Realistic advice for aspiring copywriters
Put down the memes and think about these three things first.
There’s a lot of questionable advice for young copywriters out there.
‘Don’t change the way you write for anyone’, for example. Or ‘Don’t be afraid to swear.’ Hmm. Not sure that’s desperately helpful.
Instead, advice for aspiring copywriters should focus on maximising the chances of getting them their first relevant role.
Because figuring out how to jump the chasm between wanting to work in your desired field and actually doing it is one of the hardest aspects of being young. Finding your unique voice and all that stuff can come later.
So, with that in mind, here are three things for aspiring copywriters to think about, from someone who managed to break into the industry at a young age with no experience.
1. Understand what copywriting is (and isn’t!)
While some copywriters are lucky enough to work for ‘fun’ brands that encourage them to use puns, word-play, and memes in their work, that’s not what copywriting is.
Your job as a copywriter isn’t necessarily to make a brand’s written communications interesting or unique, but to ensure they help the business meet its goals.
Sometimes that goal might indeed be to build the brand’s reputation as quirky and different. But more often than not, your task is simply to nudge as many people as possible towards something — a sale, sign-up, website view, follow, etc.
And far, far more often than not, you’ll need to do that in a way that doesn’t involve being wacky. So if you’re someone who thinks they’re going to supercharge sales by shoehorning daft jokes into everything like I did at that age, I’d recommend nipping that in the bud. You’ll be taken far more seriously, far faster that way.
One day you’ll be able to specialise in the exact sort of writing you want to do, zany or otherwise. But at the start, most of your copy will likely need to be pretty dry, and you’ll seldom be allowed to inject your personality into it. Sorry.
Getting used to the inevitability of boring briefs may sound like screwing all your dreams up and stamping on them, but try to think of it as a test.
The boring stuff is a barrier to entry. Anyone can write about what they love, but being able to shift something as exciting as wholesale industrial lubricant with words alone is proof that you’re a proper copywriter — and the person hiring you for your next role will acknowledge this.
(P.S. If you’re truly desperate to write for an industry that loves puns, I recommend aviation. They love a bit of ‘clear for take-off’, ‘smooth landing’, etc.)
2. Choose your made-up sample work wisely
When you’ve not got much experience, making up your own briefs and executing them is a key part of building your portfolio. Anyone will tell you that.
Now, what I’m about to say might sound short-sighted. But I think you’d be better off creating these briefs based on the sort of work you’re likely to get, rather than thinking about your dream gig.
Coming up with a slick, concise campaign for an established brand is relatively easy — this Apple billboard, for example.
(Photo credit: Vikki Ross)
This is because established brands already have loads of carefully designed, publicly available assets for you to play with. So much thought has gone into their positioning* that combining the different elements into something new is no more impressive than reordering the slides of their brand deck.**
Instead, spotlight your skills by producing a campaign that solves problems for an unknown smaller business. Why?
Because it shows you understand that your job isn’t to be funny or wacky, unlike most of your fellow applicants. In other words, you’re SERIOUS.
Because it demonstrates that you’re inquisitive, conscientious, and aware of client needs. In other words, you’re BRIGHT.
And, most importantly, it shows that you’re great at working to brief. In other words, you’re COMPETENT. Which leads neatly into my next point…
3. Be aware of your utility as a junior
A business hiring a junior copywriter doesn’t really care how creative you are.
Sure, having great ideas is a nice bonus, and that certainly becomes more important the further on in your career you are. But what they’re mostly after is competence and reliability.
Juniors tend to get hired to do the overspill work that the rest of the team either don’t have capacity for, or isn’t worth their time.
(That’s not snobbery — the higher your position in an agency, the more demand there is to work with you, and the more the agency can charge clients for your time. So it’s a waste of money for a senior writer to be handling tasks a junior could do. Same way you probably won’t find a Michelin star chef doing the dishes when they could be cooking a meal that someone would pay £400 to eat.)
As soon as you’ve proven you can handle that, you’ll get given bigger and better things to do. But the first step is getting through the door by showing evidence that you’re a safe bet.
It’s a common mistake to litter your CV and cover letter with unprovable guff about being passionate about copywriting, excited by words, etc. But you’d be better off focusing on demonstrating that you can follow a brief.
Bonus points if you can explain how you applied something you learned elsewhere to the task, or how you drew inspiration from a campaign or copywriter you admire. By doing this, you illustrate that you’re genuinely interested in copywriting. ‘Show, don’t tell’, and all that.
Again, this might seem counter-intuitive initially. But anyone can claim to be “crazy about copy”, so it’s meaningless. Instead, put your skills in the spotlight by showing you can get the job done — and catch the eye of creative directors and heads of HR in the process.
* Positioning = how you want your audience to perceive your brand. Check out this book by the chaps that invented the term for more.
** Brand deck = a presentation that explains their brand positioning.