Copywriter Career Profile
- Career Name - Copywriter
- Category - Media / Business
- Skills Required - Life skills 40% - Career skills 60%
- Basic Subjects - Language, Business Studies, Biology
- Required Education - University Degree
- Species Worked With - Pets, Critters, Farm Animals, Wildlife
- Short Courses - 340 - Rewards = Points +Badges
Do you want to work as a copywriter?
READ: This page helps you read about the career and the information you need to decide whether this is indeed the career you want to follow.
RESEARCH: ​Learn about the skills required and minimum subjects to enter this career, as well as the places where you can study further after school.
PREPARE: If you want to plan and prepare for your career, then join the OZT community! Members have access to tools while chatting with other students and experts from around the world. Prepare to be amazed!
CAREER MENTOR
UPDATED:
29 April 2024
Adverts:
What is a copywriter?
A copywriter is a professional writer who specializes in creating written content, known as “copy,” for various purposes, primarily for marketing and advertising. Copywriters craft persuasive, engaging, and compelling text that is designed to promote products, services, brands, or ideas and to elicit a specific response or action from the target audience.
Alternative Names
Alternative names for a copywriter may vary depending on the specific focus or context of their work. Some alternative titles or roles that encompass aspects of copywriting include:
- Marketing Writer
- Advertising Writer
- Brand Writer
- Content Marketer
- Communications Specialist
- Digital Copywriter
- Campaign Writer
- Messaging Strategist
- Promotional Writer
These alternative names reflect the diverse roles, specialties, and applications within the field of writing related to marketing, advertising, and promotional content.
What is the difference between a Copywriter and Content Writer?
Copywriter:
- Purpose: Copywriters primarily focus on creating persuasive and promotional content that is designed to drive a specific action or response from the audience, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or contacting a business.
- Audience Response: The goal of copywriting is to elicit an immediate and measurable response from the audience, typically in the form of a conversion or engagement with the brand.
- Channels: Copywriters often write for marketing and advertising materials, including advertisements, product descriptions, sales letters, landing pages, email campaigns, and social media ads.
- Tone and Style: Copywriting tends to be more focused on persuasion, urgency, and selling, with a clear call-to-action and an emphasis on benefits and features.
Content Writer:
- Purpose: Content writers focus on creating informative, educational, or entertaining content that provides value to the audience and builds brand authority, trust, and credibility over time.
- Audience Engagement: The goal of content writing is to engage and inform the audience, foster relationships, and establish the brand as a trusted source of information in the industry.
- Channels: Content writers often produce a wide range of content types, including blog posts, articles, guides, whitepapers, case studies, infographics, and videos, across various platforms and channels.
- Tone and Style: Content writing tends to be more informative, conversational, and value-driven, focusing on addressing the needs, interests, and pain points of the audience without a direct sales pitch.
Visualizing words?
Infographics is the most loved source of content users look out for
Article length?
The average online article length for all websites is around 1,000 words
What does a Copywriter do?
Category:
Media / Business
Focus:
The primary focus of Copywriters is to prepare advertisements to promote the sale of a good or service. They often work with a client to produce written content.
Daily Tasks:
- Discuss brief with clients
- Develop a storyboard to help the idea
- Write and present a few options to clients
- Modify the copy until the client is satisfied
- Oversee the production phase
- Add new work to a portfolio
- Administration and filing
Where they work:
Environment –
Copywriters normally work indoors in an office setup. They do also spend some time in the outdoors, studying the animals they need to write about.
Places of Employment –
Most Copywriters work privately, under contract for various clients. They can also be employed by newspapers, TV and film production houses, online magazines, and website designers.
Average Salary:
As most copywriters are self employed, their income is based on obtaining contracts. On average the income per year is around $55,000. This will differ from country to country.
Difficulties:
The most difficult part is always to get your work seen by future clients. They also may work long hours and over weekends and holidays to finish work within tight deadlines.
​Future growth and Possibilities:
The growth annual growth for this career is on average 5%.
3. Which Skills are required?
The skills required for a career as a copywriter can be divided into two very important groups. The first is the group containing life skills, which are the core skills that are necessary or desirable for full participation in everyday life. The second group is career skills, or the specific skills required to allow a person to enter and operate effectively within a specific career. Some or maybe even all of the life skills can assist in strengthening the career skills, and they might even be the same for specific careers.
