How to Become a Copywriter
If you’ve landed on this blog, it’s likely that you fall in 1 of the 3 following buckets:
You’re a fresh grad out of uni, and you’re ready to take the first step towards launching your career
You’re a Marketing professional that’s looking to expand your bag of tricks
You’re looking to make a life change, and curious about whether copywriting is your path to freelancing freedom
Well, you’re in the right place. Why? I’ve fallen into all three buckets, at one stage or another (currently in bucket no. 3).
In this article, I’m going to dish out 5 tips on how to start your career as a copywriter, based on my personal experience. These are tried-and-tested avenues that have worked for me, and I hope you find a bit of wisdom that’ll help you along your own journey to becoming a copywriter.
Welcome to the copywriting family, friend. I’m glad you’re here.
P.s. Not in the mood to read all the massive chunks? I’ve put a ‘TL;DR’ bit at the end of each point to summarise, feel free to skip to it if you want to salvage your sanity.
Copywriting for beginners - The 5 steps to getting started
Start your career in a digital agency 💼
This one’s so important that I’ve slotted it at the very top. If you’ve ever worked in a digital marketing agency or know of someone who has, you’ll also know that agencies can sometimes come with a bit of a bad rep. They’re notorious for high staff turnover rates and often have a churn and burn culture. You’re there to slog away from 9 to 5pm, and the to-do list is endless because there’s always more work to be done.
I’ve been there and yes, it was challenging at the best of times. Fresh out of uni, I scored my very first job as a graduate at roi.com.au, a digital marketing growth agency in Melbourne, Australia, and boy, was it an eye-opener. To start with, my degree focussed on traditional marketing, which meant I had to pick up all the digital tricks of the trade as I went.
Having always been a writer at heart, I quickly found my place as an SEO Content Specialist, churning out search engine optimised copy for businesses right across Australia. From cleaning companies to auto mechanics, wedding dress retailers, curtains and blinds, accounting, law firms and the list goes on, I quickly became a jack of all trades, master of none. I’d be given a quick brief and then be expected to deliver 3 to 5 (or more) pages of copy within a business day, or so. While it was exhausting, I’ll forever be grateful because the steep learning curve:
diversified my copywriting skills
kept me quick on my feet
taught me the essence of fast turnaround times
Being a perfectionist by nature, I had to overcome my obsession with crafting perfect copy but rather, focus on writing good SEO content that targeted all the right keywords and still read well. Because what’s the point of spinning a beautiful story tale if your website’s not even being found? That’s how I coined my own favourite saying, seek presence, not perfection.
Anyway, back to it. Besides kick-starting your copywriting career, an agency environment is also an amazing place for you to meet like-minded people. Others who are hungry to learn, and aren’t afraid to put the hard yards in. Till this day, some of the most incredible networking opportunities I’ve had are through friends I’ve made at roi.com.au.
TL;DR: You’ll have a steep, but rewarding, learning curve and the opportunity to make lifelong career connections.
Get yourself a career mentor or two 🤓
My mentors have been a saving grace during career meltdown moments (and I’ve had a few in my day). Career mentors are kinda like your self-appointed job mums or dads. They’re the ones you seek out advice from when you’re looking to make a transition in your career or experiencing hardships in your professional life. A wise ally you can rely on when you’re stuck in the crossroads. I’ve got three mentors under my belt, and not once has one ever failed me.
My very first mentor, who I still keep in regular contact with, is Jono, the Operations Manager who I reported to during my days at roi.com.au. He’s been an endless source of encouragement and support, as well as a tried and trusted job reference. I’ve had HR managers casually comment how lucky I am to have a reference that speaks so highly of me and my work ethic.
You don’t need to seek out a fellow or experienced copywriter to be your mentor. They can simply be someone:
that’s already been where you are in your career
that you’ve gained a lot of respect for during your time working, or
whose career track record you really admire
Because, trust me, there’ll come a time in your career where you’ll need a mentor to cheer you on or provide professional advice to guide you on your quest of success. I should probably also mention, you should also be working hard to prove yourself as a valuable asset and a mentee that’s genuinely worth rooting for - being a bludger isn’t going to win you any favours. It’s a give-and-take situation.
