5 Essential Copywriting Skills You Need
to Be a Copywriter

See also: Writing Marketing Copy

While some think that being a copywriter is easy, it requires you to have some the skills to come up with a copy that readers will enjoy reading.

Everywhere you look, you'll come across the work of a copywriter.

Moreover, copywriting is among the most lucrative jobs, with freelance copywriters earning up to $250 per hour.

To become a good copywriter, though, you need adequate knowledge of your niche and a few more skills to improve your writing.

So, whether you've just graduated, or you have some experience in copywriting, it's time to find out the essential skills you need to become a successful copywriter.

What Does a Copywriter Do?

First, if you're interested in becoming a copywriter, you need to know what copywriting entails.

In short, copywriting is all about writing promotional material.

For instance, copywriters are usually responsible for the following:

  • Creating engaging content for email campaigns and newsletters.

  • Writing content for websites and provide landing pages copy.

  • Creating engaging blog posts.

  • Contributing guest posts to various blogs and websites.

  • Writing copy for social media advertisements.

  • Planning video scripts for creating an online course.

  • Providing accurate product descriptions and headlines.

  • Being responsible for educational materials like creating presentations and white papers.

Their main goal is to write something that will make the reader engage with the content and lead them one step closer to taking action.

Great writers with outstanding copywriting skills will persuade readers to click, provide their information or purchase.

The goal is always the same: get a reader to take action and convert them into a customer.


How to get started in Copywriting

Copywriting isn't something that you need formal training to do. However, if you want to succeed, you need to get as much experience in the copywriting field as possible.

  • Start as a freelance copywriter: Starting as a freelancer is much more difficult than working for a company. However, it allows you to be your own boss and work flexible hours. First, you need to learn the ropes, deal with rejection, and find a way to get as many jobs as possible since it's a remote writing job. Succeeding in freelance copywriting will take time. That shouldn't scare you, though. Be patient, try to enrich your portfolio with quality pieces, and experiment with different strategies.

  • Work in-house as an agency or company copywriter: Finding an in-house copywriting job will offer you a stable income. If you work under a professional copywriter, you'll manage to get valuable advice and hone your copywriting skills more easily. Being in-house has all the pros and cons of working in an office environment. If you aren't afraid of working hard, having deadlines, and dealing with office life, then working in-house will help you succeed faster.

Whether you want to start as a freelancer or as an agency/company copywriter, you need to grow your skills as much as possible.

The more you cultivate your skills and boost your profile, the easier it will be for you to get more opportunities.

Now, let's see what copywriting skills you need to develop.

Have a Passion for Writing

The first copywriting skill you need is, of course, the art of writing. But before you master that, you need to be passionate about it.

While you might have excellent grammar and a vast vocabulary to choose from, if you don't like writing, then your job will be more difficult.

However, if you want to write about different topics and enjoy writing, then this should be a piece of cake for you.

While not every piece of content will be equally interesting, having a positive attitude about writing is one of the principles of a successful copywriting career.

Then, you can start mastering your writing skills.

You can do that by studying numerous copywriting articles, polishing your style, or even attend online writing workshops.

Creative Thinking

Creativity is all about creating something new from scratch.

This way of looking at things from a different angle, and coming up with innovative ideas and solutions is called creative thinking.

As a copywriter, you might need to dive into your creative pool more often than you think.

After all, if you are involved in launching a marketing campaign, you need to come up with an incredible idea that will intrigue your audience and inspire them to take action.

Creative thinking, though, varies from person to person.

If you love writing but have a hard time coming up with creative ideas, you need to find the right techniques to stimulate creative thinking.

Among other things, you can:

  • Challenge yourself to come up with solutions and ideas that are out of your comfort zone.

  • Boost your creative reservoirs with content that will inspire you and make you think more creatively.

  • Embrace new ideas and opportunities to learn something new.

  • Listen to other people, expand your horizons, and adopt a diverse view of things.

Expanding your way of thinking and embracing new ideas will help you increase your creativity and come up with innovative solutions.

