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What is the most important skill a copywriter should have, in your opinion?

#job #copywriting #copywriter #advertising #advertisement #marketing #business #sales #writing #networking #career

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Brenda D.’s Answer

Empathy. Putting yourself in the shoes of the audience you're writing for, thinking about their needs and pain points. How are you helping or solving their issues?
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Erin’s Answer

You must be able to write succinctly and creatively. Also, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of excellent grammar. Grammatical errors can compromise how seriously people take your message. I once had a boss who, out of principle, threw out any resume he received with grammatical errors.
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Carole’s Answer

Elizabeth; To become really good copy writer you must like to write that is very important since words will be your main items for whatever project or book that you work on so: I would like to give you a few points within the writing skills. 1. words can be used in many different ways so you must think ahead about how you want your project to look like, if it is a play it should have a theme in which your words would accessorize whatever your written, and make sure that your audience will understand that you are trying to write. 2.Put your in the audience at your audience and see if it works. 3. be creative with your words and use the Thesaurus to find other words that are better and more colorful for the audience.4. An English degree might help you with your writing tools, if you don't have a degree take some creative writing classes which will help you start to imagine what your audience might be like 5. you have to catch your audience attention to get their interest going on whatever project you are doing. One way to get some experience is to volunteer to do some copy writing, but you should take a few classes and the more you take the better you will be; If you want to get a job you will have to be somewhat experienced and that could be: get an internship or volunteer; if you are in school maybe you can write for the school paper or other types of groups in which you can use your skills. If you join some groups there will be opportunities to write about all the things that this group does. I hope these suggestions will help you in the future and if you follow some of the suggestions you will be able to show your knowledge and get the job you would like. I wish you the best in your search for copy writing career!

Carole recommends the following next steps:

classes at school or adult classes
More creative types of writing classes
Volunteer to write for a group of peers or work in a business environment.
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Brian’s Answer

Remember the power of three... three thoughts max... make your writing punchy, short, and memorable...
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Jen’s Answer

I'm with Bernard. Make sure whoever you're writing for leaves with that one main takeaway.
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Chris’s Answer

Hi again Paajcha!

I totally agree with Brenda's answer in regards to empathy - but it's also important to be able to be able to listen and take criticism well. As I mentioned in my other post, being able to collaborate is key, and if you are not able to heed the opinions of others, it will not only affect the quality of your work, but also how people view the quality of YOU to work with.
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Elizabeth’s Answer

I do know from my my experience you want to write short paragraphs. Know your grammar and the ability to understand your audience. Use the right tone, & clearly express to them what is important! You want to use headlines that keep reader interest and often they will skim reading mostly headlines. You only have a few second to capture there attention keeping them reading. Keep in mind most articles use about a 6th grade reading level!
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Elizabeth’s Answer

I would highly recommend that you learn SEO as well! Because so much writing goes on the internet and as a copyrighter you will have an excellent advantage in many ways! I use a copywriter in my business and what I do is write my blog post, however being dyslexic she is amazing she really is able to understand my writing and is amazing when it comes to expressing my feelings and everything! She’s is also very well Knowledgeable about dyslexia. It’s very important to be able to write articles that have the right headlines, knowing the proper way to write because so much content is on the computer.
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Maryse’s Answer

Hello again Paajcha,

I would say the most important skill in business copywriting is PERSEVERANCE. I say this because often clients/team members will edit and comment on your copy and it's easy to become frustrated or at a loss of how to improve it. I have seen copy go to five executives for approval and often three of them will give competing feedback: keep this; no, don't keep this, make shorter; it's too short, use technical terms; keep the copy simple, etc. I have often re-written text three-five times before it is approved by the CEO. Put your frustration at bay and stick with it. Good copy is a thing of beauty!
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Bernard’s Answer

In addition to the other answers, I would say is incredibly important that you focus on what's the single takeaway message you want your reader to leave with. One will probably want to add other things but it will be very important to maintain restraint and self-discipline so the messaging is simple and focused. Hope this helps
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Martin’s Answer

Some great advice above. I would add that a great copywriter needs to be able to understand what is the problem that they are trying to solve for with advertising. A great copywriter needs to be able to ask difficult questions and challenge their client to deliver a great brief. Without a great brief it will be difficult for a copywriter to deliver great creative work.
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Gloria’s Answer

You have gotten a lot of great advice so far. I just want to add one more thing for your consideration. If you are going to be a copywriter, you should consider the audience that will be reading whatever you are reviewing. If there is an international audience where the content may need to be translated, you should consider word usage. I would say that you should study global English concepts. Some others have mentioned making sure to reference the dictionary for meaning. I would take it a step further and say that you should, whenever possible, use the word where the word expresses the first definition in the dictionary. This is due, in part, to the fact that some of your audience may be English as a second language speakers who will be translating the English into their native language many times. It will allow your message to translate better. Again, this means that you should know the audience who will consume this message.
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Sam’s Answer

Paajcha, it's a small thing, but one thing I really had to work on was the ability to re-read my work with fresh eyes. It can be really challenging sometimes to create in a vacuum, and mistakes become "invisible." I spend a lot of time re-reading my work out loud and double-checking using tech tools like Word's grammar/spell check or grammarly to minimize the amount of rework on submitted pieces. :)
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Henry’s Answer

I would stress the ability—and willingness—to rewrite. Accept feedback constructively, see the weak spots, redundancies, etc., and deal with them head on. Always remember that revision is not failure; it's part of the process and arguably more important than your ability to crank out a rough draft. Sometimes our ideas, messages, and stories aren't fully formed until we get to the end of what we're writing, which means that everything coming before that end might be out of sync with where you landed. Going back to the start to align everything is a crucial part of writing.
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