Double Your Freelance Writing Income With Copywriting

Once the domain of “creative” people on staff with Madison Avenue advertising agencies, copywriting is today actively practiced by many freelance writers as a more lucrative alternative to writing magazine articles and books.

(4 Key Places for Writers to Find Those First Freelance Clients.)

How much more lucrative? Well, fees are all over the lot, but by getting into copywriting, you can realistically double your earnings in 12 months or less. A growing number of freelance copywriters are earning annual income of $100,000 to $200,000 and up. By comparison, ZipRecruiter says the average freelance writer makes $68,622.

So, what exactly is “copywriting?” And how does it differ from the related booming niche for freelance writers, “content marketing?”

Copywriting, strictly defined, is writing that sells or helps sell a product or service. For decades, copywriters mostly wrote radio and TV commercials, magazine and newspaper advertising, brochures, and direct mail.

But with the rise of digital marketing, many other copywriting assignments have been added to the roster, including websites, landing pages, online videos, Facebook ads, and email marketing.

Copy is written to directly sell the product; it is essentially a “sales pitch.” Content writing, on the other hand, is informational. It supports the marketing of a product or service by educating the consumer.

Typical content writing assignments include articles, ebooks, special reports, blog posts, online videos, webinars, and white papers.

For instance, Campbell’s soup uses persuasive sales copy in TV commercials. The mission of the advertising is to get consumers to buy cans of Campbell’s soup.

But for many decades, Campbell’s has also used content marketing–specifically, offering free booklets of recipes. Of course, different Campbell’s soup are the main ingredient in all the recipes.

Copy and content marketing are complementary. The primary Campbell’s TV and print advertising “call-to-action” is to get consumers to go to the supermarket and put cans of the soup in their shopping cart.

But Campbell’s ads often have a secondary offer: free content—the recipe booklet. This further increases soup purchases, because if you see a dish in the booklet that looks appetizing, and you want to make it, you have to buy a can of Campbell’s soup.

Many freelancers write both copy and content marketing, in multiple media and on many topics. Others choose to specialize.

Some specialize by format or medium. My colleague GG writes mostly white papers. My friend AD specializes in ghostwriting trade and scientific journal articles.

You can also niche by industry or product. My student SL is a copywriter for dietary supplement companies. PF writes mainly for the pet industry and has veterinarian practices for clients.

You can also greatly increase your income and career satisfaction with copywriting using the 80/20 rule: You spend 80% of your time on high-paying copywriting assignments for your corporate and small business clients—and 20% on your essays, poetry, and other personal writings.

(Earn More, Do Less.)

The ratio, by the way, need not be 80/20. Yours may be different. For instance, my ratio is 90/10 in favor of copywriting, because I love the work—and, in these inflationary times, can always use more money.