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15 great examples of creative copywriting and 10 tips you should try.

Creative copywriting is the best way to take your copy to the next level. See 10 tips for writing marketing copy that breaks through the noise and converts.

Published on Jun 04, 2024

By Krista Doyle

It’s true: Most writing requires a touch of creativity. But as a seasoned marketer or copywriter, you probably already know that creative copywriting, whether for landing pages, social media or ads can get your product or service heads and shoulders above your competitors.

So the real question is how do you do it? How do you create copy that does more than state the facts and figures — copy elevated by a dose of creativity? We won’t just tell you how to do it; we’ll show you how as we analyze 15 great copywriting examples from top brands. 

What is creative copywriting?

Creative copywriting goes one (or three) steps further than basic copywriting in the sense that it requires strategic, imaginative thinking . As obvious as it sounds, creative copy is where unleashed creativity meets copywriting skills.

A creative writer goes beyond inserting the average powerful words in marketing copy. They also think about the big picture: out-of-the-box ideas, the audience’s pain point, unique perspectives, and ways to approach and present the solution in the copy.

How do you identify creative copy? 

Think about the last time a landing page SOLD you on the company’s services so much that you were scrambling to enter your credit card details? Or when that persuasive popup convinced you to sign up for their email list? Or what about the time that product description — everything about it — had you buying a product you didn’t even need? 

That’s what creative copywriting does. It excites, persuades, and moves your audience to action in seconds.

What’s the difference between creative copywriting and SEO copywriting?

While creative copywriting focuses on the reader, SEO copywriting aims to reach the reader via search engines. This kind of copy is optimized for search engines by the skillful inclusion of keywords.

Does this mean SEO copywriting cannot or should not be creative? Not necessarily. Ideally, SEO copywriting should be optimized both for readers and search engines. This is not the easiest of tasks, but it is highly achievable if your copywriter knows their onions — and has great writing tools on hand.

For digital marketing, you must marry SEO and creative copywriting. This means getting down the basics of great copy and applying your knowledge of search engine optimization without stifling your copy. Sounds like a big ask? We’ll help you figure it out.

10 tips to skillfully master creative copywriting

If you’re more accustomed to SEO copywriting and would like to know how to write creatively, you’re in the right place. We’ve gathered 10 of the best tips for mastering great copywriting .

1. Do your research

Before you can write creatively, you need to have a solid knowledge of the practicalities. Detailed research helps you understand your subject matter and enables you to render your copy as persuasively as possible. In the course of your research, you should uncover — at a minimum — answers to the following questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• What does your target audience need?
• What is your product’s unique selling point?
• How does your product’s selling point intersect with your audience’s needs?

Understanding your audience is paramount in creative copywriting because it ensures that your message resonates on a personal level, making it more engaging and effective. Tailoring your language, tone, and content to your target demographic can significantly enhance the impact of your communication, driving better results.

• Surveys and Questionnaires: Deploy targeted surveys or questionnaires to existing and potential customers to gather insights into their preferences, needs, and challenges.
• Social Media Listening: Use social media tools to monitor conversations, mentions, and hashtags relevant to your brand or industry to understand the audience's sentiment and interests.
• Competitor Analysis: Study your competitors' approach to engaging their audience through their copywriting and marketing tactics. Note what resonates with their audience and what does not.
• Audience Analytics: Leverage analytics tools on your website and social media platforms to gain a deeper understanding of your audience's demographics, behavior, and engagement patterns.
• Interviews and Focus Groups: Conduct in-depth interviews or organize focus groups with a segment of your target market to obtain qualitative insights into their motivations and purchase decision processes.
• Market Research Reports: Utilize existing market research reports and industry insights to understand broader market trends and how they influence your target audience's preferences.
• User Testing: Conduct user testing to gather actionable feedback on your marketing materials, website, and overall brand messaging from your target audience.
• Customer Feedback: Continuously gather and analyze customer feedback through surveys, reviews, and social media interactions to identify areas for improvement and better understand their needs.

Once you have the raw materials, you can now whip them into your creative masterpiece.

2. Write a head-turning headline

Now, you may be in the camp that writes headlines as the final step of the process, and that’s fine. You can apply these tips whenever you choose to write your headline. However, do not underestimate the power of an arresting headline.

The rest of your website copy could be the most impressive piece of work, but readers will never know if they don’t get past your headline. 

In email marketing as well, subject lines—another kind of headline—must captivate your reader. Your subject line must be strong enough to sway the reader into opening, instead of archiving your email — or worse, making it as spam. Try these tips for crafting an irresistible headline:

• Use numbers to grab attention
• Appeal to emotions with power words
• Spark curiosity (but skip the clickbait)
• Ask a thought-provoking question
• Inject a sense of urgency

Bottom line? Make a darn good first impression. If you’re having trouble coming up with a worthy headline, try Jasper’s Perfect Headline template . It uses information about your article to generate impressive headline options. Jasper also has an Email Subject Line template for generating concise, inviting subject lines.

3. Build credibility 

This is another vital branch of creative copywriting. Granted, it’s daunting to build reader trust in such few words as those on an ad or landing page, but it’s doable. An easy way to accomplish this is by using cold facts and figures.

Like in the screenshot above, your figures could be anything from your current number of users to the number of five-star reviews your product has accrued. You could also show proof using a reel of popular companies you’ve provided services for in the past. 

Here are some ways you can build credibility on your website:

• Incorporate customer testimonials and reviews to showcase positive feedback and experiences with your product or service.
• Display trust badges, certifications, or affiliations with well-known organizations to establish credibility and trustworthiness.
• Highlight case studies or success stories that demonstrate real-life examples of how your offering has benefited customers.
• Showcase any relevant awards or recognition your product has received to enhance credibility and authority in the industry.
• Provide data-backed evidence or statistics to support any claims or statements made in your copywriting.
• Utilize social proof such as the number of users, subscribers, or followers to indicate popularity and trust within your target audience.
• Include endorsements or partnerships with influencers or industry experts to leverage their authority and credibility for your brand.

Pro Tip: Provide a freebie or actionable industry information in your copy so that your readers benefit just by reading your copywriting.

4. Be specific

Specificity shows readers that you’re confident and unafraid to make a claim or take a stance. Which of these two promises makes you more likely to order?

“Nutritious meals delivered in one hour” vs “Nutritious meals delivered super quickly”

Stating a specific time reassures customers that you’ve tested and can guarantee them service at that level. It makes your copy creative because you’ve put strategic thought into the process. This is particularly important when crafting Google or Facebook ads. Jasper has several ad templates including the following:

• Google Ads Headline
• Google Ads Description
• Facebook Ads Headline
• Facebook Ads Primary Text

Here’s the Google Ads Description template in action:

There’s much to be specific about in your copy, but unfortunately, so many copywriters are vague about what their products or services accomplish. For example, while saying your service will “boost results,” highlight exactly how or by what percentage it will do this.

Being specific in creative copywriting is crucial for effectively communicating the value of a product or service to potential customers.

When you provide specific details about what your product or service can achieve, it helps to build credibility and trust with your audience. Vague statements like "boost results" can be ambiguous and fail to convey the true benefits of what you're offering.

By highlighting specific achievements, such as increasing sales by a certain percentage or improving a specific metric, you demonstrate a clear understanding of your product's capabilities. This level of detail not only sets realistic expectations for customers but also differentiates your brand from competitors by showcasing your unique selling points. 

Specificity in creative copywriting ensures that your message resonates with the right audience and compels them to take action.

5. Tell a story

Isn’t storytelling the height of creative writing? You can use this same medium in your copywriting. While this style may not work for everyone, it is particularly captivating for individuals selling a personalized service. See how Ramit Sethi uses his narrative by sharing his experience with a problem and now offering to share his solutions with readers.

You may not have a heart-tugging personal anecdote to share, but perhaps your product has an impressive backstory? Share it. Show customers how the behind-the-scenes work translates to a better product for them.

Remember, the goal of storytelling in your copywriting isn’t to blow your trumpet, but to get readers to see themselves in your story — which is what makes your copy convert.

6. Be conversational

Speaking of reaching readers, our number one tip for word usage is to keep it simple. Always use a shorter, simpler word where possible. Your copy should be easily understandable for maximum impact.

For example, take Shopify’s landing page. “Sell online with Shopify” leaves no room for misunderstanding and would be understandable by most fifth-graders in America. Imagine, if instead, the brand had written: “Establish your business online with Shopify”? Still feel the punch? Not so much.

Using conversational language in copywriting is crucial for engaging with your audience effectively. By adopting a conversational tone, you can establish a connection with your readers, making them feel like they are having a personal conversation with you rather than being sold to.

This approach helps in building trust and creating a more relatable and enjoyable reading experience for your audience. Additionally, conversational language is easier to understand, ensuring that your message is clear and easily digestible.

When your copy is written in a conversational style, it resonates better with readers, increasing the chances of them taking the desired action you want them to. Remember, in the world of copywriting, simplicity is key, and conversational language is a powerful tool in achieving that.

7. Use emotion

There’s a reason why the PAS (Problem-Agitate-Solution) Framework is known as an effective copywriting formula: it works. With creative copywriting, though, you need to do a bit more than following the formula. You need to empathize with your reader.

For example, the sentence, “Why do the prettiest shoes give the worst blisters?” could easily open the way to highly converting copy for blister cushions. First, you get the reader nodding — just as they would with an empathetic friend — and then you keep them nodding into checkout.

Still unsure how to use the PAS Framework to your advantage? Let Jasper worry about that for you. Here is Jasper’s PAS Framework template in action.

8. Don’t forget design

We have to break it to you: Design matters just as much as your copy. Even if your copy was A+ and you followed all the other copywriting tips on the internet, poor brand colors and fonts would tank your sales.

Creative copywriters see the full picture, design inclusive. 

Use design that complements your copy. Don’t drown your hard-won words in overpowering design or back your words with an underwhelming design that won’t stand out .

9. Answer questions in advance

Headline, check. Trust and credibility, check. You’ve got your reader hooked now. They believe your copy and they’re ready to commit, but they have one niggling question before they take the plunge… and there’s no answer on your landing page.

If you’ve ever been a contemplating customer, you’ve likely deferred or changed a decision because of a lack of information. Sometimes the information is there, but on a page that requires the reader to put in extra work to access.

Spare potential customers the hassle and include relevant information on your landing page. These include:

• Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
• Pricing (+ free trial, if applicable)
• Geographic limitations
• Additional features and integrations

Don’t make potential customers work too hard to find information that can sway them in the purchasing direction.

10. Make your CTA work for you

The ultimate goal of your copywriting is to get readers to respond positively to your call to action. So, ensure that your CTA also has something for your readers. It should be all about them. After all, they’re browsing solution alternatives because they have a problem they’d like to solve.

Your CTA should be the solution. Avoid dead CTA’s like “Buy now” or “Click here.” Both of these feel to the reader like they’re giving you something, as opposed to receiving. Your CTA is your final punch. Use it to remind the reader of the core benefit you’re offering. 

Try one of these:

• “Start your free trial”
• “Start saving now”
• “Get $10 off”
• “Start earning now”
• “Get your free guide”

While hitting either of these buttons will be a conversion for you, your customer also receives something. We think that’s a win on both sides—and what a great way to kick off a relationship.

10 creative copywriting examples to inspire you

Before we go, we’ll show you a few brand pages and advertisements putting our tips into practice. Maybe it’ll give you some inspiration as you write your own creative copy.

On its homepage, Lyft doesn’t leave any room for guesswork. The headline is both specific and appeals to top desires of the target audience—freedom and money. The body copy is also clear about the benefits of driving for Lyft and conversational. Lastly, it includes a direct and hard-to-miss CTA. Got more questions? You can see “How driver pay works.”

The simplicity of Trello’s homepage shines through, thanks to the easy-to-read font and vibrant illustration. It definitely gets an A+ for design but what about the copy? It states specifically who Trello is for and the top things it can help teams do. (And because it’s specific about capabilities like collaboration and project management, we can imagine that Trello has done quite a bit of research to identify those as users’ top needs.)

Additionally, did you catch how the CTA employs the tip on answering questions in advance? It addresses price-related questions and objections by stating upfront that signup is free! 

The Bombas homepage is witty, but they’re no joke. You’ll notice that they highlight their philanthropic achievements, which appeal to emotion. Plus, besides offering an enticing 20% off deal, Bombas also creates a feeling of exclusivity with the headline and subheadline.

Innocent Smoothies

Another great copywriting example to add to your swipe file, Innocent Smoothies’ homepage opens with an entertaining twist on the horoscope.

Who can resist a scroll further down with that starter, which balances its customers’ personal desires with a cause they and the brand collectively value? And it only gets better with narrative copywriting that invites you into their brand’s story. 

PayPal gets straight to the point by offering you $10 if you invite a friend — something you can only do if you’re signed up. This brief but effective copy is a reminder that clarity and specificity don’t have to mean being long winded. This page makes smart use of minimal text, a simple design that doesn’t distract from the call-to-action, and complementary visuals.

