Guest Post: How to Get Copywriting Clients

Who remembers Doug? He’s becoming quite the regular around here, after his first copywriting guest post went live here on my site a few weeks back.

Doug is a budding copywriter over in the US - and to help him get some of his words published, I’ve agreed to post them on laurenholden.co.uk. During this mentoring process between the pair of us, Doug has been picking up some copywriting tips and tricks - and hopefully they’ve been helpful.

This week, Doug’s talking about how to get copywriting clients, as this is something he’s working on himself. Take it away, Doug…

 You know that feeling you get when you open an email a prospective client sent you, just to learn that another
pitch didn’t make the cut? Let that feeling sink in…now say goodbye to it forever.

Bon Voyage!

Whether you’re just starting out, or the clients you want are shooting you down (ouch), there are simple things you can do to guarantee success in your web copywriting future.

Step 1: Start Writing More

It doesn’t matter if it’s a birthday card to your Grandma you’ve putting off writing (for 3 years in a row), or the
erotic novel you never finished, you NEED to start somewhere.

If you want to reach the goals you set for yourself, you need to train your brain to make captivating content. The best way to write good copy is to write bad copy. So, warm up those phalanges and start typing.

Step 2: Find Support

Find someone that wants to grow with you. Reach out to people in your network and ask if they want to be your accountability buddy. Your new bestie should want it even more than you do.

This is especially important when the people in your life don’t have the same vision as you. Instead of getting salty at your mom for not supporting you, don’t underestimate this step. Plus, you’ll also learn how to make
money from copywriting twice as fast! Heck, start making your own professional copywriters network.
It’s gunna be a long road, but it doesn’t have to be a lonely one.

Step 3: Find a Mentor.

“But how? No one wants to help me.” Boohoo!

Finding a mentor is a lot easier than people make it sound. If you dedicate a day to contacting other successful copywriters, you’ll eventually find someone that is willing to help you succeed. Just make sure to expect rejection about 99% off the time.

You know those exotic birds you watch on National Geographic that dance for a mate? Their success rate is only 10%. You’re the exotic bird. Now strut your stuff, sexy!

So, put the stalking skills you’ve perfected over the many years of using the Internet to good use! Type in “freelance copywriter website” into Google and start searching.

Find professionals in their field and likeminded individuals on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Step 4: Create a Kick Ass Portfolio

 Now you’re ready to create your copywriter portfolio. If you already have one, make it better with the knowledge and experience you’ve gained working with your mentors. Send your portfolio to your mentors and ask what they think of it.

Look up other copywriter portfolio examples and see how you can stand out. Take advice from as many sources as you can and, over time, you’ll find clients drooling to work with you.

Step 5: Make Your Own Website

No client you reach out to will invest in you if you don’t look like a professional copywriter. So, start acting like
one. Not having a website is like wearing shorts to an interview. Have the chutzpah to go above and beyond in presenting yourself in a way that a client will respect.

Look at what other copywriters are doing on their website and make yours look better. Stand out in some way. Be creative. What do you bring to the table that no one else can?

Okay, so you’ve spent your days writing to your grandma, sliding in random people’s DMs, and you’ve worked with people that want to see you succeed. You have a kick ass freelance copywriter website and copywriter portfolio. I see success for you, but be patient, build, and keep pursuing. Get after it, you guys!

A huge thanks again to Doug for writing this guest post.

Until next time…

Guest Blog Post: Famous Copywriters - and Why They're Great

When I was starting out as a writer, I was fortunate to have some great mentors who encouraged me along the way. The first was the news editor at the local newspaper I worked on; the second was the director of a former Leeds advertising agency.

I was treated to such a positive start to copywriting that I’m glad to be able to offer some help to would-be copywriters. So, when Douglas P Thorne got in touch, asking me if I’d be his mentor, I was happy to assist. Douglas was keen to write a blog post for my site and this is what he has come up with.

I’m impressed. I’m sure you’ll find it an interesting read, too. Take it away, Douglas…

“Free mentors…get your free mentors here!”

I mean…a lot of them aren’t around anymore, but let me explain. 

If copywriting were a religion, you better believe I’d be worshiping the copywriting gods. Ogilvy, Coleman, Blume…do those names ring any bells? If you’re not familiar with these legends, let me learn ya somethin’; these are the people that have created the commandments of copywriting you can use to succeed.

By studying the greats in this business, you can cut the learning curve in half and start raking in profits faster (and prove all your haters wrong).

Whether you’re just starting out or you have some experience under your belt, one thing rings true: if you wanna be the best, you better study the best. Let’s learn about the top five copywriters that people pay big bucks to study in ad school.

  David Ogilvy

“Don't bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals.” 

David Ogilvy lived between 1911and1999 and is considered the father of advertising.
Everything that you need to know about connecting to the audience you’re selling to can be found in Ogilvy’s philosophies. His take on human behavior, consumer thinking, and product presentation revolutionized the way companies advertise.

Ogilvy on Advertising is a fantastic resource to utilize in your journey as a copywriter. Dove, Rolls Royce, Sears, and many other huge companies owe their success to this man.

Joseph Sugarman

“It's not whether you win or lose in life that's important but whether you play the game. Lose enough and eventually you will win. It's only a matter of time.”

Joseph was born in 1938 and is still alive today. My favorite philosophy of his is that the greatest writers are the greatest editors.

For him, it’s about writing your first draft, fixing it, and repeating the process until your copy is refined and
effective.  Joseph believes that in order to be a successful copywriter, you have to become an expert on what you’re trying to sell. Once you have every detail on the product, you can better connect to your audience.

His book, The Adweek Copywriting Handbook, is a must-read for any aspiring or expert copywriter.

Gary Halpert

“Get yourself a collection of good ads and DM pieces and read them aloud and copy them in your own handwriting.”

Gary Halbert was born in 1938 and passed away in 2007. He’s known as an entrepreneur, direct mail tycoon, and a successful businessman.

He spent time in Boron jail in the ‘80s for tax evasion, but during his time there he wrote a series of letters to his son about how to succeed in direct mail marketing.

These letters were published and became famous for being basically the Bible for copywriters. They became
known as The Boron Letter and can be found online for free. Every copywriter should study these letters throughout their career to remind themselves of the fundamental principles of human behavior and selling.

Laurence Blume

“Everybody eventually discovers that they are an individual with the power to affect their own lives and make it better or not.”

If you want to see what a modern successful copywriter looks like, Laurence Blume is your man. Check out his
website to find his portfolio if you’re looking for what good copy looks like.

He’s completed projects for the BBC, Guardian, Maclaren and more. You’ve probably seen his work somewhere before and studying his portfolio is well worth your time.

John Carlton

“People who never risk anything suffer the worst anxiety of all.”

John's been called "the most respected and ripped-off copywriting wizard alive".

Early in his career, he actually worked for Gary Halbert – talk about finding a good mentor! He is known as being one of the first pioneers of using emails, blogs, and podcasts to advertise the products companies were selling.

His book, Kick Ass Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel, is a must-read for anyone pursuing a career in copywriting.

These copy Titans know their stuff, so dust off the old notebook and get to schoolin’!

Studying what these greats preach can act as a shortcut for your success. Each has their own set of tools and resources that you can find in any copywriting course you’d pay top dollar for.  By no means will the road by short and easy, but it’ll be well worth it to learn about some of the greats.

Until next time…

Thank you very much to Douglas P Thorne for contributing this guest blog post

A Day in the Life of a Copywriter

Well, this certainly feels very self-indulgent. It really does.

A whole post about meeeeeee and what I do for a living. Pah. Bear with me, though. There’s a reason I’m writing it - and it’s this: I get more than a few emails a week from would-be copywriters asking me how my day pans out and if I’d recommend writing for a living.

The answers? No two days are the same and: ‘YES, ABSOLUTELY’. Copywriting’s a very rewarding - if a bit challenging, sometimes - career.

I love it so much, in fact, that it doesn’t feel like a job and is more like a happy little hobby I happen to get paid to indulge in. Yes, really. For me, there’s nothing better than getting to the nitty gritty of a person (or their business) and ensuring my content does them and their work the justice they deserve.

If you love words and people, too, you’re bound to get as much joy as I do from writing words for people.

What exactly is copywriting then?

I get asked this a lot, too. Basically, ‘copy’ means ‘text’ or ‘content’ - so copywriting is essentially the writing of any kind of text.

Seriously, any kind of text you can think of.

Text for websites, brochures, e-newsletters, menus, signs for vans and cars, banner ads, Spotify adverts, radio adverts, press releases - and anything and everything in between. If it has a physical (or digital) surface, try me; I could probably write something on it.

Here’s what a copywriter isn’t:

1. Anything to do with the ‘copyright’ of products, brands or films. It’s a confusing one because, while it sounds the same, it’s spelled differently

2. Someone who ‘copies’ people’s work. Well, I can’t say the same for other copywriters, but all my ideas are legit my own. I know; I’m not as daft as I look.

So, how does a normal day pan out for we copywriters?

Again, I can’t speak for other copywriters. Some work from home (like me) and others craft their content in-house for a company or an agency. But for a self-employed copywriter like me, here’s how a normal day from home might go…

And while I started putting this blog post together weeks ago, I’m hoping now is as good a time as any to share it. What with the covid-19 pandemic, more of us are working from home, so my own productivity tips may well help you, too.

7am - My alarm goes off and I bound out of bed. I jest, because these days I’m not much of a morning person and my kind of bounding out of bed usually means reluctantly slipping out of the sheets, onto the bedroom floor and into the bathroom for a shower. It’s easy to think I’ll just hit ‘Snooze’ on my alarm for another hour when ‘you’re the boss of you’, but I imagine that’s a slippery slope to not doing enough work and letting down clients.

So, I try to make my day as ‘routine’ as it might be if I was heading into an actual office and not my makeshift one at home. A quick change, some breakfast (eggs usually, if you’re asking) and half an hour or so in front of the news on t’telly and I’m more or less ready to begin work.

8.30-9am - Some mornings are slower than others but I tend to sit at my desk - in my lovely little home office - no later than 9am. It’s when my clients will email or call (should any of them need anything) and I don’t like to leave anyone waiting too long for a response. I’ll usually pick a vinyl record or a Spotify playlist to play while I’m typing away - and once my laptop’s on and I’ve written a quick to-do list, I’ll crack on.

9am - My first job of the day tends to be to update a few of my clients’ social media accounts with fresh content their followers can enjoy. If I was a really organised copywriter, I’d have planned a month’s worth of content in advance (and sometimes I do), but thinking up a new update on the day itself means I can ensure it’s a bit more ‘topical’. Currently, I create social media content for the following companies: AAAtraq and Breton Shirt Company (as pictured below).

10am - Once I’ve uploaded or scheduled those small snippets of content, I’ll have another quick check of my inbox and my own social media channels, including Facebook and Instagram, to reply to any enquiries from new or existing clients.

Then I’ll get my teeth into any larger projects I’ve been working on. This varies from day-to-day; I can be working on anything from a full website rewrite to a proofreading job, or even script editing. My online portfolio gives you some indication of the kind of projects I take on - just click on the individual images to see my range of services.

Solid Writing Time

I work in blocks, allocating at least an hour at a time to any piece of work.

I tend not to exceed about two hours in one sitting. If you’re a copywriter too, you’ll know writing can be quite emotionally draining. If you’re not a copywriter, I often compare solid writing time to sitting behind the wheel of a car on a driving lesson or a test. That was a long time ago for me (and it took me six tests before I passed, so I know all too well how draining it is); that level of concentration can’t be sustained for more than a couple of hours at a time - and it’s the same for me when writing copy. Any more than a couple of hours in one sitting and I need at least half an hour or so to do something else entirely.

Once I feel like I’ve made some headway with the piece I’m working on, I’ll consult my list and see how I’m getting on. If I’m happy with the work I've completed so far, I’ll break off for some lunch. If not, I’ll sit a while longer and have another look at the work I’ve created. Sometimes I’ll completely delete it before starting again, but often, I’ll make a quick coffee and see if I can come back to it with a fresher pair of eyes and a more caffeinated head.

A Treat at the End of the Tunnel

I tend not to put more than a handful of items on any one list (usually three, to be honest). Try it, too - it means you’ll feel less overwhelmed.

Another of my top tips for working from home is this: promise yourself a short, five or 10-minute break at the end of each hour’s work. Whether it’s for making a cup of tea or sitting down to a slice of cake, it’ll make you work harder for that hour, knowing there’s a treat at the end of it. I call it a ‘treat at the end of the tunnel’, because, when I’ve been writing for a bit, I feel like you do when you come out of the dark cinema into the light. It’s an odd feeling, isn’t it: like you haven’t seen daylight for a bit.

I’d recommend you hold off checking your inbox during each hour of writing time, as well; falling down the ‘inbox-shaped rabbit hole’ means you’ll feel like you’ve accomplished less at the end of the day.

12pm-1pm (Lunch!)

While it doesn’t always happen, I try to give myself at least an hour’s respite from the glare of my laptop screen. I’d like to say I’m one of those people who heads outside for a spot of fresh air, but I tend to make myself a nice lunch and sit in front of the TV catching up a programme my husband refuses to watch. We have very different tastes when it comes to telly or films, so I use the time to indulge in something completely guilt-free. Sometimes - and while the weather’s warmer - I'll disappear into the garden with a book.

1pm

I allow myself a small slot of time to check my emails and respond to any queries or make a couple of quick calls to clients. Sometimes this takes 10 to 20 minutes, sometimes more. But once I’ve finished doing that, I get back to some more writing and try not to check my inbox..

1.30pm - 3.30pm

Now’s the time to get onto some more writing - and I make sure I knuckle down with minimal distractions. If, after half a day spent writing, I feel I have something worthy of showing a client, I’ll send them a first draft.

I always explain that the first draft is just that - and it’s an opportunity for them to take a good look over what I’ve written and decide if A) they like what they see, or B) they absolutely don’t. Either response is fine.

I tell my clients that, often, it doesn’t matter if they hate what I’ve put together at first, as sometimes finding out what you don’t like is all part of the process. It ensures my work more than meets their expectations in the end.

For example: a client might say, “I absolutely loved this paragraph”, but that paragraph just didn’t sound like me or my company.

It helps me craft copy that hits the nail on the head across every paragraph and every last word. Of course, it all starts with a kick-off call; determining a little more about my client’s business is key to good copy, but getting inside someone’s head is the really tricky part of my role. Sometimes I manage first time, sometimes it takes a bit more to-ing and fro-ing.

3.30pm - 5pm

A quick brew break and another quick check of my emails. I’ll then spend the remainder of the day updating clients regarding my progress on their work. In some cases, I’ll have a sample paragraph of content for new clients to view. In others, I’ll have spent some time researching their brand and that of their competitors.

It’s vital, though, that I get to know each client on a personal level, understanding their quirks and their motives for starting or progressing their business.

My days sometimes involve a spot of ‘traditional journalism’, which I’m always eager to partake in.

I spent five years at a local newspaper and I hugely miss my time there. It gave me the start I needed in writing and developed my passion for people and learning about their stories. I’d like to think that makes me better at my job: getting to the bottom of why my clients do what they do is important when crafting emotive, storytelling-esque piece for their websites.

Some Top Tips for Remote Working

Have you found yourself working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic? I’ve technically been social-distancing for six years (!); as a freelance copywriter, it’s pretty much my day-to-day life to see no one face-to-face.

This is how I cope…

Create a Cosy Workspace

I recently gave my home office a makeover; a lick of paint, a good tidy and some new prints for the walls was enough to breathe new life into the space and give me even more motivation to set up camp there, day in, day out.

Try doing the same, too. While you can’t necessarily bulk buy home trinkets during this social-distancing period, you could see how you could transform it using the storage solutions, prints and pictures you already have. Set about creating a plan for sprucing it up and I promise you’ll be ready and raring to work from home.

Minimise Distractions

Sometimes distractions are good (like when a relative rings you to say hello or the postie pops by with a nice piece of post). But more often than not, distractions will put you off your work for a while.

Try to mimimise the chance of doing the housework or reorganising your wardrobe (the temptation is strong when you work from home) by shutting the door on all those things and holing up in your home office.

Maintain a Routine

It’s easy to get out of a standard 9 to 5 routine when you work from home - and there’s no pressure to even work traditional office hours when you’re your own boss. But try to stick to some form of routine - even if it’s one you’ve created for yourself - and you'll discover that motivation comes much more easily.

Treat ‘Yo Self

I work best when I know there’s a break or a treat coming my way. I talked about this earlier in this piece, but it really does benefit productivity when you work towards a goal: i.e. a piece of cake. Tell yourself you’ll break off for a cuppa and a slice of sponge just as soon as you finish, say, 500 words - and you’ll be writing beautiful prose like the wind.

Don’t Feel Guilty

There’s enough to feel guilty about in life - but not playing by the 9 to 5 rules isn’t one of them. If you work for yourself and you fancy (or need!) a morning off (and you don’t have any looming project deadlines), do it. Similarly, if you just want to spend half an hour on the phone to a friend or relative; if your workload will allow you to do that, go for it. We spend a lot of our life working - and if self-employment gives you the opportunity to be flexible in your approach to the way you work, then why feel bad about that?!

I work a lot at weekends, which means I tend not to feel rubbishy about taking the odd morning off here and there. It’s that little thing called self-care, isn’t it? And sometimes we all have a day when we need some time to relax. Plus, I always find my work is all the better for it when I’m well-rested and ready to get back to it.

Did this blog post help? I hope it gave you some insight into how a copywriter like me plans their day - and why it might make a rewarding career for you, too.

I’m currently preparing some handy, paid-for resources for would-be copywriters - do let me know if you’d like to hear more.

Until next time…

Simplify Your Website and Boost Your Sales and Enquiries

Remember when the advice given to any business was to have a website? Just that one piece of advice: get a website. It doesn’t have to be special, or beautiful, it just needs to be functional.

Somehow over the years, this advice has changed. The advice became: add more calls to action. Get people to sign up to your newsletter by using a pop-up on the home screen (make sure you sign up to mine while you’re here - ha!).

Mobile access is vital — make sure every page is optimised and suitable for smartphone users.

The only piece of advice I agree with in the previous paragraph is to make sure your site is screen optimised. That’s just good sense. You want everyone to easily be able to access your site, whether they’re on a state of
the art Macbook or a clunky old tablet with a smashed-up screen.

Everything else is unimportant, really, although I do find my newsletter pop-up helps to boost my mailing list a bit. Here’s how to streamline your website to make it clearer and easier for your customers to use.

Only Use Calls to Action When Relevant

Don’t you hate it when you’re at the shop trying to pay for something and the cashier asks:

“This is actually on a three-for-two offer, do you want to grab another one?”

It’s great to get something for nothing, but when having to enact that offer is a hassle, it can often hardly seem worth it.

Here’s a similar scenario: If you’ve just nipped into the shop to buy a pen, and you’re being asked if you want a Kinder Egg and a bottle of Pepsi Max because ‘they’re on offer’, this calls into question the idea of relevance.

Do you like these items? Maybe. Would you buy them on a different day? Perhaps. But right now, when all you need is a pen, the extras don’t feel like a bonus. They feel like a pain in the bum.

Keep your call to actions relevant and use them sparingly so they retain their impact and you’ll see much better results than if you pepper them all over the place.

