Top Advice for New Copywriters (From Working Copywriters)

Copywriting is *so* much more than just words on a page. At its core, it’s about connecting people with the right solutions for their needs and wants, using messaging that truly resonates with them. (You’re basically playing Cupid—but with words instead of arrows!)

And sure, there’s no denying that writing killer copy takes skill. But remember that no one is born knowing how to write copy—even the highest-paid copywriting maestros had to start somewhere. We all learned how to do it, and with these expert tips from working copywriters, you can, too! 

1. Know Your Audience

When people think about what copywriting is, they often have this perception that it’s all about creating catchy taglines and witty wordplay. But if your words don’t speak to your target audience, then it really doesn’t matter how clever your copy is. To master effective copywriting, you have to tap into what makes a specific audience tick before you even consider sitting down to write.

Why would the reader be interested in this piece? What problems are you helping them solve? And how are you going to creatively present a solution to that daily headache they’re grappling with? 

Spending some serious time putting yourself in your customer’s shoes will help you tailor your message to speak directly to them. It will help you use the same language that they use and highlight the benefits that are most significant to them. 

With a good grasp of their pain points and motivations, you increase the chances that they will take the action you want them to take, whether that’s making a purchase, scheduling a call, or something else entirely.

2. Write with a Clear Purpose in Mind

We just touched on the importance of inciting readers to take the next step (whatever that may be)—but let’s not forget that is the essence of all copywriting.

So, before you even think about crafting your first sentence, make sure you are clear about what action you want your readers to take as a result of reading your copy. Do you want them to subscribe to a newsletter? Download a podcast episode? Whatever it is, your writing should be focused around that single goal. 

For example, say your client has asked you to write a social media post. Is your goal to boost engagement by getting more comments on the post? Is it to increase reach by getting more shares? There are many types of social posts and each type has a specific goal. 

Once you are clear on the objective, make sure you write to achieve that objective, leaving out any potential distractions.

3. Focus on the End Benefit

When it comes down to it, consumers are, by nature, pretty egotistical. They don’t really care about a certain business or brand—they care about how it benefits them. The moment a business stops providing value, customers won’t hesitate to leave. Pretty brutal, huh?

That’s why it is so crucial for any copywriter to understand the difference between features and benefits. One of the rookie mistakes when it comes to writing copy, is focusing too much on the “what” and the “how” (think lists of product features, technical specifications, etc.). But the key to creating persuasive copy is actually in the “why”.

And to effectively dig into the “why”, you have to get inside your customer’s head. What’s really keeping them up at night? What would make their life easier, happier, and more fulfilling?

For example, I highly doubt someone would be fretting at night about the ins and outs of a money management tool. But they *are* going to be kept awake by anxieties around debts, money troubles, or not being able to save for the future. 

Writing about the benefit is *the* most important tactic for crafting copy that converts. So once you’ve identified the key benefits for a particular audience, strive to always highlight them where you can—put them in your subject lines, headlines, and make them the first thing the reader sees. 

4. Imperfect Action is Better than Perfect Inaction

When you’re just starting out, it can sometimes feel like every other copywriter has it all together. That can often make your inner critic rear its head, causing a lot of resistance when it comes to actually sitting down to write.

Our brains don’t need much of an excuse to procrastinate, especially when we’re faced with a challenge. And with a whole world of distractions waiting at your fingertips, it’s easy to get sucked in. But if you want to set yourself up for success, one of our top pieces of advice for copywriters is to just get that first draft down!

And let’s be clear here: the first draft is by no means going to be the polished masterpiece you send off to the client (more on that in tip 7). Think of it more as a brain dump, where you get the chance to get all your thoughts out of your head and onto a document—just like chatting with a friend to brainstorm ideas. 

Embracing this mindset can help you dive into the writing process without getting bogged down by perfectionism (aka staring at a blank screen for hours).

It’s always a good idea to schedule out a time in your calendar (ideally at the time you feel most productive) to make sure you actually do this important first step. Because remember, getting started is often the hardest part—once you’re in the flow, the magic will follow!

5. Keep it Simple

It’s crazy how much information our poor little brains are expected to process. The average American is exposed to something like 4,000 and 10,000 marketing messages every single day. 

That’s why, for the majority of copy, you’ll want to aim for easy and simple language.  We don’t want to make our readers work too hard when they’re sifting through that much information on a daily basis!

When you first start out copywriting, there’s certainly a temptation to jazz up a piece of writing with long, fancy words. But in reality, that could be a surefire way to lose your audience’s interest, or—even worse—make them look for the information elsewhere. Our job isn’t to add unnecessary fluff, it’s to maximize the number of people who will read, absorb, and act on your words.

If you’re worried you’re overcomplicating things a bit too much, the Hemingway App is a great tool also great to make sure you’re writing as fluently, precisely and concisely as possible. It’s great for checking passive and active voice, the use of adverbs, and it also offers ‘simpler’ forms of phrases and words.

6. Break the Rules!

This one is definitely the most fun tip…mainly because it appeals to my rebellious side. But yes, as copywriters, we get to break the rules!! (Woohoo!)

