What does a copywriter write about? And will you enjoy writing about uninteresting topics?
Is there an uninteresting topic, after all? Be humble enough to see the art in the ordinary.
Years ago, when I was thinking about pursuing my writing passion again, I came across a mysterious term called "copywriter." A blogger and copywriter whose name I've sadly forgotten recommended this path for enthusiastic writers. Get hired by an agency as a copywriter and spend your evenings doing something more interesting, like writing your books. She said you'll have to accept that you'll be "writing descriptions for washing machines and ironing machines for money." Still, you'll be writing for a living, and that's worth it.
I decided to go for it.
Today, I'm amazed that a professional copywriter could have written something like that. Because writing about a washing machine so the reader enjoys my writing is the biggest challenge. I love writing for heating engineers and MOT owners and describing standard products.
Today, I know that copywriting is not mere writing but saleswriting
Writing about washing machines in a way that makes the reader want to buy them and leads the reader line by line to the call to action is the art.
Thus, it would never occur to me to think of iron descriptions as something I have to get through to have time for the actual work, the artistic work.
Of course, I am happy when I can write history articles, personal development pieces, and work on my own projects.
However, the real challenge comes when I make my client's ideal customer come to life in my mind. I vividly imagine their problems and come up with sales arguments, and when crafting a dramatic story about "irons and washing machines," I spark it with the right emotions.
That is the creative writing for me.
A master writer can make a drama about a watching machine
Place Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, or ... (fill in your favourite writer) at the keyboard. They'll make window cleaning a masterpiece. Psychological dramas will run in the head of the woman who washes the windows. You will experience her dread of heights, face her fears with her, and you will feel her pain in her overworked arms and taste sweat pouring down her face. Heat will hit you, and your heart will pound faster as she slips on the sil and nearly falls down.
If a good writer can describe an ordinary activity like that, why shouldn't a copywriter? Anyone who feels their client's products are boring hasn't put their heart into their craft. Writing a heartwarming text about a stray kitten, an exciting advert for skydiving, or a hilarious review of a good pub is no challenge.
Write an exciting text about a clothes dryer, a heartwarming story about a coffee grinder and a hilarious advert for a language school, and I'll bow down to you. For that is the true art, the art of copywriting.
And is there actually any such thing as an ordinary, uninteresting topic?
What is an uninteresting topic?
Any activity that people find attractive enough to spend money on, any product that people buy and someone makes money on, has to be interesting enough for people to read about. Moreover, what you find attractive may not be interesting at all to your readers.
For example, I write about history. I find it unique, breathtaking and gut-wrenching. Not everyone sees it that way; I have readers, but not nearly as many as I expected. And when I tell someone I love history and teach history, I get an apologetic smile and the line, "I hated history at school." And I don't understand; I don't get it, but I accept it. Because the entrepreneur needs to accept the truth.
Is copywriting an art?
I believe marketing is an art. It combines the art of words, psychology, and the visual and musical aspects. A marketer must be able to communicate a message simply and effectively. Copywriting is an art, an applied art, but an art nevertheless.
A copywriter must be a psychologist who can play with words and with rhythm.
And it doesn't matter if she writes about stray kittens or heat pumps; the goal is the same, and the form is the same. And the person who writes an epic poem about heat pumps that grabs the ideal client by the heart is the true artist. (Of course, the epic poem is a metaphor; please don't write poems about heat pumps!)
Such a copywriter is irreplaceable.
Artificial intelligence will soon replace writers who only hit the keyboard and write some words for SEO. Wordsmiths will always be safe. If you want to be irreplaceable, train for just that:
Write stories
Artificial intelligence will never be able to write stories; nothing grabs a reader like a story. A story about the threateningly expensive energy that a heat pump saves and the relief the customer feels when they know they can pay the bills.
Or a story about a clogged drain that paralyzes a household and a hero with a pressure washer who comes to save the day.
Training for this skill is easy. On your way to the office or while walking in the woods, you can make up stories about the most ordinary things around you.
Learn to write for people, not for search engines.
Search engines are learning to recognize who writes for them and who writes for people. And they rank content for people higher. Soon, they'll get better and better at it, and content created for search engines will be useless to them, too. A copywriter writes for people; a copywriter is a psychologist and must be able to empathize with the client. You can practice this every time you talk to a friend. Put yourself in the other person's shoes and see things through their eyes.
Read ordinary passages
When you read a book, focus on how the master of words describes just ordinary things and what emotions these passages spark. This can be your trump card.
Above all, learn that there is no such thing as an ordinary or uninteresting subject. Be humble enough to admit it. Your sales writing is a heroic feat that, if done right, can make the world a better place.
Connect a heating engineer with a client desperate for a reliable craftsman. You'll do more good than trying to change the world with worthwhile literature. You'll save one person's household, save them worry and money in challenging times, and give the honest craftsman the contracts they deserve.
That's the beauty of copywriting.
Because it's the most ordinary copy that delivers the most lavish praise.
We just need to learn to see it that way.