So, don't hesitate to grab the opportunity to learn and evolve at every chance.

Analytical Skills

To be a successful copywriter, you also need to develop your analytical skills and put them into practice as much as possible.

Having analytical skills is all about collecting and analyzing information to come up with the best solutions and decisions.

Copywriters with advanced analytical skills can go through large volumes of data and discover patterns and trends.

Then, they can use them to deliver the right message to the right audience. Being analytical is an important copywriting skill you need to develop as it will assist your career in marketing.

For instance, mastering data analysis is one of the soft digital marketing skills you'll need to start a career in digital marketing.

To develop your analytical skills, you need to see them as a whole consisting of various other skills.

Research Skills

As a copywriter, you will have to write about a plethora of topics. To do so, you might need a variety of resources to back up your claims and make your writing more credible.

Finding the right resources will help your copy stand out.

While researching isn't rocket science, you need to refine your skills to save time and increase your efficiency.

Since the majority of resources comes from online sources, you need to know how to search for information using search engines.

When you find the right sources, though, you also need to make sure that they are indeed legitimate and useful for your content.

For instance, different types of marketing collateral will require very different sources.

Knowing what to look for and where to find it is an essential copywriting skill to improve and simplify your work.

Critical thinking

Critical thinking is a rather complex process. In short, though, this valuable skill is all about analyzing and evaluating ideas based on objectivity and logic.

Evaluating the validity of the information you come across online will help you boost your copywriting skills.

Furthermore, critical thinking will allow you to understand the links between ideas, expand them, and come up with quality content for your readers.

Attention to detail

An eye for detail is among the top skills that graduates list on their CVs.

Thoroughness and accuracy are also among the skills that employers look for in candidates.

The reason is quite simple. If you have strong attention to detail, then you will be able to plan and design your tasks more efficiently.

For copywriting, this means that you will manage to fulfill your tasks in a timely and orderly manner and minimize sloppiness.

Attention to detail is a must copywriting skill for every writer. To boost it, you need to listen and communicate with your teammates and your managers, be diligent, and plan your copy before you write it.



Write for Humans

Sometimes writers forget that the most crucial part of their writing isn't their SEO score but the reader.

Even experienced writers sometimes get caught up in the metrics and forget that the user experience is the most important thing.

Understanding what a reader wants is a valuable skill you need to become a successful copywriter.

Consequently, you should focus on using your copy as a means of providing your audience with actionable solutions.

Learning how to use your keywords will allow you to write better copy and provide your readers with great experiences and the best content.

Since marketing is all about the customer, your copywriting skills will also allow you to expand your marketing skills and become a successful copywriter in the marketing industry.

Master the Art of Headlines

It might seem funny, but headline creation is a skill of its own.

Headlines are the first thing your reader will come across. If your headline isn't appealing, then your audience will be instantly disengaged.

As a result, they won't read your value proposition or even click on your well-planned call-to-action.

Mastering the art of headlines requires practice and a lot of research. The best place to start is to understand your target audience and what they want to see in your headlines.

According to CrazyEgg, highlighting the benefits of your copy in a single line will help you create winning headlines.

But apart from that, finding the right headlines is a process of trial and error.

If you want to write professional and engaging headlines, put them to the test, and don't hesitate to make changes.


Becoming a Copywriter

Mastering the art of copywriting requires a variety of skills to help you succeed.

While you can easily learn or improve these skills, you need to be sure that copywriting is something you like.

In a world where copywriting is sought after by small and large businesses and agencies, you need to find a way to spread your copywriting wings.

Being passionate about writing is the first step to pursue a profitable career as a copywriter.

With the right skills, you will achieve your dreams, improve your writing, and land the copywriting job you always dreamed of.


About the Author


Marilia Dimitriou

Marilia Dimitriou is a Creative Writer working for email marketing automation software Moosend. Her passion for writing has made her find new ways to combine the art of creative writing with SEO copywriting.

When she’s not writing articles, you’ll find her enthusing over marketing tech and automation.

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