Becoming a copywriter

7 replies
In this online age, being a copywriter is fast becoming a viable means of earning an income, sometimes even from the comfort of your own home. It is one of the few industries today where further education (usually a tertiary qualification, such as a degree in journalism or marketing) is not the be all and end all of being hired as a copywriter, although it can be handy.

More importantly however, is being a capable and creative writer; one who can demonstrate ability and the right attitude to prospective employers. Below are a few basic but helpful tips for any burgeoning copywriters out there.

1. Get some writing experience
The reality is that we all need to start somewhere. In today's increasingly competitive job market, many jobseekers are caught in a classic catch-22 scenario where employers want applicants with experience, but applicants cant find an employer willing to give them a chance to gain experience. Also, there's only so many places out there who will be willing to offer apprenticeships or internships after all.

The good news is that prospective copywriters can build experience for free just start a personal blog on an interesting topic. Practice writing on a regular basis and even experiment with different writing techniques, all for free.

Moreover, you can always just pretend! Take a product (real or even something made up) and put together a strapline and compelling copy for the said product, demonstrating good copywriting technique which can be shown as an example of your ability.

2. Have a portfolio
This is where having some prior experience is handy; however, the key takeaway here is to be able to easily show off examples of your best writing to demonstrate your skills as a copywriter.

Of course, it is crucial to continue adding to your portfolio at every opportunity; in time, it will be desirable to be able to be selective with your work and tailor your portfolio depending on the requirements of the project or job you are applying for.

3. Getting your name out there
As in, have a professional presence on the internet. A website dedicated your professional work as a copywriter (no personal or social overlaps) is a must for anybody seriously wanting to be a copywriter.

Look at it this way if you're not an experienced, well-regarded copywriter then why would a prospective employer be willing to ignore someone who can be easily found online, with a solid presence on the internet, to seek out another inexperienced copywriter?

Social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn can be extremely useful tools to establishing a presence on the web, in addition to your own website.

4. Work hard
It seems counterintuitive but the final point is this get work, any kind of work, and go from there. You will get rejected - don't despair, pick yourself up and look for the next opportunity. Canvas local businesses, freelance online - there are plenty of opportunities out there if you look hard enough!

Hopefully some of you will find this useful.
#copywriter
  • Profile picture of the author desireedavid
    Copywriting entails a lot of hard work. Some may make it sound very easy to quit the day job and just become a freelancer. The start is actually very hard, and you may not make as much as you want. You may also find yourself working more hours than you used to, between writing for clients and building your own blog.

    Thank you for this article. It does sound very encouraging to new writers out there. Sending positive vibes your way! Cheers!
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    “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein
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  • Profile picture of the author DABK
    Which of the above have YOU done? Provide some details of your experience and you'll be a heck of a lot more useful. Swear to God!

    Originally Posted by Louise007 View Post

    In this online age, being a copywriter is fast becoming a viable means of earning an income, sometimes even from the comfort of your own home. It is one of the few industries today where further education (usually a tertiary qualification, such as a degree in journalism or marketing) is not the be all and end all of being hired as a copywriter, although it can be handy.

    More importantly however, is being a capable and creative writer; one who can demonstrate ability and the right attitude to prospective employers. Below are a few basic but helpful tips for any burgeoning copywriters out there.

    1. Get some writing experience
    The reality is that we all need to start somewhere. In today's increasingly competitive job market, many jobseekers are caught in a classic catch-22 scenario where employers want applicants with experience, but applicants cant find an employer willing to give them a chance to gain experience. Also, there's only so many places out there who will be willing to offer apprenticeships or internships after all.

    The good news is that prospective copywriters can build experience for free just start a personal blog on an interesting topic. Practice writing on a regular basis and even experiment with different writing techniques, all for free.

    Moreover, you can always just pretend! Take a product (real or even something made up) and put together a strapline and compelling copy for the said product, demonstrating good copywriting technique which can be shown as an example of your ability.

    2. Have a portfolio
    This is where having some prior experience is handy; however, the key takeaway here is to be able to easily show off examples of your best writing to demonstrate your skills as a copywriter.

    Of course, it is crucial to continue adding to your portfolio at every opportunity; in time, it will be desirable to be able to be selective with your work and tailor your portfolio depending on the requirements of the project or job you are applying for.

    3. Getting your name out there
    As in, have a professional presence on the internet. A website dedicated your professional work as a copywriter (no personal or social overlaps) is a must for anybody seriously wanting to be a copywriter.

    Look at it this way if you're not an experienced, well-regarded copywriter then why would a prospective employer be willing to ignore someone who can be easily found online, with a solid presence on the internet, to seek out another inexperienced copywriter?

    Social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn can be extremely useful tools to establishing a presence on the web, in addition to your own website.

    4. Work hard
    It seems counterintuitive but the final point is this get work, any kind of work, and go from there. You will get rejected - don't despair, pick yourself up and look for the next opportunity. Canvas local businesses, freelance online - there are plenty of opportunities out there if you look hard enough!

    Hopefully some of you will find this useful.
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  • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
    Louise,

    Just a heads-up...

