Is there another way?

[Relu Iulian]

Hey people!

Is there another way to become a successful copywriter without being a notorious person on social media?

I was listening to a podcast today and it was about creating a brand out of yourself and that kinda scares me, a bit, I might do it anyway, but just to ask (I’m a guy that puts lots of stupid question ) )

Social media can be a very useful tool, I know, but I don’t really want to be thinking everyday about “Oh! What topic should I write about today?”
As a person I speak a lot (and think a lot too), and I like to write (by hand mainly), but when it comes to creating a topic on some social media, my head gets empty.

So is there a way of becoming a successful copywriter without being notorious on social media? And if yes, which way?

Where I could find clients except social media? Or a mentor?

Thank you very much!

[Franklin]

So is there a way of becoming a successful copywriter without being notorious on social media? And if yes, which way?

Thank you very much!

Email marketing still works. The trick is finding the email addresses of decision makers. You might have to use social media to find legit contacts and leads tho.

[Relu Iulian]

So is there a way of becoming a successful copywriter without being notorious on social media? And if yes, which way?

Thank you very much!

Email marketing still works. The trick is finding the email addresses of decision makers. You might have to use social media to find legit contacts and leads tho.

At the moment I am looking for websites and ads where I can improve the copy and I send it through email, otherwise how could I market it?

[SARubin]

Social media can be a very useful tool, I know, but I don’t really want to be thinking everyday about “Oh! What topic should I write about today?”
As a person I speak a lot (and think a lot too), and I like to write (by hand mainly), but when it comes to creating a topic on some social media, my head gets empty.

I hear you my friend, I am not a fan of the social media circus either.

Unfortunately, if we want to sell online, that's where a lot of the people are at these days.

Franklin has some sage advice (I would expect no less ) if you're looking for clients to write for, email marketing works best when you can find the email address of the person who cares most about what you're offering.

For a lot of small businesses it might even be the owner.

At the moment I am looking for websites and ads where I can improve the copy and I send it through email, otherwise how could I market it?

This is a good idea. I've used this strategy and it works.

How many emails have you sent out so far?
Also, what email are you contacting them through? Is it a contact form on their website, or is it a single persons email address?


Added after: I don't know exactly where in Europe you live, but are there any local brick and mortar stores that you could start with? No social media needed to say hello to a neighbor.

[Relu Iulian]

Social media can be a very useful tool, I know, but I don’t really want to be thinking everyday about “Oh! What topic should I write about today?”
As a person I speak a lot (and think a lot too), and I like to write (by hand mainly), but when it comes to creating a topic on some social media, my head gets empty.

I hear you my friend, I am not a fan of the social media circus either.

Unfortunately, if we want to sell online, that's where a lot of the people are at these days.

Franklin has some sage advice (I would expect no less ) if your looking for clients to write for, email marketing works best when you can find the email address of the person who cares most about what you're offering.

For a lot of small businesses it might even be the owner.

At the moment I am looking for websites and ads where I can improve the copy and I send it through email, otherwise how could I market it?

This is a good idea. I've used this strategy and it works.

How many emails have you sent out so far?
Also, what email are you contacting them through? Is it a contact form on their website, or is it a single persons email address?


Added after: I don't know exactly where in Europe you live, but are there any local brick and mortar stores that you could start with? No social media needed to

Thank you for your response!

I haven't sent many, just 2 until now, I started to do this few days ago, and between my work and taking the copywriting course, I had time to rewrite 2 copies and send them.
The copies were for small companies, one for a company with 45k likes on facebook, and the other for a bigger one. The first one was the Wallet copy which you have reviewed

And as the contact email, I am looking if they have some office email, business, or collaboration emails, if not, I am sending to what I can find as form of contact.

I live in Romania, but since I turned 18 and took life in my own hands I barely stay there, most of the time only for a short vacation to see my family, otherwise I work on River Cruise ships as a sailor and I quite have some free time to fill up. I was actually thinking to help the company with advertisements but I don't see them having some.