This AppSumo marketing email uses the PAS Framework—rooted in emotion—with a dash of dry humor. It seals the deal with an urgent final line and CTA to amp up the FOMO. After all, no one wants to miss out.

This Netflix sign-up page is a thing of beauty for more reasons than one. The headline rocks because, although it’s simple, it highlights something we all love—unlimited access. The subheadline rocks because it answers important questions potential users have before signing up such as “Am I locked in to a contract?” Plus, available movies and shows fill the background to remind you of what you’ll be missing if you don’t sign up.

Quip’s email sign-up form is an entertaining read and a memorable example of good copywriting. The header uses witty wordplay that evokes the memory and feeling of a familiar, pleasant experience we’ve all had. And the body copy sets clear expectations about what Quip’s emails will be about, while also answering FAQs about email topics and frequency. 

Lastly, we can’t forget to mention that all of this copy is conversational through and through, speaking directly to “you” and maintaining a friendly and relaxed tone.

Here’s another brand that’s loading up the freebies and not hiding it at all. Just look at that CTA button. Not to mention that the headline does a great job of sparking curiosity about the offer.

This popup from Our Place is a masterclass in the use of social proof to build credibility. Sure, they could’ve written a call-to-action like, “We’re giving away one pan a day. Enter your email address for a chance to win.” But that wouldn’t be nearly as compelling as hearing some of the overwhelmingly positive things Always Pan users have said. 

5 of our favorite examples of ad copywriting

We’ve seen fantastic examples of copywriting in emails and on landing pages. How about some advertisements? Here are five memorable advertisements with smart copy that will get you to look twice.

Saatchi and Saatchi

This Saatchi & Saatchi ad encourages dog lovers to think twice before adopting — and yet it never says those exact words. Powerful. And a good lesson that what your headline or your copy doesn’t say may be more powerful than what it does. 

This Band-Aid ad takes “minimal” to a whole new level. As you can see it’s light on the copy, but what makes it so powerful is the imagery. It illustrates the claim made in the copy perfectly and simultaneously builds credibility and trust for Band-Aid. 

Heinz Ketchup

We love that this cheeky Heinz ad reminds you of what Ketchup is made from. At first glance, you might expect the copy to say, “No one makes Ketchup like Heinz,” so using the word “grows” instead is an excellent attention-grabber. The image then brings the concept in the copy full circle.

Three words are all this ad needs to be laugh-out-loud funny. In the copywriting world, you’ll often hear the advice that you should be “clear over clever,” and often, that’s true. We even listed being specific as a best practice so that there’s no confusion or lingering questions to stop people from taking the action you want them to take. 

But, as this ad shows, there’s a time for cleverness and copy that makes people stop and think for a second. (As long as it’s quick and easy for them to pin down what you mean). 

This Calm Facebook ad is an excellent example of providing value in your creative ad copy. It leads readers through a super-short meditation before they even realize it. The copy also makes use of social proof by spotlighting recognition the company has received. Not to mention that it has a clear call-to-action: “Go download Calm.”

Go the extra mile with your copywriting

Creative copywriting stands out because it’s not your average copywriting. It requires generous portions of imagination and big-picture thinking. You’ll need to do the research and write solution-centric copy that demands readers’ attention.

We believe in you, but we also believe in getting help when needed. That’s why we recommend using one of the leading tools for copywriting —our AI writing assistant, Jasper. With scores of templates, including marketing-specific options like the PAS and AIDA Frameworks, Jasper is up to the task of creative thinking and, unlike you, he never tires.

If you need help getting Jasper to write even better, we definitely recommend going through Jasper Jumpstart where you’ll learn how Jasper thinks, as well as how to use templates, commands, and recipes. 

Ready to give it a shot? Start a free trial of Jasper today.

Meet The Author:

Krista Doyle

Krista Doyle is a writer-turned-strategy-nerd based in Austin, TX. By day she manages content strategy and SEO right here at Jasper, by night she binges Netflix or continues her mission to find the best old fashioned in Austin, TX.

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How to Write a Creative Brief with Examples and Templates

By Joe Weller | March 5, 2024

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A  creative brief  is a roadmap for teams planning a marketing or advertising campaign, including the objectives, deliverables, and target audience. Strong creative briefs keep team members and external stakeholders aligned as the campaign develops.

  Inside this article, you’ll discover how to write a creative brief , the main elements to include, and downloadable example briefs and templates . Plus, you’ll learn how to use generative AI to help draft a creative brief .

Main Elements of a Creative Brief

Creative briefs should include sections detailing the campaign’s goals, deliverables, style, and target audience. The brief will also have information about the brand and competition in the marketplace.

A project manager for the team requesting the content or a  member of the marketing or advertising team will write a creative brief. The specific sections of a creative brief might vary depending on the project and its stakeholders, but keep these eight main elements in mind:  

• Brand Identity and Project Overview: The first section of the creative brief provides relevant background information about the brand’s mission and the campaign’s purpose, whether it is responding to pain points or advertising a new product. Summarizing these key details at the outset gives the creative team a focused direction and ensures the campaign fits into the overarching brand identity. 
• Objectives:  Clearly define goals and be sure to link them to  key performance indicators (KPIs) . Using  SMART  (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) goals when crafting objectives help you focus on the project and key metrics. 
• Competitive Analysis: Reviewing examples of recent campaigns from rival brands is a valuable strategy when seeking insight for a creative brief. Analyzing competitors’ strengths and weaknesses sheds light on what resonates with consumers and how to make a campaign stand out in the market.
• Target Audience:  Creative briefs should boil down which segment of the brand’s audience the campaign will target. Specific demographic profiles help the creative team understand customer behaviors and deliver the most effective and appealing assets.
• Tone and Style:  Whether defining a personality, listing adjectives that correspond with the core message, or designating a color palette, the creative brief clarifies the attitude and visual identity of the campaign. Designers need direction on the desired voice and style to ensure a unified final project that speaks to the target audience.
• Content Format and Deliverables:  Every creative brief must outline the specific content that the creative team needs to produce, such as social media assets, print advertisements, graphics, video content, online copy, or other elements of the campaign strategy. Include any format requirements or other specifications, so that the creative team can align their output with the campaign objectives.
• Timeline and Budget:  Stipulating key deadlines, checkpoints, and budget requirements enables the creative team to deliver on target. This information is crucial when working with external agencies, for whom the brief can function like a contract. Concrete schedule parameters give project managers details that they can follow up, warding off scope creep. Learn  how to manage scope creep  and keep projects on track.
• Stakeholders:  Briefs should include the contact details and roles for all the team members who will be involved in the project. Establishing individual responsibilities and review processes ensures internal and external stakeholders can communicate seamlessly throughout the process.

How to Write a Creative Brief

Writing a creative brief starts with gathering the information that will guide a campaign’s direction. Begin with a focused overview of the project and include concrete details on your objectives, audience, and deliverables.

A strong creative brief is clear, specific, and short. Think of it as a blueprint to inspire creativity and keep your team on track from ideation through delivery and execution. Consider using  creative brief templates  to save time and maintain consistency across multiple projects.  For branding campaigns or launches, a more specialized  brand brief  might be necessary. 

1. Gather Information and Resources  

Before you start writing, do the prep work for your brief. This might include researching competitors, analyzing pain points, meeting with stakeholders, and referencing past campaigns. Use this information to finalize your core message, target audience, and objectives.  

Once you have a clear idea of the campaign, gather the necessary supporting documents. Compile links to important resources, such as a brand style guide, digital asset library, and any example content for the creative team to reference.  

2. Decide What to Include  

The details of the campaign, stakeholders, and objectives will determine which elements of the creative brief are necessary. For example, internal team members might not need comprehensive information about your brand mission. Or you might include a budget for advertising campaigns, but not for designing a new website banner.

Keep in mind that the creative brief should be concise and focus on the creative direction of the campaign. If you need to determine a comprehensive marketing and distribution strategy, consider completing a  marketing strategy brief first.   

3. Name the Campaign and Write an Overview   

Naming the project is a simple first step to streamline communication. The campaign name should point to its core message — the idea, consumer benefit, or call to action (CTA) — the creative team needs to get across with their assets.  

Start by writing an overview that defines the core message in a few sentences. Consider including relevant brand identity aspects or drafting a short section with brand and product background. Establish why you are launching this campaign, the opportunities or challenges, and the takeaways for your audience. 

“For example, in our creative brief for a new rug collection launch, we highlighted our rugs’ unique designs inspired by Southwestern traditions and their high-quality sustainable materials. Conveying these key points up front allows designers and copywriters to center their creativity around the communication of these distinguishing factors,” offers  Connor Butterworth , CEO and Owner of  Southwestern Rugs Depot . 

4. Set Clear Objectives

Highlight one or two goals for the campaign that align with its core message. Be sure to define the KPIs you will use to measure success. Common campaign objectives include boosting engagement, increasing conversions, and communicating a specific call to action or desired consumer behavior.   

5. Analyze the Competition

Survey the competitive landscape for real-world models. Focus on a few major competitors and provide examples of their recent campaigns for similar products. Highlight key successes and failures to learn from, and create a list of the ways in which your brand or product differs.  

Elaine Chen , Founder of marketing consultancy Excogita, advises, “Creatives understand that not every project will immediately hit the mark, but they need feedback to get to the right place. Spend time looking at competing campaigns so that you have concrete ideas about what you feel will and won't work, and share some of these insights in your brief.”

6. Define the Demographic

Determine a primary target audience for the campaign. Are you trying to reach a segment of the current brand audience or potential new customers? Break down your target audience with demographic data — such as age, gender, and geographic location — as well as buying behaviors and psychographic information, such as preferences and interests. 

Instead of listing all the aspects of your target audience, use profiles or personas to draw a precise portrait of your customer in a couple sentences. Learn  how to create customer profiles  to better understand your audience with individualized buyer personas.  

7. Explain the Tone

Choose several adjectives that describe an attitude or personality for the campaign. Align this personality with the key message, cater it to your target audience, and fit it within your brand identity. Include links to any brand style guidelines or designated fonts and color palettes.

Should graphics feel sophisticated and minimalistic or playful and energetic? Is the tone authentic and empowering or confident and provocative? The adjectives you choose will guide both the visual direction and voice of your campaign, keeping all the elements of the project cohesive.

8. Designate Deliverables

Determine what assets or content the creative team needs to produce to meet the campaign objectives. Specify the content format, the number of deliverables, and any requirements or specifications, such as image dimensions or character limits. You might mention your distribution strategy if modified versions of the assets will be needed for different platforms.

9. Walk Through the Timeline and Budget

Working backward from the campaign launch date, determine when assets need to be delivered in order to be reviewed by key stakeholders and released on schedule. Fill in important due dates, review periods, meetings, and final approval deadlines leading up to the release date. If the creative team will be producing video content or multichannel advertising campaigns, establish a budget.

10. Present to Stakeholders

Share the completed brief with all the stakeholders involved, from the creatives who will be producing the content to the executives who will approve final designs. The creative team might consist of in-house designers and marketers, or it could be an external agency. Consider including a project manager to track deadlines and deliverables. Project managers can create a separate  project brief  to summarize high-level details.

Whether you present the brief at a  project kickoff meeting or distribute it electronically, be open to feedback. The creative team might have questions on the timeline, resources, tone, or approval process. The marketing director could help you fine-tune the target audience and core message. Refine the brief if necessary before you share the final version. Make sure everyone understands the direction of the project and their responsibilities.

Examples of Creative Briefs

These creative brief examples use variations on the basic creative brief template to communicate specific project details to stakeholders. These downloadable and customizable templates include example copy for a variety of creative brief scenarios.

Simple Creative Brief Example Template

Download the Simple Creative Brief Example Template for Microsoft Word

Download the Simple Creative Brief Blank Template for Microsoft Word

Here’s an example of a creative brief for a marketing campaign designed in-house. This short creative brief template keeps a tight focus on the project itself — and doesn’t waste time providing unnecessary context.

Client Creative Brief Example Template

Download the Client Creative Brief Example Template for Microsoft Word

Download the Client Creative Brief Blank Template for Microsoft Word

This example shows how a creative brief might be completed for implementing a marketing campaign with an agency. There is more information about the client — the brand, project message, and call to action — while leaving room for the creative team to innovate. 

Graphic Design Creative Brief Example Template

Download the Graphic Design Creative Brief Example Template for Microsoft Word

Download the Graphic Design Creative Brief Blank Template for Microsoft Word

Here’s an example of a creative brief for a graphic design project that is perfect for solo graphic designers or graphic design firms planning projects in collaboration with their clients. The simple, adaptable layout has room for details on image requirements and design elements, as well as direction about the project. 

For more elaborate design projects — such as a logo design or product design — consider using a specific  design brief .

