“I’m a freelance writer, but I don’t know anything about copywriting.”
I recently had a conversation with a down-sized corporate administrative assistant who was trying her hand at freelance writing. She told me that, although she was a freelance writer, she didn’t know anything about copywriting. (I take that back. She did know one thing about copywriting: it paid a LOT better than her current assignments.)
That’s when I showed her how her odd freelance writing jobs and personal communications experience had given her the tools she needs to enter the more financially lucrative world of B2B or even B2C copywriting. She just needed the vision to tweak her talent to fit the corporate mindset.
From Freelance Writer to Marketing Copywriter
To illustrate how different types of freelance writing translate into copywriting, here are five ways your experience can pay off in the corporate world:
- If you write print magazine articles, then you have the experience to be a corporate ghostwriter of trade magazine articles and advertorials.
- If you write fictional short stories, you have the experience to write case studies (truthful storytelling with liberal customer quotes and a marketing twist).
- If you write content for article marketing purposes, you have the experience to write content for a corporate blog, internal employee newsletter or external client newsletter.
- If you write technical documents or manuals, you have the experience to write marketing white papers.
- If you have social media expertise, you have the experience to set up and manage a company’s Facebook page and Twitter account.
Before making the leap from freelance writer to copywriter, you might want to study the type of content that relates to your experience. A wide variety of case studies, trade magazines, white papers and newsletters can easily be found with a quick Google search.
Copywriter Confession: Years ago I used to write 750 word feature articles for Better Nutrition magazine. My ego loved getting a byline, but the pay was really low. Ghostwriting 750 word articles for construction trade magazines may not be as inspiring as natural health, but the pay is a whole lot higher!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
there are so many people out there looking for writers today.
Look for internet marketers and affiliate marketers they always need fresh content.
Thanks for your comment, Nick. You are right, there is available work creating content for these lower paying markets. But my point is this: if you have the writing talent to create content for small businesses like Internet or affiliate marketers, you can make a lot more money by moving into corporate copywriting!