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Here I was thinking times were good in digital marketing land, but maybe they’re not so rosy. Because it appears alleged digital agencies are going to extraordinary lengths to con marketers to part with their budgets.

Typical is the claim made by some digital types that you need specialist digital copywriting skills for the internet – skills that of course only their binary scribes possess. With due respect, what a load of old bollocks.

There is only one skill needed to write copy for online advertising, website content or e-mail messages. It’s the skill known as copywriting. And you need to be a copywriter to possess it.

What has binary code got to do with copywriting and communications? Next you’ll hear claims that specialists are needed to write copy for ads on the back of toilet doors, or for writing stairway advertisements at railway stations. Or does it really mean a digital copywriter has no talent for writing press, radio, outdoor, television, mail, brochures or <fill in the blank space>?

Nearly every digital expert making the specialist claim is not a copywriter. They’ve never trained as writers or journalists, or written copy in the real world.

One of the biggest shortages in the marketing industry has always been talented experienced copywriters. In particular, direct response and retail writers - which are the type of writers you need for online advertising and content. The internet is a pure direct marketing channel, as every ad and much of the editorial content seeks to get readers to click-through and respond in some way. So your writer needs to know how to use words to make this happen – not an easy task in any media.

And as it has been for decades, it is the job of the copywriter to adapt the content to the medium, be it television, mail, website, e-mail or outdoor poster, etc. Because internet users (or should that be visitors?) are likely to scan web pages and e-mails (miraculously in the same way they scan printed newsletters, mail, press ads and articles) the writer must use headlines, sentence and phrase structure, cross-heads, sub-heads, indents, bold type, bullet points, colour, layout and other techniques to attract and keep the attention of the reader.

The writer must also create content maximising the use of key words to assist with optimisation. Key word density is a standard requirement in website content these days, but it’s not a specialist digital skill, just a copywriting skill.

If you subscribe to any professional copywriters’ e-mail newsletters you’ll discover that many of them produce their newsletters in text format. And they publish them with serif fonts and often many pages long. They do this because they know their craft and they conduct tests. Some have discovered for example that content published as text can often work better than HTML for newsletters and e-mail messages. That’s because many of their readers print the newsletters to be read and stored as hard copy, or because text is regarded as more personal.

I recently saw a test where the text version of a newsletter achieved over 320% higher response rate than the identical newsletter delivered as HTML. You couldn’t have predicted this without testing though.

But ask any alleged digital copywriter about testing and you’ll likely receive a blank stare – they’ve never done copy tests or creative tests. They haven’t tasted blood. Sadly they won’t have a clue what you’re talking about and won’t be very useful to you. Yet digital marketers perpetuate the claim they possess amazing black magic that poor simple analogue marketers just don’t understand.

The main skill digital marketers possess is usually related to binary code – they produce ads using slightly different software to those who produce ads for newspapers or catalogues for example. Much of this digital skill, such as HTML programming, is taught in high school these days. And as far as I can tell most copywriters of all persuasions already use a digital technology to produce their copy – it’s called a keyboard.

It seems that getting an alleged digital expert to write your copy is like getting a software programmer to write the ads for a new computer brand, or a motor mechanic to write the brand plan for a new vehicle launch. Why would you risk it?

So beware the digital voodoo and avoid any spruiker who claims mystical digital copywriting powers. Look for copywriters who are experienced in all media, not just online – you’ll get much better results and avoid the mumbo jumbo. Malcolm Auld can be reached digitally on inquiry@madmail.com.au