What is a Digital copywriter?
Digital copywriters are responsible for writing engaging and persuasive content for a target reader.
The aim of writing this copy is to get the reader to perform an action after reading your content such as buying a product or service. However, it may also be for informative reasons, such as to position a company spokesperson as a thought leader on a current industry trend or issue. You will mostly be writing content for company websites and will either be employed by that company or will be hired as a freelancer.
Responsibilities
As a digital copywriter, you’ll need to:
- Liaise with the client regularly, either by phone, email or face-to-face
- Carry out project scoping and create a clear brief, in order to ensure you understand what the client wants
- Tailor the content and style of individual writing assignments to either persuade or inform
- Understand your target audience
- Identify key messages
- Work with creative teams to ensure that the visual elements of the webpage complement the words
- Identify fresh and interesting angles for your articles
- Write for webpages, blogs and potentially for social media, e-books, slogans, and video script
- Edit your own and others’ writing
- Provide other digital content, such as images and video, if required
- Input your content to the client’s content management software (CMS), if required
- Work with your team to review the impact of your work
- Assist with business pitches to win new clients or projects.
Salary
Junior copywriters can expect to earn between £22,000 and £33,000 per year. As you become more experienced, you can expect to earn between £25,000 to £40,000 per year For Senior copywriters, your annual salary can increase to between £45,000 to £80,000.
According to Glassdoor the national average salary for a digital copywriter is £25,062 You may also choose to be a freelance copywriter. In this case, your salary is up to your discretion, depending on how much you charge for your services. You can charge via the hour or day or by a project fee. If you are charging an hourly rate the average tends to be between £30 to £100 per hour. The average daily rate is approximately £440. If you are working for an employer, you may be eligible for benefits packages and bonuses.
Working hours
Your working hours will depend on whether you are employed or working freelance. Most copywriters work Monday to Friday, but hours will depend on the project you are working on as they will have varying deadlines that you will need to meet.
What to expect
- You’ll be managing several projects at once, which makes work interesting but can feel stressful at busy times.
- You’ll need to adapt your writing style to fit the client’s audience. You may write in a professional, corporate tone and voice for some projects, but more informally in others. In all cases, you’ll need to do your research to ensure that what you write is accurate and conveys the client’s message as clearly as possible.
- Your writing will be subject to editing and feedback, both from clients and members of your team. You will need to be able to handle criticism and accept revisions.
- You’ll mostly be office-based, but face-to-face client meetings will usually take place in their offices or at a place of their choosing. You may also go to networking events, conferences and awards ceremonies.
- Most copywriting agencies are based in London, but there are opportunities across the country. In-house opportunities are mostly within bigger organisations, and can again be found across the country, often clustered around bigger cities.
Qualifications
Copywriting roles are open to graduates from all degrees, including those with a foundation or HND. You do not need specific qualifications to become a copywriter but you will need to be able to demonstrate the skills necessary for the job i.e have a portfolio of your work or experience of running your own blog. Having a degree or experience in a similar industry such as marketing or journalism will be beneficial, but not crucial. There are many digital copywriting online courses available to give you an insight and introduction to the industry. You may also want to do some research to find e-books or of the like, which will provide tips and advice great for when starting out.
Skills
must have skills:
You will need to have:
- Excellent writing ability, including the ability to write in different styles.
- Strong listening skills, so that you can understand what the client wants and effectively develop a project brief.
- Good research and analytical skills to gain an accurate understanding of the subject in question.
- The organisational ability to manage multiple projects, often to tight deadlines.
- A creative approach, both in coming up with ideas for new projects and for getting a message across innovatively.
- The ability to work independently and flexibly.
- Good attention to detail, including the ability to proofread your own and others’ work.
- Strong interpersonal skills as you’ll be working with a range of clients as well as creative and marketing team members.
- An understanding of digital marketing and search engine optimisation (SEO).
- Specific IT skills, such as an understanding of HTML or WordPress.
Work experience
It’s critical to create an online portfolio of your work for employers and clients to view when being interviewed or when pitching for a job. It’s also great to have when approaching agencies for internships, working experience, or shadowing opportunities.
To make sure you have the best chance of success you might want to consider shadowing other copywriters or getting work experience within a range of different organisations and industries, This will ensure you are able to adapt your writing style. However, you may want to focus your writing on a particular niche or specific industry, which also works well.
Employers
The three most popular types of employment are in-house, agency and freelance. Large corporations will have in-house marketing and communications teams, in which the digital copywriter will be included. Smaller organisations are more likely to source a freelancer or agency to write their content. As a freelancer, you will work directly with your client. You can bid for and accept work from anywhere in the world. If you are able to research and adapt your writing style to suit a foreign client, there is no barrier to you gaining work.
Professional development
For In-house or agency roles, you will mostly receive all of your training on the job and will learn from the team about the processes and tools in place. You will also get exposure to other skills such as SEO, account management, social media, etc. As you become more ingrained within the team, you will most likely take on specialist job roles that match your skills and interests. Your employer may be open to letting you go on additional training courses, such as those offered by the CIM. The CIM also offers memberships and chartership opportunities as you advance in your career. If you are freelancing you will need to seek your own opportunities for professional development. You could decide to do this through training courses but it will be key to create a network of clients that you can rely on for repeated business. Social media platforms are a great way to form this community.
Career prospects
You may enter the industry as a junior copywriter and work your way up the ladder. In order to make this process quicker, you should consider working on a range of projects as a junior which will allow you to demonstrate your wide variety of skills and ability to work with different clients to future employers.
As you gain experience in the role you can choose your direction. Given the range of sectors that require digital copywriters, you may find that you gravitate towards a particular specialism, either technical, education or scientific, for example. You can progress to the role of a senior-level copywriter after five to ten years. In a senior role, you would usually lead on projects, being accountable for the brand, budget and a team of people. Alternatively, you may progress to the role of a digital content strategist where you’ll conceive and plan the whole process of content creation and delivery across a range of platforms to achieve the best results for the client.
Undergraduate
The BA Business & Marketing programme will provide you with the specialist skills and knowledge to excel as a marketing professional, giving you a competitive edge in the graduate employment market. UWS’s links with local and national organisations ensure that the teaching and assessment provided in this programme focuses on the marketing issues that impact businesses today. This will equip you with hands-on experience in applying critical thinking to solve challenges in the workplace.
Other related courses include:
- BA (Hons) Marketing Management
- BA (Hons) Marketing with Advertising and Public Relations
- BA (Hons) Communications and Public Relations
FAQ Summary
Digital copywriters are responsible for writing engaging and persuasive content for a target reader.
Junior copywriters can expect to earn between £22,000 and £33,000 per year. As you become more experienced, you can expect to earn between £25,000 to £40,000 per year For Senior copywriters, your annual salary can increase to between £45,000 to £80,000.
Copywriting roles are open to graduates from all degrees, including those with a foundation or HND. You do not need specific qualifications to become a copywriter but you will need to be able to demonstrate the skills necessary for the job i.e have a portfolio of your work or experience of running your own blog.
