How to Become a Copywriter: A Complete Guide

“How to become a copywriter” is searched 2,900 times a month on average. That means you, reading this right now, are a part of that 2,900 who are interested in a highly lucrative job in one of the coolest industries in the world.

You hear that? That’s me applauding you from my copy cave in Canada 👏🏾.

In case you have no idea wtf copywriting is, allow me to explain it to you.

Google says it’s the activity or occupation of writing the text of advertisements or publicity material.

Simply put: it’s writing words that help you sell stuff.

But I’ve been a copywriter for 4 years, and I’d put my own spin on this definition. It’s lengthy, but I am a lover of words after all. Here’s my definition:

cop·y·writ·ing:

Using research, strategy, creativity, storytelling, brand voice, and brand personality to connect with your audience, stand out in the market, and sell your products & services.

I told you it was a doozy!

Now, how to become a copywriter — that is the question, and I’m going to answer it in this post.

Here’s the laundry list summary:

1) Education and training you need

2) How to practice copywriting

3) Establishing a brand before finding a client

4) How to get your first client

5) Content marketing vs. cold pitching

1) Education and training you need

If you were wondering, yes. Anyone can become a copywriter. But no. Those reports you wrote in school aren’t enough training for a career as a word magician!

It would help if you had some kind of educational background in marketing, advertising, writing, or psychology. I myself have a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, but it’s not necessary. Because this is only one part of copywriting — creativity is also a big part of it as well.

Writing short stories all your life works. Or, being the outgoing kid in your family that put on original productions every holiday is also good, too! Any kind of creative stuff you did when you were younger has equipped you for a career in copywriting.

All you need to supplement the gaps is the proper training and education — and that’s where self-teaching comes in. If you’re down to pay for a program at an educational institution, all power to you! But money is tight for a lot of people, and you certainly don’t have to do that if you want to be a copywriter.

There are so many ways you can self-educate that doesn’t break the bank. I talk about 5 places to learn copywriting for free here in this post. And you can of course keep following this blog for more branding, copywriting, and marketing education. but the best education are in books, online courses, templates, and work-study programs.

Copywriting Books

1. Copywriting Second Edition

This is the first book on copywriting I ever bought, and I annotated it up the wazoo. It’s chockfull of insightful information about how to write great copy for digital media, branding, advertising, direct marketing, retailing, catalogues, company magazines, and internal communications.

It’s got exercises and up-to-date illustrated examples of award-winning campaigns and communication, interviews from leading copywriters, and case studies of major brands that show the rough road to creating cutting-edge copy.

2. Hey Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Advertising

I love this book for its creative writing techniques and real-life examples so you can see it in action. It’s updated with information on how to navigate the changing technological landscape — from how to create content for Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok to learning how to tell brand stories.

3. The Copywriter’s Handbook

This is a book for everyone who writes or approves copy: copywriters, multichannel marketers, creative directors, freelance writers, marketing managers, and small business owners. It’s got oodles of copywriting techniques that can help you write both print and online ads, emails, and websites that make sense, attract eyeballs, and inspire action (the money-bagging kind).

4. The Science of Selling

A big part of copywriting is getting those words to sell for you — whether it’s a product, a service, or an idea. You want it to inspire an action, and CEO of Hoffeld Group David Hoffeld shows us how to align how we sell with the way the human brain naturally makes buying decisions in this book.

And he’s not one of those “self-proclaimed gurus” — this book comes with cutting-edge research in social psychology, neuroscience, and behavioural economics and the good doctor’s evidence-based approach that connects the dots between science and situations salespeople and business leaders face every day.

5. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

If you want to feel like a smarty pants, this is the book for you. It’s packed cover to cover with up-to-date research, insights, and examples that explains the psychology of why people say yes and how to apply these insights ethically in business and everyday settings. This is vital to any piece of copy you write, and should definitely be added to your TBR list.

6. Ogilvy on Advertising

Whether you want to get a job in advertising or want to write for the underdogs, every copywriter can learn valuable lessons from the pioneer of modern advertising. Time magazine called David Ogilvy “the most sought after wizard in the business.” If you’re looking to be a word magician, who better to learn from than him?

This book covers:

• How to get a job in advertising
• How to choose an agency for your product
• The secrets behind advertising that works
• How to write successful copy—and get people to read it
• Eighteen miracles of research
• What advertising can do for charities

And much, much more.

