on copywriting by @JWWrites

I'm excited  to have my first guest blogger.

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Copywriting
By Jesse Wells, @JWWrites

What is copywriting? I get this question a lot. I like to call it “Words that Sell” and that phrase is going to be on my new business cards . Similar to graphic artists, copywriters are invisible to most people, even though they usually interact with the creations of copywriters every day. “Do the Dew,” or “Five for five,” both are examples of copy. Many people just assume it is the same as advertising, but this is an oversimplification. It would be better to view copywriting as a foundational stone that holds up advertising, alongside graphic artists, sound effects people and commercial musicians. Advertising is the processed product, copywriting is one of the raw ingredients.

 I know that many copywriters just put “marketing” down on their cards instead of “copywriting” but I cannot. To me, the writing is the point, the raison d'etre of this peculiar profession. While I sometimes wish understanding of the term was more widespread, I also enjoy the chance to explain what it is and elaborate on my own unique take on the field.  Distillation is the name of the game, to me. My job as a copywriter is to take the full picture of the product or service and reduce that picture, that message down to its most essential components. How do I build a picture in the viewer’s mind? A picture that gives them all of the information they need to make a purchasing decision.

It is never easy, but one of the reasons I am working for myself now is that I choose who I am going to work for, rather than being assigned. The fact that I am able to choose products and services that I believe in makes quite a difference. This is not to say that the copy I wrote when I was working for an agency was not as good as the copy I write now, aside from the increase in my experience between now and then, it is more of a peaceful mind issue. I think, no matter what one’s job is, when they are doing a task they have chosen, they feel more centered. For me, working for myself is a matter of greater freedom and less micro-managing, both of which can be big pluses in my book, because trying to write with the feel of someone’s eyes burrowing into the back of my neck has never been pleasant. In the end though, I do it because I love to write.

Sure, I have creative projects that I am trying to put some real effort into, but that is a whole different slice of pie. That requires discipline with no outside re-enforcement. Ambition, I think they call it. I have had my share of ambitions moments, but most of the time, that ambition crashes into a wall of troubles. With copywriting, what I am writing about is already present and accounted for. My task becomes a matter of refinement, not creation. The best words to sell a product or service are usually already present, I just figure out how best to use them. My life has brought me into contact with many interesting places and even more interesting people and this has given me the ability to see most things in several different lights and understand how the different layers interact. This is a key skill for a copywriter to develop, the ability to think in terms of complexity and depth, not just surface analysis. It is only when one can see every side of a tree within one’s mind, including the ground beneath its trunk, the hollows between the bark and how its shade is both balm and death that one can truly create a description of it that resonates.

So goes copy.