How to Get Copywriting Experience
Are you interested in becoming a copywriter but not sure where to start? Or maybe you're already trying to break into the field, but you're having a tough time gaining experience. I've got your back. In this blog post, I'll be sharing some tips and strategies to help you get the copywriting jobs you want.
Copywriting is a pretty competitive field, and having relevant experience is crucial to standing out from the crowd. But I get it, starting out can be tough. It's the classic chicken-and-egg thing of needing experience to become a copywriter but needing to be a copywriter to get experience. That's why I'm going to cover everything from building a portfolio to copywriting courses and starting your freelance writing career.
Whether you're a recent grad trying to kick-start your career or someone looking to make a career change, come along with me on a journey to becoming a successful copywriter!
What is Copywriting?
Let's start by understanding what copywriting is before we dive into how to become a copywriter. In essence, copywriting is the language that a company uses to convince a customer to make a purchase, often associated with promoting or selling a brand, organization, product, or service. Given its objective of persuasion, copywriting is a form of marketing.
There are several other types of copywriting beyond promoting or selling a brand, organization, product, or service. These include:
Crafting product descriptions
Developing effective headlines and tag lines
Creating white papers and lead magnets like ebooks
Producing engaging pitch decks
Writing compelling case studies
In each case, a copywriter is tasked with encouraging readers to take action, whether that's making a purchase or engaging with a company in some other way. The ultimate goal of any copywriter is to increase the conversion rate or the number of people who take action, which requires a combination of strategic thinking, effective communication, and an understanding of what motivates people to act.
How to Become a Freelance Copywriter With No Experience
What Skills Do You Need to Become a Copywriter?
if you're thinking about becoming a freelance copywriter, there are a few key skills that you'll need to master to succeed. First off, having solid spelling and grammar skills is a must since delivering work with errors or mistakes can quickly turn away potential clients.
Having excellent time management abilities is crucial to help you organize your research and writing times effectively and meet your clients’ deadlines.
Now, while it's definitely an advantage to have formal writing experience, it's not always necessary to get started. If you've written content for a friend's business, a volunteer project, or even maintain your own blog, make sure to showcase your work and highlight your skills. And if you don't have any links to share, why not start a blog and show off your writing abilities? Pick a topic you're passionate about, get creative, and publish examples of the type of work that you could create for potential clients.
Do You Need a Degree to Become a Copywriter?
When it comes to freelance copywriting, every client and project is unique. Some clients may require writers with specific degrees or qualifications, while others may prefer to see writing samples related to their field.
While degrees in English language, literature, journalism, business, and marketing are common among freelance copywriters, backgrounds in politics and law can also be helpful. Any degree or qualification can be an asset in copywriting if you can apply your specialized knowledge to the task at hand.
It's a common misconception that you need years of education and experience to secure a high-paying job as a copywriter. However, this simply isn't true. In fact, some of the most successful industry experts in the field didn't start with a formal university degree. While having a degree or formal education can be helpful, it's not always necessary to succeed as a copywriter. What matters most is your ability to write persuasively, your creativity, and your willingness to learn and adapt as the industry evolves.
Starting With Personal Development for Copywriting
Becoming a good copywriter is no easy feat. It requires a unique skill set that goes beyond traditional writing seminar classes or academic work. As a copywriter, you need to be able to grab the attention of your audience quickly and effectively, often in just a few words or sentences.
If you're interested in pursuing a career in copywriting, it's important to recognize that it's a highly competitive industry. Even if you've received excellent grades in your writing classes, you may need to adopt specific tactics and approaches to hone your skills for copywriting.
This might mean learning to write in a more concise and persuasive style, or developing a keen understanding of your target audience and what motivates them to act. With practice and dedication, however, you can become a successful copywriter and stand out in a crowded field.
Keep An Eye on the Copy That Surrounds You
To become a skilled copywriter, it's important to study and analyze the work of industry experts. You can do this by examining copy that you come across in various contexts, such as on the internet, in magazines and newspapers, on billboards, or while watching television. Try to identify the emotions that the advertisement is trying to evoke and consider the targeted age group.
This can help you identify any flaws in the copy that may prevent it from resonating with the target audience. By studying the work of others and constantly refining your skills, you can improve your own copywriting abilities and become a successful copywriter.
Practice Makes Perfect
If you're wondering how to become a copywriter, the answer lies in practising scrap writing. To succeed in copywriting, you need to have a strong portfolio of samples that demonstrate your writing skills and abilities. This means it's essential to practice writing regularly on your own before you start working professionally.
To become a skilled copywriter, it's important to enjoy writing and make it a daily habit. Remember that every professional started out as a novice, so don't be discouraged if your initial attempts at copywriting fall short. The key is to commit to improving every day by practising and refining your writing skills.
