Thoughts on becoming a Writer’s Writer vs. being an Idea Person Who Can't Draw. Inspired by at least a half dozen former students looking for jobs.

Ever wonder why there’s so much bad copy/writing out there?  How whoever wrote that site got hired?  Why print copy is so gawd awful?  Why a smarter strategy might have lifted that ho-hum creative to new heights – why did they choose such an obvious strategy, anyway?

The answer lies in the writer.

This from Nick Cade, Freelancer to the Stars:  Sometimes the weaker strategy wins because it’s the best written strategy presented.

What’s Nick talking about?  How clearly, how cleverly, persuasively, understandably a proposed creative strategy is written.  How easy it is to understand and therefore - to sell.

While you may admire a competing’s team superior strategy, you still want to sell yours.  Still want to win the assignment.  Without writing chops to fire up a lackluster strategy, it’s not going to happen. 

If a better written, if less compelling, strategy beats yours, you've let down more than your book.  You've let down agency, client and ultimately - prospect.

A friend/former student is interviewing.  A Writer’s Writer, she can tap into any prospect’s inner vernacular.  Can detangle the most convoluted input, turn it into a cohesive discussion.  Keep things interesting until the reader arrives – surprise! – exactly where she wants them.  Better, she can marry that copy to her prospect and strategy with killer ideas, paying it all off in the end.

Not all copy is copy.  Some copy is content.  Some agencies want her to write.  Some want her for concept.  Most want her for both.  She’s in such demand as a freelancer, she’s taking her time choosing the right spot. 

Another friend and former student, one with great ideas but without the writing chops, is a big hit on the idea front.  But has limited his market because after three lines, his writing doesn’t hold up.  Everyone loves the work, his strategies and ideas get him hired – but then he struggles fleshing out the campaign.  Effectively labeling him a disappointment for a good portion of his market.

What’s up with that? 

The changing nature of the business.

Beginning Copywriters (and those longer in the tooth) are also Social Media and Content writers.  Bloggers.  White Paperers.  And oh – they also do ads, tv, radio and traditional media.  But few do just the traditional ad side of things.  Today, there is so much more.  (On the broadcast side of things, it’s not just TV – it’s also online and on-demand video, with in depth shot directions everyone must understand.) 

Without a firm grasp on how to write so readers don’t stop, viewers don’t move on, the strictly Idea Writer will struggle or worse – see other writers take their ideas and make it theirs in longer form parcels of the what was once their conceptual message. 

What I’m seeing is nothing less than a newly minted return to the days of Writer’s Writers.  We who once toiled over endless brochures (which fell out of the strategic and conceptual thread carrying the current ad campaign) and other long form print copy challenges – now toil over websites, microsites, blogs and the errant print piece which do the same.

If you can’t sustain the idea, the headline, you’re in trouble.  If you can’t sustain the concept, you’re a letdown.  If you can’t engage and clearly communicate information, persuade and motivate, you’re cutting off a good percentage of your opportunities.  No matter how good your ideas are.

No one wants to be trapped in the social media pool.  Yet without a solid idea behind your solid writing skills, that may be your fate.

Today’s successful Copywriter has to have both.

Why?  Love it or hate it, a Copywriter isn’t just an Art Director who can’t design/draw.  A Copywriter is a writer, should be able to write whatever medium is required.  Should be able to devise new ways of communicating information, benefits and features. 

Polish off your Kamikaze Copy Sins.  Learn to write short in long form. 

Pushing your ideas is one of the most obvious ways to rise in this crazy business of ours.  Knowing how to support ideas regardless of form, regardless of length, the harder if equally important foundation of all we do.

We aren’t just Copywriters anymore.  We don’t just present concepts, we communicate.  To sell our ideas.  To persuade Prospects to come over to our point of view.  To motivate them to the attitudes, actions and truth of what we write.

This is, has always been, a subjective business.  A CD may or may not like your ideas.  A good CD will always appreciate your skill as a writer. 

It’s not called Copyideaing.  It’s called Copywriting.  Like songwriting, the words without the music fall flat.  Without the words, all you can do with the music is hum.

Which comes first, the words or the ideas?  What got you thinking about becoming a Copywriter in the first place?