What is a copywriter?
When someone asks what I do, I sometimes say "copywriter." They nod. They think they understand.
But I'm not so sure about that. I'm not even always sure I understand it myself.
The problem with the word
"Copywriting" is a vague term. Which is, ironically, bad copywriting.
Ask ten people what it is, and you’ll get ten different answers. Advertising copy. Websites. Slogans. Video scripts. Social media posts. Emails that encourage people to take action.
All correct. All incomplete.
What I personally mean by that
I worked as a radio host on national Belgian radio for years. Live, at festivals, in a studio where everything had to be perfect the first time around. You don’t get a second chance when you’re live on the air.
During those years, I learned that one question makes all the difference. Not, “How do I explain this clearly?” but, “How do I make someone want to listen?”
That is a fundamentally different starting point.
A lot of copywriting starts with the message. What do we want to say? How can we say it effectively? How do we make an impression?
Good copy starts with the reader. What are they already feeling? What do they recognize? At what point do they nod in agreement?
That’s the difference between text that people skip over and text that makes them think, “This is about me.”
When do you need a copywriter?
If you catch yourself having any of these thoughts:
My website has been up for a while, but I'm not entirely satisfied with it myself.
I'm not really sure how to explain what I do in a single sentence.
I write things regularly, but they don't turn out the way I want them to.
Those aren’t design or strategy issues. They’re wording issues. And words are what a copywriter works with.
What a good copywriter doesn't do
I don’t make up lies that sound better than the truth. I don’t exaggerate your product’s merits. I don’t write copy that nobody understands but that sounds professional.
A good copywriter finds the words that are already there—the ones that are inside you, but that you can’t quite put into words yourself.
That’s the difference between words that stick and words that no one remembers.