Advertising Creative Brief Example Template

Download the Advertising Creative Brief Example Template for Microsoft Word

Download the Advertising Creative Brief Blank Template for Microsoft Word

This creative brief example uses a straightforward advertising campaign template to cover objective, tone, messaging, target audience, and non-negotiables. There are also key advertising elements needed for the campaign. 

What to Keep in Mind When Writing a Creative Brief for Internal Use vs. an Agency

Creative briefs are a campaign’s starting point for both in-house teams and agencies. The project’s stakeholders will determine the brief’s content. Both internal and external creative teams need information about the campaign’s message, but agencies might need more brand details.

Internal creative briefs are often short and direct, since the stakeholders will bring their understanding of the brand and its identity to the project. Internal creative teams might already be familiar with style guidelines, recent campaigns, and customer personas. It’s still important to include focused direction specific to the campaign objectives, but the brief can be more informal and flexible.

Creative briefs shared with external agencies, on the other hand, are often more extensive. CEO and Founder of  Awning.com Shri Ganeshram recommends crafting a “more detailed and structured brief” when working with an agency. “It has to convey the essence of your brand and project requirements without any assumed knowledge,” he continues. “When I worked with an external design agency for our marketing campaign, the detailed brief we provided helped them grasp our brand ethos quickly, resulting in a highly successful campaign.”

As a marketing executive with both in-house and agency experience, Chen points out that projects that are contracted out might also require more comprehensive briefs. “Many companies are only working with agencies on high-profile or very strategic assignments such as major advertising campaigns, creating new brands, or significant rebrands. Accordingly, the briefs will need to include lots of insights about the product and audience, while avoiding being too prescriptive to give the agency room to innovate.”

Additionally, while both internal and agency creative briefs typically include deliverables and deadlines, these stipulations might carry more weight externally. In his experience working with agencies, Ganeshram explains, “The creative brief acts as a contract of sorts that outlines what the client expects, providing a clear framework within which the agency operates. This distinction is crucial for ensuring both parties have aligned expectations.” 

Pitfalls to Avoid When Writing a Creative Brief

An effective creative brief empowers designers, advertisers, or marketers to deliver original and compelling content. On the other hand, vague or complicated briefs make it impossible for creative teams to meet expectations. Avoiding these pitfalls streamlines the creative process.  

There are five common pitfalls to keep in mind when writing creative briefs:  

Ambiguity:   

A vague direction can make it impossible for the creative team to understand the vision for the campaign. Provide specific information about the tone and message, as well as clear guidelines for the format of the final product. “If you leave anything up for interpretation, then you risk the result not being what you expected,” advises Kristien Matelski, Content/PR Manager at  Vizion Interactive . “I’ve found that a few good examples are much more valuable than just describing what I’m looking for.”

• Overprescription: Conversely, including too much detail can limit creativity and overwhelm the core message. Designers, copywriters, and other creatives need freedom to bring their own expertise and imagination to the project. “While detailed background information is always helpful, realize that you can only convey so much in a single communication,” Chen notes. “Avoid requiring your creative team to fold in too many messages or else you could end up with a garbled mess.”
• Broad or Unspecified Audience: It’s crucial to define a target audience with as much detail as possible. Large campaigns might have primary and secondary markets, but to create effective assets, the team needs to have a specific audience in mind and understand their behaviors. “Too often companies are so focused on what they have to say that they end up failing to incorporate customer perspectives and create a message that just falls flat,” cautions Chen.
• Unrealistic Expectations:  The purpose of a creative brief is to keep stakeholders’ expectations and responsibilities aligned throughout the project’s development. However, if the brief sets impossibly tight deadlines or unattainable objectives, creatives won’t be able to deliver compelling results.
• Complicated CTA:  Campaigns work best with a simple and clear core message or desired outcome. Creative briefs that fail to develop a clear call to action result in campaigns that can’t meet their objectives. Chen adds, “It's most realistic to ask consumers to do just one easy thing after seeing your ads. A complicated, multistep process or a confusing mix of options is doomed to fail.”

How to Use Generative AI to Write a More Effective Brief

Recent advancements in generative AI have made it a powerful tool for crafting creative briefs. AI can analyze pain points and customer data, suggest relevant core messages, and elevate directions on tone and style. Think of the AI as a partner or assistant when drafting your prompts, and be prepared to finetune the results.

“Generative AI can be a game-changer for crafting creative briefs in marketing and advertising,” observes Peter Wood, CTO at  Spectrum Search . “It's essential to leverage AI for initial idea generation. By feeding the AI system with your campaign’s objectives and target audience demographics, you can get a diverse range of creative concepts and narratives, which might not be immediately obvious to a human team.”

You can also use AI to assist in data analysis when researching your competitors and establishing customer personas. Wood continues, “This analysis can inform the tone, style, and content of your brief, ensuring it is aligned with what resonates with your audience.”  

“As a content manager, I’ve found that creative briefs have been a primary use for AI,” reveals Kristien Matelski. To get the best results from the AI, she recommends providing it with background information about your brand and objectives, as well as detailed instructions for the content you want it to generate. Keep revising and updating your prompts as you work, and make sure to verify any facts or data in your results. 

Here are four tips to keep in mind when utilizing AI to draft your creative brief:  

• Pretend the AI Is Your Assistant:  AI is not a search engine, and it can handle more complex directions. “Be as detailed as possible with what you want, like you’re giving instructions to an assistant to write a brief or outline for you,” suggests Matelski.
• Provide Background:  Feed the AI relevant information about the brand, product, or campaign objectives. Matelski says, “I generally start by giving the AI some context about the who, or the company we are generating a creative brief for, including a link to their website. Then I tell it the what that we’re creating, a creative brief or outline for a new product page.”
• Include Specifics:  If you are using a template, make sure to list the fields you want the AI to generate. Establish any requirements and important campaign directives to include in the brief. As an example, Matelski offers, “Be sure to mention X, Y, Z brand names, color choices, and keywords.”
• Edit, Edit, Edit:  Once the AI has generated the brief, read through the results and determine next steps. “You’ll need to edit yourself or go back and forth with the AI a few times to get it how you want it,” Matelski acknowledges. You might ask the AI to condense the overview, suggest a more playful core message, narrow the objectives, or tailor the deliverables for a specific social media platform. Consider whether you need to provide additional information with your instructions.

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Writing for Marketing: Best Practices and Common Pitfalls

Content marketing in its core is establishing a connection with your target audience. You are creating bridges to easily convey your idea or message across. This is mainly done through writing. And, good content relies heavily on quality writing.

Marketers need to have good writing skills because most of their content marketing will rely on them.

They are expected to write newsletters, emails, social media posts, scripts for podcasts or videos and other marketing materials. And what these materials contain will determine the success of your brand or company.

But, good writing skills are not only limited to content writing. As someone who will be working with a lot of people, your proficiency in writing will help you become a more effective communicator.

Passing information to the various departments will be easier. You’ll be able to convey clear and precise instructions when needed and be able to get your message across.

You’ll be able to avoid misunderstandings that could be detrimental to your brand.

To improve your skills in writing for marketing projects, you need to be aware of the standards set by the industry.

This will help you gauge how your writing skills are compared to others. You’ll be able to have a clear idea on where you need improvements.

Also, knowing common mistakes will help you to be mindful to avoid them.

To be an effective writer, be mindful of the important pointers we will discuss later on to help you better your skills. This will give you a clear idea of how to approach your content strategy and maximize your gains.

Table of Contents

The Power of Effective Writing in Marketing

You want people to relate to your message to create engagement. You need to incite a positive reaction or a response that will lead them to become your customers.

In the world we live in, there are multitudes of images that are constantly trying to get your attention. They are sometimes a bit overwhelming and tedious at times.

In most cases, people have formed a habit of ignoring them and moving on with their lives. So, how can you engage with people who choose to be oblivious?

A well-crafted content ensures that your target audience will pay attention. They will understand the message you want to convey and will be more receptive to your ideas. You are forming a meaningful customer reaction that will build loyalty to your brand or company.

Building brand loyalty takes time. But a sure way to gain this is to establish your credibility. Credibility is really important for your brand image and reputation.

A lot of customers take the importance of buying from brands that they trust. They emphasize on genuineness and sincerity.

So, your content strategy should reflect this. Any written content should always be checked and vetted before being posted or published.

Be mindful of the social issues and cultural differences that your audience has. As your content writing will be a reflection of your brand and what it stands for.

Connecting with your audience is a must. You need to hold their attention long enough to be able to introduce your brand, explain the advantages they’d gain by using your product or services and lastly convince them to make a purchase. Skillful writing will be able to do all of these things.

Writing for marketing is also about careful planning and strategic content. Your interaction and responses should be customized to your customer.

Your content writing should resonate with them and offer solutions to whatever they need to solve at that minute.

Be it a product or services that they need or even reliable information, they must offer a solution for them.

Because after establishing awareness of your brand, the next thing to establish is preference. And, this preference could influence your conversion rate.

Because not only will you gain a loyal customer, most people will recommend to other people products or services they find pleasing.

Best Practices in Marketing Writing

To improve your writing skills, you need to be observant of what others are writing for marketing content. There is a lot of written content available, especially online.

Read through them and note their technical considerations like sentence construction, grammar, and vocabulary. You can also discover different styles of writing.

Perceive their tone of voice when discussing different topics. And, see how they present their written content. You can learn a lot from them. You can even choose which methods you could apply to your own writing style.

Here are some practices you can study to further enhance your writing skills.

a. Defining Your Target Audience

Defining your target audience will help you in producing content.

It will help you narrow down your demographics. By doing this, you’ll have a clear view of who you are talking to. Gender, age, and location are major influences on your audience’s preference.

You’ll be able to have an idea of the things they like and don’t like. You can cater the tone and style of your writing to what appeals to them. This will make your content marketing more efficient.

b. Crafting Compelling Headlines and Hooks

You want people to pay attention to your content . Captivate them with your headlines and hooks. Make them curious. Reveal just enough for them to want to read the whole content to satisfy their curiosity.

Action words are excellent. These will drive them into action. Tell the audience what to do. You’ll be able to get their attention this way.

Try to avoid long and tedious headlines. Make it short, simple, and to the point. And, be very clear about the benefit you are offering. That is what most people will be attracted to.

C. Utilizing Storytelling Techniques

Everyone loves a good story. This appeals to a lot of people because it is easier to follow and understand. Most stories are linear so, there is a build up from the beginning of the story up to its climax and then to a satisfying end.

Storytelling also builds an emotional connection with your audience. By using these methods, your brand is being humanized.

People will relate more to your brand’s journey which builds loyalty and trust. Also 63% of marketers agree that it helps build loyalty with existing customers.

D. Maintaining Clarity and Conciseness

Writing for marketing can be tedious and overwhelming. There is a lot of information you need to include in your content and you can only write as much before your audience becomes weary and tired from reading.

Not only will they stop consuming your content, but they will also all together forget whatever it is that they’ve read.

An engaging content writing is easy to read. Blogger Ryan Robinson says that it only takes 37 seconds for an average person to read a blog, which is not much time.

One of those content writing tips is to write short and relevant sentences that are easy to understand. Your audience will appreciate your content writing if it’s clear and concise.

E. Incorporating Visual and Multimedia Elements

A whole page of just text could be a little bit daunting for your reader. Include other visual elements like graphs, charts, or pictures to liven up your content.

Use online image editing services to help you fine-tune your visual element. Or graphic design tools like Removal.AI or Canva that are easy to use if you want to do it yourself.

Use different colors and text styles for your fonts. It will add another dimension to your work. You can also use these to highlight certain messages or information you want your reader to take notice of.

Common Pitfalls in Marketing Writing

a. Falling into Jargon and Overcomplication

This is not just in content writing but also in every genre of writing. Writers tend to be wordy sometimes.

They have an unlimited amount of words that they want to see written on the page but the readers can only handle so much before losing interest.

You have to remember that in content writing, what you want to say is not that important. It is what your audience wants to read that should be the goal. And overcomplicated content is not really appealing.

You want people to engage with you. How would they do that if they can’t understand what you are saying to them?

b. Neglecting Proofreading and Editing

Even world-renowned writers have editors, you’re no different.

Mistakes do happen especially if you’re in that “writing zone”. You are more focused on being able to put those words and ideas on paper than considering basic sentence construction.

That is why you need to go through what you’ve written before to check for any mistakes that you might have made.

Correcting grammar and using spellcheck is the minimum. There is also fact-checking your information, avoiding plagiarism of other people’s work, and restructuring your content to be clear and concise.

c. Ignoring SEO and Keyword Optimization

If you are writing content online, then SEO or Search Engine Optimization should be something you should prioritize.

You need to structure your content with words or keywords that will help you gain the upper hand in terms of ranking.

