Easy steps to kickstart your copywriting career

The evolution of technology and digitalization has made the global business landscape more saturated and competitive by late. Thus companies are desirous of creative copywriters to help them stay ahead of the competition while increasing conversion rates significantly. In addition, companies are not just employing copywriters to write great converting copies but also to optimize and make their web pages and landing pages more compelling to potential customers.

Hence, the demand for copywriters to help them write copies to attract customers has increased over time. However, due to the technicality and specialty of copywriting, it is considered one of the highest-paying remote jobs. According to Payscale, the average annual salary for a copywriter in the United States is $54,612, with a salary range between $36,000 to $81,000.

If you are reading this article, it means one of two things: you are a copywriter seeking more knowledge on how to become a better copywriter, or you’re thinking of becoming one but don’t know how to climb the copywriting ropes. Either way, this article is suitable for you. We will take you on a tour of the salient things you need to know about copywriting.

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What does it mean to be a copywriter?

There is no one-fit definition for a copywriter, as most people confuse copywriting with content writing. However, the best way to differentiate both is by looking at a copywriter's job description and purpose. The goal of copywriting is to persuade readers to act. In other words, the primary objective of a copywriter is to convince a target market to purchase a product or service, download an ebook, sign up for a newsletter, etc. Most times, a clear call to action appears after the text. At the same time, the job description of a copywriter includes creating sales content for advertisements on social media pages, websites, and other advertising and marketing channels. Therefore, a copywriter is a person who creates compelling content in the form of sentences, paragraphs, taglines, and other languages to promote the sale of goods and services. 

Although copywriting is a niche of writing, it is still broad because different industries and businesses employ copywriters. Hence, copywriters have different niches to focus on.

Below are the types of copywriting you may want to try out.

Types of copywriting

Commercial copywriting 

The use of adverts will not end anytime soon, although this is the conventional copywriting approach. Copywriters write scripts for advertisements on TV, radio, or other media. Each phrase and audio clip is developed and assembled according to a brief.

E-commerce copywriting

This focuses on writing product descriptions for specific goods, category pages that provide an overview of a group of products, and home pages that describe the business and the services provided.

Email copywriting 

There is much more to email copywriting than just creating emails for a company to advertise its goods or services. Learning how to utilize a customer relationship management(CRM) platform, which houses a collection of customers or email addresses, is often necessary when drafting emails. You must organize newsletters and campaigns like sales and emails promoting new goods and keep track of each campaign's metrics. Email marketing is a highly sought skill. 

Niche copywriting

Some copywriters want to specialize in a particular market, but doing so may provide many opportunities for businesses looking for experts in that industry.

If interested, you need to develop a portfolio in that industry. You may concentrate solely on pitching to those searching for writers in the fields of your niche, such as the medical sector, fashion, and technology. You may be paid more for your greater understanding than the all-around copywriter if you have a strong business strategy.

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SEO copywriting

SEO copywriting, also known as search engine optimization, aims to produce material that will appear higher in search engine results. Researchers aggregate data on popular searches and use it to generate advertising concepts. By including keywords in adverts or articles often enough, a search engine will "optimize" by displaying the client's product first, increasing the company's exposure.

Social media copywriting

Social media copywriting includes leveraging tools for social media scheduling to create content, designing simple post layouts, developing an effective social media strategy, maintaining engagement data, etc.

This aspect is booming since many businesses advertise on their social media pages.

Technical copywriting

Your job description includes company guides, manuals, websites, and other marketing materials. The main distinction is that it contains more material than conventional copywriting. You must simplify the words and structure to make the material easy to read and comprehend. You can be required to rephrase an engineering manual into a marketing brochure.

Website copywriting

This type focuses on pages describing a company or service, including information about their brand, team, and location, blogs or news items, and more.

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How to become a Copywriter

There are different steps to take to become a copywriter. These paths can help you become a great copywriter;

Acquire Knowledge

There are different resources online to get started in copywriting and become a great one. Free and paid resources, such as video courses and written articles in PDFs, blogs, and emails, are available for learning. You can learn on several platforms like Udemy, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc. Depending on the content creator or platform, you can also get certified after learning. However, certification is not necessary for copywriters. However, they may help you enhance your skill set and make a strong impression on employers.

