Being a copywriter is all about solving problems using words.
Words hold power. Copywriters know this better than most. To find the right words, whether it is for a blog post or a big campaign, we lean on a myriad of tools and tricks. It’s more than just replacing a word here or there. You need to train your brain like an athlete trains their body. That starts with small habits that churn out big ideas in the long run.
Here are my tips and tools to improve your copywriting skills.
Consume
- Follow Marketing & Writing Newsletters – I follow several copywriting and marketing newsletter and start my day with them. They keep me on top of trends and the latest marketing work. I recommend: Marketing Brew, VeryGoodCopy, Marketing Examined.
- Engage Your Curiosity – If you’re interested in something, learn about it. Boredom is the enemy. You need to keep your brain engaged. Stale mind = stale copy. Read, whether it’s articles from your local newspaper or Vogue, novels or nonfiction. Listen to podcasts and watch TikToks. Whatever keeps you curious, keeps you improving.
- Puzzle – After I pore over my emails, I try to get my brain engaged for the day. I find the New York Times Mini Crossword and the daily Wordle are perfect. It’s like mental stretching.
Research
- Eat What You’re Given – Most projects come with research, brand guidelines, and past project examples. Devour them.
- Get Out and Find More – There’s always more to learn. See what else you can dig up. You never know where you will find a fresh insight.
- Talk to People – Conduct interviews, send out surveys, and pick people’s brains. Sometimes the best lines come straight from someone’s mouth.
- Pinterest – For many, Pinterest is a search engine. I love to use it to find trends, tips, and create vision boards for campaign and commercial planning.
- Reddit – I love to get a read on what the internet thinks about certain topics. Even better, for blog research, what questions people are asking about a certain topic.
- Answer the Public – This is a great site for finding out what people are actively searching for related to your topic.
Writing
- ChatGPT – This is a great tool to get ideas going or figure out a tentative layout for a blog. Work with the tech, don’t let the tech work you.
- TextFX – I love this tool for playing with words and themes for campaigns. It speeds up brainstorming and expands your ideas.
- Just Start Writing – You can’t get anywhere if you don’t start. Just start playing around and see where it goes.
- Make a Playlist – Sometimes, I create playlists on my Spotify account for certain clients. This helps me get into the headspace quicker when writing for them. Even putting together the playlist is a good mental exercise.
- Thesaurus – Any writer’s best friend. Anytime I hit a word roadblock, the thesaurus gets me back in the right direction.
- Know Thyself – A perk of getting more comfortable as a writer is knowing yourself and how you work. Some days you just don’t have it. Some days, you just need to fill your head with research and trust your subconscious to soak it up and perform 100% the next day. Once, I needed to add a bit of humor to some video ads. I could not be funny for the life of me. Which led to me getting super anxious and even less funny. The solution? Taking a step back and letting the humor find me.
- YoastSEO Plugin – This tool helps you improve your SEO.
Editing
- Grammarly – Grammarly is a grammar checker that helps you identify and correct errors in your writing. It can also help you improve your writing style and clarity.
- Hemingway Editor – This writing editor helps spot areas of your writing that need work.
- Cliche Finder: Cliche Finder is a tool that helps you identify and remove cliches from your writing. It’s the cat pajamas!
- Sharethrough Headline Analyzer – I love this site for writing the right headline. I start with my original idea and then use it to create a headline with a similar sentiment but a better potential result.
- Change the Font – A friend gave me this tip. Right before you proofread something, change the font. This will improve your attention to detail and make everything you’ve been staring at for hours feel new.
There you have it! My go-tos for improving your writing. I hope they help you solve your next marketing challenge.