7. The Copy Book: How Some of the Best Advertising Writers in the World Write Their Advertising

This book — a collaboration between industry head honchos D&AD and TASCHEN — features the chosen work and essays by 53 leading professionals in the world that teach vital lessons for anyone in advertising and marketing.

Online Copywriting Courses

1. CopyHackers Copy School

This is the program I found to be the most valuable when I started my copywriting journey, and still recommend it to any aspiring copywriter to this day. They have trainings and resources that teach you how to write literally any copy for any kind of campaign — offer launch, Black Friday sale, home pages, and more. Get your bank card ready because this is one program that’s worth the investment.

2. 5-Day Challenges from The Copy Posse

Spearheaded by award-winning marketer and copywriter Alex Cattoni, the Copy Posse is a treasure-trove of resources, education, and support for all copywriters in their global community.

The first program I ever took was their 5-day Write & Ignite Challenge, which shows you how to write sales pages. But all of their programs are the real deal, and super affordable (great for any aspiring copywriter that’s tight on funds). Her 8-week program Launch Pad has in-depth video trainings and LIVE group coaching, critiquing and Q&A sessions with Alex and her team of Copy Posse Coaches, and the opportunity to write for real-time businesses.

You can actually see me in one of the training videos for their brand voice program!

3. Site Series® from Between the Lines Copywriting

This is probably one of the most comprehensive website copywriting & content marketing courses on the internet right now. There are 7 chapters with 35+ lessons that teach you the copywriting basics, how to write website copy for 20+ pages, how to launch your website, SEO, blogging, Pinterest marketing, and email marketing.

takes deep breath

And I’m not just talking about it because I personally know Sara — the founder of BTL Copy — but because so many people that have been in her program swear by it.

However, because I know Sara, she let me give you a 10% discount with promo code JEMILLA.

🫳🏾🎤

Copywriting Templates

Many of the programs I mentioned above have templates and resources included, and these books have a lot of information that you can create a template out of (like my free resource Creative Copywriting 101, which has 21 writing techniques I compiled from Hey Whipple, Squeeze This and numerous other sources)

1. Reveal Studio Co. Store

Kaili over at Reveal Studio Co. is one of the first business friends I ever made when I joined this online space, and I’m constantly in awe of her, her mind, and the amazing resources she creates.

Like her 56 Nurture Emails & Social Media Prompts, a collection of diverse topics—with prompts and plug-and-play copy—to make consistently nurturing your email list and social following a reality.

Or, my personal favourite, her Digital Sellers Copy Kit, which includes all the resources, templates, and guidance you need to successfully market and sell your digital offers without breaking a sweat.

2. Ashlyn Writes

Ashlyn S. Carter is one of the first experts I started learning from when I started my copywriting journey. Her YouTube channel, Instagram page, and newsletter are gold mines brimming with industry-leading copy treasures. And I highly recommend looking into her paid templates and programs — because if her freebies are any indication, these paid resources are sure to be well worth the investment.

3. Copy Posse

Aside from their insanely good 5-day programs, their YouTube Channel, and Instagram page, the freebies that the Copy Posse puts out are so damn good. I’ve been referring to their 99 Hot Hooks Template literally everyday since I downloaded it, and could not recommend their other resources more.

4. Storytella Studios© Welcome Sequence Template

If you want to start email marketing (spoiler: YOU SHOULD. It’s a highly worthwhile content marketing & lead generation platform) or are writing emails for a client, then you need to first welcome new subscribers to the email list!

I created a template with 9 emails you can easily customize, Flodesk shared templates so you can just plug the copy into one of the internet’s favourite email marketing platforms, and I have a walkthrough video showing you how to create a workflow so it automatically sends this welcome sequence to new subscribers!

Grab the template here!

2) How to practice copywriting

So you’ve been learning how to do copywriting. But you can’t get good (or great) at anything without practice. But how do you practice?

Well, I’m a fan of creating spec work, which is a creative passion project that you do of your own volition to show potential clients what you can do.

You’ll see a lot of videographers post spec work on their platforms, like this spec Bumble ad from my videographer friend Nicole Shapiro. And copywriters can do the same thing!

Here’s how you do it:

First: Pick a brand, or create a fake one — for example, I created a fake love hotel brand because “love hotels” was trending on TikTok that week and I wanted to lean in to it.