[SARubin]

I haven't sent many, just 2 until now, I started to do this few days ago, and between my work and taking the copywriting course, I had time to rewrite 2 copies and send them.

OK, you're off to a start.

You have an upwork profile... you joined this forum... and you sent out your first emails.

That's a great start, it's already more than what a lot of people ever do.

Although at this point in your journey I believe it's only wise to set some proper expectations, so you don't get too disappointment too quickly and decide to quit.

These things take time to work (or a lot of money for mass exposure), and sending 2 emails is not really marketing...
We could maybe call it "practice"?

We need to add at least a couple of zeros to the end of that number before we can hope for a measurable response.


The first thing I would do in your shoes is spend some of your free time doing a bit of stalking. Nothing weird, just some market research on your ideal clients.

For example: You say the river cruise ships don't do advertising?

Why not?

Do you believe they would welcome more customers? Or do they already have as many customers as they can handle?

These are the first questions we need to ask.

If they could use more, that could be an opening to get your foot in the door. And we build your offer around that need.


My best advice for you right now, Relu, is...

Over the next couple weeks, pick a few businesses that you know you can help with their advertising (you can start with as few as 10, but the more the merrier).

Give each one a separate folder on your computer, or a separate file in your desk drawer.

Then...

Stalk the companies on social for a little while. You don't need to engage right away, you just want to learn about them. Take notes.

Visit their website if they have one, check for any reviews about the companies or the products.

What do they talk about? See if you can pick up on any of their values as a company.

Find out as much as you can about the culture of the people and the company itself, because whatever it is they care about is what you try to connect to with your offer.

And most important, find out who's in charge, and get their email address.

Once you've armed yourself with this knowledge you can begin to craft an email template (draft) to introduce yourself to them.

As the saying goes... First seek to understand, then seek to be understood.

The first one was the Wallet copy which you have reviewed

Yeah, I though that copy was pretty good. It's hard to get excited about a wallet but you made it work

And as the contact email, I am looking if they have some office email, business, or collaboration emails, if not, I am sending to what I can find as form of contact.

Just a heads up... 95% of the time, unsolicited sales pitches coming through a contact form on a website will be treated as spam. Either by the server or by the person who gets it in their inbox.

It's better to stick with personal email addresses of the people running the show. When you build rapport with those people you can bypass all the gatekeepers.

But first, pick a dozen businesses that look like your ideal client and find out what you can about the companiy and the people in it.

One step at a time, right? Onward and upward...

All the best,
Steve

[Relu Iulian]

I haven't sent many, just 2 until now, I started to do this few days ago, and between my work and taking the copywriting course, I had time to rewrite 2 copies and send them.

OK, you're off to a start.

You have an upwork profile... you joined this forum... and you sent out your first emails.

That's a great start, it's already more than what a lot of people ever do.

Although at this point in your journey I believe it's only wise to set some proper expectations, so you don't get too disappointment too quickly and decide to quit.

These things take time to work (or a lot of money for mass exposure), and sending 2 emails is not really marketing...
We could maybe call it "practice"?

We need to add at least a couple of zeros to the end of that number before we can hope for a measurable response.


The first thing I would do in your shoes is spend some of your free time doing a bit of stalking. Nothing weird, just some market research on your ideal clients.

For example: You say the river cruise ships don't do advertising?

Why not?

Do you believe they would welcome more customers? Or do they already have as many customers as they can handle?

These are the first questions we need to ask.

If they could use more, that could be an opening to get your foot in the door. And we build your offer around that need.


My best advice for you right now, Relu, is...

Over the next couple weeks, pick a few businesses that you know you can help with their advertising (you can start with as few as 10, but the more the merrier).

Give each one a separate folder on your computer, or a separate file in your desk drawer.

Then...

Stalk the companies on social for a little while. You don't need to engage right away, you just want to learn about them. Take notes.

Visit their website if they have one, check for any reviews about the companies or the products.

What do they talk about? See if you can pick up on any of their values as a company.

Find out as much as you can about the culture of the people and the company itself, because whatever it is they care about is what you try to connect to with your offer.

And most important, find out who's in charge, and get their email address.

Once you've armed yourself with this knowledge you can begin to craft an email template (draft) to introduce yourself to them.

As the saying goes... First seek to understand, then seek to be understood.

The first one was the Wallet copy which you have reviewed

Yeah, I though that copy was pretty good. It's hard to get excited about a wallet but you made it work

And as the contact email, I am looking if they have some office email, business, or collaboration emails, if not, I am sending to what I can find as form of contact.

Just a heads up... 95% of the time, unsolicited sales pitches coming through a contact form on a website will be treated as spam. Either by the server or by the person who gets it in their inbox.

It's better to stick with personal email addresses of the people running the show. When you build rapport with those people you can bypass all the gatekeepers.

But first, pick a dozen businesses that look like your ideal client and find out what you can about the companiy and the people in it.

One step at a time, right? Onward and upward...

All the best,
Steve

Thank you very much! Where I could see how a proper email template would look like? As a good example to follow.

[Franklin]

Thank you very much! Where I could see how a proper email template would look like? As a good example to follow.

I uploaded an email swipe file here --> viewtopic.php?f=18&t=504

It's mostly B2C emails but you can maybe tweak them to work for B2B

[Relu Iulian]

Thank you very much! Where I could see how a proper email template would look like? As a good example to follow.

I uploaded an email swipe file here --> viewtopic.php?f=18&t=504

It's mostly B2C emails but you can maybe tweak them to work for B2B

Thanks a lot!

[Relu Iulian]

I haven't sent many, just 2 until now, I started to do this few days ago, and between my work and taking the copywriting course, I had time to rewrite 2 copies and send them.

OK, you're off to a start.

You have an upwork profile... you joined this forum... and you sent out your first emails.

That's a great start, it's already more than what a lot of people ever do.

Although at this point in your journey I believe it's only wise to set some proper expectations, so you don't get too disappointment too quickly and decide to quit.

These things take time to work (or a lot of money for mass exposure), and sending 2 emails is not really marketing...
We could maybe call it "practice"?

We need to add at least a couple of zeros to the end of that number before we can hope for a measurable response.


The first thing I would do in your shoes is spend some of your free time doing a bit of stalking. Nothing weird, just some market research on your ideal clients.

For example: You say the river cruise ships don't do advertising?

Why not?

Do you believe they would welcome more customers? Or do they already have as many customers as they can handle?

These are the first questions we need to ask.

If they could use more, that could be an opening to get your foot in the door. And we build your offer around that need.


My best advice for you right now, Relu, is...

Over the next couple weeks, pick a few businesses that you know you can help with their advertising (you can start with as few as 10, but the more the merrier).

Give each one a separate folder on your computer, or a separate file in your desk drawer.

Then...

Stalk the companies on social for a little while. You don't need to engage right away, you just want to learn about them. Take notes.

Visit their website if they have one, check for any reviews about the companies or the products.

What do they talk about? See if you can pick up on any of their values as a company.

Find out as much as you can about the culture of the people and the company itself, because whatever it is they care about is what you try to connect to with your offer.

And most important, find out who's in charge, and get their email address.

Once you've armed yourself with this knowledge you can begin to craft an email template (draft) to introduce yourself to them.

As the saying goes... First seek to understand, then seek to be understood.

The first one was the Wallet copy which you have reviewed

Yeah, I though that copy was pretty good. It's hard to get excited about a wallet but you made it work

And as the contact email, I am looking if they have some office email, business, or collaboration emails, if not, I am sending to what I can find as form of contact.

Just a heads up... 95% of the time, unsolicited sales pitches coming through a contact form on a website will be treated as spam. Either by the server or by the person who gets it in their inbox.

It's better to stick with personal email addresses of the people running the show. When you build rapport with those people you can bypass all the gatekeepers.

But first, pick a dozen businesses that look like your ideal client and find out what you can about the companiy and the people in it.

One step at a time, right? Onward and upward...