Most people would only view the first ten or so sites in search engines and would choose to ignore the rest. If your site ranks high, there is a great possibility that viewers will click on your site.

d. Failing to Adapt to Different Platforms and Mediums

In life, nothing is constant but change.This applies also to content marketing. Failure to adapt can cause you to be unable to communicate efficiently or be altogether ignored

Every year, as technology advances, multiple mediums and platforms are made. As a marketer or a content writer, you must be aware of all these new changes. Because this is where your audience is or would be.

There are also different mediums to consider. Writing for print media is very different if you are writing for print media or mass media.

Know the different styles to be able to efficiently get your message across.

e. Being Inconsistent with Brand Voice

Your brand voice is your brand’s personality. This is the unique way you are presented to the world. It could be the tone, the grammar, the use of jargon, or anything that can give an identity or personality that can differentiate you from other brands.

That’s why there should always be consistency in all your marketing content. Because this is one way your audience can recognize anything related to your brand.

Examples could be that of Nike and Dove. Nike’s brand voice is always motivational, determined and resilient. There is energy in their delivery. They often use words to move you into action.

Dove on the other hand, is empowering and uplifting. There is softness in their delivery and calmness.

Strategies for Improvement

Here are additional content writing tips to help you improve.

a. Understand your audience

Understand their needs and wants. You must have a thorough understanding of your audience because they are your primary target audience.

Know the nuisances of their demographic to be able to efficiently communicate with them.

b. Always use an active voice.

Your sentences must have the subject or object act. This makes your message clear and understandable.

c. Read, Read, Read

Read works of other marketing writers. Study their style, tone, and voice. Learn how they write for different mediums and genres. Be inspired by them.

d. Practice, Practice, Practice

Practice makes perfect, or close to being perfect. You will only get better with time, patience, and a lot of hard work.

There are also a lot of online tools and resources that could help you improve your skills.

It helps you check your spelling, and grammar and even evaluates your work for engagement and delivery.

• VeryGoodCopy

If you need writing exercises or courses, this site will be a good fit. In less than five minutes you can polish up your writing with micro articles, courses, and interviews that they offer that are very informative.

• Google Search Console Training

They will help you know if you are effectively using SEO. They have tools and reports that can measure site traffic so you will have a clear understanding of what needs to be done to improve performance.

• Social Media Today

This site is a great source of what is happening in the social media world. Since almost all content is now focused on social media, you’ll be up-to-date with the latest news and trends that are happening on the different platforms

If you want a clear reflection of your writing skills, asking for feedback would be a great choice. Feedback will reflect how effective you are as a writer.

This is how you can gauge if you are improving your skills or not. Also, this gives you an idea of what your audience wants to read, and whatever they want to read you must be able to write for.

Writing in marketing is as essential as the product or services you are selling. It is the only way you can communicate with your target audience.

You use it to inform, educate, and persuade them of your brand’s credibility and quality. Words matter in this type of communication.

So you must be critical in how you write your marketing content. Because it will either make your brand or break it.

Improvement in your writing skills comes in time. There are a lot of lessons to be learned and mistakes that will happen. You must go through this to improve.

Write. Make mistakes. Correct those mistakes. Write again. The cycle continues and never stops. Do it over and over again.

You will get tired at some point but the learning should never stop. As writers, we should strive to improve our craft. Do not repeat your mistakes and have the drive to upgrade your skill level.

You cannot be complacent. Trends and technology are constantly changing. You must always be on top of it to be able to keep up with the times.

Be knowledgeable about what is happening in the marketing landscape. Have an idea of emerging trends and how you can take advantage of them.

You need to have an open mind when it comes to various platforms and mediums that are being created. Because chances are, your audience will be hitching on the bandwagon. And, as a marketing content writer, you are riding on it.

Author’s Bio

Jacqueline Aguilar, Removal.AI

Jacqueline Aguilar has a degree in Communication Arts and is an avid reader. Writing comes second in her list of passions. She has an interest in  Photography, Film, Music, and Tech.

Currently holding a desk job and is writing content marketing as a creative outlet.

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Creative Writing For Copywriters: How To Craft Impactful Marketing Copy

Learn key copywriting best practices.

Creative writing and copywriting – on the surface, they can seem worlds apart. Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll start to see how writers in these two different worlds can learn more from each other than first meets the eye.

In his history of creative writing MFA programs, The Program Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise of Creative Writing , literary scholar Mark McGurl points to three popular axioms that have come to define how fiction is written and taught:

• Write what you know
• Show, don’t tell
• Find your voice

In this post, we’ll explore these three axioms one-by-one and see how they can help illuminate a few important best practices for B2B copywriting. With a bit of poetic license, we’ll show how taking a creative writer’s approach to writing can help you craft impactful digital marketing copy .

‘Write What You Know’

McGurl’s first axiom speaks to the importance of writing from experience – what some might call “staying in your lane.” Positioning yourself as a thought leader is a lot easier when you stick to topics that are relevant to your prospective buyer, as well as your own background.

With this in mind, let’s explore how copywriters can benefit from writing what they know:

Keep It Relevant

Thought leadership is an important aspect of today’s business landscape. However, some businesses make the mistake of chasing trending topics and high-volume keywords at the expense of creating content that’s actually valuable to their customer base. This approach leads to a messy content library and low-quality leads.

Rather than demonstrating expertise for the sake of expertise, focus on consistently creating content on rich topics that will stay relevant to your business. Keep in mind this also means you’ll be able to revisit these pieces later. Adapting and repurposing existing content – for example, fleshing out a section of an in-depth whitepaper into a blog post – is a great way to gain quick marketing wins down the road.

Do Your Homework

Just because you’re an expert doesn’t mean you don’t need to do your homework. Dutifully researching the space you’re writing about is key. In addition to identifying topics that haven’t been covered before, ensure you’re participating in the most up-to-date conversations in your field.

For example, last year, every business was scrambling to talk about how their service offerings fit into a “new normal” defined by digital solutions and remote work. These days, however, the new normal is, well, normalized. Cover more up-to-date topics in your industry through keyword research, competitive audits and similar strategies.

Know Your Audience

Without a clear understanding of who your reader is, you’ll struggle to reach them through your copy. That’s why developing detailed buyer personas is essential. These documents can cover everything from demographic information like education level and geographic location to specific business characteristics like pains, challenges and goals.

Having a more accurate picture of the people you’re trying to reach will guide you in developing topics, crafting an appealing tone and choosing the right channel through which to push out your content.

‘Show, Don’t Tell’

For fiction writers, “show, don’t tell” states that it’s better to subtly suggest details about characters or plot – through techniques like foreshadowing, characterization, etc. – than to hit readers over the head with them. In marketing as well, it’s advantageous to create engaging, evidence-rich content that allows readers to more actively reach their own conclusions.

Here are a few easy-to-implement ideas to help you get your ideas across more effectively.

Value Variety

A big block of copy can turn off even the most diligent readers. Some simple ways you can add much-needed visual variety to your copy include:

• Bullet points: Who doesn’t like a list? Bullet points help you emphasize important ideas and break up the monotony of paragraphs.
• Headings and subheadings: Dividing your copy into shorter, more digestible sections aids in overall comprehension and retention – plus, it looks better.
• Photos: Blog posts with images get 94% more views than those without . You can also include alt tags to assist visually impaired readers and boost your keyword rankings.

Provide Proof Points

As the above point demonstrates, strong claims need evidence. Consistently weaving in trusted outside sources, as well as your own content, is a must for building credibility and showing that you know what you’re talking about.

Whenever possible, refer to specific examples and use cases that back up your claims. At Square 2, for example, we make sure our prospects can easily find testimonials, our portfolio of work and our extensive blog, all of which reflect different aspects of our expertise and experience.

Use Data And Statistics

Not everyone is a word person. Leveraging a healthy amount of data and graphics not only builds credibility, it also appeals to prospects who are more numerically minded or visual learners.

Keeping with the spirit of show, don’t tell, you can even consider presenting the same content in different formats. For example, we created a short video version of our recent e-book Building A Revenue-Generating Machine: The CEO’s Secret Playbook For Growth to more effectively communicate its valuable advice via visually focused channels like Instagram.

‘Find Your Voice’

Know yourself – it’s a good mantra in marketing, as well as for everyday life. Establishing a clear and distinct brand voice is one of the most challenging marketing tasks that businesses face. It’s also one of the most essential.

Here are three simple tips for getting this critical step of your marketing outreach right.

Be Consistent

A memorable brand voice is one you can count on to stay stable over time. While refreshing your messaging from time to time can be good, doing a 180-degree turn can be disorienting to customers and prospects, who may wonder whether unwanted shifts also carry into your service offerings.

One way you can ensure consistency is to develop a comprehensive style guide. By standardizing not only your tone but also grammatical conventions and style quirks, you’ll maintain a level of regularity across multiple campaigns and creative team members.

Keep It Casual – When Possible

Though professionalism is an asset, few organizations want to do business with a machine. Stilted, overly formal copy is a sure way to alienate your audience and inadvertently make your voice blend into the background. By contrast, writing in the first person and striving to sound how you speak reminds people that there’s a human being speaking to them.

However, keep in mind that every industry is different. A hospital system administrator who deals with life-or-death scenarios on a daily basis probably has a lower tolerance for lightness than an interior designer who’s interested in keeping things fresh and fun. Once again, know your audience – do research to understand how casual you can afford to be in your space.

Avoid Jargon

In the effort to appear credible, some copywriters make the mistake of loading their language with specialized vocabulary and buzzwords. However, this strategy falls prey to the same problem as an overly formal voice – use too much jargon and you risk alienating readers.

Effective marketing copy should hit a sweet spot between credibility and approachability – you want to show you can speak the lingo while also showing you’re a human being. When starting a new piece of content, choose a few strategic keywords you want to emphasize. Then work to convey your message in language that aligns with your desired tone.

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From creative to content: Effective marketing combines the best of both worlds

The term “creative writing” conjures up images of college classrooms, writer workshops and painfully earnest poetry. What it typically doesn’t remind people of is marketing.

However, the lessons learned by those pursuing creative writing as either a career or creative outlet can be invaluable where content marketing is concerned. What company doesn’t want to transform boring content into marketing materials people will actually want to read?

There’s no law that says content marketing should be devoid of creative expression. In fact, marrying creative writing to content marketing can greatly enhance campaigns. The trick is recognizing the differences between the two.

Creative vs. content

Creative writing is essentially a catchall term for any writing that is more focused on art and expression than other types of works, such as newspaper articles or academic research papers. Everything from Stephen King novels to William Shakespeare sonnets would fall under this umbrella.

Content marketing also represents a broad category. Put simply, content marketing is the creation of content to capture consumer attention with a commercial goal in mind. From blog articles to animated videos, content can take many forms.

However, even when contrasting the two, it’s clear they inherently share one major theme: Showing, not telling.

Creative writers produce prose that follows characters or concepts to reveal ideas, thoughts and feelings without necessarily spelling them out. Content marketers create content that demonstrates expertise, capability and opportunity instead of telling people about it through paid advertisements.

Creative writing professors and content marketing experts can agree: Showing is more effective than telling. In fact, survey data from Fractl and Moz showed content marketing produces a higher return on investment than native advertising on social media.

To effectively inject creative writing skills into your content marketing, you must understand when it makes sense to meld the two, as well as when marketing goals must win out over creative ideas.

Creative content writing can lead to fans as loyal as man’s best friend.

Focus on storytelling

Human beings love stories. Ask any child demanding a tale before bed or the general movie-going public, which spends billions on trips to the multiplex each year.

Creative writing is often focused on narrative, and this fits perfectly with content marketing.

Presenting information in a narrative format that parses out important details and takes readers on a journey will keep your audience engaged. While the level of detail you dive into may change depending on the format – blogs aren’t novels, after all – the general focus on storytelling should remain.

This includes:

• Providing readers with a clear beginning, middle and end.
• Introducing dramatic conflict, whether it’s a recent news story or potential industry change.
• Identifying a protagonist and antagonist: in this case, your business and the problems it can solve.

Maximize impact

Stories that maximize dramatic impact tend to resonate most with individuals. There’s a reason most literature follows the same general structure. The traditional arc of exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution invests people in a story. In turn, that emotional investment leaves readers feeling a genuine connection to the text.

Content marketers can leverage this same arc, particularly with real-world examples like case studies. Say a client of yours was struggling, maybe even on the brink of losing his or her business. Describe how your product or service was able to help turn things around. Let readers see the results. Perhaps the client is thriving today. Maybe they’re even expanding operations. Such a story may not bring your audience to tears, but it will resonate much more than facts and figures standing alone on a page.

Put your best foot forward with creative writing behind all your content.

Grab attention

Creative writers know it’s vital to grab readers’ attention from the get-go. After all, there’s no shortage of titles to choose from on bookstore shelves.

Content marketers are in the same boat. Every website on the internet, currently at well over 1 billion and counting , is competing for your audience’s attention.

Headlines, meta descriptions and opening sentences should all be provided the same type of care authors would give their novels.

It will be impossible to attract readers with an eye-catching title if your content doesn’t show up on search engine results pages, however. Search engine optimization demands the same attention as word choice and story structure.

