TUNE IN: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Stitcher

Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!

A Sneak Peek at the Episode

[1:50] As people think about transitioning into copywriting, a common concern is whether advertising and marketing is synonymous with manipulation.

[3:12] Kate reminds us of the definition of copywriting: connecting someone who has a certain need with the right solution to that need.

[5:16] There’s a whole gamut of desires, wants, and needs and there’s so much potential for copywriting to help, whether it’s on a smaller or bigger scale. When we write effectively for our clients, we help them bring that solution to their customers.

[6:39] Messaging is the most important part of any business. If a business owner can’t communicate what makes their product or service different, beneficial, and useful, nobody will buy it and they won’t be in business for long.

[8:45] Remember you don’t have to work with every client. If you believe in what your client is selling and think it has the potential to get people what they need, then why not market it?

[9:17] People worry about being a “pushy” marketer but fundamentally, pushiness doesn’t work. The average consumer is savvier now than ever before and more aware of the way that they’re being sold to.

[11:15] Nicki and Kate dig into a response to a question from the CCA student-only Facebook group about whether copywriting can be a force for good. They argue that while pain point marketing often gets a bad reputation, it can help consumers recognize and address their needs.

[17:33] While you can absolutely pitch to companies you believe make a positive impact, Nicki and Kate caution against making assumptions about businesses based on surface appearances. Many companies engage in charitable activities that aren’t immediately visible.

[22:22] It’s not a copywriter’s role to judge consumer choices, as the value of a product or service is highly subjective and personal. If it doesn’t sit right with you, find a company that feels like a better fit.

[24:15] Being intentional in your work and client choices is key to making a positive impact and making your job worthwhile.

Must-Hear Takeaways

“Fundamentally, messaging is the most important part of a business. And I say this to my business students as well: If they can’t communicate what makes their product or service different and beneficial and especially useful and the right choice, nobody’s going to buy it and that business is not going to exist for long. So this fundamental communication element that we provide is essential for both sides, for both the business and for the consumer.” – Nicki

“Sometimes we like to think of ‘if they build it, the the right people will just come.’ But you have to tell people what you’re offering in order for them to find it. And if you believe in what your client is selling—and I think that’s one of the things to look for, you don’t have to work with every client, there are so many clients out there—but if you believe in the mission or in the product or the service of the offering that your client has and you think it has the potential to transform someone’s life, then why not market it? Everyone can win when it’s done right.” – Kate

“People worry about being a pushy marketer or pushy salesperson or whatever, but the fundamentally pushiness doesn’t work. We all can tell when we’re being pushed and when we’re being forced and if we don’t like it, we’ll just walk away. We won’t interact with it.” – Nicki

“We caution people not to make assumptions because there are a lot of companies out there that maybe on the surface, whatever product, service, thing that they’re offering isn’t overtly changing the world. It’s not like they’re selling a green product that is reusable, reducible, recyclable, but maybe it’s a bank and they have a huge corporate giving arm of their bank that does great work. It’s about digging a little deeper to know what are companies doing beyond what the immediate offer, service, etc. is.” – Kate

Related Links

• Reframing Your Copywriting Goals to Align with Your Values
• Land Copywriting Clients With These 35 Tips
• What Is Copywriting?
• Why You Should Make Your Audience Anxious

Tell us what you love about the podcast and what you hope to hear next! When you do, you can get access to an exclusive bonus recording featuring five wildly successful entrepreneurs who share what they do (and don’t!) look for when hiring copywriters. You do not want to miss it! 

Get all the details on how to get your recording here »

About the Build Your Business Podcast

Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?

Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 10+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.

Whether you want to land an on-staff job, freelance full-time and work from wherever you want, or make extra money with a side hustle, the best place to start learning is right here.

See Previous Episode

Ep. 186: Are You Stuck in an Employee Mindset?

The post Episode 187: Change My Mind About Advertising! How to Be an Ethical Copywriter appeared first on Filthy Rich Writer.

TUNE IN: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Stitcher

Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!

A Sneak Peek at the Episode

[2:09] Hosts Nicki and Kate are joined by CCA student Joe Sabroski, former finance professional turned copywriter. Joe started the CCA course properly in August 2021, after the pandemic helped him to shift gears and realize he wanted to make more money as a writer. 

[5:48] Kate asks Joe if he felt like it was less valid getting paid for copywriting versus other types of writing like journalism. Joe just saw it as a different application of his skills and was excited by the prospect of earning good money from it.

[7:35] Shortly after finding out about the CCA, Joe explored a different side hustle: photography and personal branding for entrepreneurs. He discovered it wasn’t really for him as writing was still his passion and so he returned to the CCA course.

[9:45] A significant transition at Joe’s company prompted him to seek change. He proactively pitched a project to the head of strategic marketing at his firm, which led to the creation of a new role for him in July of this year.

[13:33] With copywriting roles, it really comes down to demonstrating that you can do great work. People often overlook their current network, but this can be a great place to start looking for opportunities–especially if, like Joe, you can transition within your current company.

