Advice For A Beginning Copywriter

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What is a copywriter? A person who combines the art and science of writing words to promote a product, a business, a person or an idea. It means knowing the mother tongue very well and having the ability to take abstract ideas and put them into words that will express a concrete reality. It means selecting, editing and building words to persuade the reader to act in the way that is best for the product or service you are promoting. What do you need to know to become a good copywriter? Here are some tips.

Duties of a copywriter

Generally speaking, a copywriter is an author of commercials. S/he drafts the advertising message and then adapts that message for each channel of communication by writing the slogan, title and texts necessary for a campaign. If need be, s/he creates names for the new products that are to be launched on the market. After this, s/he takes part in the creation of the advertising materials, together with the graphic art director or designer.

Teach yourself

You will find many blogs and online materials as well as publicity and marketing books that you should read, even though nothing compares to practical experience. That is why the most important thing you can do is just write. There are classes and exercises on creative writing that you can take and you could even create a blog to try to write the text for certain commercials.

Know your client well

When dealing with your first customers, the most important thing is to know them well, even just who they are as human beings, as this is the only way you will be able to anticipate their needs and do a good job. To avoid a refusal, find out what kind of advertising materials the client has approved until now, what kind of texts were successful for their business and what kind of text they would like you to write. Don’t forget to talk to them before you get started to get an exact idea of what they want from you.

Find out about your client’s firm

Not only do you need to know the client as a person, you also need to know everything about the product or service they want to sell, including data regarding the target audience you are writing for and general information about the company’s previous campaigns.

Ask questions

Before starting work, you need to know all the details about what you’re going to write:

• The type of material – flyer, poster, presentation folder, banner, article, site text, etc.;

• What is expected of the target audience – to buy, to visit the site, to contact the company, to be informed, etc.;

• Where and how the material will be distributed – the place and way of distribution, the person who will distribute it;

• The tone of the text – aggressive, passive, informative;

• The predominant style of the text – formal, semi-formal.

Find out about your client’s competition

You need to be a step ahead of the competition, so find out about their advertising campaigns, what kind of texts and materials they use. You don’t want to copy them, just research.

Other things

Know your price well and don’t start a project until you get part of the money; don’t charge hourly, but for the whole project.

Settle on a way to communicate with your client, a way to be easily reached and stick to it.

About the Author

Well-known for his role as an education consultant, Adam Smith is a guide on developing career, internships, volunteering opportunities, etc. He has taken seminars, in-services, lecture programs and developed in-school workshop with students in the past years. Adam is the author of many journal articles, contributes to various educational websites, and has published a number of articles with Theinterngroup.