Develop your Skill Set

You need to have essential skills that will help you navigate your way to success in copywriting. Some of these skills are:

• Writing

In the journey of becoming a copywriter, knowing how to write cannot be overemphasized, as that's the first step to being a superb copywriter. Some people without experience get their first copywriting gigs because they are great content writers.

• Attention to details

It would be best if you recognize mistakes in your work. You will have to proofread your work to ensure it is error-free.

• Great Listening Skills

You must be able to listen to your customer and provide them with what they need. They will provide you with a short and anticipate you adhering to it. This will also be useful for product research and selecting the finest vantage point to compose your content.

• Negotiation

Draft and plan the kind of customers you want to deal with and the prices you want to charge. This will enable you to sound confident to a client and make you appear like you know your onions.

• Product knowledge 

You need to learn about the product you're selling to produce persuasive content. This entails learning about its characteristics, advantages, and selling aspects. Additionally, the more you know about the product, the simpler it will be to create a novel marketing approach.

• Research

Use the internet to do some research. Excellent research skills are important for customer interactions as well. Asking the appropriate questions can help you fully comprehend the product or service, which is essential if you want to market it successfully.

• Sales skills

Writing a sales copy is essential in copywriting as you need this skill to grab your reader's attention and persuade them to act on whatever is written. 

You need to know market trends to meet clients' wants.

• Get an education

Companies require different educational qualifications before you can be part of their team. Some require you to have a degree in any discipline. Some won't mind if you do not have a bachelor's degree, as long as you have relevant skills to write and deliver a great copy. However, it is advised that you get a degree in creative writing, journalism, and related disciplines to help you stand out.

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How to build a career as a freelance copywriter

Not everyone wants to work as a full-time copywriter as some would prefer to freelance as they may have a main hustle, while others may prefer it for flexibility's sake. Becoming a freelance copywriter requires putting yourself out there. As long as you keep marketing your services properly, getting clients will be easy, even if you have no experience in this field. Here are a few pointers to help:

• Develop your brand and expand your network

There are different methods to build your brand and network in this field. They are:

• Set a business account on Social media

Create a LinkedIn account, and set up your profile to look catchy to potential clients. You can also create a business account on Facebook or Twitter.

• Create a website and a blog

Social networking is an excellent place to start, but if you want to project professionalism, it's also a good idea to have a website. This is where you may expand on your expertise as a copywriter, present your portfolio, and establish your reputation as a freelancer. 

• Keep learning 

You must demonstrate your knowledge of excellent content and its use in marketing strategies and other fields of expertise if you want to be taken seriously as a freelance copywriter. Set aside time to continue learning about new ideas and concepts, and you may even follow the campaigns of companies you care deeply about to see the kind of written material they are putting out there. It's also helpful to stay up with the industry by using blogs and other media as copywriting tools. One important resource for content strategy is this article on improving your content marketing efforts.

• Search jobs on freelancer platforms

You can find clients on platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, etc. It may not be easy getting noticed when you start, but with time, you may start getting offers. You must remain active on these websites if you want your profile to be seen and put you in a better position since many of them have a ranking system. 

Launch your freelance copywriting career with Workee

Workee is a client management platform that supports freelancers and their businesses. It is easy to create as it takes five minutes to set up. It also has a 30day free trial to test the awesomeness of the service, and another amazing thing is that the free trial does not require your card details.

Some of the services you can enjoy from Workee as a freelancer are:

• You may plan meetings with your customers using its smart scheduling system. It also features an auto-detect time zone feature that schedules meetings according to your customer's time zone.

• Workee assists you with customer management. Your contacts are synced, and there is a filtering feature based on several categories to help you easily find your clients.

• It is integrated with your favorite video conferencing tools, allowing you to hold smooth virtual meetings with clients.

• It supports accounting, tax, and other financial management tasks. It includes personalized invoice templates for your appointments and services. It also calculates tax rates and computes your total tax automatically.

Conclusion

Copywriting will keep booming, as brands and businesses will always require those who are good at it. As the demand for copywriters increases, more people acquire the skill set. Putting yourself out there and being excellent at copywriting will give you an edge over many. However, a platform like Workee, which helps you manage these clients and give you excellent experiences, will make you stand out more and get referrals due to outstanding business transactions.