This week, this blog focuses mostly on copywriters and content writers, but there's something for everyone including graphic designers and illustrators.
With the market becoming more fluid and unpredictable, we've come to realise that more changes are always on the horizon. As freelancers, writers especially, we’ve always been accustomed to fluctuations in service demand and the vagaries of different marketing trends.
This feels different though, too many factors, too many fragments of other things that have thrown themselves into the mix, economy, finance, war, AI and layoffs. Not everyone is affected, depending on which industry you write for, and many are riding the crest of a wave right now. For those of us who aren’t, good testimonials with a great portfolio are one way to ride any storm and always have been - even before things got so uncertain. We’ll come back to this shortly.
In the meantime, the one advantage we all have as freelancers is a greater understanding of uncertainty than many of our counterparts working in employment may have. We know how to take care of ourselves and navigate our way through thick and thin, certainty and uncertainty, feast or famine. We know how to pull a rabbit out of a hat when we need to.
For writers, adapting to new things quickly, learning new skills, embracing more flexibility and being accustomed to sudden fluctuations in the market until things stabilise are wise for now. You may have a niche area, but if it’s gone quiet and you’ve been taking on work in a different industry - consider moving into it more permanently for now. Go with the flow, a niche you’ve been focussing on for some time doesn’t have to be your niche forever, it’s not written in stone. You are free to change direction.
So yes, we can ride this wave and come out stronger, because the wide range of copywriting skills many of us have are easy to adapt for a variety of different purposes. It’s merely being clever and intuitive enough to know when to make that change. If it works as it is, don’t change things, but you have nothing to lose if things have gone quiet in your industry.
Working within a niche in a lucrative area has proved a winning formula for many, but as our industry changes, it doesn’t hurt to keep looking over the brow of the hill. Who knows what the market will demand one year, two years, three years from now?
Demand in deliverables e.g. web copy, video/text/case studies, 1:1 sessions, and group webinars to name but a few examples, change over time. I’ve seen increased demand at different periods for 1:1 sessions, case studies, more content marketing as opposed to direct response, and more online video content as opposed to text-based content. It’s always going to change and oscillate between services. And if you can do all of those things as most copywriters can, then there’s always going to be a service you can supply clients with.
Up until recently one-on-one sessions were currently in vogue. But how about in the next six months, is there going to be an increased demand for website copy, or are we about to enter the era of case studies with video or virtual reality? Perhaps personal branding is going to get a resurgence, I’m certainly seeing storytelling increasing in importance again, it’s always been there, and it’s always mattered, but seemed to take a back seat for a while as businesses focused on other things.
Teal, the Careers Experts argue that:-
“In the dynamic world of content creation, a Copywriter's ability to adapt and refine their skill set is paramount. As we step into 2024, the demand for high-quality, engaging content continues to rise, making it crucial for Copywriters to enhance their capabilities. Upskilling is not just about staying relevant; it's about mastering the art of persuasion, storytelling, and digital savvy in an ever-evolving digital landscape.”
So keep upskilling, and you can adapt to uncertain times much better than those who can’t or won’t change.
In February, Forbes looked at the 7 skills businesses needed to consider in 2024 -
“The rate of change in business is faster than ever. New technologies are taking over, new products are coming out, and new ways of working are required. If you stand still, you’ll be obsolete. Your clients will go elsewhere, your team will do their own thing, and your skills won’t be needed for where the world is headed. But you can roll with the times by knowing what’s ahead.”
What were those 7 key skills?
Async working - that’s a reduction in face-to-face and more emphasis on voice notes, Loom videos, using things like Slack, Heartbeat or Discord. As a marketer or copywriter, how can you capitalise on this?
Prompting - as in instructing AI tools. Great if you’re trained in prompt engineering. As a copywriter, however, what AI training can you do that revolves around 'prompting' to help your clients?
Cybersecurity - how secure is a business’ website with more sophisticated hacking? As a copywriter and/or content writer - are you an expert in this area, if not could you bone up on it?
Personal brand building - here’s where the power of storytelling comes in. No matter how much you might be dismissive about branding, personal branding matters, and how the public perceives you or how you appear online can be the difference between being a success or going under. If you already have expertise in personal branding get back out there, if you love storytelling even better, all businesses need to learn about what the power of storytelling can do for them, whether they’re a complex tech company or a life coach. If you’re a graphic designer or illustrator, make sure businesses understand the importance of branding through colour and design.
Online writing - this is written content to illustrate the brilliance of your products or services rather than simply relying on calls and face-to-face meetings. Businesses should master the art of writing so they can create their marketing products including landing page copy. If they can’t, then a copywriter or content writer is going to be worth their weight in gold. Prove you’re the writer for them.
Adaptability -
“While it’s impossible to predict every change, change itself is certain. Survival of the fittest says that adaptability is crucial. The more you can be flexible, responsive, and pre-emptive to change, the more your business will have a solid place in the future. The more you can use your resources exactly when they are relevant, the more you’ll stay ahead of trends.”
This final trend clearly shows that it’s not just copywriters or content writers who are having to adapt to change in the marketplace, so are businesses of all sizes throughout the world. And we should take their advice - learn to be flexible, responsive and be prepared to adapt.
Considering the above 7 key skills we’ve discussed, if you’re a copywriter reading this, or even a graphic designer how could you adapt your own business to supply the above if these trends take off again? I’ve already given some examples, but consider how you could upskill to offer some of these services.
To be in demand as a copywriter, or content writer, you need to have a strong portfolio of testimonials and recommendations.
And there are still some old-fashioned tried and tested methods that haven’t changed, except perhaps for the way we format them for the reader. We can utilise portfolios and testimonials on social media and our website, keeping us visible and never far from our next client.
Whether it’s in video format or via the written word, a good portfolio could be the difference between getting that all-important role or missing out completely. Never before has it been more important than now to stand out and be seen as the all-consummate digital marketer/copywriter/content writer - make sure you’ve covered all the bases.
I asked on Linkedin what advice my fellow freelancers had for those starting out when it comes to having a portfolio.
“When I first started, I used a mixture of things including:
• Items from my university portfolio
• Coursework from my copywriting diploma
• My response to briefs I found online
• Free work I did for charities” Jenny Lucas, SEO Copywriter & Content Writer, www.jennylucascopywriting.co.uk
Betsy Muse suggests case studies as one of the best ways to demonstrate our skills and successes with clients.
“I think the best way to demonstrate the effectiveness of our work is through case studies.
I think a portfolio should be narrow and targeted for your ideal buyer. If you're a generalist, you should have different pages you can share with each focusing on a more narrow topic. Sharing one page loaded with scads of examples is overwhelming rather than impressive.
The last thing we want to do is overwhelm our prospects by sharing too many examples or confuse them by sharing irrelevant examples.” Betsy Muse www.rocketfuelstrategy.com
Charlotte Nash suggests how useful and important testimonials can be to impress clients -
“I think weaving in testimonials, so potential clients can hear how past ones found your work (in their own words), can be very useful.” Charlotte Nash,
Kristi Durham chose another method -
“I took a bit of a different approach.
Since a lot of my work is behind opt-in forms (emails, tripwires, etc), I turned my portfolio into a long, easy-to-navigate PDF.
It has a table of contents with links that bring you to each section, and each section has a "back to top" link.
It works for me. I've had good feedback. But I always tell them why... because I dread portfolios where you need to click a bunch of links.” Kristi Durham www.kristidurham.com
This was meant to be a blog about how to create a brilliant portfolio, but it ended up as a general view of the copywriting/content writing/marketing landscape in 2024 and how you can survive the changes.
The key takeaways are - to adapt, be flexible, upskill whenever you can, change niche if possible, change deliverables, learn how to supply email welcome sequences rather than blogs or learn to master the art of web copy if you think moving away from something else you’re not getting much traction on will work better.
Keep your eyes and ears open, keep your portfolio current and relevant and keep writing.
Copywriters and writers are still in demand, because quality writing has always been, and will always be in demand, it might just mean we’ll have to be adaptable to more consistent changes than we’ve already been accustomed to up until now.
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