A citizen of San Diego, like any other large city, suburb, or rural small town in America, is bombarded daily by countless advertisements crying for a glance at their fancy footwear, ice-cold beer, or sensual scents.
As market competition increases for consumers’ ever tighter budgets, companies continually need tomarket their products in new ingenious methods, and to find the people able to do so.
Career: Copywriter
National Average Salary Range: $33,070-$52,094
Basic Qualifications:
- Undergraduate degree in English, Journalism, Marketing, or Business
- Tailored cover letter
- Portfolio (“a book”) of work
Basic Computer Skills:
- Microsoft Word and Excel
- Image editing software such as – Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign
- Adobe Creative Suite
- Familiarity with website design and editing software
The banners lining the outfield of Petco Park, the Budweiser frogs, the advertisement above this article, even the design for those half-off gym membership fliers that keep making their way under your windshield wipers: all were, or could have been, conceived by copywriters.
Whereas journalists write about the state the world is in and fiction authors write about the state the world should be, copywriters sell the world. They write creatively to attract the greatest amount of people to a product and convince them they need it.
For those talented enough to produce results of higher sales, copywriting can be a highly lucrative career.
The smartest way to get through the door in copywriting is by leading the way with quality work samples.
Build a portfolio.
Either through an internship or on one’s own time, producing quality work to show to a potential client/ad agency is necessary for establishing one’s validity as a serious copywriter. Although published work is obviously more appealing to an employer it isn’t uncommon to have a collection of work produced for fictitious companies, especially as a beginner in the field.
A way to gather published experience while working on a job opportunity is to pick up small unpaid projects for friends and family.
Similarly, approaching local San Diego bands or new town businesses and offering to do ad designs for little to no cost can be a strategic opportunity to build a freelance client base.
Even if the ideas aren’t used, the company will be a good experience in working with real life clients and be great practice for future specialized assignments.
According to Robert Bly, author of Writers & Others Who Have a Way with Words, focusing at first on smaller advertising agencies rather than large corporations is a more efficient method to apply as a copywriter. This is because smaller agencies often have less applicant competition because more qualified applicants tend to stick to larger companies that attract higher end clients, and therefore larger potential paychecks.
A personalized cover letter can make a huge difference setting oneself apart from the crowd, especially in applications for smaller advertising agencies where more attention will be applied to each applicant.
For a list of advertising agencies in San Diego visit BizSanDiego.com.
To learn more about what it takes to enter into the field, About.com has a good article on the trials of becoming a copywriter.
C.B. James Writing 