What Do Copywriters Do?

The Who-What-Where-Why and How of Copywriting

When you meet someone one new and start a conversation, it is normal that during said conversation the topic of what you do for a living comes up. The following scene is how the conversation plays out.

• Other person: So what do you do? 
• Me: I’m a copywriter
• Other person: (blank stare)
• Me: I write marketing content for businesses that sell products or services to other businesses.
• Other person: Oh, that’s not what I thought it was, don't you have something to do with making sure people don’t copy someone else idea. 
• Me: Nope, I write websites, emails, sales letters and things like that. 
• Other person: Huh, that’s good. 
• Me: Yep. 

UGH! 

Even with family and friends, who you may have been sharing in your journey to becoming a copywriter don’t really get it. 

So I thought I’d share a little bit about the Who? What? Where? Why? And How of copywriting. 

The Who?

You know the sales letters that you receive in the mail or in your email, most of us (including myself, sorry) consider them to be junk mail. Well, those well written sales letters and emails were probably written by a copywriter. 

Copywriters are the persuasive writers that are hired to craft a sales letter, email, website, case study, special reports, white papers, press releases and much, much, much more. 

Copywriters are not necessarily journalists, book writers or have an English literature background at all. Most are professionals, possibly working in the niche they write for, possibly not, they find a passion and they learn how to write for that niche. 

Copywriting has specific formulas depending on they type of content you are writing. Some writers are B2B (like myself), some are B2C (what most people see as normal advertising), there are writers who focus on resume writing, grant writing, ghostwriting and other avenues that are not sales and marketing related. 

The What?

I mentioned a whole laundry list of the types of content that copywriters write. That list doesn’t even scratch the surface. Basically, if there are words that you see in an ad, letter, email or words that you hear on the radio or television…they were written by a copywriter. We all have different specialties but ultimately there is not a spoken or written word that doesn’t follow a copywriting or story telling formula. 

The Where? 
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Most copywriters work for themselves. In doing so, you can work from anywhere. If you have a laptop and the programs you need, you can travel and write. Or work from your home office in your comfy clothes. 

Some copywriters are in house writers and are employed by an agency or company. 
We do similar things from different locations. 

The Why? 

Businesses should always be marketing. They need to get more and more content out in the world to drive sales. That content needs to be written by someone. You now know, that someone is a copywriter. 

Marketing and sales run the world. You need trained people to craft your message and content. Now days, with social media and your company's online presence it is more important than ever to have persuasive content explaining the benefits of your products or services.

The How?

Businesses can hire employees who write their marketing and content in house on a daily basis. While this may seem like the best use of funds, freelance copywriters save businesses a lot of money. 

Freelance copywriters don’t require benefits…no insurance, no vacation, no retirement, no salary. That doesn’t mean that freelancers are cheap, but when you need something professionally written and have no idea where to start, a freelance copywriter can be your lifesaver. 

Freelancer’s can be hired by calling, emailing or interviewing through a job posting, LinkedIn, Upwork, by referral or any number of bid for work websites. It doesn’t matter how you find them, but I will say, you get what you pay for. Like most things out there if someone is charging you very minimal for a 4 page case study…you may want to say thanks but no thanks. 

With any new hire on the job, you test them, you look over previous projects and results. Hiring a copywriter shouldn’t be any different. If you have doubts about their abilities, ask for portfolio pieces and see if they move you. If so have a conversation and determine if you’ll get along with that copywriter. If not keep looking, if so…you may have a long term contract writer you can turn to with any project. 

It’s a Win-Win.

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