Who the hell? Copywriting a website for a digital marketing agency with attitude
Digital Spotlight is a digital advertising and marketing agency that started very differently from its competition. It thinks differently, too.
Very differently.
That’s why they were worried they wouldn’t find a copywriter who would get them.
“I wanted our different perspective to show in the copywriting,” says Ash Aryal, co-founder of Digital Spotlight.“Potential clients could speak to five SEO agencies, and the constant feedback we’d get was ‘You’re not like any of these other guys’. We wanted website copywriting that reflected that.”
“The copywriting on our website was ‘me too’,” continues Ash. “We weren’t getting the right clients because our copy didn’t reflect who we are, our own personality.”
The need to reach a different quality of client beyond referrals was what spurred the 10-year-old agency to search for a professional copywriter.
“What happens in the SEO and PPC industry is that 99% of agencies got into it for bullshit reasons. They did it to make some extra cash because they read some blog posts about SEO or AdWords,” says Ash.
Ash didn’t start Digital Spotlight as an agency at all. He co-founded it with his brother Anish purely to hone the SEO and AdWords for their own businesses. It was more of an accident that they started taking on other clients impressed by what the brothers had achieved for themselves.
Unsurprisingly in the circumstances, their website was more of an afterthought.
For reasons that will become apparent below, it’s in Ash’s nature to gather data to make a decision. He wrote a qualifying email to send to a few professional copywriters. The questions ran from the first — “Who have been your greatest influences in writing copy and why?” — to asking about time zones and logistics.
“I wanted to make sure that the person we hired resonated with our philosophy so they could resonate with our personality. That was the main reason for the email.”
Calibrated copywriting to highlight the Digital Spotlight difference
Going through the replies, Ash had a firm favourite: Taleist.
Our quote was the highest of the five Ash received. They narrowed it down to three. The easy choice would have been to choose the quote in the middle, but Ash approaches business too rigorously to make an important decision as randomly as that.
"I liked that you would put so much into the research,” says Ash. “I know that's what’s needed to get to know a business.”
1
Copywriting by the numbers
Our copywriting process starts with talking to clients about their business, their clients and their competitors.
We found out quickly that Digital Spotlight was unlike most advertising agencies. It isn't packed with creatives; it's packed with mathematicians. That insight, which was nowhere on the company's existing website, became the key that unlocked our angle on the copywriting.
2
Talking to (previously) unhappy clients
Digital Spotlight’s clients were quick to talk to us about their experiences with other agencies. It confirmed Ash's view that his best clients are those who’ve already been with another agency — those clients are primed to appreciate the Digital Spotlight difference.
3
Calculating the point of difference
Nowhere did Digital Spotlight's marketing tell prospects that Ash and his co-founder are graduate mathematicians. Nor did it explain that they use proprietary statistical modelling in every campaign.
But maths is the language that Google, Facebook and other platforms speak.
To have an agency that works the same way as Google and Facebook is a massive competitive advantage to clients. We built the copy around this genuinely unique selling proposition.
4
Who the hell advertises on Bing?
Clients told us how much they valued Digital Spotlight’s plainspoken advice and their willingness to say the hard things.
We gave their copywriting a similarly no-nonsense tone of voice — like in the headline on their Bing ads management landing page:
“Who The Hell Advertises On Bing?”
