What Does A Copywriter Do, Anyway?
When you meet someone outside the ad industry and mention that you are a copywriter, it can be like saying you a forensic pathologist. Curious, but not wanting to appear uninformed, the listener may nod politely and change the subject.
I’ve had people ask me if I worked at a law firm in the copyrights division. It’s a fair question, but no, copywriters have nothing to do with protecting intellectual property. If we’re any good at what we do, we build brand value every time, and from time to time when conditions are ideal, we help make our clients rich and famous.
There are at least a handful of identifiable types of copywriters, which further muddies the waters.
Direct marketing copywriters are all about following the formula and playing it by numbers. It’s an exact science to them.
The social media manager, on the other hand, jumps in a series of fast-moving social streams each morning and rides memes and trending topics all day.
Then, there’s the classic advertising copywriter who is all about the idea and how it will play out on every size screen.
Copywriting Illuminated
The art and science of copywriting (in all its forms) is not something that practitioners learn to master in an online course or in a one-day workshop.
Writing high quality ad copy is like writing poems, songs or essays–when you’re serious, you spend years learning from the masters and you diligently practice the craft every day. In other words, you don’t dabble in copywriting and find success.
You let it consume you like a fire.
You sit bolt upright in the night with the answer to the copy riddle.
You learn to become your own toughest critic.
You learn not to waste words.
Five Writing Tips to Bank On
- Don’t make outrageous claims that you can’t back up
- Process everything you do and say through the customer’s ears and eyes
- Smart is better than clever (clever draws attention to itself, not to the solution found in the product)
- Discovery before strategy and concepts before execution
- Bring poetic language and narrative technique to the client’s communications problems
David Burn wrote his first ad for a political candidate when he was 17 years old. She won her race and the advertising hook was set early. Today, David is a brand messaging specialist based in Austin, Texas.
