Is There A Copywriting Degree And Do You Need One?

More people are pursuing copywriting as a career, because of the growth of e-commerce and digital marketing. But like any other profession, you might be wondering if you need a degree to become a copywriter. Putting it simply, the answer is no. There are no specific degrees for copywriting, nor is a related degree necessary to enter the field. 

With the right skills, motivation, and consistent practice, you’ll be able to land jobs and reach far as a copywriter. Get to know more about what you need to become a successful copywriter. While a degree is not necessary, it doesn’t hurt to equip yourself with as much knowledge and skills as possible.

What Does A Copywriter Do?

Copywriters create content designed for marketing and sales efforts. Their main goal is to convince readers to take a specific action, such as making a purchase, downloading a resource, signing up for a newsletter, or engaging with the brand in general. In this role, you can produce different types of copy, such as landing pages, product descriptions, email newsletters, social media captions, and many others.

What Skills Do I Need?

Copywriting requires different skills to succeed in the role. As mentioned in the beginning, having a degree isn’t a hard requirement in the industry. This means having the right skills will be more important than ever, as producing quality work will allow you to build a good portfolio and attract more clients. Key skills you’ll need as a copywriter include the following:

Research Skills

Research skills are needed in copywriting as they allow you to provide accurate and credible information. These come into play in multiple parts of the writing process:

• Audience Research. First, you need to research your audience to understand who they are, what their needs and preferences are, and how you can reach them. These insights allow you to address your readers’ pain points and tailor your message to make it more relatable. 
• Industry & Brand Research. Familiarizing yourself with the industry and brand you’re writing about is important to convince the readers to take action. This is especially true if you don’t specialize in a particular niche, as you’ll need to do some initial research to learn about the landscape and the brand’s unique proposition. The same goes for more complex projects like whitepapers, which require more technical information. 
• Competitor Research. Researching competitors allows you to identify best practices and capitalize on untapped opportunities to improve your copy. By knowing what other brands are doing, you can better differentiate your message and emphasize your unique proposition effectively. 
• Review Mining. Review mining is a way to get into your customers’ minds by analyzing reviews to understand what they feel about your products. Doing this gives you insights into key selling points you should highlight in your copy to attract your audience.

Conversational English

In copywriting, adopting a conversational tone makes your message more engaging and digestible. It connects better with the audience, making readers feel as though you are talking to them in person and encouraging interactions. To do this effectively, use conversational English and avoid overly formal language to write relatable copy.

Creativity

Creativity is a key skill in copywriting. Readers are exposed to tons of ads in the crowded marketplace, so you need to make your message stand out and differentiate it from other brands. By using a variety of styles and techniques, you can write unique and interesting copy, capturing readers’ attention effectively and keeping them engaged all throughout. 

Being creative also helps you develop a unique brand voice, adding personality to your copy and making it more memorable for readers. This makes it easier to build your brand identity and improve recognition, gaining customer loyalty in the long run.

Communication

It goes without saying that communication skills are a must for copywriters. This means choosing the right words and structuring your copy to compel readers to take a specific action. The first step is understanding your audience through research methods like review mining, which allows you to identify the right tone and language to use. 

Once you’ve done your research, you need to figure out the best way to send your message, all while adhering to each platform’s content style. Good communication skills help you tailor your content to deliver your main point in a straightforward way—that is, without unnecessary verbosity or filler words that can distract readers from the CTA.

Sales

Sales skills are important in copywriting because they help you write copy that can motivate readers to do something, most often to purchase a product. By understanding how the sales cycle works, you can create more targeted and personalized messages that resonate with the audience based on their stage in the purchasing journey. 

Likewise, having sales skills gives you more insight into psychological marketing techniques like scarcity and urgency, which are effective in influencing customer behavior. Overall, they help you stay focused on the main goal of conversion, making sure that every aspect of your copy is designed to guide the readers to action.

Spreadsheets

Understanding how to work with spreadsheets is important because it allows you to manage, organize, and analyze data effectively. They can be used to plan keywords, track performance metrics, monitor spending, test different versions of ads, and much more to optimize your copy. While you won’t always need to do your analysis on spreadsheets, knowing how to use them makes it easier to work on different ad platforms.

Do You Need A Degree To Become A Copywriter?

While a degree isn’t required to become a copywriter, this doesn’t mean it’s completely useless. It can improve your employment chances and qualify you for better opportunities, helping you get your first job and get into companies that require a specific degree. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, people with a bachelor’s degree earn around 40% more weekly and are almost half as likely to be unemployed.  

That said, it’s still possible to build a successful career without a degree. I don’t have one myself, but I made sure to write a good copywriting resume and focused my search on advertising agencies that didn’t require a degree. Highlighting relevant skills and achievements made it possible to take on different roles and progress in the field.

What Degrees Can Be Useful To Becoming A Copywriter?