• Organically incorporating targeted keywords.
• Utilizing internal links.
• Following best practices with meta descriptions and title tags.
• Using alternative text with images.
• Capturing external links.
• Tailoring web pages for local search and mobile optimization.
• Using schema markup.

Prioritize readability

How content is written is just as vital for marketers as for novelists. Crafting confusing prose or slipping in five-dollar words when simpler langu age will do is a great way to send your work whizzing over readers’ heads.

Keep your audience in mind. Beyond the sophistication level of the content, you must account for how people read online. Arranging content so it is easily scannable is important, as is breaking up large chunks of text with imagery, video, bulleted lists and other visual elements.

Also keep in mind the majority of Americans read at a “basic” or “intermediate” level, according to data compiled by Statistic Brain. In general, this means you should aim for a sixth- to eighth-grade reading level.

Put content first

While the tips above may help you transition your creative writing to a content marketing focus, remember that the ultimate goal of marketing materials is to drive a consumer action.

Abstract ideas and fancy language don’t lend themselves to making a sale. Direct calls to action do.

While creative writing techniques can enhance marketing content, they should never get in the way of marketing objectives. It may be painful to let go of a creative idea, but all content should align with overarching marketing efforts.

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Eric Wendt is a writer and editor at Brafton. He discovered his love of words after realizing he was terrible at math. If he's not updating his Tumblr with poetry he's too embarrassed to share, there's a good chance he's out in search of the perfect pale ale.

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Inspire your team with a marketing brief made in Milanote

Follow this step-by-step guide to learn the modern process of writing an effective marketing brief in Milanote, a free tool used by top creatives & marketers.

How to write a marketing brief in 8 easy steps

At the heart of every successful marketing campaign lies a carefully crafted marketing brief. In essence, a marketing brief acts as a blueprint for your campaign, providing a structured framework that outlines your goals and deliverables, identifies your target audience, and maps out the metrics for measuring success.

It offers guidance to help you and your team stay focused, ensuring that every aspect of your campaign is aligned with your mission.

In this guide, we'll walk through the process of writing a marketing brief using Milanote. Remember, the process is non-linear, so it's OK to move back and forth between the steps as you go.

1. Describe the background of the campaign

Before moving into the specifics of the marketing campaign, let's begin by describing the background of the campaign. This step helps sets the context for the campaign, providing the framework from which we'll develop our strategy.

Begin by introducing the brand or organisation behind the campaign and clarify the brand's desired outcomes for the campaign. Finally, outline the scope of the campaign, including the timeline, key milestones, and the key stakeholders involved.

Create a new board for your marketing brief.

Create a new board

Drag a board out from the toolbar. Give it a name, then double click to open it.

Choose the built-in Marketing Brief template.

Choose a template

Each new board gives you the option to start with a beautiful template.

2. Define goals & deliverables

Defining clear goals and deliverables is essential for guiding the campaign to success. To begin, it's important to establish specific and measurable goals that align with the overall business strategy. These goals should be realistic and achievable within the given timeframe, whether they involve driving sales, increasing customer engagement and promoting brand awareness.

Next, outline the key deliverables that will contribute to achieving these goals. This may include launching targeted advertisements, creating engaging content, or implementing social media strategies.

Add a note to describe the deliverables.

Drag a note card onto your board

Start typing then use the formatting tools in the left hand toolbar.

When writing a marketing brief, shift the focus from the product or service itself to the experience it offers. How does it make the customer feel? What problem does it solve in their life?

3. Collect brand assets

Add any additional materials that will help your team get to know the brand personality. Detail the tone of voice, brand values, color scheme, and any other relevant guidelines that will inform the campaign's creative direction and messaging. This gives everyone easy access to important assets throughout the project and saves time hunting through emails and folders.

Add a note to list the personality.

4. Define the target audience

Defining your target audience is essential for creating a campaign that connects with the right individuals. Begin by clearly pinpointing the specific audience that aligns with your campaign goals.

Crafting a customer persona can give you insights into understanding your audience. They usually include the following demographics and behaviours:

• income level
• their interests
• needs, and pain points

Add a note to describe the audience.

Choose a photo to represent your audience.

Use the built-in image library

Search over 3 million beautiful, free photos then drag images straight onto your board. Powered by Pexels.

5. Specify key metrics

Identify the most important key performance indicators (KPIs) that will be used to measure the success of the marketing campaign. These metrics may include sales figures, social channel traffic, conversion rates, engagement metrics etc.

Use a table to define the success metrics.

Create a table

Drag a table out from the toolbar. You can add simple formulas, dates, currencies and more.

6. Organize & refine

Once you have everything you need, it's time to organize your content into logical topics. The goal here is to present the most important points in an inspiring and concise format. Remember, it's called a brief. In its simplest form, writer and illustrator Maira Kalman says a brief consists of "a deadline and a dream".

Create a column for each of the main topics in the brief

Drag a column onto your board

Name it, then drag any relevant notes, images or boards into your column to stay organized.

Save time on your next project with the free Marketing Brief template.

7. Gather feedback

While a campaign brief is typically drafted by a single person, the most effective briefs will be reviewed by stakeholders, clients, or team members before the final approval. This is a great opportunity to ensure that everyone is aware of the direction, goals, and deliverables before embarking on the campaign. Utilize this feedback to make any necessary revisions to the brief before finalizing it.

Invite a team member or client to provide feedback.

Invite editors to your board

Open the "Share" menu from the title bar of your board. Add email addresses of the people you'd like to collaborate with—they'll receive an invitation via email.

Start a comment thread.

Start a comment thread

Drag out a comment from the toolbar on the left and place it on your board. Other editors can reply to your comment.

Mention teammates to get their attention.

Mention teammates to get their attention

Type '@' in any text field to mention someone who has access to your board. They'll receive a notification and be able to respond to your comment.

8. Share the brief with your team

Once you’ve made any final tweaks to the brief, it’s time to share the completed brief with the your team, organize a kickoff meeting and start the project.

Share a link to the brief with your team.

Share a read-only link with others.

Click Share in the top right of your board. You can add a Welcome message for viewers, allow comments, set a password or embed the board in another app or website.

And you're done!

Now that your marketing brief is complete, you have an inspiring starting point for your next campaign. Remember to revisit your brief at each stage of the project. It's a great way to ensure you're still headed in the right direction!

Start your brief

Get started for free with one of Milanote's inspiring brief templates.

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The Marketing Copywriting Guide: Techniques + Brand Examples

• Growth Marketing

Master marketing copywriting with our comprehensive guide. Learn to craft compelling content that converts.

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Did you know that over half of mobile users abandon sites that take over 3 seconds to load? Now, let’s try a quick experiment and count to three.

Did these seconds feel long for you? When you think about the experiment, maybe they didn’t feel that long; but when users are not consciously aware of their behaviors while browsing the web, three seconds have been proven to be way too long. This is especially true in today’s scroll-culture — with the popularity of 15-second TikToks and 280-character Tweets, today’s consumer (Gen Z especially) is accustomed to absorbing information through quick intakes. In 2022, the average consumer attention span dropped to just 8 seconds, meaning that it’s becoming more and more difficult to capture and maintain user attention.

The conclusion? Immediately engaging marketing copywriting is the backbone of success. To get your prospect to act, you need to grab their attention, hold it, keep it engaged, and guide them to their intended action. From website landing pages, to emails, and push notifications, almost every marketing initiative includes some sort of copy, meaning that copywriting is a crucial skill that every marketer needs to have. Let’s start with the basics.

What is copywriting for marketing content?

Copywriting is writing any sort of language to be used in advertising. We also use the term “copy” to describe text on websites, social media, marketing emails, etc. While marketing copywriting in itself is a profession, it’s also a critical skill that all great growth marketers should have in their toolbox. The ability to write copy that captivates and engages the intended viewer with the right messaging isn’t easy, but if you’re interested in getting better at it, you’ve come to the right place.

What does a marketing copywriter do?

Marketing copywriters act as the voice and the storyteller of a certain brand, product, or service. They mold and control their target audiences’ perceptions, using words to achieve certain marketing objectives, such as increasing awareness, driving conversions, or fostering loyalty. Copywriters usually work closely with creative departments to present a holistic brand story through a cohesive, strategic combination of words and visual elements.

As an interdisciplinary space, marketing copywriters often come from a variety of different backgrounds, straddling the midpoint between creative writing, marketing strategy, consumer psychology, and communication sciences. On one hand, it’s important for marketing copywriters to have a strong background in writing and have the ability to confidently manipulate words to achieve different tones of voice, writing styles, and sentence structures.

On the other hand, having an extensive writing background does not necessarily equate to being a good copywriter; skilled copywriters should also have some experience in marketing strategy and understand the importance of customizing copy to different target audiences, funnel stages, and platforms.

If you are looking to become a marketing copywriter, or if you’re a copywriter looking to further improve your skills, you’ve come to the right place.

Why is copywriting important?

The easiest way to envision the importance of copywriting is to see it as the intersection of growth, creativity, and community. Whether it be through driving action or increasing awareness, good copywriting leverages the strategic approach of targeted communication and the creative power of emotive writing to build relationships between brands and consumers.

The benefits of successful copywriting are manifold, but the keys ones are:

• Growth: good copywriting efficiently drives users through the conversion funnel, thus increasing revenue, ROI and profits
• Creativity: good copywriting elicits specific consumer emotions and supplements brand visuals to tell a holistic story, thus solidifying brand awareness and recall
• Community: good copywriting will resonate with target audiences and build long-term customer relationships that stimulate growth loops, decrease CAC and increase customer LTV.

Copywriting is the backbone of almost all of a brand’s touchpoints. From landing pages to emails, social ads to SEM — nailing down the right copy for the right audience, channel, and funnel stage is the first step towards sustainable and measurable impact.

What is the difference between copywriting and storytelling?

These days, everyone has a story or content to spread. Whether it’s a food blog or the latest brand launch, people are constantly surrounded by new pieces of content. But what makes your content matter? Stand out? Cut through all the copy clutter that we are exposed to every day?

The foundation of good marketing copywriting is storytelling, but the two are not mutually dependent. The word “storytelling” actually speaks for itself. It is about telling stories, and being able to engage your audience, or to make something more clear. Photos, pictures, graphs, and videos really elevate the storytelling as well. Storytelling is all about painting the picture, setting the scene, and taking the reader on a journey.

Copywriting is one of the most critical elements of all forms of marketing and advertising and is also tied to great storytelling. It is like a call-to-action on a bigger scale, trying to catch your audience’s attention and make them feel, think, or respond. The product, called “copy” or “marketing copy”, is the written content aiming to increase brand awareness and ultimately to persuade the audience to perform a particular action.

A successful brand understands that the customer needs to be the hero of the story, meaning that the storytelling aspect of copywriting must align with your customer’s own story. This means putting your customer’s needs first and thinking about the “what’s in it for me” aspect of the consumer perspective. Consumers want to interact with brands that share their values and principles, and it’s the brand’s job to make that alignment clear to them.

Essentially, the goal here is to put the audience at the center of your brand story — make it clear as to what’s in it for them, and how the product or service you offer relates to their day-to-day. In Donald Miller’s book, “Building a Story Brand” , he introduces the SB7 framework, which outlines critical rules that a brand should follow when writing marketing copy.

Here is the SB7 framework:

Let’s use Apple as an example. Their copywriting strategy mirrors the SB7 framework and positions their ideal customer as the “hero” of their journey.

1. The Character

Apple identified their target customer as aspiring filmmakers who care about having a good camera, then framed that character as the hero of the story.

2. The Problem

Apple identified privacy as the key problem for their hero.

3. The Guide

Apple positioned itself as the guide that can help make their customers’ (heroes’) lives easier.

4. The Plan

Apple highlights their value proposition — which in this case is product durability — as a plan to help their hero solve their problem.

5. The Call to Action

Apple urges Android users to take action and make the switch to iPhone.

6. Avoiding Failure

Apple illustrates how the hero can make their life easier by switching to iPhone.

7. Achieving Success

Instead of listing specs and features, Apple uses an image to show what success looks: a high-quality image shot on iPhone.

Ultimately, marketing copywriting is improved by the ability to tell a good story, but that story must be told with the customer as the hero — not the brand. This ensures that the storytelling aspect drives consumers toward the end goal of taking action.

What are some copywriting frameworks?

The aida framework.

The AIDA framework stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.

The steps to executing this framework are as follows:

• Attention: Get your reader’s attention with something catchy and relevant (question, statement, urgency, etc.).
• Interest: Facts, social proof, and numbers capture the reader’s attention every time.
• Desire: Make them desire the product/service provided
• Action: Add a call to action to tell the reader what to do next

For example, the olive oil brand Graza uses the AIDA framework on its landing page to convert initial attention to action:

• Attention: “Olive oil the way it should be” engages audiences that are interested in high-quality cooking oils
• Interest: “Always fresh, never blended, (real) EVOO” lists out the product benefits, uses, and facts to validate the value proposition
• Desire: Descriptive words such as “Drizzle” and “Sizzle” stimulates further interest in the product
• Action: A clear call to action of “Shop this classic kitchen duo” drives the user to conversion

Harking back to the principle of storytelling through copywriting, the AIDA framework takes the consumer through a journey from start to finish, using each new step to build on previously established attention or trust.