@storytellastudios

#greenscreen Want to become a copywriter? Let’s make a spec project together so you know how to build your copywriting portfolio as a beginner! #copywriter #copywriting #copywritingtips #copywritersoftiktok #copywritingforbeginners #copywritingportfolio

♬ original sound – Storytella Studios® 🪩💥

Next: Research for areas of opportunity — going back to the love hotel example, I found that they’re most popular in Japan for private… explicit extracurricular activities. A lot of people in North America have sex in cars with their significant other because they can’t at home, so I wanted to highlight that consumer insight and create copy around that. I also leaned into the fact that love hotels are a great attraction that friends can enjoy for kitschy getaways, not just sex, and created some copy around that too!

Then: Write the copy — depending on the brand, the problem you’re trying to solve, and the copy you’re writing, it might live in several places. For the love hotel brand I wrote ad copy, but you can also write copy for the hero section of a website, the main blurb for a promotional email marketing campaign, or a social media caption!

Finally: Plug the copy into a design — I like Canva because they have a lot of options with their free version and it’s super user-friendly. Now, there’s an optional 5th step you can do after, which I’m going to get into — but first, there’s a vital step you need to take before you ever try and secure your first client.

3) Establishing your brand

Yes, as a copywriter, you must have a brand. Even if you’re just freelancing. A personal brand is just as much a brand as the impressive-looking ones with all the bells and whistles and expensive visual branding.

Because when you have a brand, you start to attract the kind of people you actually want to work with. The business owners that respect you and your expertise, will pay you what you’re worth, and have something really cool to share with the world. When you’re excited about what they’re doing, it’s a lot easier to write great copy for them!

Also, a copywriter with a brand will be a lot more impressive than a copywriter without one — it’ll make you look more legit, and less money-grabby, you know?

So how do you establish your brand? Ask yourself:

• Why you’re doing this?
• What are your values, and what do you think is missing from the industry?
• What are you trying to change about the industry and the world?
• How can what you believe in benefit your clients, the industry, and the world?
• What’s your brand personality?
• What is your brand voice and tone of voice?
• Who is your target audience, what’s your ideal client profile and what is their archetype?
• What problems do they have, and what dreams do they want to achieve?
• What’s your mission and vision?
• What makes you different from other copywriters?

Of course, there are a lot of other aspects to establishing a brand, but this is a good starting point!

4) How to get copywriting clients

Okay, now back to that optional 5th step I mentioned: how to get your first client.

If you went the spec copy project route and picked an actual brand, you can show them and the world your work!

You can email the brand and tell them:

• Why you admire the brand so much
• Share that you saw some opportunities for copy improvement OR that you wanted to write copy for their amazing product/service/feature
• Attach your spec work
• Ask if you can share it in your portfolio.

Do not ask them to pay you for your work, that’s sceevy. But you can include a link to your services & pricing, and some of your other work. Hopefully from there a professional relationship blooms.

And you can share your spec work on your social media page and online portfolio and tag the brand if possible. Make sure you specify that it’s a spec project so no one thinks the brand paid you to do this officially and so the brand doesn’t get pissed and pursue legal action.

5) Content marketing vs. cold pitching

Now remember what I said about a copywriter with a brand looking less money-grabby than a copywriter without one? The same feeling applies to content marketing vs. cold pitching.

Content marketing is very cutesy. Very demure. (If you hate this trend I’m so sorry, but it was able to pay for this women’s completion surgery so I’m trying to support)

Cold pitching is very much NOT cutesy. NOT demure.

Content marketing attracts, retains, and engages the right people with the right kind of content. It’s the long game, but 1000% worth playing.

In comparison, cold pitching keeps you as a bench warmer. NO ONE likes a cold pitch in their inbox or DMs. The majority of the time it’ll get you no responses, blocked or worse. They’ll tell all their business friends and make fun of you.

Trust me, that’s worst.

If you haven’t done any spec work but still want clients, you can start content marketing to showcase your expertise. Share educational content, your take on industry news, and audit campaigns for what you liked or what you’d do differently. It’ll establish you as someone who actually knows what they’re doing as opposed to another spam-looking account.

So, do not leave this post without making a promise:

“I solemnly swear to never cold pitch a potential client without establishing a relationship with content marketing or personal direct messages. I promise I’ll never say “Hello” and “Buy my online course” in the same text thread. And if I do any of the above, I’ll forever be known as the sceevy money-hungry schlub that thought copywriting would be my ticket to the high life.”

Okay?! Okay.