How I learned to
make my writing pay, and you can do it too
Copywriting is easy money
By Angela Booth
How come there's so much writing in the world, but most writers are poor? It's
because writers are writing the stuff that makes other people rich. If you're
writing novels for major publishers, for example, you're pouring money into the
bank accounts of giant corporations, but the stream of money, by the time it
reaches you, is a slow drip, not a river.
If you want to make money from your writing, you need to write the words that
sell. In other words, you need to become a copywriter. Copywriters write
everyday words, the words you see and hear around you every day --- advertising,
press releases, catalogs, newsletters, and radio spots. I've been a writer, and
a successful one if you count publication credits, for 20+ years, but it wasn't
until I made copywriting the foundation of my business that I started to feel
relaxed about paying my bills.
If you're an experienced writer, you can add copywriting to the writing you do,
and start making money without much effort. The skills of both fiction and
nonfiction are necessary when writing copy. If you're a new writer, just
starting out, the skills you learn when writing copy are easily transferable to
other kinds of writing.
The brilliant news about copywriting is that copywriters can make excellent
money, with the most experienced, enterprising, and productive copywriters
scooping in a comfortable six figures annually.
You don't have to be a great writer to be an excellent copywriter, but you do
need to recognize and be able to use the attributes of both fiction (evoke
emotion) and nonfiction (be clear) in your writing. Of all the writing I do, I
love copywriting most. It's fun, it's easy, it's creative --- and the biggest
plus of all, it's usually short.
Here's the successful freelance copywriter's mindset. You:
* know that you're surrounded by copy every day, everywhere you look. Radio, TV,
the Internet, newspapers, food product labels, signs: they all contain words,
and a copywriter wrote them. To most people, copy is so ubiquitous it's
invisible. To you, copy signals a market. You're observant and aware, and every
time a message catches your eye, even if it's only a street sign, you're
thinking: "Hmmm... a potential market";
* are interested in getting your client's message across;
* are prepared to market, and then market your services some more.
Kick-start your freelance copywriting services business
You can kick-start your freelance copywriting services today, in three steps:
1. Become aware of all the copy around you, and start thinking about the kinds
of copy you could write and have fun with;
2. Develop a prospective clients database;
3. Write your first direct mail letter advertising your services.
Copy is everywhere
Copywriters write for businesses. They write to sell. Your first step is some
market research, and when it comes to market research, copywriting is a snap.
Unlike novelists who have to slog to the library or the bookstore to read the
latest bestsellers, and magazine writers who keep themselves poor by buying
dozens of magazines, you get your market research for free, delivered to your
door. If you have a little "No Junk Mail" notice on your
letterbox, scrape it off.
On my desk right now, I have six flyers from six local real estate agents. The
flyers were stuffed into my letterbox over the past two weeks. Here's a taste of
the copy: "Don't buy a home until you see our exclusive range."
Another one's headed: "Do you want the best price when selling?" Their
copy is obviously being written by someone in-house, so they're not getting the
ROI (Return on Investment) they should be getting. My calls to local printers
established that they're paying around $1500 for 15,000 flyers. Not a lot of
money. On the other hand, what results are they getting? If they invest in an
hour of my services, charged at my base rate, I'm positive I can substantially
increase their response rate from their flyers. I haven't entered these six real
estate agents into my Prospective Clients database yet, but I will.
That's how I started copywriting. I rewrote advertising, because I thought I
could do better. You can do the same thing to start your own copywriting
business. Become aware of all the copy around you. Just for fun, and to get some
writing samples, rewrite some of it. If this gives you a real buzz, and you find
it easy, you've just found yourself a new profession. Here's a newsflash: most
copy is basic and uninspired. Display creativity in the copy you write, and
clients will line up to hire you.
Develop a Prospective Clients database
Your prospective clients fall into two groups: businesses that write their
own marketing communications material in-house, and the advertising industry ---
agencies for advertising, public relations, graphic design, and marketing.
Start out by targeting the local companies stuffing your letterbox. The
competition will be minimal. Chances are you'll be the first copywriter to
approach them. The writing experience and confidence you gain from doing this
work will encourage you to move on to bigger businesses.
Here's your business prospecting process in a nutshell:
* find a prospect;
* enter the prospect into your Prospective Clients database;
* brainstorm how you can offer the prospect a better ROI;
* phone and/ or send a letter to the prospect outlining what you can do for him;
* follow up.
You need a way to keep track of your prospects, so create a prospects database.
Your Prospective Clients database doesn't have to be fancy. I use a Microsoft
Excel spreadsheet. You can keep your database in a word processor, if that's
what's easiest for you.
Write your first direct mail letter advertising your services
The easiest and cheapest way to get clients for your new business is to write
personalized letters. In the future, when your business is well established, you
may want to invest in a commercial list, and send your letters to a few thousand
advertising or PR agencies at once. When you're starting out however, sending
personalized letters is cost effective, and you won't find yourself with more
work than you can handle.
Each letter you send out addresses a specific need you perceive the business
has. When I send out a letter to the real estate agents I mentioned earlier, for
example, I'll be using the copy from their flyers, and making suggestions as to
how the copy could be improved. (I'll be doing this extremely diplomatically, of
course.) I'll be emphasizing "retain-ability," how to get the people
receiving the flyers to keep them.
Each letter I write will take me around half an hour. Why? After all, I could
just do a mail merge, and send out 100 letters in that time. The reason I don't
do that is because when you're writing a direct mail letter, you need to think
like the person who's receiving your letter. Everyone in the world has a single
mindset: "What's in it for me"? Therefore, you need to show what you
can do for their particular business. You have to provide something of value, up
front.
A week or so after I've sent out the letters, I'll call the businesses to follow
up. Not every business I target will use my services. However, a number will.
They'll either have work for me immediately, or within a few months.
Get started today
Give copywriting a try. Although you don't get a byline for your work, you do
get the gratitude of your clients, and real money for your writing.
Copyright ©
Angela Booth 2002
Australian author and journalist Angela Booth writes about business,
technology, health, and creativity for print and online publications. She also
writes copy for businesses large and small and is currently facilitating an
online workshop for freelance copywriters at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Freelance_Copywriting