Remember all those rules that were drilled into you in English class? All those things you were told that constitutes “good” writing? Well, I hate to break it to you but when it comes to copywriting, they’re usually not that helpful.

Good copywriting is like good driving—you shouldn’t notice it. When your writing draws attention to itself, it takes attention away from the message underlying the words. And the whole point of copywriting is to communicate a message. 

Of course, it’s still writing, so the usual rules of writing apply. But it’s also about having a conversation with the reader, which means communicating in a way that reflects how people speak and makes it effortless to read.

To keep the conversation flowing, sometimes that means breaking the rules a little. So yes, you *can* start sentences with “and”, ‘but”, or “because”. (Seriously, someone even made a website to end this debate for good!)

7. Self-Editing is a Must

Remember we told you copywriting was not just about throwing words onto a page? Well, part of that is also because a large chunk of copywriting is actually editing. And we don’t just mean looking for typos and grammatical errors (although that’s still important, of course). When you self-edit your copywriting, you also need to focus on making sure the actual copy is as strong as possible. 

Every word should convey something important—duplicating a word misses an opportunity to convey something new. Read through your work carefully to make sure you’re not wasting precious space and opportunity by repeating words or using unnecessary words (planning in advance is a personal favorite). 

Bonus tip: Reading your work out loud can make it a LOT easier to catch these things and de-jargon your work!

8. Be Open to Feedback

We get that receiving feedback can feel uncomfortable when all you really want to hear is, “Wow, it’s absolutely perfect!” But as copywriters, it’s part of our job to embrace feedback so that we can get the project to the best possible place.

Getting feedback or requests for revisions doesn’t mean that you’ve “failed”; instead, see it as just a normal part of the process. And if you don’t receive any feedback, don’t hesitate to ask for it—it’s only going to improve your work and allow you to deliver more value to your clients.

9. Keep Learning

One of the most important things to remember when you’re learning a new skill is that it’s supposed to be hard. This is a brand new career, after all! If it doesn’t come easily to you when you first start out, that’s perfectly okay (performing heart surgery for the first time probably didn’t come that easily to a surgeon, either!).

It all comes down to practice. And one of the ways we always encourage our Comprehensive Copywriting Academy students to improve their copy, is to look out for copy in the wild. Read the ads you see around you and analyze how they’re written. Is the benefit to consumer clear? Is it obvious what the next step is? Would this resonate with their target audience? Not all of them will be great—and when they’re not, that’s your opportunity to have a go at rewriting the copy to improve it!

10. Avoid the Niche Trap

At the start of your copywriting career, you can’t possibly know what kind of copywriting you’ll enjoy. Even if you *think* you’d like writing for a particular industry or in a certain medium, it could turn out that a different industry or medium is just as fun. Plus, most clients want a copywriter they can work with on multiple types of projects—not just one!

Limiting yourself to just writing email copy when you’ve never written copy for an ad or a sales page, is only going to limit your career and prospects. And now is not the time in your career to limit what you’ll be working on. Give yourself a chance to explore lots of different projects before deciding if you want to choose a niche. 

11. Never. Stop. Pitching.

OK, I’ll admit it…when I was first starting out as a copywriter, I made some (ahem, a lot) of mistakes. And one of those was certainly when I stopped regularly prospecting for new clients.

As soon as I had work coming in, I was a little…distracted from sending out pitches.

The inevitable result? Dry spells and financial worries. Not recommended and definitely something YOU can avoid.

You can easily have an entire freelance career as a copywriter without any dry spells. But that means you always need to be pitching, even when you have a steady client roster.

Continuously prospecting puts the control back in your hands and ensures that work never dries up.

In case you’ve forgotten that important nugget from the start of this blog, we’ll remind you again: No one is born knowing how to copywrite. And that includes all of the wonderful students in our Comprehensive Copywriting Academy who have gone on to achieve remarkable success.

Remember, they started right where you are, armed with determination, a willingness to learn, and the right training. And that’s exactly why we created the Comprehensive Copywriting Course (CCA)—to give you everything you need to get started as a copywriter, whether you want to work on staff at an agency or company, or build a thriving freelance copywriting business of your own. 

Want to follow in their footsteps? Get started with our free, on-demand copywriting training, “How to Land Freelance Copywriting Clients … Without Wasting Time on Frustrating Job-Bidding Sites or Cold-Calling Strangers.” Even if you’re not ready to land clients, you will still get tons of useful information to help you dig deeper into the tips we’ve mentioned today and get you on the right track to becoming a successful copywriter!

Watch More

When you’re just starting out as a copywriter—or even just learning if you want to become a copywriter!—there are a lot of questions like is this even possible for me?

Hear from working copywriters who were once in your shoes—many just a few short months ago—on what they wish they knew when they started. They’re offering up their best-of-the-best advice so you, too, can reach your career and income goals!

Your turn!

How do you plan to implement these tips into your copywriting practice? Let us know in the comments below!

Last Updated on April 11, 2024