[16:21] Joe’s current role is a marketing content manager. Copywriting makes up about half of what he does but he’s also heavily involved in the end to end process of building a pipeline of content (including the ideation, research, interviewing subject matter experts, writing, etc.). 

[18:36] Joe’s role is a lot more diverse than he anticipated, with other responsibilities including tracking and reporting, as well as managing LinkedIn. His favorite part is the research, interviewing and writing, as it allows him to meet all kinds of different people in his company.

[20:54] There’s definitely been a learning curve writing for financial services, where the emphasis is on building longer term relationships, rather than a more transactional approach.

[23:28] Copywriters often worry about having to “know it all” but none of us are ever going to know everything before going into any role. Joe doesn’t feel like this knowledge is expected of him, rather that he has the opportunity to continue learning and working with different experts.

[26:02] If you’re curious about copywriting because you think you would enjoy it, Joe encourages you to start in your network. It doesn’t matter how long you might have been in a certain career for, you can still make the transition happen by showing people your value.

Must-Hear Takeaways

“It really all comes down to showing people that you have something valuable to give them, even the way we pitch (‘I have this proposed solution…’). If you’re in that paradigm of ‘well, this is where I went to school, this is my resume…’, yes, you’re going to be very limited with that approach if you want to change careers.” – Joe

“She’s thrilled that I’m a writer reaching out to her, but it was the fact that I offered to do a project and say, ‘hey, I’ll write a blog for you.’ That’s really what made it happen.” – Joe

“The pipeline from college, to job, to grad school, to whatever, is just a way of doing things. But I just think it’s interesting that I found this whole different paradigm just through online learning. I mean, it’s changed my life and it really gave me a tool to change my career.” – Joe

“They obviously want me to focus on my strengths, but also I’m getting these opportunities to learn about marketing from all angles. So I don’t feel like I’m expected to, you know, be the paid ads campaign expert. We have someone who does that. But I have to work with that role. So yeah, I think, as you’re saying, it’s an opportunity to continue learning and that you don’t have to learn everything all at once. You can do it as you go and none of us are ever going to know everything before going into any role. So I think that’s just a good reminder that you’re going to continue to grow in your career.” – Joe

Mentioned on this Episode

• Joseph’s portfolio
• Joseph’s Instagram page
• Landing a Senior Copywriter Role with No Paid Experience

Related Links

• The Three Steps to Career Change
• From Financial Professional to Copywriter—Chaundell’s Story
• Find Copywriting Clients by Networking in the Right Places
• Changing Your Career to Copywriting While at Your Existing Job
• Your Goal Should Be to Love Your Career. Period.

Tell us what you love about the podcast and what you hope to hear next! When you do, you can get access to an exclusive bonus recording featuring five wildly successful entrepreneurs who share what they do (and don’t!) look for when hiring copywriters. You do not want to miss it! 

Get all the details on how to get your recording here »

About the Build Your Business Podcast

Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?

Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 10+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.

Whether you want to land an on-staff job, freelance full-time and work from wherever you want, or make extra money with a side hustle, the best place to start learning is right here.

See Previous Episode

Ep. 163: Are Your Copywriting Prices Leaving Money on the Table?

The post Episode 164: Changing Roles Within Your Current Company – Joseph’s Story appeared first on Filthy Rich Writer.

TUNE IN: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Stitcher

Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!

A Sneak Peek at the Episode

[2:00] Kate explains what a hook is and why it is important.

[3:19] In order to draw readers in, a hook has to be something that’s genuinely intriguing to the target audience. Nicki and Kate discuss some different examples of what that could look like.

[5:12] Numbers and questions make effective hooks because they pique curiosity and make people want to find out more.

[6:53] Kate reminds us that it is possible to lead with the benefit and do a catchy hook.

[7:27] If you are giving some kind of a hook, you have to actually pay it off. Using a hook and then launching into something else will lose the trust of your target audience.

[8:59]  Clickbait is when you don’t pay it off and lure people in without answering whatever it was that piqued their interest in the first place. This can hurt your marketing efforts and frustrate readers.

[9:54] Our co-hosts share examples of clickbait and discuss how this angers readers when they do not get the information they were expecting.

[11:34] As a marketer and as a copywriter, your job is to ensure that not only do you come up with great hooks for your clients, but that you also pay off that hook in a way that is intriguing.

[12:39] Spending time looking at copy around you and evaluating hooks can help to make the differentiation so you are able to have a positive impact on your client’s copy.

