In 2021 I wrote a definitive book on copywriting and how to use it to start your own copywriting business. Nothing has changed since then, not even with AI. In fact, AI has made this easier.

Business owners are starting to understand that AI is ruining their reputation. They have come to realise that a machine churning out slop day after day can never beat a professional writer.

And the reason is this: public awareness. The public recognise AI almost instantly. And when they do, they run a mile if it’s trying to sell them something.

It’s taken nature 4+ billion years to evolve our brains, and that cannot be replicated by a server farm, no matter how big. AI simply has no imagination. All it can do is regurgitate stuff taken from the best and worst brains of human civilisation. There’s nothing new. Only restructured ‘old’.

AI is still useful of course, and the ICA uses it extensively and includes many AI tools for its members. But when it comes to communicating with customers, there is only one way. Copy written by humans. Here’s a quick guide:

1. There’s a difference between a copywriter and a content writer (although they’re often now seen as the same thing). A copywriter persuades someone to do something (eg. buy a product). A content writer writes articles to fill space and/or build reputations and company profiles. Think of it this way “a copywriter sells, a content writer fills”.

You will earn considerably more money as a copywriter because the value you return to a business can be measured directly in increased profits. This is not true for content writers.

2. Writing good copy is no different from writing good content in one major way – if it’s not interesting, people won’t read it. And if they don’t read it, they won’t buy.

Writing great copy requires a deep understanding of who you’re selling to. It is one side of a two-way conversation between you and the buyer. Always think in terms of a single buyer when writing, never the audience. This is how the best speakers on the planet deliver on stage too.

3. Becoming a great copywriter takes a lifetime. This is the mindset you must start with. If you’re not willing to invest your life in learning to become a great copywriter, do something else. By ‘lifetime’ I mean some people become proficient in a year, some take 20 years, some never (usually because they give up).

In business in general, those who make it almost always make it because they specialise. Prefer specialisation over generalisation every time. Pick a specific market you can become the leader of. That market might be a profession, a service, a product type, or even a specific group of people.

If you don’t do this, you become a commodity, and commodities only win by being the cheapest. If you want to earn a decent living and retire in comfort, never be the cheapest.

4. To become a great copywriter you need to write every day (every day you don’t write is a day lost you could have become a better writer). Read every day (read from a critical perspective). Read everything (books, newspapers, magazines, articles, online content). There is no one good source of copywriting know how (it would be impossible to contain it all).

Writing MUST become an every day habit so you never think twice about it. That way you won’t become precious with your time or words. It also means you will gain the ability to conjure up the best copy in the world like magic, at any moment you choose to.

5. The only test of good copy is whether it sells. Once it starts working and sales go up, you will have your control piece to test new copy against. With that in place, you become unstoppable (in the eyes of your clients). This is how you win new customers and retain existing ones – you show them tangible results.

How do you create tangible results from nothing? By finding a way you can work with a new customer to begin with that both of you find acceptable. The only way to do that is to start contacting potential customers who fit your specialisation credentials. Want to work with lawyers? Great, start making a list of lawyers in your area. Find out about their specialisations (the lawyers with the most money are specialists in their chosen fields too).

6. And remember this: The opinion of other people about your copy is just that, an opinion. The only opinion that matters comes from a happy buyer, and is measured in terms of profit margin. No client ever fired a copywriter who was directly affecting their bottom line.

This is the tip of the iceberg. If you’d like to see below the surface, my book COPY explains it in great detail. You will find sections within it that other copywriting books overlook. Not least of which is the section on Rhetoric along with an expansive glossary of the tools used in the science of persuasion.

Your fellow accomplice in copywriting,

If you take copywriting seriously, it will change your life and the lives of many others along the way.