After seven series of Mad Men, you still don’t know what a copywriter is?!

Feel bad, but not too bad…

Mad Men is one of the most highly regarded TV shows in history, but it’s also like a bible to advertising industry creatives; chronicling the life of our messiah, Don Draper. Viewers enjoyed the drama without realising how perfectly it encapsulates our industry. It’s like an inside joke for adpeople.

After watching the series, even the avid viewer might be forgiven for not being completely clear on what Don actually did for a living, beyond ‘something in advertising’. In fairness, the definition of copywriter is not straightforward. Copywriting requires a combination of different skills that are both rarely combined in one person and also prevalent in other careers. Being a copywriter means being a lot of things at once, but you’re not a copywriter unless you have skill in all of them:

Orthographer

“Good grammar is credibility, especially on the internet” — Kyle Wien

Words and punctuation marks are the tools of the copywriter’s trade. If you met someone who claimed to be the world’s greatest pianist, but they didn’t know how to play the piano, you would be dubious. Just the same, you’re not a copywriter if you can’t spell.

Salesman

“Advertising is salesmanship in print” — John E Kennedy

A copywriter’s job is to sell stuff. If your words aren’t selling your product, you’re not a copywriter.

Mindreader

“A copywriter should have an understanding of people, an insight into them, a sympathy toward them.” — George Gribbin

Any salesman will tell you that you need to know your customer if you’re going to close a sale. Well, copywriters sell to potentially millions of people at the same time without ever meeting them. To do that, you have to know people; you have to understand how their minds work.

Neurolinguistic programmer

“To become a successful direct response marketer, it pays to learn as much about the psychology of the mind as possible.” — Alex Mandossian

Above, you can see a scene from The Negotiator, starring Samuel L Jackson. While the relation to copywriting isn’t immediately apparent, the principles are exactly the same. You are trying to convince someone to change their mind and do something you want them to do using nothing but your words. A copywriter needs to know which words convince a customer to listen to that voice inside them saying “I want that thing”, rather than that voice that says “I can’t afford it”. Use the wrong words and you lose your customer.

Artist

“Good copy can’t be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You’ve got to believe in the product.” — David Ogilvy

I would define art as using a craft — painting, sculpture, cookery, etc — to convey a concept or feeling to the audience beyond what the craftwork actually is. That’s copywriting. The words detail the features of the product while simultaneously conveying to the customer the joy of owning it without them ever realising you put it there.

So there you have it. Do you know how to treat your apostrophes? Can you sell snow to Eskimos? Do you get people? Can you talk anyone into anything? Are you an artist? If not, you shouldn’t be mucking around with copy.

Then again, there are plenty of other things a copywriter needs to be. Feel free to add to the list below…