Must-Hear Takeaways

“A hook is by definition in order to hook them in, it has to be something that’s genuinely interesting or intriguing to that target audience. So It might be an interesting statement, a provocative statement, it might be a question that interests them. It opens a loop that they want closed.” – Nicki

“The hook has to bring people in but it also has to get paid off and it has to get paid off in a genuine way. If I say “The 5 Biggest Mistakes that People Make in a Portfolio”, either when people keep reading or maybe people click through, they should get the five mistakes.” – Nicki

“You can’t use a hook and then launch into something else because you’re going to lose the trust of that target audience.” – Nicki

“You can actually hurt your marketing efforts by using clickbait because you’re getting clicks, but you’re not getting the actual engagement that you want or need to move your client’s business forward.” – Kate

“It is very, very easy to lose an audience’s trust. And as a copywriter, it’s your job to make sure that your copy helps build that trust and doesn’t do anything to jeopardize it.” – Nicki

“Your job is to ensure that not only do you come up with great hooks for your clients, but that you also pay off that hook and give information in a way that is useful, intriguing, and gets them to keep reading.” – Nicki

“It is always beneficial to look at the copy around you and evaluate it.” – Nicki

Related Links

• What Your Headlines Are Missing
• Copywriting Q&A: When to Use Curiosity Headlines
• Ep. 27: The Most Important Piece of Email Copy

Tell us what you love about the podcast and what you hope to hear next! When you do, you can get access to an exclusive bonus recording featuring five wildly successful entrepreneurs who share what they do (and don’t!) look for when hiring copywriters. You do not want to miss it! 

Get all the details on how to get your recording here »

About the Build Your Business Podcast

Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?

Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 10+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.

Whether you want to land an on-staff job, freelance full-time and work from wherever you want, or make extra money with a side hustle, the best place to start learning is right here.

See Previous Episode

Ep. 144: Navigating Ups and Downs in a Copywriting Career – Tammy’s Story

The post Episode 145: Catchy Hook or Clickbait? How to Tell the Difference appeared first on Filthy Rich Writer.

TUNE IN: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Stitcher

Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!

A Sneak Peek at the Episode

[3:12] Kory is one month into his new full time freelance copywriting freelance career. After trying to do it on the side for a while, he took the leap (even with zero clients on board!).

[4:09] Kory wants to become specialized in email marketing but has no background in it and is unsure where to start finding clients.

[5:11] Every business uses email and just about every business could be doing it more effectively. 

[7.14] Value-based pitching involves identifying something that a business is not doing or could be doing better, and then explaining to them exactly how that’s going to benefit their business.

[9:16] Understanding the client, their goals, and then how you can help them meet those goals via email will enable you to become a strategic partner to your client.

[10:36] There’s a ton of content out there for you to learn and stay on top of trends when it comes to email marketing. Nicki and Kate recommend some of their favorite resources.

Must-Hear Takeaways

“It’s that value-based pitching: identifying something that they’re not doing or they could be doing better and then explaining to them exactly how that’s going to benefit their business. And that’s also part of the research point too, especially if you want to be focusing on email marketing.” – Nicki

 “Show that you’re thinking strategically, get your foot in the door, and then there’s a whole world of opportunity.” – Kate

“Opting in to as much email as you can is going to be your best bet to finding out what people are doing, and what’s going on. Obviously you’re not going to know how things are performing but you can see again how we evaluate any copy in the world, whether it’s effective or not. Say ‘Okay, who’s their target audience? Would I open this if I was the target audience? What are they asking me to do? Does the next logical step make sense?” – Kate

“Email marketing is literally just marketing via email, which can mean sending out one email, or it can mean sending out a massive campaign of emails. It’s all about understanding the client, doing that research, understanding what their goals are, and then understanding how you can help them meet those goals via email.” – Nicki

“You can certainly specialize in email marketing but you do need to understand how all of the pieces work with that email marketing because emails never just stand alone.” – Nicki

Mentioned on this Episode

• Marketing School Podcast
• The Digital Marketer Podcast
• Stacked Marketer
• Hubspot Email Marketing
• The Art of Online Business Podcast

Related Links

• Ep. 84: When to Break the Copywriting Niche Rule

Tell us what you love about the podcast and what you hope to hear next! When you do, you can get access to an exclusive bonus recording featuring five wildly successful entrepreneurs who share what they do (and don’t!) look for when hiring copywriters. You do not want to miss it! 

Get all the details on how to get your recording here »

About the Build Your Business Podcast

Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?

Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 10+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.

Whether you want to land an on-staff job, freelance full-time and work from wherever you want, or make extra money with a side hustle, the best place to start learning is right here.

See Previous Episode

Ep.143: Business Builder or Time Waster?

The post BONUS – Laser Coaching: How To Find Email Copywriting Clients appeared first on Filthy Rich Writer.

Copywriting Strategies: A No-Nonsense Guide to Writing Persuasive Copy for Your Business, written by the founder of Filthy Rich Writer, Nicki Krawczyk, is a clear and easy-to-understand introduction to fundamental copywriting principles. It also includes working examples of how the principles come to live in a variety of scenarios and in several different types of projects.

This book is not only a way for prospective copywriters to dip their toes into the field, but also for working copywriters to get a refresher on key concepts. And, while teaching business owners these rules makes them better clients, the “how to hire a copywriter” section prepares them for the goal of hiring a copywriter—and gives copywriters an inside look at what potential clients are thinking in the hiring process.

• Learn the essentials for crafting persuasive copy, including the Ten Rules of Copywriting, common misconceptions, and writing in the digital age.
• Put principles into practice with strategy sessions, real-life examples of great copywriting, and “call to action” sections that challenge you to use what you’ve learned.
• Build on your new copywriting skills with specific tips to create marketing communications for your clients (and your own!) branding, websites, emails, digital ads, social posts, and more.

