Copywriting is now a leading field in freelance work. It is not merely a tool for promoting a brand, but a profession that can be learned and mastered, one which has multiple niches and requires different skills.

Would you expect your writing skills to have a great impact on your future and career?

What is Copywriting?

Copywriting is one of the different forms of marketing, through which clear and attractive content is presented to the target audience. 

The content in copywriting differs from the content in creative writing in that the first is simple and seeks to closely connect with the target clients. Copywriting is also a means of communication with the public, increasing brand awareness, and boosting sales, return on investment, and profit.¹ 

The main goal of copywriting is to persuade the user to take some form of action. You may want them to subscribe to your newsletter, click “Learn More” on your website, or make a direct purchase.

Why is copywriting important, and how does it link to other freelance career fields?

Recently, freelance jobs have become increasingly diverse,  from graphic and web design to voiceover and social media management. But what they all have in common is the need to market their service. 

The importance of copywriting lies in the ability to promote any product and make it easily accessible to its target audience. In addition, it is a  more economical and effective tool for marketing sales.

What are the different types of copywriting and how do I start establishing my career path as a copywriter? 

First of all, it is important to get a grasp of the concepts and categories that fall under the umbrella term of copywriting and discover its various forms and types. These include: 

• Brand Copywriting; meaning “writing for the brand”. This type of copywriting is rich in detail and capable of inciting  an emotional response  within the reader or customer.³ 
• Social Media Copywriting; or “copywriting through social media”. It is the main tool for portraying companies’ vision through different social media platforms. 
• SEO Copywriting; or “writing texts to improve search engines”. It is used to produce content optimized for keywords and search algorithms. 
• Email Copywriting; or in other words, “marketing via email”. It is a model for building a relationship with the reader and convincing them of the brand through an attractive and well-crafted email.⁴ 
•  AD Copywriting; or “advertising copywriting”, is the process of writing a customized copy of each advertisement.⁴

After building a clear understanding of the basic concepts of copywriting, it is up to you to join a marketing course or seek help from a specialist in this field. Next would be deciding on the most suitable specialization for you, this is crucial to make you stand out among your competitors. Keep in mind the importance of designing a portfolio of your achievements, as well as exchanging experiences with others.

Skills you need

Starting a career in copywriting requires a range of technical and communication skills to become successful. These include: 

1. The ability to deal with electronic technologies and a solid knowledge of search engine standards and management (SEO). This is done by using keywords that make the content appear on a larger scale within search engines.
2. The ability to write in grammatically correct language.
3. Scientific research skills are necessary to obtain useful and reliable content.
4. Good strategizing and this is important: to build an effective marketing plan.

Important Tools for Copywriting

A marketing content writer also needs a few online tools and applications to help them create their content, for example:

• Google Trends.  This tool enables you to search for new ideas and keywords for your article. 
•  Headline Analyzer; a tool for getting distinctive headlines. 
•  In fact; used to get hashtags related to the content you provide. 
•  Chat GPT; this artificial intelligence technology can be used to get creative ideas. 
•  Plagiarism Checkers.² These are used to detect similarities with other publications and check for copyrights within the article or publication.

Important Resources

Here are some of the best resources that can help you hone your skills as a copywriter. There is an abundance of available information to look into, so it is very important to search for reliable and highly efficient sources. For example:

• Books:
  “The Copywriter’s Handbook” by Robert W. Bly.
  “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser.
  “Made to Stick” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.
• Websites such as Smart Blogger, Copyhackers, and Copyblogger.
• Social media pages such as: Learn n’Digital and The Copyright.
• Suggestions for the most popular training courses on Udemy:
  The Complete Copywriting Course: Write to Sell Like a Pro.
  Complete Copywriting Workshop Course.
  Copywriting 2023 Persuasive Copywriting Mastery with Dekker.
  Copywriting – Become a Freelance Copywriter, Your Own Boss.

Would you like to wrap up with an inspiring story from a marketing content creator? 

If you’ve made it this far, then you must be interested in the world of copywriting and are probably about to embark on your own journey. Here is my experience, which hopefully is inspiring and pertinent to you. My name is Mary Haraira, and I’m a marketing writer. I have worked in this field long enough to have experience in different types of writing.

Some Tips from Mary

I would be happy to answer any questions you might have on this. But now I want to take the time to make a quick guide for you. I will share with you what took me years of work to learn, writing bad and great texts, and developing vast writing experience in the process. Let’s get started: 

• When you write, imagine that you are writing for one individual, not a crowd. This helps make your writing personal. 
• Use “you” instead of “we” or “I”.  This engages the reader, gets his attention, and makes him feel that you care about him.
• Don’t be devoid of emotions! Try to empathize, and understand the desires of your audience and what influences them.
• Don’t read about advertising writing alone, it is important to also read about psychology, and sociology, and master the basics of marketing. This broad knowledge helps you grasp different perspectives.
• Learn when to think outside of the box and when to stay inside of it. Rules are necessary for clear instructions but there are times when you may want to break them to provide a more attractive and effective text. 
• Avoid cognitive overload, that is, try not to use sentences or terms that are too complex for your audience to understand. 
• Always remember that rules and tips are helpful, choose what is best for you, your audience, and your brand.
• The only constant in copywriting, in general, is, in fact, change. And here is one of Jeff Bezos’, entrepreneur and founder of Amazon, most famous tips: “Be stubborn about your vision, but flexible with the details.”

Copywriting has helped many companies around the world reach their fame and success through proper marketing and the attraction of the right customers. Despite how clear the big picture might seem and how easy it might sound to perform marketing tasks, this work requires lots of practice and training to hone skills and talent. In addition, any job requires you to be diligent and conduct a good deal of research for the information you need.

Supervision: Mary Haraira- Copywriter

For contact and inquiries: mary.ghraira@gmail.com

Also read:

• Social Media Specialist
• Web Development
• Graphic design

References:

1. Linkedin
2. Small SEO Tools
3. Neuroflach
4. Creatopy