Many people consider a career in copywriting but aren’t sure if it’s a sustainable choice. As with any profession, there’s a range of money you can expect to earn. Some people wonder if copywriting can make them rich.
Copywriters can earn a lot of money if they’re experienced. You don’t need a degree to become a copywriter, so there’s a low initial investment. Many businesses need copywriters, so they pay well. In addition, good copywriters are always in high demand, so the rates are competitive.
If you think that this all sounds too good to be true, you’re right. Getting rich from copywriting is possible, but it’s certainly not easy. You need to take several steps to get to the top of this field.
Do Copywriters Earn A Lot?
Most businesses either have a marketing department or hire an external company to manage their marketing.
Since every marketing team has at least one copywriter, this means every business has a copywriting role that needs to be filled.
As is the case with any job, the salary/rates will vary depending on your employer, experience, and other factors.
1. High-Income Skill
Since copywriters create content with the intent of increasing sales and awareness for a brand, they are usually paid well.
Because of the value of their service, companies are ready to invest generously in copywriters.
Moreover, most of the rich copywriters in the market are seasoned writers who have markedly increased revenue for their clients.
Even though copywriting is a high-income skill, it is relatively easy to learn. You don’t need a professional degree or training to become a copywriter (although it can certainly help).
Moreover, the salary range for copywriting is generally high all around the world, unlike many other professions.
2. Endless Market Demand
Copywriting directly generates income for the business, which makes it a sought-after skill in many companies.
From 2011-2021 the number of new businesses each year has gone up from 2.58 million to 5.39 million.
Source: Oberlo
All these new companies want to make profits, and for that, they need copywriters. This holds true for businesses in every industry. As a result, the market demand for copywriters is always high.
Every company wants to grow and increase its sales, so it will continue to rely on copywriters for the task. This makes copywriting a valuable skill and a relatively stable career option.
3. Freelance Opportunities
There are countless remote and freelance projects for copywriting. This allows copywriters to work for a variety of clients simultaneously and earn more instead of being a full-time copywriter at a firm.
In this way, copywriters can access all sorts of clients from around the world and get paid better than their local rates. Freelance copywriters are also able to negotiate more for their service and can charge hourly.
In the US, freelance copywriters make an estimate of $85k annually.
Source: Glassdoor
If you think that surely this estimated income must be for senior copywriters, you’re wrong. They make even more than this (on average).
Freelancing opens many new doors to copywriters and enables them to get a wide range of experience.
How To Get Top Dollar For Copywriting?
It is possible if you’re determined to support yourself and your family as a copywriter.
Even if you’ve already begun a career in copywriting, you can still benefit from incorporating these tips into your career plan.
1. Market Knowledge
Since you are writing marketable content, you must quickly develop a deep understanding of the market, target audience, trends, and competitors.
Your copy should be clear and tailored to the audience you’re writing for.
If your client or company has provided a detailed audience persona, treat it as your personal roadmap. The audience persona will reveal the needs, desires, and expectations of the target consumers.
In addition to the persona, you should regularly conduct research to identify how the market is changing and influencing your consumers.
2. Daily Copywriting
Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned writer, the only way to improve is by writing consistently. Make a habit of writing a copy every day, even if you don’t have clients or work.
Look at terrible advertising campaigns and edit their copy. Then, review these edits the next day to make them even better.
Consistent copywriting will help you write for the audience while also cutting back on fluff. You will also be able to develop and deliver compelling copy at a much quicker pace.
Companies look for copywriters that can meet deadlines quickly and understand what makes a campaign’s copy effective.
3. Create A Pitch
To successfully convince a company to hire you as a copywriter, you need to be able to sell the value of your skills.
For this, you need to develop a pitch that includes the company’s needs and how you will fill this void. With the right pitch, you can also set your own rates.
You also don’t need to be an incredible or highly experienced writer to have a successful pitch. But for you to polish your pitch enough to be successful, you may need to deliver it multiple times a week.
Then, you can continue to tweak your pitch based on how your clients respond (or using their lack of response).
Make sure to personalize your pitches to your clients and, most importantly, include your unique selling point as a copywriter. What sets you apart from everyone else?
4. Develop A Niche
If you haven’t started niche copywriting yet, you can always start now. Though you can be a successful copywriter without developing a niche, having one can certainly improve your pay range.
This also doesn’t mean that you can’t change your niche in the future if your interests shift. Developing a niche is like becoming a copywriting expert for a certain topic or in a specific field.
If you have a niche, it means you have good experience with a specific type of audience/content. That makes you reliable; hence you’re more appealing to brands that are hiring.
A simple way to find your niche is to identify how your interests, skills, knowledge, and work experience intersect.
Let’s say you’re crazy about D&D or other tabletop games, and you’ve also written a few articles or reviews for them. You can combine this interest and experience to make it your personal niche.
5. Offer Sample Work To Businesses
You might want a company to hire you as its copywriter, but you don’t have an extensive portfolio that can speak for you. Don’t worry; there are still ways to win over that client.