Click here to get your copy now! >>

Get Your Exclusive Pre-Order Bonus Trainings

From now until January 18, you can get TWO free exclusive bonus trainings from Nicki when you pre-order your copy of Copywriting Strategies.

These bonuses are only available if you pre-order, so if you want these bonus trainings, reserve your copy now!

Get all the details about how you can pre-order your copy and immediately get your bonus trainings right here.

The post Get Your Copy of “Copywriting Strategies” by Our Own Nicki Krawczyk appeared first on Filthy Rich Writer.

One of the first things that trip up new copywriters as they’re getting started is naming their business. “How do I name my copywriting business? Should I use my name? Should I get a logo? Do I need to do a trademark search?”

Let me make something very clear from the beginning: You do NOT need to name your business. I never have and many copywriters don’t. I, myself, write copy. So, you’re hiring Nicki Krawczyk, plain and simple.

So, why do some people choose to name their businesses? Well, first if they have bigger plans for it later on—say, they want to subcontract work or even become a full-fledged agency—there’s an argument for starting with a business name at the beginning.

But I think what’s much more common is that people want to create a business name because it helps them feel more professional and more serious about their new endeavor. And that’s perfectly fine.

There are some considerations you should keep in mind about naming your business.

What If My Name Is Hard to Say?

One of the biggest things we hear from copywriters is “my name is too hard to spell or say.” 

First, your clients shouldn’t have to type your website into their browser. If you have it in your email signature, link the text so they just click it. If you have it on your social profiles like Facebook or LinkedIn, they should be able to click, too (or, worse case, copy and paste the link). And even if it’s on a business card, they should be able to type it as you’ve written it. 

Second, there are very few instances when you’re going to speak your website to someone. Instead, write it down for them, or ask for the person’s email and follow up. (Plus, if you say, “my website is [insert name of your website],” the chances of that person remembering, going home, typing it in, etc. are slim.)

Don’t I Need an SEO-Friendly Business Name?

If you’re worried about whether your name is SEO-friendly, your time is much better spent finding and pitching the clients you want to work with. If clients find you via search, great! Consider it a bonus. It’s not what you want to rely on, especially when you’re just starting.

Of course, if you have experience in SEO, you may find opportunities. But for most of us, learning the ins and outs of SEO is going to result in spreading ourselves too thin versus focusing on becoming a copy expert.

Do My URL and Business Name Have to be the Same?

We often see copywriters who stress out because they have a common name and the URL is already taken. But here’s the thing: your business name is not the same thing as your URL or website name. 

You can do business under your legal name and have a different URL.

According to the SBA website, “Your domain name doesn’t actually need to be the same as your legal business name, trademark, or DBA.”

So, that means you can have clients send payments made out to your legal name, but could have a website name that is completely different.

Do I Need to Register My Copywriting Business Name?

As the Small Business Administration (SBA) says, “If you conduct business as yourself using your legal name, you won’t need to register anywhere.”

But if you don’t want to use your name, that’s fine, too! In the case of using a name that’s not your legal name, you’ll want to check with your state, county, or city whether you need to register a Doing Business As name, or DBA. (You may also find your state, county, or city also refers to it as an “Assumed Name.”)

This is a relatively straightforward process, though there will be a fee associated with it. For example, in my county, the cost as of 2021 was $26. You may need to renew it every five years or so. Confirm this when you register and make a note in your calendar so you renew it with plenty of time.

Do I Need Permits or Licenses?

As a sole proprietor, you generally do not have to register your business at the state level (though see above regarding registering a DBA name).

Because copywriting doesn’t fall under any industry that’s regulated by the federal government, your town or county clerk’s office should be able to tell you what, if anything, you need to do in the way of registration, licensing, an permitting for your area.

Warning: Sometimes Naming Your Business is Resistance

There’s one sneaky secret about naming your business that a lot of new copywriters are unaware of:

Sometimes naming your business has very little to do with your business.

Here’s what I mean: Often, naming a business is not a quick decision. For many new copywriters who choose to name their business, it involves days—or even weeks!—of equivocating, polling friends and family, second-guessing themselves, and so on.

And all of this is time that SHOULD be spent on building a portfolio, creating a network, and polishing and sending pitch emails. You know—the stuff that BUILDS your business.

The secret is that, for many people, the process of choosing a name turns into a procrastination technique to keep them from actually moving forward on building their businesses.

That’s right: Naming your business—which can seem like making forward progress at first—can be a symptom of our old friend, resistance.

Choose a Name and Move Forward

Anything that’s taking up significant time and taking you away from actually doing the WORK in your business is going to be a sign that your resistance is kicking up and trying to sneakily keep you in your comfort zone—and OUT of the bigger, more successful life you dream of.

It’s the voice that says, “This IS working on your business! You have to get the name right! Let’s poll 10 more people.” Wrong. You don’t even NEED a name! This just your inner resistance trying to keep you from stepping out of your comfort zone to do the work that will build your business.

And it’s not just with business names. You’ll see this pop up with logos (fun but unnecessary), choosing a template for your website, choosing your website URL, deciding which day you’ll start pitching…any number of things.

