Aspiring copywriters have found that it can be quite hard to break into the growing industry. You can’t exactly learn copywriting in school so people turn to online resources and actual experience to gain knowledge in the space.
Learning copywriting from scratch is quite easy, especially if you come from a digital marketing background. You’ll need to be able to do research, take on constructive criticism, and speak to your audience. Regardless of your discipline though, the practice will still take time (about 3-5 months) and effort to learn. Don’t expect to write great copy write from the start.
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Why Is It Hard To Learn Copywriting?
From my experience, it takes about 3-6 months to learn the basic fundamentals of copywriting. It takes even longer to master them. It’s as they say, “anything worth doing is going to be difficult”, and I personally believe that this moderate barrier to entry is actually a good thing.
For one thing, it keeps the marketplace honest. There are many people who claim to be copywriters but fail to elaborate on the most important step of the process (hint: it’s research).
A moderate barrier to entry also encourages new copywriters to continue their learning process, making copywriting a great alternative career path for anyone looking to do something new.
But the time factor isn’t the only variable that makes copywriting difficult to learn.
I’d argue that learning and finding a research process that works for you is the hardest part of learning copywriting. It is absolutely essential to know where you have to go to find the information you need. Whether it’s through interviews, market research, or a simple Google Search, research allows you to understand your target market and create copy that satisfies their needs.
This holds true especially when you’re working on a topic you’re not all too familiar with, but need to write about.
Understand the business you’re dealing with, understand their product and the value it provides, and make sure that you’re addressing the pain points of the consumer.
A Simple Tip To Quickly Become A Copywriting Pro
So what can you do to quickly become a copywriting pro? Well, the answer is actually pretty simple: keep on reading.
There are two types of reading that people do. One is for leisure and the other is to learn new things. While reading for leisure might be relaxing and fun, it’s not necessarily educational and informative.
Reading to learn copywriting is different from reading for relaxation because you look at different things.
When I read to learn how to write better, I take note of the following things:
- Sentence Structure
- Tonality
- Purpose
- Interesting Phrases and Analogies
I take note of what I find interesting and write down physical notes (yes, some people still do that) of what I think I could use later on.
To successfully read and study the copywriting pros, I suggest you find someone whose work you admire and then copy their work word-for-word then highlight things that stick out to you. These people could be anyone from Seth Godin or Chris Do from the Futr, just make sure that their work is something you would like to emulate.
Skills You Need To Learn For Copywriting
Here’s the thing, there’s actually no setlist of skills that you need to learn as a copywriter. Like I said before, there’s no official school curriculum for this so you’ll be learning a lot more from on the job experiences than anything else.
But what exactly does it take to become a great copywriter? Here are 5 key copywriting skills that I believe every writer needs to create brilliant content for the web.
- Ability To Do Market Research
- Take on Constructive Criticism
- Learn Basic SEO knowledge
- Understanding of Marketing Psychology
- Adapt To The Tone And Voice Of A Business
The mastery and correct combination of these skills will lead to one key outcome: hooking the reader.
After all, the purpose of a piece of copy is to convince people to commit to a certain action, right? Whether it’s to sign up for a newsletter or buy your product, the formula, I think, is the same.
It all boils down to the quality of your writing, stemming from hours of research and hours more of editing.
Is It Hard To Learn Copywriting?
Copywriting is hard to learn on your own so long as you lack the initiative and drive to learn the skills needed to produce better copy. A solid learning system of consistent learning and reflective assessment will go a long way to helping you write better copy.
The job itself isn’t glamorous. It’s not like you can get extremely famous for writing great ads nor is it particularly exciting.
But the thing is: the industry is growing and businesses are hiring copywriters like crazy.
Great copywriters can work from anywhere in the world and can easily earn six figures.
So if it’s not hard to learn to write copy and if the industry is growing and results are coming in faster, what are you waiting for?