One option is to take some of the company’s previous or current campaigns and rewrite the copy to show how these changes would deliver better results.
Another way is by offering your copywriting services for free if they don’t provide the numbers that you promised.
Both of these strategies require a bit of hustling, but they have worked for many copywriters in the past. Offering sample work is a bit of a gamble, but it can pay off.
If you already have a portfolio, be sure to only send the samples that are relevant to the business and its needs.
6. Get Testimonials
Whether you’re a freelance copywriter or have your own copywriting business, positive testimonials can increase your appeal as an employee.
Though you should focus heavily on maintaining your current clients, you will need testimonials if you want to grow your clientele further.
Make a habit of asking your clients for testimonials after reaching a milestone with them. For example, you could ask for a review after your copy has increased their revenue by X%.
If you have a website, make it easier for your clients to leave testimonials by including a feedback form. You can email short-term clients for a review right after their campaign goes live.
7. Launch Your Business
Attracting more clients and increasing credibility go hand in hand. If you want to continue to grow your income as a copywriter, you should start setting up your professional copywriting service.
This will make it easier for businesses to find and approach you. Moreover, they can find everything on your business platform instead of contacting you personally for your information.
As a result, only serious potential clients will end up contacting you. You can save a lot of time with an approach like this. A professional platform will also help you track your progress and revenue more easily.
What Type of Copywriter Earns the Most?
Though all types of copywriting are in demand and pay well, certain copywriters are paid particularly well for their work.
1. Long-form Copywriters
Long-form copy requires a higher level of skill and experience. This type of copywriting is often used to persuade consumers to make a high-value purchase.
As such, these copywriters are paid a hefty amount and can even negotiate for a percentage of the company’s sales.
Long-form copywriting relies on extensive research and understanding of consumer problems. If you want to get into this form of writing, you need to be prepared to write several pages for a single project.
2. PPC Campaign Copywriters
Copywriters can earn around $6k monthly when they write copy for ads. Depending upon their contract or agreement with the client, they could also get a portion of the sales from the PPC campaign.
Since a business is spending from its marketing budget for PPC ads, it is also particular about hiring a writer who can fulfill the sales goals. Copywriters may charge anywhere from $50-$200 for a single ad.
3. SEO Writers
Copywriters who can drive sales and generate traffic are valuable gems for businesses. Hence, they also earn a lot because of their expertise in the fields of SEO and copywriting.
If you’re already familiar with optimization tactics, you can establish yourself as an SEO copywriter. Companies expect copywriters to cover all their bases in terms of optimization.
This includes metadata, title tags, website copy, product description, and more.
4. Technical Writers
Healthcare, finance, and technology are popular industries that have a great deal of demand for technical copywriters.
Businesses from these industries expect writers to have relevant professional backgrounds and experience.
A good grasp of the industry’s jargon is also appreciated and may be required for some projects.
Since these are very specific requirements, companies are also more than willing to invest in technical copywriters.
Even if you do not have a technical background, you can still work your way up.
For example, if you’re interested in medicine, you can start researching popular topics and increasing your professional knowledge.
After that, you can start a blog and follow the other copywriting strategies mentioned above.
What’s Key To Getting Rich As A Copywriter?
1. Consistency
Though copywriting is one of the most feasible high-income careers, it requires a lot of work. You can’t put in effort one week and then slack off the next.
Every step needs to be deliberate and consistent. This is how you will polish yourself as a professional copywriter and increase your credibility with potential clients.
You must keep going forward and not get discouraged. But to make it easier, set small and large milestones for yourself. These will help remind you of how far you’ve come as a copywriter.
Just make sure that you don’t fixate on your progress all the time. The journey becomes easier and more pleasant when you look at each point as a learning experience that will help you grow.
Create a habit of writing, even if work opportunities are slim.
2. Time
If you think you’ll be rolling in cash by the end of your first year as a copywriter, let me burst that bubble for you right now. Instead, you’re probably going to make small salary jumps in your first two years.
If you stick with it and keep writing, you’ll gradually start to make financial progress.
However, you need to give it time and acknowledge that you don’t have the professional experience nor the expertise to rack in the big bucks when you start out.
This doesn’t mean you can’t get there and never will. You just have to be patient and keep working hard.
3. Client Relationship Management
Just like brands generate most of their revenue through their existing customers, you need to do the same as a copywriter.
Focus on retaining your clients by offering them high-quality service, a strong work ethic, and a clear understanding of their business needs.
You can also provide edits, reviews, and a complimentary ad copy to strengthen your client relationship.
Things To Remember
Copywriting is a lucrative career with a lot of opportunities when it comes to the industry you can work for. You can also work for a company, a third-party marketing service, or as a freelancer.
However, that doesn’t mean that it’s a quick get-rich scheme. Copywriters must put in a lot of time, hard work, and research to get to a point where their work flows like a well-oiled machine.
If you’re interested in copywriting, then keep writing, and you’ll eventually earn a good amount of money.