The secret is that if something is taking you away from doing the work to build your business, land clients, and earn income, it’s not an essential step in your business. It is resistance.

Resistance is always trying to sneak in. If you’re going to beat it, you’ve got to learn how to spot it, refuse to give in, and do the work anyway. You can do it.

Your Copywriting Business Name Can Change

Like most things, you’re not stuck with your business name forever. It’s particularly easy as a sole proprietor to change your mind.

You can always use your name for now and choose a business name down the line and file any paperwork you need to then. For example, if you decide you want to take on employees, at that point you may feel having a business name better reflects your team.

But you may find that until then your name is working just fine (and you’ve got plenty of brand equity).

Your turn! What sneaky ways have you seen resistance popping up? Let us know in the comments below.

Note: We are not legal experts or tax preparation professionals, so always consult an accountant, tax prep professional, or attorney if you have concerns. This information is aimed at copywriters in the United States. Copywriters in other locations may find this information useful for determining what questions they need to ask and answer based on their city, country, or region.

The post Keep This in Mind for Your Copywriting Business Name appeared first on Filthy Rich Writer.

Okay, you already know that one of my favorite ways to get the word out about your impressive skills and even more impressive copywriting service is to directly pitch clients. ‘Nuff said. (Or, if not enuff said, check out this post.)

But, honestly, if ALL you do is send pitches and follow-ups you’ll land clients…but you’ll also get bored. There are more ways to get out there in the world than just email! (And even if “out there in the world” has to be virtually.)

So, besides the very solid strategies of 1) tell anyone and everyone that you’re a copywriter and 2) joining Meta groups and contributing feedback and bite-size copy tips to potential clients, here we look at a few more ways to shake things up and get the word out.

1. Be a Podcast Guest

There are just shy of a million podcasts at last count and many of them are geared at your target audience: business owners and/or businesses interested in marketing. Offering yourself up as a guest who can give tips about effective marketing will get your name out there and in front of people who will hear your valuable tips, understand how much you know, and get in touch to have you do the writing for them.

2. Guest Post

Just as there are a million podcasts, there are about as many blogs—many of them belonging to marketers and business coaches. Offering to guest post about tips their audience could use gives you another opportunity to display your expertise and potentially earn some business.

3. Offer Free Trainings

Wait, train people to write their own copy? Stick with me for a second. You could contact business coaches and offer to do free trainings for their clients or audiences about how to write copy (think: sales pages, email funnels, Meta ads, landing pages, etc.). The people listening who were always going to write it themselves aren’t your target audience anyway—but the people who struggle with writing and are looking for a trusted copywriting resource will have found…you!

4. Offer Giveaways

First, make sure you have a way to collect emails or contact information. (There’s plenty of good free giveaway programs and free email providers.) Then, set up a giveaway for either some copywriting service or something else that would be valuable to your exact target audience. Publicize it on all your social media, and then (after awarding the prize) contact all the people who entered to offer up a quick free copy consultation and discovery call.

5. Set Up a Summit

Partner with other service providers who have the same target audience you do (designers, developers, social media managers, virtual assistants, etc.) and set up your very own “summit” even where everyone speaks on a useful topic relevant to what they offer. (There are tons of articles about how to set up a virtual summit now; just google it.) The key, of course, is that all the speakers share the summit information with their contacts so you all get in front of new people. The logistics can be a bit more complicated with this one, but the payoff—especially if everyone promotes it and encourages their audience to share the info, as well—could be huge.

And these are just the tip of the iceberg. Once you start learning more and more about marketing, you’re bound to discover all kinds of new ideas to try. Just be sure that all of these new ideas are geared toward increasing your client base—after all, that’s the end goal, right?

Watch More: Creating Consistent Income

In this episode of the Build Your Copywriting Business podcast, three CCA students sit down with Nicki and Kate to ask their most pressing questions. Abigail wants to know more about pricing and the feast or famine cycle. Lindsey asks about the best way to approach a discovery call. Finally, Debbie wants to figure out how she can get more bites on her pitches.

Your Turn

Do you have any creative marketing ideas to share with the FRW community? Let me know in the comments below.

The post 5 Creative Strategies for Copywriters to Land Work appeared first on Filthy Rich Writer.

You already know that a portfolio site is essential for copywriters—no ifs, ands, or buts. (And luckily, there are plenty of sites that make creating your own site super easy. No sweat!) But there are several common copywriting portfolio mistakes our team sees time and time again that can mean the difference between landing work and having clients leave your page.

Your portfolio site is a copywriting project just like any other. You have a client (in this case, you), a target audience (potential clients and bosses), and a goal you want to accomplish (to get them to contact you).

But even knowing that, it’s easy for a lot of copywriters to get overwhelmed with writing about themselves. And, because I’d never leave you hanging, let’s talk about what those copywriting portfolio mistakes are—and how to fix them.

The 4 Most Common Copywriting Portfolio Mistakes

1. No benefit to consumer.  (#1 Copywriting Portfolio Mistake!)

It’s one thing to know that every copywriting project needs to focus on the benefit…but it’s another thing to remember to include it, especially on your own site. Your benefit to consumer—that is, how your copywriting benefits the people who will hire you—needs to be prominent.