Life Skills:
- Self-awareness
- Empathy
- Critical thinking
- Creative thinking
- Decision making
- Problem Solving
- Effective communication
- Interpersonal relationship
Career Skills:
- ​Good business knowledge
- Good artistic skills
- Basic customer service skills
- Good health and physical fitness
- Excellent computer literacy (drawing software)
4. Which Subjects must I have at School?
The most important skill of a copywriter is the ability to use words to sell things. The most important subject at High School should therefore be Language.
Business Studies is not a compulsory subject for further tertiary studies, but it will definitely help you to understand and run your own business one day.
Biology is recommended, not for university acceptance, but because it will teach you a lot about the anatomy of animals, and how they move. This knowledge will be helpful as a copywriter.
The subjects you choose at school are important as they lay the foundation for further studies at college or university. While still at school, it’s also important to learn more about the animals you will work with, as well as gain some experience.
OZT has a list of various tertiary institutions where you can study further, after school. Each of these institutions also have their own Group page on OZT where you will find the exact subjects they require of you to have passed in school. Keep these requirements in mind, and discuss it with your school, guidance counselor and parents to ensure that you are prepared!
5. What will I need to Study?
Minimum Requirements:
​The minimum level of education to enter the job market as a copywriter is an University Degree.
Short Courses are also essential, especially when you do make use of computer software.
Focus:
Major –
A bachelor’s degree or higher in English, advertising, communications, creative writing, or marketing
Short Courses –
A good background in writing is essential, so be sure to perfect skills through short courses.
Duration:
The duration of College and Bachelor’s Degrees can be up to 3 or 4 years. Short Courses are usually between a few weeks and a year.
Possible Career Preparation Paths:
If this is your dream career that you want to pursue, then it’s important to plan the way forward.
Why is planning important?
​To ensure that you understand the requirements for your career, and that you are always prepared for the next step on the road towards your dream. A Preparation Path is like your road map to where you want to be.
Possible Paths:
Possible Combined Career Paths:
It is possible to sometimes combine two or more related careers. This normally happens when you study and practice a specific main career, but the knowledge and experience gained also help you to have a paying hobby or secondary income career.
Possible Alternatives (there are a lot more):
Training and apprenticeship:
Even though it is important to study to get into some of the animal careers, most of the skills you will need as a cartoonist will be acquired through practice. This means that you will learn how to perform some of the daily tasks by actually doing it a few times and learning the steps.
In some cases entry level positions require training sessions even before you are allowed to actually perform your job duties. These sessions are offered by the place of employment, after you have successfully applied.
Apprenticeship is also possible where you need to learn skills from a more senior copywriter.
Join the Copywriters Group in STEP 8Â to learn more and even interact with the educational institutions that will help you secure your dream career!
Average level of education of all the people who enter the career:
6. Licenses, Certificate, Registration and Professional Associations
Certain animal careers require some form of legal certification to prove that you can indeed do the work, and work with the necessary equipment.
Although not required by law, certifications may help workers establish their credentials and enhance their skills.
Learn more about requirements by joining OZT in STEP 8.
Professional Associations:
7. Where can I study further?
All of the above information will help you understand more about the Career, including the fact that there are different paths to take to reach it. But if you are almost done with High School (Grades 11 or 12), you also need to start thinking about further studies, and WHERE you will study.
See the List of Universities, Colleges and Online Training Academies who offer courses towards copywriting.
8. Join the OZT community
Join us as a special member and learn more about becoming a copywriter.
Members of the Platform have special access to:
- Info on the best places where you can study (colleges, universities and online)
- Expertly designed advice to prepare you for the career, and links to places where you can gain valuable experience. For some career experience is necessary, otherwise you wont get the job!
- Top notch info on each of the different species you will work with
- Make friends around the world and share knowledge
- Compete and win points, badges, games, prizes and certificates. Be the best of the best, while you learn and prepare!
If you have decided on being a Copywriter, please click on the JOIN GROUP button. If this career is NOT the career for you, then you may return to the MAIN CAREER menu, and search for something different.
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