The Problem-Solution Framework

Determine the value props that will matter to these people, and provide them with the solution for their needs. A useful exercise to write better copy is to list out 5-10 problems your target market deals with, the effects of these problems, and then how your product or service solves them.

Let’s look at a simple example. If we were a DTC eCommerce company that sold hiking boots, these are a few of the problems and solutions we would list:

Just like that, in our solutions column, we suddenly have three lines of copy that will resonate with our target market. The more rows you are able to complete, the more options you will have ready to launch when the time comes.

The 4 U’s Headline Framework

Start with the 4U’s that produce good content: Useful, Urgent, Unique, and Ultra-Specific. Keep the copy short, cut the fluff, and think of how to package your message in the shortest yet most powerful way.

The 4 C’s Framework

Make sure that your copy adheres to the 4 C’s: Concise, Clear, Credible, and Compelling.

Concise: Writing with clarity means being concise. Unnecessary words often dilute the meaning of the conveyed message.

Clear: Don’t use fancy words just for the sake of it. Good, clear copy cuts like a knife. Avoid big words that make you sound like you are trying too hard.

Credible: Research your topic so that you appear as a person with a genuine interest in offering your help and expertise and, of course, know your audience inside and out.

Compelling: Don’t be afraid to inject creativity and a unique voice into your copy so that you can keep your audience engaged amongst the noise.

The Before-After-Bridge (B.A.B) Framework

The Before-After-Bridge framework positions your brand’s product or service as the missing piece to bring you from problem to solution. For example, coffee brand Taika communicates the benefits of its drinks by illustrating the:

• Before: “coffee has been focused on where it was grown and not how it makes you feel”
• After: “the world’s first perfectly calibrated coffee”
• Bridge: “That’s why we made Taika”

The Feature-Advantage-Benefit Framework

The Feature-Advantage-Benefit framework is a straightforward and easy way to communicate what your brand does and why your consumers should care. This 3-step formula includes stating:

• Feature: what the product/service feature is
• Advantage: what advantage it has
• Benefit: what the consumer gains from using the feature

Refresh, a plant-based gum brand, uses this framework in their “Garden Mint” product description.

• Feature: “Mint gum like never before”
• Advantage: “Fresh taste of mint straight from the garden…”
• Benefit: “Freshen up your breath…”

The Contrast x Complement Framework

Two is better than one. Use contrasting and complementary words to create a paired mirroring effect that is both engaging and concise. Here are some examples.

What is good marketing copywriting?

Good marketing copywriting extends beyond the basic principles of good writing; although it is certainly important to achieve quality through writing style, flow, grammar, and sentence structure, good marketing copywriting is so much more than just that.

The difference between “good” and “bad” copywriting lies in the question of whether or not the piece of copy is able to achieve the established marketing goals — whether it be impressions, revenue, or conversions.

This challenge of goal-oriented marketing copywriting involves a couple of important considerations:

• Target audience: how can you frame your tone of voice to resonate with your target audience and create a relationship with the consumer you are communicating with?
• Funnel stage: where is your audience in terms of their buyer’s journey and what information is most important to surface to them at this stage of their process?
• Platform: what platform are your writing copy for, and how can you make sure that the copy fits within the appropriate conventions and requirements of the platform?

Writing with these marketing considerations in mind will ensure that your copywriting is working towards achieving a specific, measurable and strategic goal.

How do you write copy for different funnel stages?

Identifying what part of the funnel the user is in is crucial to relevant marketing copywriting that drives conversions. After all, the audience that sees your copy will have a different level of familiarity with your brand — so it’s important to meet them where they are, with the right answers they need. Here is a rough framework (with examples!) that will help you think of the user journey more holistically and write copy that is more relevant to your intended audience.

Top of Funnel Copywriting

At the top of the funnel, you want to focus on brand awareness and give the viewer as much valuable information about your brand as possible. Who are you? What do you do? Why do you do it and why should the viewer care? Content that answers these questions will get the quality recall you need lower down the funnel.

For example, this ad for Accelerate, a video conferencing platform, demonstrates what the product is and why viewers should care about it. The copy focuses on providing valuable information such as product benefits, price, and competitive advantage, so as to attract consumers’ attention and increase brand awareness. It also uses the 4 U’s Headline Framework with copy that is Useful (“everything you need”), Urgent (“Meet Accelerate”), Unique (“one video platform for everything”), and Ultra-Specific (“video platform”).

Middle of Funnel Copywriting

At the middle of the funnel, you have users who have a rough recall of your brand. You want to get more specific here: what are the exact products/services that you offer? What is the unique value proposition of each? What are some statistics or testimonials you can use to drive conversions? Be as specific as possible to build on the recall and drive their decision.

Continuing with the Accelerate example, the copywriting style on the platform’s Sign In page demonstrates the specificity required for middle-of-funnel copywriting. The copy identifies what the product is (“a virtual collaboration platform”), and uses a bullet checklist to highlight exactly what features the product offers (“simplified scheduling”, “frictionless video calls” etc). This level of clarity builds upon the customer’s existing recall of the brand, and uses additional information to drive their decision forward. The copy also uses the 4 C’s framework with a concise headline, a clear list of benefits, a credible user base (“thousands of small business owners”), and a compelling value proposition.

Bottom of Funnel Copywriting

At the bottom of the funnel, you have users who already know your brand and your offerings — and they need an extra push to finally convert. At this stage, you can be very straightforward with a harder sell (that still falls within your brand voice and remains consistent with your overall messaging). Tell the user what specific actions they should take in order to find the value they are looking for. Introducing extra urgency, discounts, limited-time offers, and perks at this stage can help seal the deal.

This email on Accelerate’s suite of integrations is sent to all registered users. These are users that are already familiar with the brand and have likely interacted with the product itself. By drawing attention to Accelerate’s suite of integrations, this email prompts users to take action (“integrate your tools with Accelerate”), and increases customer retention by incentivizing the user to revisit the platform. This email also uses the Feature-Benefit-Advantage framework by emphasizing how the Integration feature has the benefit of automated tools for the advantage of boosted productivity.

How do you write copy for different platforms?

Different channels are designed to reach different audiences, at different peak times, and within different character limits. Each channel is built for a specific audience, hence there needs to be a different style of writing. Your visuals vary by channel, so why shouldn’t your copywriting do the same? The key to channel specific copywriting is to understand the intention of the user where you are meeting them.

When you think about it as a user, it seems obvious, but this is often lost on time-strapped marketers attempting to push content out rapidly. While it may be time-effective to copy and paste, when the copy doesn’t convert on engagement, you’re going to wish you had spent more time considering where your copy was going to live and how it would be consumed.

Landing Page Copy

The key to writing good landing page copy is to capture the user’s attention immediately and guide them through the brand story as they (ideally) scroll through the site. In an eye tracking study conducted by Nielson , results showed that 57% of users’ page-viewing time is spent above the fold (ATF), and 74% of the viewing time was spent in the first two screenfulls (up to 2160px). What this means is that the hero section or ATF needs to convey the value of the brand immediately in order to capture users’ attention before they lose interest.

Within the hero section and consistently throughout the entire landing page, there should be clear CTA buttons that ask users to take action. Common examples of these landing page CTAs can include “Shop Now”, “Learn More”, or “Get Started”.

Take Windmill, a modern air conditioner brand, for example. Their hero section displays a compelling headline, “eye candy for your window”, and uses an illustrative metaphor to convey the aesthetic benefit of their product. The “Shop Now” CTA is also immediately obvious.

Another important copy element to include on the landing page is social proof. Use numbers or customer testimonials to build trust — after you’ve fully explained what the product or service is and what value you can provide. Windmill does this on its landing page by including testimonials from users and reviews from well-known publications.

Ultimately, the landing page should follow a linear information hierarchy, with the main value at the top, followed by supporting benefits and information as the user scrolls.

Social Ad Copy

When writing copy for ads, it’s crucial to combine both text and visuals to allow the two elements to support one another in telling a story. Ad copy should also balance emotional and rational appeal prior to outlining a clear call to action.

In order to write a compelling ad copy, you must be concise while demonstrating a clear understanding of the problem and how the brand solves it. Understanding your customer’s pain points is the first step to convincing your customers how your brand can help solve their problems.

Meditation brand Headspace, for example, combines emotional language like “a happier, healthier life” with more rational statistics like “28% less sad”. The ad immediately communicates how Headspace can help solve the consumer’s problem (which in this case is sadness) by providing a solution (i.e. a guide to health and happiness). A CTA of “Install Now” is clearly outlined, and the main message of the entire ad can be perceived in less than 8 seconds.

Search Ad Copy

Writing copy for SEM (search engine marketing) requires an ability to speak to the user’s search intent while also communicating key value propositions within limited character counts. Google search ads allow headlines of up to 30 characters and descriptions of up to 90 characters. Copywriting for search engine marketing should be straightforward, concise, and clearly communicate the value of the product or service in response to the user’s search intent.

Figma’s search ad copy responds to the search intent of finding “the best graphic design tool” by emphasizing its effortless interface and its speed capabilities. In one short headline, Figma’s search ad is able to communicate its promise to the user to “make designing effortless” and help them “create designs faster”.

It’s important to note that for newer brands, SEM is often used to test various value propositions in order to better understand which key features users are most interested in. In the case of search ad testing, copywriters should aim to create different headline and description variations that each clearly highlight a different value proposition, so as to facilitate better experimentation and data-backed insights.

Email copy is similar to ad copy except with more real estate. Like the landing page, the key message and CTA needs to be above the fold to immediately capture the user’s attention. Like ads, the headline and key message need to be short, clear, and demonstrate how your brand can help your consumers solve a problem. Although the relatively longer length of an email offers more room to get creative, it doesn’t mean that you should write a lengthy and monotonous piece — it should still be clear, concise, and get straight to the point.

Magic Spoon taps into its value proposition right from the first line, “Best in class breakfast”. Then, the email follows with a clear “Try Now” CTA that is supplemented with clear product benefits such as “Cheaper than a protein bar” and “No grains or gluten”.

SMS / Push Notification Copy

In contrast to emails, copywriting for SMS and push notifications has extremely limited real estate that needs to be optimized for maximum impact. Because of the space and character limit, headlines need to be catchy, messaging needs to be (extremely) concise, and benefits need to be immediately obvious. A common way to increase engagement in shorter copy formats like SMS and Push is to use emojis to supplement your headlines (note: emojis count for 2 x characters).

Since SMS and Push notifications don’t include a specific CTA button like landing pages, ads and emails do, the CTA should be integrated into the message itself. For example, content platform Invisibly encourages the user to perform 3 actions: “take surveys, earn points, and access your favorite subscribers”, and demonstrates the value of doing so “without the subscriptions and ads”.

Knowing your brand voice

Your brand voice is one of the most important pieces of marketing copywriting. It’s the audience-facing, distinct personality that is consistent and evident across all communication touchpoints. This voice usually manifests across a brand’s website, social media posts, blog posts, ads, emails, etc. An easy way to envision this would be to imagine your brand as a person.

Are they playful and humorous or serious and knowledgeable? Are they your close friend, an expert mentor, or a helpful colleague? What phrases, vocabulary, and stylistic choices do they routinely use when talking to you? If the way a person talks is part of their personality, the way a brand communicates is likewise a part of their identity, positioning, and overall distinctiveness.

Normally, your brand’s voice is a key element of your brand’s guidelines. The brand voice guideline should specify the do’s and don’t’s to copywriting and the rationale behind why you chose specific characteristics that tie back to your brand identity. When writing marketing copy, it’s important to stick to these guidelines to maintain consistency across channels and touchpoints while still tailoring your message to specific audiences and platforms on a more micro level.

One common mistake is to see brand voice and tone as interchangeable terms — which they’re not. Remember: your voice always remains constant. A brand voice should be an overarching personality that is relatively consistent across the board, while brand tone can vary across different social media platforms, audiences and intentions. For instance, your holiday cheer email or social media marketing post will sound very different from ad copy that’s creating a sense of urgency around a limited-time sale.

Simply put: your voice is consistent, but your tone can change. A brand’s voice is more about who they are and what they stand for on a macro level, and tone is more about how they communicate it at each micro touchpoint.

Will AI replace copywriters?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re sure to have noticed the increasing importance of leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) in copywriting and content marketing. AI copywriting tools like Japser.ai, Copy.ai or Anyword, as well as generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT, have taken over the copywriting space in a way that drastically changes the nature of any marketing copywriting role.