This is the biggest copywriting portfolio mistake and it could cost you clients. If you don’t have a clear, compelling benefit to them from the get-go, they may not scroll past your headline!

How to Fix It

Your homepage headline, the first thing they see when they land on your website, needs to purposefully and powerfully convey your benefit to consumer.

And make sure you convey the END benefit. Sure a company wants its audience to “fall in love” with them…but what’s the end benefit of that? What does a company REALLY want that copy to do? What’s a company’s main goal? (Hint, hint: Companies only exist if they make sales.)

How is your copy going to build that company and help it succeed? Remember, this site is all about conveying how your copywriting work will benefit a company and you are the right person for the job. You HAVE to tell them.

2. Your “About Me” page is about you.

I know, that seems a little silly. The page is called “About Me” so it should be about you, right? Nope! Remember the purpose of your website. Your “About Me” page is all about how YOU can benefit your clients. In reality, your About Me page is all about…them.

How to Fix It

So, your About Me page needs to help them understand why you are uniquely able to help them, and then explain exactly how you can help them.

Start your About Me page with your USP, showing them exactly how unique elements from your background have made you an especially adept copywriter, and then follow that up with how your copywriting benefits their company.

Then, at the bottom, if you want to, you can talk about the extracurricular elements of your life to give them a feel for who you are as a person. But this all comes last—remember, About Me is about them.

3. No project descriptions.

Second to having no benefit to consumer, not including write ups about each of your projects is the next worst copywriting portfolio mistake.

Well yes…and no. Your copywriting samples (whether client work or spec work) should definitely demonstrate both your ability to write compelling, effective copy and your ability to collaborate with a designer.

But there’s more to those pieces than just the results, right? There’s all the thinking that went into it—and that can help demonstrate your value to potential clients even more.

How to Fix It

Each piece in your portfolio should include background about the company/organization (who they are and what they do), the purpose and challenge of the project (what you were tasked with doing and why), and how you solved the challenge (the strategy you used to meet the goal).

You’re pulling back the curtain to give potential clients insight into WHY you made the choices that you did and, thus, demonstrating the strategic thinking that’s behind each project.

This holds true for spec pieces too, by the way. You filled out a creative brief and came up with a project yourself, but you still also used strategic thinking to meet those objectives. Just be sure, of course, not to write the description as if the company had actually asked you to do the work.

4. Too much education.

It’s very tempting for copywriters to use space on their sites to educate visitors about why copywriting is important and valuable.

But let’s think for a minute about the customer journey—about how a visitor actually gets to your site. Here are the possible scenarios: they arrived there because they interacted with you about copywriting and you directed them to take a look, they were referred there by a colleague or contact, or they searched for copywriters somewhere and found your site.

In each of those scenarios, the visitor knows what copywriting is and knows that they need a copywriter. You don’t need to educate them about the value of copywriting—they already know it, AND you’re wasting valuable copy when you could be selling them on why you’re the right copywriter for the job.

No one’s going to be stumbling onto a copywriter’s website with no idea of what copywriting is, except maybe your grandparents if your mom has proudly passed along your URL. But your grandparents are not your target audience. (Much as you love them.)

By the time someone gets to your site, they know what copywriting is (either because they already knew or you made a compelling case for the service in a pitch email) and now they’re evaluating whether or not to get in touch with you.

How to Fix It

This fix is easier said than done: you need to remove any education about copywriting. Some of these may be easy to spot. For example, “Copywriting is writing that is designed to help your business grow,” falls firmly in the education camp.

Other lines may be sneakier. For example, “You want your business to grow, right? Effective messaging is the key to helping you do that.” Remember: they are interested in copywriting. So, why you and not another copywriter?

If you have a ton of information that’s educational, but you still think is valuable, consider adding it to your blog (if you have one).

As with any other copy project, you need to carefully evaluate each and every single word to make sure it’s essential and that it’s doing the job you need it to do.

And here’s a little bonus one:

If you have a blog on your site (which you don’t have to), it needs to be geared toward your target audience, too.

That means it has to have posts with topics that are useful to prospective clients or bosses. Your travel diaries or musings about Netflix shows have no place on your professional site. Neither do posts complaining about copywriting clients. Or posts meant for other copywriters.

Remember, too, that some of your posts might talk about WHAT copy pieces are important and WHY, but never about HOW to write them. How to write them is what they hire you for.

Copywriting Portfolio Inspiration

Looking for some portfolio inspiration? Check out some of our favorite copywriting portfolios with insight into why they’re so effective.

Watch for More Copywriting Portfolio Tips

On Episode 43 of the Build Your Copywriting Business podcast, Nicki and Kate dig further into the four common copywriter portfolio mistakes and how you can ensure you avoid them on your own portfolio site.

Your turn! Did any of these copywriting portfolio mistakes trip you up on your own portfolio site? (There’s no shame in it! I called them “common mistakes” for a reason.) And, if so, are you committed to fixing them ASAP? Let me know in the comments below.

