Yesterday I stumbled on an Instagram quick reel by a pretty well-known copywriter.
It’s always good to keep in mind that when it comes to tweets and reels or any kind of short form content, context and nuances are stripped away. Often intentionally.
That’s fine, it’s the attention game.
But the point they made didn’t resonate with me.
What they said was that a lot of companies prefer to work with “fresh” copywriters. And that’s because they supposedly shouldn’t have built their own voice, which makes them more malleable.
In short, they can learn the company’s brand voice and stick with it.
What I think is messed up is the foundation of this.
It basically implies that as a copywriter you should normally have your own voice “built-in”.
As a copywriter, you shouldn’t have a voice!
Not even if you’ve been doing this for decades.
That’s the whole point.
Your voice should be based on your research and on your audience’s and client’s / company’s brand.
You should be able to be snappy when needed and a bit more linear and plain at other times.
Maybe what that copywriter meant, was that being “fresh” as a copywriter, doesn’t mean you can’t write for a company from the get-go.
Makes sense.
But I wouldn’t interpret it as “newbie copywriters are less biased and less influenced by what they know”.
It’s precisely what the pros know that allows them to not be as biased (nobody can be 100% unbiased).
So remember this when you’re thinking of hiring a copywriter. Or if you’re a copywriter and get asked to bring your voice or not to the table.
NEWS FLASH: I just recorded my first weekly website copy and UX teardown. It’s a doozy. You can check it out here and I’d really appreciate it if you shared it with any nerd you know!
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