A lot of copywriters are worried about the impact that AI will have on their jobs: “ Will AI take my copywriting jobs? ”, they’ll ask. The short answer is no, but that necessitates a certain level of adaptability and quick learning on the copywriter’s part. The best copywriters know how to work with AI tools, not against them. Copywriters need to seamlessly integrate AI tools into their writing workflows, and hone in on the skills that AIs inherently lack. The “human touch” becomes more important than ever, as writers will need to shift their focus to revising AI-generated content to ensure quality, brand consistency, and platform suitability.

In an age where AI tools are able to take care of the writing and creation portion of the job, human copywriters need to expand their skill set and see copywriting as one piece of an overarching marketing strategy in order to avoid becoming obsolete. The best copywriters don’t just create content, they know how to emotionally resonate with their target audience, they understand the narrative of a buyer’s journey, and they know to consider how each piece of content fits into a larger channel or audience strategy.

Copywriting for digital marketing is an incredibly important skill. At the end of the day, all of us have access to the same ad platforms and tools. One of the best ways to stand out is by having impeccable copywriting. Especially now, content is accessible in all ways, and content creators are finding new platforms to tell their stories and engage an audience. Clean and effective copywriting will help you break through the noise and stand out from your competitors.

Following the above suggestions can help you create great copy by understanding the channel that you are creating the copy for, and thinking about how the copy can interact effectively with other visuals in your ads. Combine storytelling with great copywriting, and you will create effective communication with your target audience and hence, a successful ad.

If your copy can achieve these few important things, you’re well on your way to becoming a great marketing copywriter! If you’re looking for an agency to take the hard work off your plate – feel free to reach out to our team for a chat.

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What Is Copywriting? Your Ultimate Introductory Guide

As the impact of high quality online content on customer acquisition and company growth becomes increasingly apparent, so too do jobs in content marketing. One of the content producers holding a key position on the content marketing team is the copywriter . 

Copywriting is a varied, creative, and dynamic skill. On an average working day, a copywriter can be working on advertising slogans in the morning, editing a pitch deck after lunch, and writing a blog article to address customer questions in the afternoon. 

If you love language and could imagine using different writing styles to meet the multifarious needs of a company or client, copywriting could be the career that ticks all your boxes. Working in this profession is a unique opportunity to flex your creative muscles while making a real impact on the company’s output and success. It can be pretty fun, too!

If you’ve been thinking about utilizing your writing skills to embark on this diverse and creative career, then keep reading. In this guide, we’ll be answering all of your questions on the topic of copywriting in all its guises, as well as providing you with a comprehensive overview of the main steps you’ll need to take to launch a career in the field. 

Here’s a clickable list, so you can go straight to the section most relevant to you. 

• What is copywriting, and what does a copywriter do?
• What is the difference between copywriting and content marketing?
• What are the different types of copywriting?
• What are the qualities of good copywriting?
• Copywriting examples
• What skills do you need to be a copywriter?
• How to become a copywriter
• Key takeaways and next steps

1. What is copywriting, and what does a copywriter do?

Copywriting is the art of producing text for promotional, marketing, instructional, or advertising purposes. The goal of this content is typically to persuade, inspire, entertain, educate, or inform a reader in order to increase brand awareness or authority, sell a product, describe a course of action, or to convince a person or group of people to take a specific step. 

This text is produced by a copywriter. Copywriters can work as members of in-house marketing, editorial, or product teams, for copywriting agencies, or they can work for themselves as freelancers. Both agencies and freelance copywriters typically work for a variety of different clients fulfilling each company’s different copywriting needs. Although in-house copywriters will only have one employer, they may often be asked to produce copy for a multitude of departments or teams within that organization.

Although copywriting isn’t exclusive to online platforms, the explosion of online content and the increase in users consuming content online means that today a large majority of copywriters work in digital marketing teams. In this context, the copywriter works closely with the SEO specialist and marketing manager to produce the text needed to boost the online presence of a brand, grow an audience, and convert users into customers. 

2. What is the difference between copywriting and content marketing?

While both copywriters and content writers require a deep understanding of language and communication, a passion for storytelling, and a love of prose, the stand out difference between the two roles is the goal of the content. While a copywriter is typically writing to persuade a reader to perform a certain action, a content writer seeks to educate or inform the readers with their text. 

It’s for this reason that copywriting tends to be more concise. Copywriters might produce the copy for an advertisement, a slogan, or a tagline which excites, stimulates, and persuades in a matter of moments. In contrast, content writing is longer, with a content writer seeking to educate their readers via articles, blog posts, ebooks, reports, or white papers, with extensive resources cited to support their arguments and add authority to their content. When this is done successfully, a reader is persuaded over the long term of the trustworthiness of the company and its expertise. 

Both copywriters and content writers have the same overall goal: to convert a reader into a customer. However, a copywriter is seeking to do that with urgency, over a much shorter period of time, and therefore with a much shorter piece of writing. A content writer is playing the long game: building trust and demonstrating authority and knowledge in the field, via a long and well-researched piece of content.  

Although a copywriter will likely have some understanding of SEO, a content writer will need to be well-versed in SEO best practices, and will typically work closely to the briefs set by the  SEO specialist. A copywriter is not needed to have such a deep understanding of SEO, as they will typically be working with very short texts that will not rank in search engine results. 

Although there are clear distinctions between the two roles, many of the skills of the two positions overlap, and you’ll often find companies advertising for one of these roles but actually seeking the skills and flexibility of both. Depending on the size of the company and the demands of the marketing and product teams, a writer will frequently work as both copywriter and content writer for the same organization. 

3. What are the different types of copywriting?

Here are some of the most popular types of copywriting and content writing that in-house and freelance copywriters will produce in order to: 

• Reach new audiences 
• Educate users on an industry
• Communicate the brand’s vision
• Persuade a potential customer of the benefits of a service 
• Build trust

We’ll go over these types in detail over the next few sections.

A company blog publishes posts to educate, inform, and inspire readers on topics that are relevant to the product or service the company offers in order to increase the brand’s visibility and attract more users to their site. In addition, a blog might be used for company and corporate updates and industry news. 

Blogs are also a great opportunity for a company to produce informative how-tos or answer FAQs in detail which teach users about a product, explain a service, or demonstrate specifically and with easy-to-follow steps on how a feature works. 

An ebook is an opportunity for a company to cover a topic in depth, demonstrating its expertise in a particular area, while passing on useful information, techniques, or advice to readers to help solve a problem or answer commonly-asked questions. The brand therefore becomes established as a trusted source for users when looking to solve related problems in the future.    

Another purpose behind ebooks is that they can be a way for a company to collect leads. An ebook can be ‘gated’, meaning it is only available for download once a user has provided an email address. With high-quality pieces of downloadable content such as ebooks, a company can collect user email addresses to be used later for email marketing purposes or newsletters promoting other products or services. 

Social media posts 

Social media is an opportunity for businesses to directly engage with their existing customers, reach new audiences, and promote their vision, product, or service in a recognizable voice and tone. The copywriter’s role here is usually to provide a relatively short entertaining, informative, or persuasive text that accompanies and corresponds with a posted image. 

A seasoned copywriter will go above and beyond a descriptive two-liner, and instead seek to additionally involve the readers in a conversation, encourage audience participation, trigger an emotional response from the brand’s followers, and include a powerful call to action (CTA) that prompts the reader to engage further with the brand. 

Depending on which social media platform the text is being provided for, different styles of writing might be employed. A copywriter is expected to have knowledge of the styles popular with each network, and how best to engage with the different audiences those networks attract. 

Newsletters 

A newsletter is a customizable and trackable email that brings high-quality content directly to the user’s inbox. A company can use newsletters in a variety of ways, including: 

• Sharing company news or events
• Highlighting products or features 
• Drawing the user’s attention to content on the company blog or social media pages
• Tracking user interest and engagement 

A newsletter is an opportunity for the copywriter to use more personable, friendly language than a more formal article or blog post and to speak directly to the user about their challenges. In addition, the copywriter can customize the content of automated emails to make them appear to have been written to a specific individual, which encourages interaction and builds trust.  

4. What are the qualities of good copywriting?

Having a good understanding of the key qualities of great copywriting will be a huge help as you prepare for a career in this exciting content production role. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to focus on what’s really important to the site’s readership, and practice the techniques that guarantee your copy makes the right kind of impact on potential customers. 

Let’s take a look at what makes for great copywriting. 

Communicates clearly

Ultimately, all copy is trying to tell us something. However, learning how to communicate your message clearly and succinctly takes time and practice. When you’re starting out it can be tempting to show off your writing skills, but unless throwing in that Latin phrase really adds something to the message you’re sending, it’s best to stick to terminology that speaks to everyone. Essentially, your role is to enable a reader to take away what they need to know quickly and with ease—and, in the best cases, it should be fun to read, too. 

Puts the reader first 

It’s easy to forget sometimes who we’re writing copy for, especially when a client’s strict deadline is looming, or your CEO is keen to share their wisdom. However, irrespective of who has requested the content, it’s crucial to keep the person on the other end of your text in your mind at all times: the reader. Without the reader’s attention, the goal of the copy—to reach new users, build trust, or generate interest—will be much harder, if not impossible, to reach. 

Sounds natural 

There’s a reason why search engines rank high-quality content above content that simply contains the right keywords. It’s because writing that sounds like it has been written by a robot does not connect with audiences, and therefore does not build trust, convert customers, or demonstrate expertise or authority. One of your advantages as a human is that you can speak the language of your audience. You can convey empathy for their problems and, because you’ve been there yourself, you can also help solve them.  

Tells a story 

Storytelling has gained increasing attention in marketing circles over the years, as marketing teams realize how well this works as a tool to influence, teach, and inspire. Storytelling builds connections between people and ideas: it helps a writer demonstrate empathy, and makes a brand seem relatable. 

The great thing about storytelling is that it demonstrates to the reader that the brand not only understands their issues inside out, but it also knows how to solve them. When done skillfully and sincerely, storytelling builds trust with users which enables a marketing team to grow their readership and customer base. 

5. Copywriting examples

Here are some examples of real-world copywriting that we loved! 

Rather than promoting a supermodel body or an unrealistic fitness routine, Gymit ’s copywriter has tapped into the mindset of a real gym-goer. In this ad, they’ve recognised a very real problem–canceling a gym membership–and addressed it head on, with humor and empathy. 

Volkswagen uses its advert for the new Volkswagen up! to poke fun at traditional car advertising, while simultaneously promoting the reliability of its own vehicles. It’s not just funny, it’s on brand and fits nicely with the tagline of the vehicle being promoted: “ The car that takes you places. ”

When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie broke up in 2016, Norwegian Airlines released this genius advert promoting a sale on flights to Los Angeles. Due to the high-profile nature of the split, readers didn’t need any other information to understand what the advert was referring to. It was eye-catching, amusing, and very clear what the message was. 

Going against the grain of other health foods and in particular protein bars, RXBAR decided to advertise the simplicity of its product, rather than overwhelming consumers with reams of information or ingredients on its packaging. The result? Consumers felt like they were being given all the facts, without any sugar-coating or unpronounceable extras which, in turn, built trust between customer and brand. 

6. What skills do you need to be a copywriter?

To succeed as a copywriter you’ll need to embody a range of soft and hard skills. You’ll not just be playing an integral role within a marketing team, but also assisting the design, product, corporate communications, and customer service teams. As a company copywriter, you’ll find you could potentially be called upon by almost any part of the organization that requires long or short form customer-facing or B2B copy. 

Strong writing skills

It probably goes without saying, but a copywriter needs to possess strong writing skills to excel in this role. A love of words and language, combined with a broad vocabulary and a passion for crafting compelling turns of phrase will ensure your prose is not only engaging  customers, but that you’ll love what you do on a day-to-day basis. 

Communication skills

As a copywriter, you’ll be receiving requests from numerous teams within your organization who are likely to demand very different styles of writing for a wide range of purposes. This means you’ll need to be approachable to all levels of the company, and be able to communicate what you need from them in order to perform your job to your best ability. If you choose to work freelance as a copywriter, your communication skills will be even more important. You’ll need to be highly responsive to work requests, guide your clients towards providing comprehensive briefs, and listen carefully to their wants and needs in order to meet, and hopefully exceed, their expectations. 

Research skills

As a copywriter, you can’t be expected to know everything, however you will certainly be expected to write about a very wide range of subjects, many of which you may have no prior knowledge of. This is where your research skills come to the fore. A copywriter needs to be able to find, digest, and interpret information at speed in order to distill it into the copy requested by the team or the client. Perhaps a client requests a short blog post on current threats to the rainforest. If this is not your area of expertise, you’ll need to find research papers, interviews with scientists, and any other relevant resources pertaining to the subject that you can summarize, draw conclusions from, and use as citation to perform the task at hand. Linking to all the sources you’ve used, and clearly referencing the work of others will also be a key part of your job. 