There’s no program designed specifically for copywriting, but there are relevant degrees to help you gain foundational knowledge and skills, which can give you a head start in the field. A degree can also give you an advantage when looking for jobs, as some employers may require this for specific roles. 

Here are a few degrees that can be useful if you’re interested in pursuing copywriting.

English

An English degree focuses on language, literature, and comprehension, allowing you to develop good grammar skills and a good understanding of tone and style. It provides a great foundation for writing copy, teaching you how to create engaging messages and adapt these to different audiences and industries.

Journalism

A journalism degree prepares you for a career in news or media, building core skills like research, investigation, interviewing, critical analysis, and communication. It teaches you how to conduct research effectively to understand products, markets, and audiences. It also focuses on writing concisely and creating attention-grabbing headlines, which is a must in copywriting.

Communications

As its name suggests, a communications degree teaches you how to communicate effectively to different audiences and in different settings. It’s highly versatile and prepares you for careers in a variety of fields, including copywriting. With this degree, you’ll learn how to write persuasively, understand how to sell products to readers, and write for multiple platforms.

Marketing

A marketing degree helps you learn brand management, consumer behavior, sales, data analysis, and other core topics needed to implement effective marketing strategies. It’s highly relevant for copywriters, teaching you how to write copy that appeals to your audience’s pain points, how copy fits into a broader marketing strategy, and how to manage campaigns to optimize performance.

Advertising

An advertising degree focuses on advertising principles, such as media planning, design, sales, and copywriting itself. Here, you’ll learn how to pair good copy with eye-catching visuals to create promotional campaigns. The degree also teaches you how to use different tools and navigate ad platforms. 

Each of the degrees above is helpful in its own way. They all teach you something valuable, so no specific one is necessarily better than the other. In the long run, as you gain more real-world experience, you’ll pick up skills that you would have learned from the other degree programs.

Should I Get Certifications?

Similar to degrees, certifications are not a formal requirement to become a copywriter. However, they can be helpful in a few ways:

• Skill Development. Certifications provide a more structured learning approach, allowing you to develop key skills in specific aspects of copywriting. In most cases, they also give you more hands-on experience through different projects.
• Credibility. Formal certifications can boost your credibility as a copywriter, reassuring employers that you possess certain knowledge and skills. These can prove handy in the competitive job market as they help you stand out from others.
• Specialization. Certifications are great if you intend to specialize in a particular niche, such as email copywriting, social media copywriting, or others.

Thanks to the Internet, several platforms offer copywriting certifications and courses today. Here are some places you can check out to look for relevant programs:

• American Writers & Artists Institute (AWAI)
• Copyhackers
• Coursera
• The Blackford Centre
• Udemy

So, How Do I Become A Copywriter?

Want to try your hand at copywriting? Now that you know a degree isn’t a barrier, here’s how you can become a copywriter.

Build A Portfolio

A portfolio is an essential resource you’ll need as a copywriter. It contains a collection of sample works you’ve done, offering prospective clients insight into your skill, versatility, and strengths. A well-organized portfolio with quality work also provides a good first impression, showing your commitment to the craft. 

Depending on whether you’re a generalist or a specialized copywriter, you should showcase relevant experience in your portfolio. If you don’t specialize in any niche, you can tailor your portfolio to match your client’s needs at any given time. Doing this makes it easier to show your ability to do the project. 

Here are a few online tools you can use to create your portfolio:

• Carbonmade
• Clippings.me
• Squarespace

Gain Experience

Having experience goes a long way in copywriting. A degree isn’t required, so having the right skills and experience will be your best asset. If you’re just starting out, you can consider doing volunteer work for friends and local businesses, engaging in personal projects like a blog, or looking for internships. These can give you starting experience and pieces to add to your portfolio.

Apply For Jobs

Once you’ve built some experience and a decent portfolio, you can start applying for jobs. In copywriting, you can opt to work freelance or as a full-time employee in an agency or company. Each setup comes with pros and cons, so it ultimately comes down to your preferred working style:

Freelance

Working freelance provides you with more flexibility, allowing you to control your time and schedule for better work-life balance. You also have more freedom with your workload, taking on a variety of projects for different clients. The main drawback is the lack of stability, as your earnings largely depend on your ability to find jobs. Some top platforms to search for freelance jobs include LinkedIn, Upwork, and BloggingPro.

Employee

Working as an employee provides you with more stability, offering financial security and a more structured work environment. Many times, you’ll also be focused on specific responsibilities, which avoids ambiguity in your work. That said, the disadvantage is that you have less control over your workload and time as you have to adhere to a strict schedule.

Optional: Get A Degree

If you prefer a more structured approach to learning copywriting, it’s worth considering getting a degree. While optional, this route helps you build foundational knowledge and gives you a headstart in your career. Formal education can give you a competitive edge in the job market and provide more guidance in building key skills and practicing how to write copy.