    This forum is not very welcoming for people who post general comments about copywriting or copywriting careers that are not based on their personal observation and personal knowledge. Why? Because such articles almost always turn out to be inaccurate or unhelpful or both.

    There is not one interesting or helpful sentence in the whole post that started this thread, for example.

    If you have some personal experience to share or actual case studies, however, we will be glad to read your posts.

    Marcia Yudkin
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    Check out Marcia Yudkin's No-Hype Marketing Academy for courses on copywriting, publicity, infomarketing, marketing plans, naming, and branding - not to mention the popular "Marketing for Introverts" course.
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    • Profile picture of the author Louise007
      Originally Posted by marciayudkin View Post

      Louise,

      Just a heads-up...

      This forum is not very welcoming for people who post general comments about copywriting or copywriting careers that are not based on their personal observation and personal knowledge. Why? Because such articles almost always turn out to be inaccurate or unhelpful or both.

      There is not one interesting or helpful sentence in the whole post that started this thread, for example.

      If you have some personal experience to share or actual case studies, however, we will be glad to read your posts.

      Marcia Yudkin
      Thank you for clarifying I guess what may be described as this forum's "culture"? I will keep that in mind for future posts.

      As for my "general" comments, I was aiming for general so I guess I succeeded? I'm not one to come in and trumpet about my own successes, etc. in my first few posts, as I'm sure there are plenty more successful members around.
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      • Profile picture of the author DABK
        There's a difference between trumpeting and giving examples from personal experience. And specific does not necessarily mean talk personal experience.

        Many people know about
        Play all the music you want
        vs
        Plays all the music you want.

        It can be used as a specific element by anyone making the point that making people feel the gadget they're buying
        reduces their workload, so to speak.

        PS Welcome to the forum.

        Originally Posted by Louise007 View Post

        Thank you for clarifying I guess what may be described as this forum's "culture"? I will keep that in mind for future posts.

        As for my "general" comments, I was aiming for general so I guess I succeeded? I'm not one to come in and trumpet about my own successes, etc. in my first few posts, as I'm sure there are plenty more successful members around.
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  • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
    I'm not one to come in and trumpet about my own successes, etc.
    Let me clarify. Writing from your experience does not necessarily mean trumpeting your successes. It means bringing in specific points that only someone who has "been there" would be able to offer. That is what is truly valuable for this kind of forum.

    Marcia Yudkin
    Signature
    Check out Marcia Yudkin's No-Hype Marketing Academy for courses on copywriting, publicity, infomarketing, marketing plans, naming, and branding - not to mention the popular "Marketing for Introverts" course.
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  • Profile picture of the author angiecolee
    Trumpeting success = dropping in, listing your win(s), and no other helpful info. Also known as bragging.

    Using success to demonstrate expertise (failure can also be used to demonstrate expertise, by the way) = dropping in, using a campaign of some sort to teach a lesson, sharing the results of that and how they were achieved.

    Trumpeting success: one of my recent email series generated $8.4MM in sales over 60 days.

    Using success to demonstrate expertise: one of my recent email series was targeted to inactives (people who hadn't opened in more than 180 days). It wound up generating $8.4MM in sales over 60 days - sales that literally would not have existed without this series.

    The email marketer and I brainstormed a series of three emails to be sent out around 3 weeks apart, the first one starting with a strong "we're sorry" message - the feeling being that if they hadn't bothered to open in 6 months, we've probably done something to lose their business or their interest.

    First we apologized and gave them a no-conditions offer (where we gave them a credit on their loyalty account), tested against a "come make a purchase to get your offer" (where they only get the credit by coming in to shop), then we asked them to send us a reply email with what we could do better (got lots of helpful info), then we sent them a reminder that the offer was still there and we'd love to earn their business back.

    Overall lesson: don't neglect your drop-offs. Often winning back their business is as simple as reaching out, and ignoring them or scrubbing them from your list before first trying to re-engage could be leaving some serious money on the table.

    This strategy is going into the regular cadence, once someone drops into the 180+ days inactive bucket. We'll continue to mine the email responses we solicited (our list is north of 2MM people, inactives are a few hundred thou - we were swamped with more than 1000 responses in the first two hours) for data on how the sequence can be tweaked.

    Caveat: we had to sell it to old-fashioned corporate higher ups who strongly believe that a company never apologizes, never admits to being human, screwing up, or making mistakes. So when they told us they disagreed, we sent it anyway because we believed that strongly in the strategy. They were so angry we ran it that they completely ignored the sales figures and raised all kinds of hell. This is sometimes something you have to deal with as a marketer - someone else's ego drowning out common sense.

    I should note - the series did so well that our email service provider is using it as a case study. We hit double the industry benchmarks for inactives - opens, clicks, sales were all through the roof compared against the data they had on other inactive campaigns.

    None of that matters to wounded egos. So sometimes you gotta sell it to your partners before you sell it to the customers.
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    Aspiring copywriters: if you need 1:1 advice from an experienced copy chief, head over to my Phone a Friend page.

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