Discovering Opportunities For A Professional Copywriter

By Martha Hamilton


When it comes to any type of writing or editing position, an individual is going to need a specific set of skills. When looking to become a Professional Copywriter, one is often going to need even more specific skills than others. For, in this type of work, the individual often works with a creative team to create art, captions and content for campaigns related to advertising and marketing.

Most often, these individuals have worked as freelance or contract employees who have been part of an advertising team. In most cases, these teams work together to create art, content and prices for various advertising campaigns. As such, it is important these individuals build a portfolio based on the different jobs one has worked over time.

While this is the case, individuals looking to work in this area often need also have a great deal experience with regards to office oriented skills. For example, being able to use graphic and word processing software to create proposals, pamphlets and brochures. In all cases, someone working as a copywriter must be able to communicate in a clear and concise manner while using language which is grammatically correct.

Those who understand and can use a number of different writing styles are often going to get the best and most high paying jobs. While, there may be junior associates who only work to assist the copywriters with language mark-up, revisions and pasting of art work. As for copywriters, when working on a campaign, it is important to maintain a consistency when it comes to the voice with which one writes across all materials associated with the campaign.

Having experience with regards to editing, revision and search engine optimization is often desirable, though at times can be overlooked in lieu of learning on the job. Whereas, having familiarity with commonly used style guides is essential as is being self-motivated and well organized. For, as this type work is often driven by deadlines, it is important all content related to a campaign be delivered on or before any associated deadline.

In most cases, educational level is less important than experience. While this is the case, most often at least a high school diploma is required. In addition, those without an upper level degree must often provide a number of examples related to other advertising campaigns on which one has worked in the past. Whereas, those having recently acquired a degree must often provide work from an internship or other project before an hiring agency will place the individual on a creative team.

In building a portfolio, it is important to include examples from all areas in which an individual has worked. For example, by including work from different areas such as radio, television, print and web advertising, one is more likely to get hired than otherwise. Whereas, when an agency can see a number of different writing styles such as blog posts, content, captions and email related to marketing, individuals are often going to be noticed more than others which do not include this information.

One of the most important aspects an individual can have in relation to this type position is that of strong verbal and written communication. For, while a writing position, there are often times when an individual will need to discuss the campaign with advertisers, clients and media organizations. As such, one must also be able to present oneself as a creative professional while knowing how to gain the attention of these individuals as well as readers before, during and after having worked on a campaign.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment