So what is a copywriter?

Posted on May 14, 2010 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Trackback URL

When people ask me what I do for a crust and I answer, ‘copywriter’ the response I often get is: ‘so what is a copywriter?’

Typically, I say that a copywriter is simply a fancy term meaning ‘I write stuff’ for publication. The word ‘copy’ refers to the ‘stuff’ or the set of words, whether it is content on a website, a script for a television commercial or articles in a newsletter.

Over the years I have also specialised in writing long copy for legal documents such as annual reports and company and investment prospectuses – these too represent the ‘stuff’ I write. Writing copy for technical documents is of course quite different from writing an advertisement selling the benefits of, say, a brand of baby food or toothpaste but the underlying principles are the same.

Copyblogger provides a a concise description of what a copywriter does:

“The art and science of copywriting involves strategically writing words that promote a person, product, business, opinion, or idea, with the ultimate intention of having the reader take some form of action”

In reality though, the writing is only half the story. As a copywriter, I probably spend about 50% of my time doing research than actually sitting at the keyboard typing text. To write effective copy that gets the reader to ‘take some form of action’ requires research. This involves finding out the benefits of the product, finding out about who you are writing to/for (your ‘target audience’), and determining the best way to make your words stand out.

A final word: copywriting should not be confused with ‘copyrighting’. Copyright is about ownership of intellectual property and copyrighting refers to the process of making sure intellectual property is protected by law from plagiarism.