The Earth’s population has just topped 8 billion people—and 7 billion of those people are writing content online.  Or so it seems. With newsletters, Substacks, blog posts, tech manuals, long-form copy, and threads on social media, there’s a lot of copywriting competition out there. Your company’s brilliant content has to fight for attention with influencer rocket scientists and gymnasts, not to mention everyone’s favorite thing on the internet, cat memes. And that’s not even considering all the industry content written by other experts in your field. 

So with all that, what’s the best way to cut through the competition in copy with content that blasts off, sticks the landing, and really gets read? Here are three tips.

Take Mark Twain’s advice. “Write what you know,” the grand old author said more than a century ago. That advice is suddenly fresh again. Today’s internet is loaded with people who ask AI to create “wisdom” for them, or just furiously copy down Wikipedia entries and change a few words.  

So the first step in getting ahead of the copywriting competition is to be authentic and focus on the things you know deeply. What is your business expertise? What value can it offer others? That’s the place to start. Yes, people still read blogs—if you have real insights for them.

And when we say to write what you know, that doesn’t mean you have to write it. You can hire teams who write what they know, too. Writing agencies (like Wordsmithie!) are loaded with writers who are subject matter experts—or who will collaborate with you to help you get your own thoughts down in words.

Trust the process.  Getting the words down is critical, but it’s only the first step. Your team should have a clear process in place for how the content will be reviewed to make sure that it’s accurate and matches your organization’s needs and goals. 

Do: Invite someone to proofread the whole piece, and invite specific stakeholders to review the content relevant to them. Tell them exactly what you need: “Please review paragraph 2 to make sure that the details about our product are correct.” Ask everyone to share their comments on a Google Doc or other system where you can work together.

Do not: Invite anyone and everyone to comment on the entire piece! Having too many reviewers is an invitation to chaos. It leads to content that ends up bland and unrecognizable after everyone puts their fingerprints on it. Limit the reviewers to only those who must see the piece, and make sure they focus only on their area of expertise. The legal team should not comment on grammar, and the proofreader should not argue legal points. (Again, chaos.)

You already know how hard it is to write effective copy.  So if no one on your team is right for the task, hire someone who is. Technical writers for hire, for instance, can save you time and multiply your impact by saying what you want in the most direct and clever ways. You won’t even have to beg. 

Put on the ‘distribute suit.’ The piece is done, but the work is just starting. Now your team has to put on its distribute suits: the ones they wear as they work like mad to distribute the content and break through the online writing competition. No matter how good the piece is, nobody will find it in today’s crowded marketplace unless your team helps them find it. 

Start with social media, where a staggering 80% of the world’s adults are active. But just posting a link on X or Bluesky isn’t going to get it done. Go deeper into sites like Reddit, where your team can join an existing conversation on the topic or begin a new one.  Find forums that are popular with your target audience, places where your topic is already being talked about, then have your social media person or marketing team add their voice to the mix. 

A final note: Be friendly and be honest as when promoting the piece. Yes, there’s a lot of copywriting competition out there, but if you took Mark Twain’s advice, you won’t have to trick people into reading: you have real value to offer them, and they’ll be eager to learn more.

After all, you don’t have to reach 8 billion people. Just the ones who need to see your message. Good luck!