All the best,
Steve

Thank you very much! Where I could see how a proper email template would look like? As a good example to follow.

Hello again!

I've spent few hours yesterday on doing market research for one River Cruise companies. I'm in the industry for as long as four and half years and I know some things about them, but when it comes to something like this I have no idea if it's correct.

I will attach the Market Research here and I will ask kindly if it's possible to receive a review. I want to know what could me added more or what is useless. I haven't done a market research till' now and I really want to know that I'm on the good track.

Thank you very much!

Scenic 1 Pdf.pdf

(94.02 KiB) Downloaded 1093 times

[SARubin]

Hello again!

I've spent few hours yesterday on doing market research for one River Cruise companies. I'm in the industry for as long as four and half years and I know some things about them, but when it comes to something like this I have no idea if it's correct.

I will attach the Market Research here and I will ask kindly if it's possible to receive a review. I want to know what could me added more or what is useless. I haven't done a market research till' now and I really want to know that I'm on the good track.

Thank you very much!
Scenic 1 Pdf.pdf

Now you're getting the idea. It all starts with market research.

What can be added or what is useless?

There can almost always be more research, and none of it's useless in the beginning.

When we start you never know what nugget of insight will make the perfect hook for our copy.

The more we know about our product, the market, the competition, etc. the better.

Of course at some point we just need to take what we have and move forward, but the more insight the better.

If you haven't seen it yet, I created a client research questionnaire a few years ago. It has a few questions you can ask your clients, when you get that far.

You can download it here...

Copywriting Client Discovery Questionnaire


Which brings me to my other question...

What do you know about the Cruise Ship's management structure?

Have you built any rapport with any of the people in charge of the advertising dollars?

Because these are the folks you need to sell yourself to, before they let you spend their money.


Either way, I think what you're doing right now is a good start. Keep going.

The best case scenario is they like it and they hire you to write some ads.

The worst case scenario is you end up with something for your portfolio.

Even if it never gets used you can still call it a "spec" assignment in your portfolio. Which basically means you wrote it, but it didn't get used.

In either case you win.

Keep doing your research, and when you start to write your copy I'd love to see how it comes out.

All the best,
Steve

[Relu Iulian]

Hello again!

I've spent few hours yesterday on doing market research for one River Cruise companies. I'm in the industry for as long as four and half years and I know some things about them, but when it comes to something like this I have no idea if it's correct.

I will attach the Market Research here and I will ask kindly if it's possible to receive a review. I want to know what could me added more or what is useless. I haven't done a market research till' now and I really want to know that I'm on the good track.

Thank you very much!
Scenic 1 Pdf.pdf

Now you're getting the idea. It all starts with market research.

What can be added or what is useless?

There can almost always be more research, and none of it's useless in the beginning.

When we start you never know what nugget of insight will make the perfect hook for our copy.

The more we know about our product, the market, the competition, etc. the better.

Of course at some point we just need to take what we have and move forward, but the more insight the better.

If you haven't seen it yet, I created a client research questionnaire a few years ago. It has a few questions you can ask your clients, when you get that far.

You can download it here...

Copywriting Client Discovery Questionnaire


Which brings me to my other question...

What do you know about the Cruise Ship's management structure?

Have you built any rapport with any of the people in charge of the advertising dollars?

Because these are the folks you need to sell yourself to, before they let you spend their money.


Either way, I think what you're doing right now is a good start. Keep going.

The best case scenario is they like it and they hire you to write some ads.

The worst case scenario is you end up with something for your portfolio.

Even if it never gets used you can still call it a "spec" assignment in your portfolio. Which basically means you wrote it, but it didn't get used.

In either case you win.

Keep doing your research, and when you start to write your copy I'd love to see how it comes out.

All the best,
Steve

Thank you!

It shouldn't take so long to find it, I am in the business for almost 5 years and I know the main audience, being people over 40-50. Other thins I can pull out from reviews and google.
I've found for the other company lots of words I could use, lots of them from reviews, and some from webpage, they have a very well described webpage.