By creating scrap copy on a regular basis, you can hone your craft and become a more skilled writer over time. With persistence and dedication, you can develop the portfolio and skills you need to succeed as a copywriter.
Pay Attention to Pyschology
Expert copywriters don't limit themselves to simply writing copy. They also delve into related fields and research other topics. You can follow this example by exploring areas like marketing and sales, as well as storytelling, human psychology, critical thinking, and business management. The more you learn about these areas, the more you can grow as a copywriter.
To become a successful copywriter, it's essential to understand human psychology and how to write persuasive copy that compels readers to take action. With so many distractions competing for our attention, it's crucial to create copy that captures your audience's attention right away. If your copy fails to do this, you risk losing potential customers to competitors who are better able to engage their audience.
How to Build Your Freelance Copywriting Career
Once you've honed your copywriting skills, the next step is to start finding clients and getting paid for your work. While cold calling, cold emails, and advertising are popular methods for finding clients, they can be time-consuming and inefficient.
Fortunately, there are more effective approaches to finding freelance copywriting jobs. One of the most successful methods is to focus on networking and building relationships with potential clients. This can include attending industry events and conferences, joining professional associations, and reaching out to people in your personal and professional networks who may need copywriting services.
In addition to strategic networking, another approach to finding freelance copywriting jobs is to pitch your work to potential clients. This can involve reaching out to publications and companies and offering your services.
While it can be intimidating at first, with practice and persistence, pitching can become a valuable skill for any freelance copywriter. When pitching your work, be sure to focus on your strengths and areas of expertise, and demonstrate how your skills can benefit the client's business.
Independent work you complete for clients can also be a great way to build your portfolio and demonstrate your capabilities. However, be sure to obtain the client's permission to use the work in your portfolio.
As you continue to build your portfolio and gain more experience, your pitch examples will become more comprehensive and relevant. This can increase your chances of landing new clients and building a successful freelance copywriting career.
Strategic Cold Pitching
To land more freelance copywriting jobs, it's important to think of it as strategic networking. Here's how to approach it:
Choose a target prospect who has a budget for marketing and understands its value.
Find a way to get in front of your target by offering them something they want.
Help the target solve their problems by providing valuable content and insights. This will establish your credibility as an expert and help you build relationships with potential clients.
One effective way to establish connections with targets is to offer them help at a low cost or for free. Identify an issue with their website, explain the problem to them, and then offer to fix it in exchange for a guest post or interview.
Rewrite their sales letter, improve their landing page, or develop effective email subject lines. By providing value and solutions to their problems, you can bypass cold calling and cold emailing and position yourself at the forefront. Many aspiring copywriters overestimate the competition and believe that targets are constantly inundated with requests. Although targets receive many such requests, most of them are poorly executed and self-focused. When reaching out to targets, always focus on solving their problems and refrain from talking about yourself unless it is relevant.
Offer Your Help to Agencies
One strategy to jumpstart your copywriting career is to partner with a copywriting agency and have them send you their projects. Many agencies outsource copywriting work to freelance copywriters, both for online and offline projects. This is a quick and easy way to start your own copywriting business.
To land such positions, start by making a list of online marketing agencies in your city. You can then visit their office and introduce yourself as a freelance copywriter looking for work. Alternatively, you can email or cold call them. Follow up after the initial contact. It's worth noting that not all agencies are copywriting agencies, and they may specialize in web design or paid traffic advertising. However, since good copywriting is essential for any website, web design agencies can also benefit from partnering with copywriters.
Network With Other Writers
In addition to reaching out to clients, it's important to connect with other freelance writers in the online community. Following key influencers on social media is a great way to start. Consider following content marketing expert Ann Harding and author Paul Jarvis, as well as other suggested contacts linked to their accounts.
Copywriting professionals are often willing to answer questions and provide advice to newcomers in the industry. They may also share information about writing opportunities that pay freelancers. You could also connect with writers who cover topics that interest you and read and share their work. Don't be afraid to ask for tips and guidance. Building relationships with other writers can lead to valuable connections and opportunities in the future.
The Bottom Line
As you establish yourself within the freelance copywriting field, you can begin to pursue larger and more lucrative copywriting opportunities and aim to secure long-term clients. Building a successful copywriting career takes time and perseverance, but the more you put yourself out there, the greater your chances of attracting the right clients.
As you progress, you'll develop a diverse writing portfolio and may collect reviews and recommendations from satisfied clients. Your reputation will grow alongside your experience, and before you know it, you'll be a seasoned freelance copywriter with a steady stream of work.