The post 4 Things Most Copywriters Get Wrong on Their Portfolio Websites appeared first on Filthy Rich Writer.

First, let me start by saying that you DO NOT have to invest in Facebook ads to build your business. If they don’t interest you at all, you’re off the hook.

On the other hand, if they’re something that intrigue you, there are a few things you should know…

The thing is, Facebook ads are really incredible in a lot of different ways. They offer an amazing level of targeting based on not just demographic information like age, gender, location, relationship status, career, etc., but also interests, pages liked, etc. And then there are advanced features like lookalike audience based on site visitors or subscribers. You can also retarget people who have visited your website, watched one of your videos on Facebook, or any number of things.

That said, though, building, testing, and tracking Facebook ads can be pretty complicated (and, frankly, well out of the scope of what I can go into here). Suffice it to say, they shouldn’t be attempted without training.

My rule about anything you pay for in your business is that it needs to pay for itself and then some. That includes software, office supplies and, yes, advertising. Maybe it’s obvious that advertising should pay for itself, but you’d be shocked at how many people create ad campaigns, set them live, and never check to see if they’ve made any money from them.

The truth is that Facebook ads can be great opportunities to build your audience and client base, but they can also be a great way to lose a lot of money, fast.

The key to Facebook ads is the numbers. If you can make the numbers work for you, you can make Facebook ads work for you.

In a nutshell, if you could invest X and make 2X every time you did, you’d keep doing it and increase that x number every time, right? But the problem is that it’s easy to invest X and not make X back. Or make less than X. Or nothing at all.

It’s a little easier to understand with real numbers. (Please understand, though, that these are only averages. Your numbers could vary higher or lower, depending on a lot of different factors.)

So, let’s start here. Let’s say your plan is to run ads that drive people to an email sign-up page and then, through a series of automated nurturing sales emails, you try to get them to hire you for a copywriting project. Let’s say it’s an email funnel.

(Just a quick tip: It’s both expensive and very unlikely to work to send cold Facebook traffic from an ad directly to your sales page to get them to buy. It’s like meeting someone new at a bar and immediately asking them to marry you. People need to be warmed up and nurtured before they’re ready for marriage AND before they’re ready to buy from you.)

So, you’ll run an ad. And your goal for the ad is an email sign-up – that’s your “conversion.” You run it to a bunch of people, some people visit the landing page and some of THOSE people subscribe. On average, you discover that it costs you $3 in advertising to get a subscriber.

Again, that is just an estimate. Your cost could be much more or it could be less.

Then you send them down your nurturing sales email sequence. Not everyone who signs up will look at your sales message. Usually, you’ll see a 25% or 30% open rate. Which means that only 25% to 30% of the people on your list will even see your sales message.

Next, a normal purchase conversion rate is 1% or 2%. So, of 100 people who see this sales message, 1 or 2 of them will purchase.

So, let’s say you spend $600 to get 200 subscribers.

Of those 200 subscribers, maybe 30% will see your sales message.

So that’s 60 people. And of those 60 people, 2% may purchase—which is one person.

So you’ve spent $600 to get one sale.

Which means that if you’re writing an email series for a client and it’s going to take you 12 hours to write it and edit it and your usual rate is $50, that’s $600. You’d need to mark it up to $1,200 just to cover the cost of the ad and the cost of your service time.

But remember, too, that if any of those percentages in that sequence skew, it affects your profits. If your email sign up conversion rates change and it takes you $4 to get one subscriber, all of your numbers change and it’s now costing you $800 to get one sale.

Or, if it drops to $2, it becomes $400 to get that sale. Or if your purchase conversion goes up or down or your email open rates go up or down – all of those factors affect how much it costs you to make a sale.

(Just a note — the average cost for conversions is closer to $7 or $8 at the time of writing this post…)

Some people love this. I find it pretty fascinating myself. But, as you can see, Facebook ads can be especially tricky to make profitable for a service-based business.

Facebook ads tend to make more numerical sense for products like high-ticket coaching or high-ticket information products where the cost of the product makes up for the cost of the ads. Or, sometimes, they can make sense for very low-ticket items when people are more likely to make a spontaneous purchase.

But you also can’t judge by who’s running ads – some people are running ads, knowing that they’ll be at a loss but they need the ads to help grow the visibility of their business.

So the long and short of it is that you absolutely can try Facebook ads for your business. BUT you must:

• Understand what you’re doing. Take a course so you know how to place your pixels to track ad performance, test your ads, and track your metrics in Ads Manager.
• Understand your metrics and fully extrapolate how those numbers affect what you need to charge to ensure that you don’t lose money.
• Check your ads every single day. Facebook ads are not “set it and forget it” – the results can change regularly. You also should regularly be testing new ads to keep what people see fresh.

If you’re going to run ads, you also need to monitor comments to answer questions and delete any nasty comments.

Can Facebook ads work for you? Absolutely – as long as you’re willing to follow the guidelines I’ve set.

But again, you don’t have to run Facebook ads at all. Invest your time and energy into the other tactics we’ve discussed in this course and you’ll start to see a lot of success.

