Recently,
we had a guest speaker in class whose “Real job” is copywriting. To be
perfectly honest, I have never really considered copywriting as a job. I just
assumed that a marketing agency handled any and all advertising elements. How
wrong I was. Our speaker introduced us to her career by explaining that she
works side by side with corporations, as well as smaller mom and pop companies.
She described that she does everything from writing in-house memos for large
corporations, to writing those pesky text messages you provider sends you,
ordering you to, “Upgrade now for unlimited text messages,” and so on and so
forth. Although this part of the speech seemed incredibly unappealing and very
much like, “selling out to the man,” it is just one element of her job.
Wikipedia defines copywriting as, “The use of words to promote a person,
business, opinion, or idea.” This demonstrates the wide range of ways one can
utilize their skills in this type of industry. Just like anything else in life,
this career is what you make it, and you can gear your business to your
capability. Plus, there's money in it!!!!
An
example of the kind of money an established copywriting firm comes from Lucidcontent.com. Let's say a major company is looking to hire Lucid Content to refurbish of their home page. According to the firm’s “Our
Rates,” section a revamp of your companies website could set you back anything
from $850.00-$12,00.00. This includes everything from entering in more
information about your company, to helping to insert your company into a larger
amount of keyword searches, thus gaining more hits on the Internet. However, if you choose to go with Lucid
Content, keep in mind that there is a 200 word limit, and a copywriting fee of
$2.00 per sub-page. For the folks at Lucid Content, and those of us who are
interested in this field, this is a big thumbs up! It means that there is mucho
dinero in this for us if we do it right, and it gets us further and further
away from that gross, egg-encrusted table at the diner.
So,
we’ve looked at how a successful copywriting firm handles their webpage, what
type of clients they work with and their costs, but what about somebody who is
just starting out? This is a fair question, and thankfully this is a field
which has a lot of information for you on the Internet. Firstly, I must say
that Craigslist.org is not the way to go on this one. In the past month
(April-May), there were a grand total of…wait for it…9 jobs offered when I
entered “Copywriting” into the search engine. In addition, out of those 9 jobs,
not one of them was dedicated to strictly copywriting.
So,
we move on. I know it’s scary, but Craigslist is not the final say on this
industry, nor is it helping me find my dream house in Laurelhurst. There are
other good sites out there with some pretty helpful links into this industry.
For example, the website razorfish.com and wordworker.com are two very
informational and resource-rich sites. Razorfish.com deems itself as the one of
the, “Largest interactive agencies in the world,” and their website is amazing. When you’re done being awed by their
super sweet graphics on the homepage, click on the “Careers” link. This will lead you to a decent amount
of copywriting jobs. You’ll notice that many of them are in big cities like
Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle. I found this site to be helpful when
analyzing where the movers and shakers of this industry were working and also
the type of jobs qualifications these companies are looking for. This is a good
site if you are interested in working with a large company.
Contrarily, if you
are looking to freelance, I recommend wordworker.com. Wordworker
calls itself a, “Community of Professional Copywriters.” This is a site owned
and operated by copywriters. Unlike Razorfish, who offers all sorts of
positions in the marketing and advertising agency, Wordworker is a more
concentrated body of everything copywriting oriented. This site is also a good
resource if you are already settled in a location. In addition, it offers you
the opportunity to promote yourself. When a company is looking for a
copywriter, they can go to this site, read a summary about you, and decide if
your services will fit their needs. So, this is pretty cool for those
freelancers out there who aren’t afraid to brag about their talents.
In
my opinion, the most attractive thing about going in to copywriting is that you
can be your own boss. Depending on what kind of person you are, you can do very
well in this industry. You have to be willing to market yourself as a commodity
and get your hands dirty, but if this sounds appealing to you, it could be a
very lucrative avenue. From the research I have done, it seems to me that the
majority of freelance copywriters out there follow a DIY protocol. It is up to
you to get your name and skills out there to the masses. There is an article
written by Neeraj Varma on ezinearticles.com
who writes about this approach to copywriting. Varma writes, “Write an
informative series of articles or research report and send it to some companies
that deal with that subject. Offer to write more material for them or give them
the rights to distribute your material for free to people who would be
interested” (Varma). This is a great way to catch a company’s attention, and
also get your work distributed to more people.
Most
companies do not have a copywriter on staff. This means that when the time
comes for them to mail out their annual newsletter, or introduce a new product,
you want your name to be remembered. By sending them a sample of your work for
free, you have opened up a door for potential work. Even if they are not in
need of a copywriter at the time, perhaps they partner with someone who is. In
addition, by taking a piece of their existing website, catalog, brochure, etc.
and creating something new and interesting for free, you may land yourself a
new client.
As
I’m sure you have noticed, there is no degree for “Copywriting,” at Portland
State University. Most people who work in the copywriting industry attain
degrees in English, Communications, or Journalism. Although there are many
universities who offer copywriting classes in graduate courses, it has yet to
surface on the undergrad level. I believe this is because the amount of success
you can gain in this industry is based heavily on work experience. If you want
to be a doctor, you go through undergrad and then med school. If are interested
in becoming a lawyer, you do your undergrad and then go to law school. If you
want to be a copywriter, you should know how to write well, and be able to
market your skills. It is not the kind of industry where there is a “no degree,
no job” policy. It is the type of industry where you need to be really good at
what you do. Sell yourself; you didn’t get that degree for nothing. Put it to
good use, and, while you’re at it you may become a success and be able to buy
that nice house in Laurelhurst with a yard the size of your current apartment.
Lastly, some sage wisdom for us all as we embark on the next chapter in the glorious book we call life:
“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life, and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I’ve wanted to do.”~Georgia O’Keeffe
No comments:
Post a Comment