duo that is RePresent—approach to content creation (& why working with poets is R-A-D), we threw together a basic infographic about how we roll. From first step to final delivery, our process includes collaboration, engagement, and ninja-poet skills. Yup, you heard right, not only are we your go-to creative copywriters, we're also poets.
Ok, maybe you don't "get" poetry or you don't "like" it (maybe because you haven't read anything on LitHub?), or perhaps you're actually in love with Shane McCrae's line breaks or Ocean Vuong's lyrical prowess. Regardless of your sentiments, we're here to wax a little about how we, the poets of the world, are useful! Especially when it comes to creating the best content and taglines for your company.
For starters, more often than not poets are:
1. Pretty aware. Despite their (charming) quirks and general aloofness, they’re actually on it. Always, and because they’re never not seeing the world in stanzas or couplets or—caesuras. What I mean is that by nature poets tend to be keen observers, creatures who watch and listen and hone and take notes in very thorough and very specific, almost scientific ways. They like to get at the center of difficult and irresolvable things—like the human condition, politics (the personal is political), fear—by way of inquisition, research, presence, and highly associative thought processes. They have a way of writing through a subject rather than around it, which is exactly what you want when you want focused, chiseled content that still reaches towards humanness.
Take-Home Point: Do yourself and your sweet startup a favor and enlist a good poet or two for copywriting services. They’ll concoct taglines that hit the back of your throat like the finest mezcal, whip up blog posts that are actually worth a damn (& keep readers on the page, kind of like this one), and write product descriptions that would have even your post-menopausal grandmother considering a THINX purchase.
2. Self-editing machines in disguise. You can rest assured that by the time the content for your website reaches you the poets who wrote it will have revised and edited and combed the shit out of it. Literally. We're not saying poets are perfect, by any means. We are saying that we do tend to chop down entire forests of words in order to get to where we’re going, and that’s a good thing. Poets are basically the distillers of the word-world, hocking refined, potent tinctures everywhere they roam.
Take-Home Point: Things won't be kittens and rainbows all the time, and we DO NOT promise perfection by any means. There's a dance we'll do. All we're saying is that you won’t have to get out the red pen.
3. Really good at taking criticism, receiving feedback, and being rejected. Thanks to the (mostly) constructive criticism found inside writing workshops and MFA programs, the solicited (& unsolicited) feedback offered by friends and strangers alike, and the knapsacks full of rejection letters from literary journals, most poets can handle what you lob their way—just aim straight, from the hip. In the poet's realm, criticism and feedback aren’t even seen as failures or things to avoid. Rather, they’re integral and essential parts of the process and the craft of writing. In other words: Bring it.
Take-Home Point: You don’t have to coat things in sugar or corn syrup or agave—you can communicate with your creative copywriting poet wizards and they won’t burst into tears. At least not for reasons associated with you.
4. In, like, love with language and words!
Take-Home Point: One question. Who wouldn’t want someone on their content strategy team who’s passionate and invested in what they’re doing? Booya. That's what we thought.
It’s true, most poets don’t make any money. But we’re an innovative bunch, which means we do things like become top creative copywriters in a bloodthirsty digital world. And, based on the four tip-of-the-iceberg points outlined above, chances are that when you pair up with a poet you’ll get nothing less than a productive, meaningful, and thought-provoking experience. For the sake of the future (of yourself and your business), drop us a line and we’ll make it rain. Promise.