Use a Maximum of One Pop-Up

Pop-ups are the website equivalent of a sales assistant asking: “Can I help you?”

I’ve mentioned already that I have a pop-up on my website. It works well for me, because it’s not too intrusive and it’s offering something genuinely useful — the opportunity to sign up to my newsletter and pick up some handy hints and tips you can use in your business.

It appears once on the homepage once you reach my site, and once you’ve entered your email address (or clicked out of it), it goes away, never to return.

Keep using pop-ups throughout your site, or worse, set them up so they keep returning on every page, and you run the extreme risk of getting on everyone’s nerves. Your well- meaning pop-ups quickly turn from slightly useful to incredibly annoying.

That helpful shop assistant offering to show you what aisle you need to be on has started following you around the shop, asking you, every 30 seconds, if you need them to get anything for you.

You’d leave the shop, wouldn’t you? I’d run out of the door. People will do the same to your website.

These are my main two website content tips for 2020…

Stop hassling your customers. By now, everybody knows how websites work and what they need to do
in order to purchase items or find the information they need. If not, they’ll use your chat box, call you, email, leave a comment on your blog, or message you on any of your available social media profiles. They’ll reach you!

If you’d like a hand with looking over your website, get in touch with me and we can work together on a website audit to get everything back in perfect working order.

Until next time…

Ditch Linked Postings and Make The Most of Social Media Scheduling

There is one thing I’m asking all of my clients this year, and it’s to please, please, please stop linking their social media accounts in order to create duplicate posts.

It sounds like a time-saver, and once-upon a time it was the perfect (and only) way to post on more than one platform at once. Back when social media wasn’t a major sales driver, all we needed to do was keep our profiles mildly active.

Now it’s a huge part of our marketing and sales strategies, it’s time to start looking at how we make ourselves look on each of our chosen social media platforms.

 Why You Shouldn’t Link Instagram To Twitter

A few years ago, Instagram was bought by Facebook. This severed any friendly links Twitter had with Instagram, stopping Instagram posts from being mirrored properly on their site.

You might have noticed that Instagram posts on Twitter show a truncated version of the original Instagram post, and a URL, rather than an image preview. That’s the way it is now, unfortunately, and it’s not changing any time soon.

This means that your customers and followers are being presented with half the picture (pun intended) and this isn’t how to create an engaging post. Instead, use the same picture and take the time to compose a Twitter post separately. This will ensure the right amount of characters are used, and your image will be shown in-Tweet in all its glory.

Why You Shouldn’t Link Twitter To Facebook

Tweets work on Twitter because everyone using the app understands the short, sharp way we communicate on there. Hashtags are used in a different way to search and build trending topics, but also as punchlines to jokes and as memes, and there are different ways of using gifs there too.

Essentially, Twitter is a different world, and should be treated as such. Linking Tweets to your Facebook page looks weird because the most-read and clicked Facebook posts are laden with pictures and have plenty more words to read and engage with. A single line with a URL looks ideal on Twitter. On Facebook it looks impersonal and robotic.

Luckily, Facebook pages don’t need to be updated as often as Twitter, so if you can only take the time to form a great Facebook post a few times a week, this is fine. It’s much, much better than auto-updating every week with content your customers see as surplus and impersonal.

How To Schedule Posts To Save Time

I manage my social media accounts, and the accounts of my clients, using a range of scheduling apps like Buffer and Hootsuite. By scheduling, I can set aside a couple of hours each week to compose posts and arrange them in a calendar for each business and social media platform.

Yes, you can copy and paste if you think the posts will be just as effective, and yes, you can re-use content over time as long as it remains as relevant as it was when you first posted it. The beauty of scheduling apps is
that you can see right there and then what you’ve planned to post over the coming weeks and months, and there are analytics built in to show you which posts have been successful.

On the whole, I find using scheduling apps saves me hours every week, and I no longer miss being able to mirror posts across platform

Finding it hard to keep on top of your social media calendar? Get in touch and let’s talk about how I can help you out.

Until next time…