How To Measure Your Copywriting Skills
If there’s one thing that bugs me about the copywriting market is the lack of a standard measurement that copywriters need to meet in order to call themselves copywriters. Maybe it’s the scientific part of me that says you should be able to measure just about anything. Or maybe it’s just the onslaught of new “copywriters” I’ve seen online who I honestly don’t think deserve that title.Think about any other profession, even real estate, you need to take license exams or complete some course that allows you to attach a title to your name. But for copywriting, you can take that name at will.
Now I’m not going to pretend as though I have no self-interest in requiring this benchmark. I want the industry to recognize some standard and so customers can cut through the confusion and know the quality of a copywriter they are working with. But more so, I see the industry being watered down by title bearers without much qualification, if any at all.
Now my suggested requirement may go against the very spirit of entrepreneurship. Most entrepreneurs think that formal education or any ‘false standard’ should not define your success. In fact, most business people will boast of their accomplishments without having attended college.
But this is not just about education although it is. I would even go as far as suggesting a core set of books that copywriters should at least read before they carry a member card. Now for sure, different copywriters would want to include different books, but so do different schools for the same course and sometimes the same educational institution for the same course.
Okay, so along with the basic course requirement how would I measure a copywriter? I’ve seen many different elements suggested and so I’ll like to investigate each one at a time and then suggest the benchmark I would use.
1. Conversion rates. Some would suggest that a copywriter should be measured by the conversion rate of the sales letters he or she writes. The only problem here is that I’ve seen some high conversion rates achieved by sloppy sales letters all because of the market these letters targeted.
For example, markets that generally take “advantage” of the natural “lust” of the human heart normally do very well. This (for me) would include dating, gambling, pornography, sex, ‘get rich quick schemes’ and items that border on the illegal. If a copywriter does well at selling a drug addict cocaine, that’s nothing to cheer about.
2. Writing for famous clients. Many copywriters present as proof for their superior skills the fact that they have written for famous gurus. While I cannot blame them for flying these flags, many times these letters are used as a first draft and even chosen because of the low fees. That’s right. Top gurus often go the low fee route and then adjust the copy themselves. So copywriting clientele is no proof either.
3. Top Trainer or Coach. If a copywriter was taught by a famous coach then it could be assumed that this would recommend them to be gifted by association. Who wouldn’t want to be taught golf by Tiger Woods? But again having an excellent teacher doesn’t make you an excellent student.
4. Length of time STUDYING copywriting. In this business of writing if you simply study about writing without actually practicing, then you’ll remain a novice. You have to be in the trenches fighting the battle with many scars to prove your involvement and results to show for it. I’ll prefer a gauge of the number of pages of copy written than the total length of time studying copywriting.
5. Amount of money earned. “Million dollar Producer”, “My Copy Sold Billions”-these are the usual advertising blurbs we see advertising copywriting services. Now I don’t personally have anything against making a lot of money, but this is often a gauge of one’s business skills and the market you write for rather than your raw abilities. In other words, if you are ‘lucky’ enough to write for a big company with huge mailings, then it’s highly probable the profit will reflect the company rather than the writer.
And one successful piece of copy written for the ‘right’ company can earn you a “dollar amount title” that may not reflect your skills or experience.
So what is the solution? How do you measure one copywriter against the other? Can I write for the same product and same market and try and beat the control of another writer to prove myself better? Maybe this will be a fair measure, except that I should allow the control writer to try and beat my new control. You must admit that time changes markets and the same letter would get different results over time-hence the need to have the old control writer update his copy.
It seems that we are still at the very point we started, but we have made some progress since we have eliminated some options. I’m suggesting that your copywriting skills cannot be measured by conversion rates, famous clients, gifted teacher, length of time studying the discipline or money earned.
So what’s left after this?
I would suggest that a copywriter should be measured by the results of writing for a NEW product to be introduced to a market where the need is NOT already very obvious and in which the product creator had little or no previous credibility with the market. When such a sales letter is judged against the result of other letters written for the same market and product, then you have a safe standard to judge your skills.
Now this may seem like a hypothetical situation and indeed it may be. But introducing a new product to market is where the tire really meets the road. Of course there is no 100% new concept, but there was a time when the PC was “new”. So were the personal video recorder (VCR) and many other modern inventions. And this is why I have such high respect for the early copywriters who had no swipe files to refer to except those filed between their ears.
So write me a new letter for a new product for a new market and if you knock the ball out of the park I’ll be in the stands cheering you on.
Filed under: Online Copywriting
[...] sales letters etc. I took a shot at suggesting a standard. Let me know if you agree with me … Copywriting Tips And Tricks
Nice article, Ray. But I think one problem copywriters have is the lack of formalized training. I would love to see successful copywriters take on apprentices and help new copywriters learn and build on copywriting skills.
