The Four Characteristics of a Good Copywriter

Curiosity. Without a surplus of this cat-killing quality, you will neither enjoy nor be successful at copywriting. As an Internet marketing agency copywriter, you may be called to write on everything from bridesmaid gowns to free-range chicken to cubicle furniture. If you work in-house, you will be challenged endlessly to come up with new angles on the same lines of products and services. Without a genuine lust for learning, and healthy tolerance for research, you will not be able to apprentice yourself to understanding the nuts-and bolts of everyday objects (a crux of copywriting). If you crave knowledge for knowledge sake, are tickled by trivia, and love knowing the inside story, you will flourish in a copywriting career. If you want to be the one reading something interesting, rather than writing something interesting, career shop elsewhere. PI Pearl of Wisdom: Love the show “How Stuff Works”? You’ll love copywriting.
Perceptiveness. A huge part of copywriting (and Internet marketing in general) is being able to strike a cord with a particular audience. Whereas with other writing careers like journalism, you have the luxury of interpreting the person’s face and body language as you speak, copywriting is talking to an invisible audience. So it takes a great deal of perceptiveness and understanding of basic human psychology to be a good copywriter. What motivates your target demographic-what makes them angry, frustrated, happy and hopeful-is always in the forefront of a good copywriter’s mind. PI Pearl of Wisdom: Did you love psychology in school? You’ll love copywriting.
Discernment. As a copywriter, it will be your job to take giant glaciers of information, and distill them down to bite-size Internet marketing morsels: taglines, bullets, banners, or a single, gleaming benefit. You have to figure out what information matters, and what information can be discarded. This combination of common sense, reasoning and marketing savvy add up to discernment. Good discernment is the dealbreaker that determines whether your stuff will sell or sink. PI Pearl of Wisdom: Are you the one that nails how a friend is feeling, even when they themselves are still confused? You’ll love copywriting.
Humility. The single biggest distinction between copywriting and all other forms of writing careers (with the exception of ghost-writing) is that you don’t get any credit for your work. This isn’t all bad, but it doesn’t work for everyone. In my case I traded the glory of my byline on the front page for better pay, health insurance, and standardized hours. But frequently people who know me will compliment me on my work and ask me how I can stand letting other people take credit for it. This is one of the caveats of a copywriting career, and something to consider when deciding whether to choose this career path. PI Pearl of Wisdom: If you love behind-the-scenes work like set designer or sous chef, you will love copywriting.

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When it comes to marketing, it’s always peanut butter and jelly time.

No, this isn’t some lame joke about how lunchtime is the best part of an internet marketing gig, nor is it some vaguely incestuous reference to the necessary blend between technology and creative. Actually, this is a story about my fourth grade teacher, who in between Newberry classics and ancient Greece, gave me my most valuable internet marketing lesson to date.

The infamous peanut butter and jelly lesson goes something like this, and I’m sure many of you can relate:

Her: “Tell me step by step how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

Me: “Pull out two pieces of bread.”

So far, so good.

Me: “Now open the jam and spread it.”

Teacher opens jam and starts spreading on desk.

Me (alarmed): “No, not on the desk, on the bread! ON THE BREAD!”

Teacher (innocently): “Well why didn’t you say so?”

This went on for quite some time, and by the time my teacher completed my instructions there was peanut butter on the projector and saw marks in the Social Studies textbook. As a saucer-eyed fourth grader, it was pretty much the equivalent to the fall-out from a war, and I was totally freaked.

My guess is, anyone who has ever worked in internet marketing in a non-freelancer capacity has dealt with a not-on-the-desk-on-the-bread moment. As an impressionable nine year old, I wanted to slap my still-hot-from-recess forehead and marvel at my octogenarian teacher’s ineptitude to infer even the most obvious instructions on how to make the most basic of items: a freaking peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Now, as a creative lead, I am firmly sandwiched myself under a host of managers and over a rotating team of designers, writers and developers. What middle management blues have taught me more than anything is that there are in fact two secret staple ingredients that keep a simple project from turning into ludicrous pandemonium.

During my years in internet marketing, I have both been amazed and amazed others with unbelievable gaps in communication that have led to truly outlandish consequences. After spending what felt like forever creating my latest marketing task: including links, examples, contacts, visuals, I am startled again and again when my peanut butter and jelly sandwich becomes in the hands of another an elephant eating a peanut, a jellyfish with peanut butter smeared on top, a Sand Witch who craves only peanut butter and jelly. While it is easy to marvel at other’s perceived ineptitude I know there are many, many times where I myself have been guilty of spreading peanut butter on the desk.

The moral? Over communication on the manager’s part and critical thinking on the team’s part is the only truly satisfying combination. If you are a marketing manager, don’t worry about talking down to your team, and don’t assume they will know what you are talking about. Provide every last scrap of information you have ever heard on the topic. When I am creating a marketing task, I start with the five W’s of journalism, make sure I’ve included all relevant links and documents, and try to include an example or two. This may sound like a laborious amount of work but it will save you centuries in the long run.

If, on the other hand, you are the person receiving the task, think critically about whether the solution to your problem, while not explicitly detailed, is relatively obvious. If so, go with your common sense. Do as much independent research as you can to try and come up with answers, and then be persistent about following up with the project manager about the questions a simple Google search won’t solve.

One without the other is as bad as peanut butter without jelly, but with both overcommunication and critical thinking in place your next internet marketing project is bound to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

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