TL;DR: Find a career mentor that will support and motivate you to accomplish your professional goals.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help, you don’t have to know all the answers 🆘
Wherever you are in your journey to becoming a successful copywriter, there’ll never be a moment where you’ll have all the answers. Even if you think do, then you should be challenging yourself to continually upskill. Whether it’s writing a catchy headline or learning how to craft tasty social posts, there’ll always be ways you can do better.
I regularly seek feedback from my peers and colleagues, because copywriting can be extremely subjective. What reads and sounds well in your head might not resonate with others. Or maybe you’re writing for an audience in a new industry you haven’t worked in before, this is where you’ll need to do your research and find out how best you can target your copy to the readers.
If you’ve got a case of writer’s block, try these:
Ask the business owner/ manager for their feedback - they’re the ones that know their customers the best, it’s a given that they’ll want to help you nail your writing.
Get opinions and constructive feedback from peers and colleagues - two sets of eyes are better than one. If your copy doesn’t make sense to them, then there’s room for improvement.
Google it - find out what the top ranking industry experts or competitors are talking about. There’s a reason why they’re on page 1 or 2 of search results, Google has found their content relevant and helpful to the readers.
Join other freelancing, copywriter or creative forums - I’ll expand on this in the next section, point 4 of the blog.
TL;DR: There’s no shame in asking for help, only expanding your knowledge base.
Join creative forums 💡
There’s that saying “you’re only as good as the company you keep”. With the exhaustive amount of information readily available at our fingertips, you’ll be able to find lots of valuable resources online.
I’m part of quite a few Facebook groups, ranging from copywriting tips to freelancing gigs, entrepreneurial women support groups and more. Why? These groups are brimming with people that are eager to learn and share their knowledge. While my Facebook feed is largely dominated by dog-related stuff (cos I’m an obsessed fur mum), I also enjoy seeing the new copywriting tips and freelancing opportunities that pop up in the mix.
You’re not just limited to social groups, you can also follow popular blogs and YouTube channels within the copywriting niche to give you inspiration on how to propel your career as a copywriter. Why miss out on free and valuable advice from experienced copywriters that have made it?
Some oldies but goodies that are my go-tos for the latest copywriting and content marketing trends include HubSpot, Neil Patel and SEMrush.
Here are a few other blogs/YouTube channels that I’ve really enjoyed or triggered a “holy shit” moment:
Ryan Robinson - tips for blogging, business, freelancing and content marketing
Jackie Pearce - freelancing and copywriting tips
Ashlyn Writes and Alex Cattoni - YouTube channels with copywriting and creative business tips
TL;DR: Surround yourself (virtually) with like-minded people and challenge yourself to keep getting better.
Screenshot great examples of creative writing 📸
Have you had moments where you’ve come across an ad, webpage, social post, email or the likes, that’s so well written it’s caught your attention and you can’t help but stop in your tracks and marvel in appreciation? I certainly have. Every time this happens, take a screenshot if you’re on your phone, or grab a snippet if you’re on the computer, and save it to your ‘ideas’ folder.
Now I’m not encouraging you to blatantly rip off other marketers for their genius ideas, I’m saying that you should have a 'swipe’ folder that’s a pool of inspiration resources for whenever you’re feeling a bit stuck. Simply click on one of the saved examples and let your creative juices flow. Think about why it’s so attention-grabbing or how it’s managed to suck you in - think about why the content works and how you can apply to your own copywriting.
After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - you’ve just got to put your own spin on it, because noone likes an overt copycat.
TL;DR: Surround yourself (virtually) with like-minded people and challenge yourself to keep getting better.
And there you have it, 5 tips to becoming a successful copywriter.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for bearing with me. I hope you’ve found something to take away with you, and if not, now you know a bit of my life story. 💃