I believe this approach would greatly benefit new copywriters as well as anyone who hires copywriters.
Hi Janet,
I think because many successful copywriters learned the trade the ‘hard way’ and without formal education people get the false impression that ANYBODY can do the something. What many people fail to realize is that these copywriters READ A LOT!
I’m yet to see a successful copywriter who doesn’t read widely. But since there was no formal institution overlooking this education then no degree was conferred and people get the impression that schooling doesn’t matter.
On the other hand, many people hail “Persuasion ..” by Cialdini (a college professor) as essential reading.
An apprenticeship would work but will have a difficult time getting wide acceptance as we see from AIWA.
-Ray
Hi Ray,
Sorry but I disagree.
First of all I don’t think your proposed standard is any better than any other. Even a veteran copywriter can fail in an untested market with an untested product and even a total bonehead can succeed with a product the market takes a shine to.
Second I think the only measure of the effectiveness of copy is the market’s.
Your copy, mine or anyone else’s is not going to make a client happy unless it produces results. (unless, of course, you’re working for an ad agency and you can afford to chalk the copy up to “improving image”)
If you make enough clients happy, you’ll be able to eat and you are likely to continue in the biz.
If you don’t , you may need to find a day job.
As far as I’m concerned the market is a perfect judge of who can write good copy and a perfect self-adjusting standard. Anything else is misleading.
So what about all those posers who can barely write the word “copywriter”? Let them pose.
Personally I think it’s the responsibility of whoever hires a copywriter to at least have an understanding of what good copy is.
Just like holding a driver’s license cannot guarantee someone will be an excellent driver, passing some arbritary test - especially one that cannot be replicated - cannot guarantee someone will be a good copywriter.
God bless,
Andy
Hi Andy,
Point taken. But suppose I write copy for a product that the
market just loves and get a 10% converting sales letter AND
I write another letter for a product with less appeal to the
market and get the same 10% conversion–my point is that
the second letter was better.
If I just allow the market to determine how I measure my copy
then I have no real GAUGE to judge if I’m improving my skills
or getting worst.
A “standard” is not just for other people to judge but for the copywriter himself to assess how well he is doing.
I don’t only want to make clients happy but myself happy. Making clients happy is easy because I could write a crappy letter for a hot selling product and because the client was happy with the results then I have nothing to worry about when I know that if I had done a better job I could’ve gotten a higher conversion.
And holding to your driver’s license analogy–I’m sure you will want to know the guy in the next lane does have license even though it is no guarantee of good driving.
Thanks for your thoughts on the subject.
-Ray L.,
[...] delivering inferior work. This is not good, people. Sounds a lot like what I said in my recent blog post and got chewed up for by a few members of this board, but maybe Carlton is just "bitter" [...]
Hey Ray,
Many great points and as someone who considers themselves a apprentice copywriter it certainly makes sense but also as you pointed out challenges the grain that many of the greats were self taught.
I am digging into some of the greats of writing and some current great copy writers.
Who would you recomend?
Regards
Rich Regards
Rich Muir
http://www.companiesnow.com.au
Making registering your new company easy
I don’t think you’ll find any accurate measure no matter what you do.
And I really doubt that you need one.
If a marketer hires a copywriter and he makes a good profit from the copy he’ll probably stick with that copywriter (if he’s smart).
Over time if he’s really smart he’ll pay that copywriter more based on the profits the copywriter creates for his business.
If you really can write good converting copy eventually you’ll find clients who’ll pay you for it.
And if you continually write copy that tanks eventually your list of clients will dry up.
I’ve never seen any reliable way to measure copywriting skill.
But a good copywriter can usually tell from the copy if another copywriter has mastered the fundamental skills or not.
Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh
Hey Andrew,
The lack of a “standard” in the copywriting industry is really a double-edged sword. It means that anyone can get in by just proving their worth which is great, but at the same time it can take longer for a client to sift through the slackers before they get to the real copywriters.
I see your philosophy as being that the cream will rise to the top but the bigger the pot of milk is the harder it will be for the cream to be recognized.
I agree that there is no 100% “reliable” way to measure copywriting skills but we should attempt one I think–much like those “matching” sites that try ti find single people a life partner.
-Ray L.,
[...] Posted by wealthydragon on 13 December, 2008 If there’s one thing that bugs me about the copywriting market is the lack of a standard measurement that copywriters need to meet in order to call themselves copywriters. Maybe it’s the scientific part of me that says you should be able to measure just about anything. Or maybe it’s just the onslaught [...] Read more… [...]