The post Should You Run Facebook Ads to Advertise Your Copywriting Business? appeared first on Filthy Rich Writer.

As a freelance copywriter, you know one of the best ways to have consistent copywriting work is to pitch clients.

Sometimes it’s obvious what you can pitch a client. For example, you go to a prospective client’s website and sign up for their email list. Five days later and you still haven’t received a welcome email (or any other email). It’s the perfect opportunity to pitch them on a welcome email series. These emails can build the know/like/trust factor with their audience.

Other times, it’s a little harder to come up with an idea. They’re already doing incredible work! Their copy sounds amazing!

As Comprehensive Copywriting Academy students know, this is NOT the time to make assumptions. You have no idea what’s going on in a business. Maybe their copywriter just left. Maybe they need extra copywriting support. Maybe their marketing manager has been writing copy and would like to focus on their job. There are SO many reasons why a company may have amazing copy—but still need a copywriter (YOU!).

Equally important to emphasize? Don’t make assumptions about a company’s revenue. There are small businesses raking in millions in profit each year and giant corporations on the verge of bankruptcy. You have no idea what a business’s numbers look like, and assuming based on size will lose you many, many opportunities.

So, here’s how to use marketing trends to your advantage.

Look at Roundups of Marketing Challenges

When it comes to finding ideas to pitch, Google is your best friend. Search things like:

• Marketing challenges
• Marketing challenges 2024 (or whatever the upcoming year!)
• Biggest marketing challenges
• Small business biggest marketing challenges

You’ll find a ton of content just by searching these terms. (In fact, we’ll bet you have to search only one of them to get more than enough inspiration.)

Once you have these lists, you’ll be tuned in to what clients are struggling with—and how you can help them solve those challenges.

Some challenges (e.g., “hiring top talent”) may not apply directly to your pitch strategy. But hiring top talent certainly means it’s an opportunity to show off

But other challenges will most definitely apply to you. Take Hubspot’s list of challenges marketers face. In 2024, one of the challenges Hubspot identified is knowing the social issues your audience cares about.

You, as a copywriter, understand personas. You understand audiences and the importance of connecting with them. So, if you’re going to pitch a brand, you may consider asking yourself:

• Who is the brand’s audience?
• What social causes does this audience care about?
• How could this brand support a social cause and effectively communicate that to its audience?

Perhaps you pitch the idea of an email campaign in support of a specific cause.

Remember that the company may not hire you for the project you pitched. But by crafting your pitch around something that the brand cares about, they can see you’re doing your homework. Not only are you demonstrating you know their brand, you’re demonstrating you’re thinking strategically about the marketing landscape and how they can best navigate their deepest challenges.

Lead Generation

One of the marketing challenges that seems to stay at the top of annual trends and roundup lists is lead generation. According to digital agency Vital, getting more leads is the top concern by a long shot. More than a quarter (26%) of respondents said “getting more leads,” compared to the next most important priority (generating brand awareness: 11.74%).

But even generating brand awareness and the number three challenge, “increasing my website’s overall traffic (9.16%), both relate to getting leads.

So, knowing that this is likely a high priority for whatever business you’re pitching, you may want to consider pitching ideas that will help bring new prospective customers in versus idea that will, for example, increase loyalty of existing customers (though these ideas are certainly valuable, too!).

For example, while sending a newsletter to existing customers could help increase lifetime customer value (if the newsletter is selling something) or brand loyalty (if the newsletter has valuable information), it’s not bringing in new people.

But if you pitch something like a free e-book that prospective customers have to opt in to receive (by giving their email address), this project has the opportunity to generate new leads. (And, if you end up doing the work, you could always pitch writing ads to drive paid traffic to this opt-in. And a landing page where they sign up for the e-book…there’s lots of additional projects!)

New Marketing Channels

It seems like every few months a new social media channel emerges. While regular posting on these social channels typically falls under the “content” bucket, with every social platform comes ads. TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook/Meta, Instagram, Pinterest…they all have an ads platform.

As a copywriter, it’s important to stay up to date on these new platforms. While the fundamentals of copywriting still apply, there are always nuances to each platform. For example, the character count on a Facebook single image ad is going to be different than an Instagram story ad is going to be different than the concept you come up with for a TikTok video.

Depending on the brand you pitch, their audience may or may not be using these new platforms. So, you first step is to understand if the channel would be a good fit. And if they’re already on the channel, it doesn’t mean it’s a good fit! It just means they likely saw the new platform and felt they needed to jump on it.

But if it’s a good fit and they’re not yet advertising on the channel, it may be a good opportunity to pitch your services. Or, if they are advertising, great! That means they have ad budget. You may consider pitching a new idea for their ads. Look at Facebook Ads Library or TikTok Ads Library and the like to get an idea of what’s out there. You can (and should!) look at their competitors, too.

Your Turn

What are your tactics for pitching clients? Have you found annual roundups about marketing trends and challenges helpful to pitching? Share your thoughts below!

The post Marketing Trends for Freelancers and Contractors in 2024 appeared first on Filthy Rich Writer.