Creative thinking and adaptability

As we’ve mentioned, copywriting requests can come from different departments within an organization—departments which will all have different purposes for their content. This requires a copywriter to be extremely adaptable, switching quickly between subjects and styles in order to meet deadlines throughout the week—or even the day! Creative thinking is an integral part of this role: finding new ways to inform, entertain, and persuade readers, while maintaining the voice, tone and messaging of the brand. 

7. How to become a copywriter

If you’re excited by the idea of launching a career as a copywriter, read the following sections for some simple steps you can take right now to increase your chances of landing a copywriting position. 

Follow blogs 

Learning how to craft good content doesn’t happen overnight. However, there are some great blogs out there with tips and tricks on how to write great copy—blogs which themselves are filled with high-quality content. Read as much as you can, and follow as many different writers as you can. You’ll need to be able to write in a variety of styles when you eventually perform this role yourself, so it’s a good idea to absorb as much as you can. It’s also worth checking out the websites of freelance writers to get an idea of the scope of projects expected of copywriters, content writers, and technical writers. Here are a few of our favorites:

The Daily Egg

Copyblogger

ABC Copywriting

Start a blog 

Consider starting your own blog. This is not just a great opportunity to practice your own writing skills, but you’ll also learn how to publish blog articles, how tagging works, simple SEO techniques, and some basic design best practices. The subject of your blog can be whatever you want it to be—the key thing here is to learn, practice, and improve. You don’t even have to publish your content if you don’t feel ready, you can see it as purely a learning exercise. You might want to write about your progress building your career as a copywriter, or you might want to write about your favorite books or films. The key thing is to practice honing your writing and blog publishing skills. Demonstrating your own blog will also impress future employers or recruiters when you have your first interviews in the field. These are some of the most well-known free blog platforms:

Get your grammar in order

Grammar rules can be a bit of a minefield, especially when you’re starting out. But in this career, there’s really no room for error when it comes to grammar and spelling. Luckily, there are a lot of resources (both online and in print) to help copywriters learn the dos and don’ts of great writing in both U.S. and British English. 

Here are some books it might be worth investing in: 

Chicago Manual of Style

The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation   

Websites offering great copywriting advice: 

Grammar.com

Grammarly blog

Grammar Girl – Quick and dirty tips  

Offer your services 

While you’re starting out, it’s definitely worth approaching websites related to your passions to offer your writing skills. If you’re a music fan, you could write record or concert reviews. If literature’s your thing, you could review the latest bestsellers. Small websites and companies generally appreciate articles from those with a passion and knowledge for their subject, and many sites will have an in-house editor who can help get your article in good shape before publication. When you’ve had a few pieces published, you’ll be able to link to them on your LinkedIn profile and cite them on your CV. 

8. Key takeaways and next steps

We hope our guide has given you a clear idea of what you can expect from a career in copywriting and some of the steps you can take to get started in the field. 

If you’re still excited to pursue this career choice, now’s a great time to do some of your own research into different copywriting styles. Take a look at the blogs we’ve recommended, the packaging of some of your favorite products, and the social media posts of brands you particularly admire (check out Oatly and Innocent Drinks if you need inspiration). 

For those who love words and writing, copywriting is a fulfilling career choice that can lead to roles in every kind of industry, as well open up opportunities to work in the fast-paced world of copywriting agencies, or give you the freedom to go freelance. With so much demand for high-quality content right now you’ll find that with the right skills, training, practice, and perseverance, you’ll never be short of rewarding and creative work in this diverse field.  

Want to learn more about copywriting and the world of content? Check out CareerFoundry’s free 5-day course , or read these articles:

• A Complete Guide to Social Media Jobs
• The 8 Best Online Courses to Learn Digital Marketing in 2022
• What Is Multichannel Marketing?

Four Examples Of When Marketing Campaign Benefited from Creative Writing 

For a lot of people, creative writing seems just like algebra. Sure, it is useful in high school but once you graduate, your employer is definitely not going to ask you to solve for X just to get your monthly paycheck. 

However, creative writing is slightly different. This little bugger pops up unexpectedly at different points in your life and if you didn’t pay attention in class back then, you’d have an extra item to add to your list of life’s regrets. 

When it comes to running marketing activities or campaigns , creative writing can help take your campaign from a zero to a huge, muscular hero. 

In fact, many huge brands have stumbled upon this secret and are now incorporating storytelling and creative content into their ad campaigns . From Disney to Apple and even financial institutions, creative writers seem to be working pretty hard on modern campaigns. 

It is interesting to note that this new tweak to marketing is paying off too. It doesn’t even matter whether you are running B2B or B2C marketing campaigns. With a dash of creative writing, you’d get conversions faster. 

If you are feeling a little Thomas-y about the perks of using creative writing in marketing campaigns, here are some examples that may help clear your doubts:

Time and time again, Disney has proven to be the king (or queen?) of storytelling, so it only makes sense they’d be at the top of this list. 

For years, Disney has been creating ads for Disneyland trips but none has tugged at the heartstrings of people or gained as much popularity as its 2018 ad for Disneyland Paris. In fact, we are pretty sure you must have stumbled upon it while you were scrolling through your Instagram or YouTube feed. 

But what is so special about this new ad? It is simple. Disney artistically wove creative writing and storytelling into this marketing campaign. 

The ad opens with a baby duckling, who for some reason is obsessed with a Donald Duck comic book. Unfortunately, his newly found source of excitement doesn’t last for long. Bad weather approaches suddenly, and the duckling and his family have to leave unexpectedly, leaving his book behind. 

When the sun rises, they find themselves at Disneyland Paris, where he comes face to face with his new hero, Donald Duck. The creativity embedded in this script was so powerful that it became one of the most popular videos not long after it was released. 

It also paid off as most people (and ducklings) became motivated to visit Disneyland. 

If you’ve ever accidentally subscribed to a company’s mailing list, you’d definitely agree that receiving tons of unnecessary emails that sound the same can be pretty annoying.

This probably explains why many brands seem to be missing the mark when it comes to email marketing campaigns . How on earth do you get disinterested customers to read your email and take the necessary actions? 

Well, Altra seems to have figured that out. Instead of sending out countless emails about their products, they decided to do something different in one of their campaigns. 

Using the power of creative writing, they told a story about James Lawrence, the famous endurance athlete. Telling this story of a man who has almost supernatural athletic abilities is definitely more interesting than talking about a pair of shoes. 

In the email, Altra tried as much as possible to avoid mentioning a specific product. Instead, they only referred to Lawrence as an “Altra athlete”. 

This may seem stupid to anyone at first glance. However, this unusual marketing strategy did achieve one thing: it got users interested in their products through the power of influence and creative writing. 

After reading the story of James Lawrence, almost anyone would want to get a product linked to this athlete. Would it give you his athletic abilities? Of course not. But will the thought of wearing the same shoe as James Lawrence make you feel better? Definitely. 

3. Mercedes Benz

We’ve not even talked about the ad yet but we are pretty sure a clear image has already popped up in your head.

Just before we get down to it, there is something you should know. Creative writing is so powerful that you could draft an entire story with only one word and still get to convert your audience to buyers. 

If you’ve not been living under a rock and you own a smartphone, you must have come across the Mercedes Benz ad with the grim reaper in it. 

If you haven’t watched it yet, there is a huge chance you just paused to reread the last part of the previous sentence. What on earth would the grim reaper be doing in a car ad? 

Well, a lot of things, apparently. This ad harnesses the power of creative writing with just one word: “sorry”. 

In the ad, a man is seen driving a car (Mercedes, obviously) when the grim reaper suddenly appears. Chuckling, he says “sorry” and looks forward. Ahead, there is a potential accident waiting to happen. 

The driver slams the brakes and the car comes to a grinding halt. He turns to the Grim Reaper and says: “Sorry”. 

From the ad, the message is clear. Mercedes cars have powerful brakes that reduce your chances of dying in a brake-related accident. 

Any viewer who sees that ad will definitely feel compelled to buy a car from this brand – if they have a few thousand dollars to cough out, that is.

For many people, Apple may come across as a high-tech brand that would never bother to create content that their audience can relate to.

However, this isn’t entirely true. Even though Apple products are quite pricey, the company still found a way to show consumers that with Apple products, even the underdogs can win too. How did they manage to do that? The answer is simple: creative writing.

Through a fusion of creative writing and marketing, they were able to create a strong brand message .

In the ad, viewers can see four colleagues who clearly are at the bottom rung of the office ladder. Somehow, they encounter the boss and have to prepare a compelling pitch in two days. The video shows the employees working hard and brainstorming on their – you guessed it – Apple products.

At the end of the video, no one actually sees the presentation but from their confident expressions in the elevator, you can tell that they are about to crush it.

So, what did Apple achieve through this ad? Well, they managed to create an emotional connection with their audience through the power of creative writing. But that is not all. They also passed across an important message: Apple products are reliable and are just what you need when it comes to making any life-changing decisions or presentations.

How to Use Creative Writing in Marketing Campaigns

Now that we’ve taken a look at examples of instances where creative writing benefited marketing campaigns, we are pretty sure we’ve cleared any doubts you may have had at the beginning of this article. So, it is time to get down to what really matters.

How do you use creative writing in marketing campaigns? Whether you are drafting a script for an ad or drafting emails on different marketing topics, here are some tips that would definitely help you:

i). Be original

What sparked the storytelling trend in brand marketing? Here is a quick hint: it wasn’t Disney. Brands simply woke up, smelled the coffee, and realized that the conventional way of marketing just wasn’t going to cut it anymore. 

The same quest for originality that sparked the storytelling trend should drive you throughout the brainstorming process. If you are drafting a marketing email, try as much as possible to use innovative sentences.

Don’t ever feel tempted to steal content or content ideas. You’d only get outed as a thief and that isn’t an image you want for your brand. 

ii). Know your audience  

Your audience largely determines the direction your writing will take. For instance, if your audience is largely made up of middle-aged women, you definitely won’t be writing emails or scripts that cater to women in their 20s.

Make sure that at the end of the creative process, you would have come up with content that your audience can relate to. 

iii). Stay creative

As you’ve probably already guessed or seen, this article is centred around creative writing.  As such, you literally have to stay creative every step of the way.

Your copy should be compelling enough to convert your audience to buyers. If not, you just might have wasted your efforts and the audience’s time as well.

4 Examples of Creative Writing in Marketing Campaigns

Here are some examples of creative writing in successful marketing campaigns:

• Mercedes Benz

Over the past few years, creative writing has carved a permanent spot for itself in the world of marketing. From CEOs churning out creative emails, to huge brands using creative writing in their video ads. This just goes to show that this trend is not just popular, it pays off as well.

So, if you’ve been searching for ways to improve your marketing campaigns, creative writing just might be the way out.

Luckily, we’ve shown you the best examples that you could draw inspiration from. It may not be an extensive list but at least, you get the message.

Happy marketing campaigns !

Disclaimer . The views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of IdeasPlusBusiness.com. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.

For questions, inquiries and advert placements on the blog, please send an email to the Editor at ideasplusbusiness[at]gmail[dot]com . You can also f ollow IdeasPlusBusiness.com on Twitter here and like our page on Facebook here . This website contains affiliate links to some products and services. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you.

Amanda Dudley is a writer and a lecturer with a Ph.D. in history from Stanford University. When she is not lecturing and helping students with complex assignments, she works as a part-time essay writer, providing top-quality essay writing service and academic projects at EssayUSA. 

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A Guide to Effective and Persuasive Copywriting in Marketing

Published on: March 29, 2024

Words matter — especially within the world of marketing. It comes as a surprise to some marketing professionals, but effective copywriting rests at the core of any marketing strategy. The phrases you use and the stories you tell directly impact consumer perception and customer experience, significantly influencing visibility and branding.

From email marketing to website content writing, as a marketer, you need to be able to rely on the best content marketing strategies to deliver results through your campaign.

Understanding Copywriting in Marketing

Defined by  Semrush.com  as a strategic writing process, copywriting is the act of using persuasive and influential words in order to compel the audience to take a specific action. From a marketing and sales perspective, effective copywriting should:

• Grab the attention of the target audience.
• Hold their interest.
• Prove that the audience has an unfulfilled need.
• Motivate the audience to take action.

Copywriters, known for their ability to target the right audience and boost sales, are highly sought after in marketing. Within the realm of online marketing, copywriting is especially critical to increasing site traffic and boosting conversion ratings.

Semrush.com  notes that copywriters are typically responsible for:

• Following brand guidelines and establishing brand voice.
• Creating a variety of content, including short-form and long-form copywriting pieces.
• Generating ideas for creative copywriting applications.

By being aware of copywriting best practices and knowing how to implement them, you can become a more well-rounded marketer, regardless of your specialization or niche within the industry.

Copywriting vs. Content Writing

Copywriting is a form of sales writing, and the purpose of any copywriting piece is to encourage the reader to make a purchase. According to  Indeed , copywriters must have an intimate understanding of the target audience, and they must be able to craft their work in a way that motivates the reader to respond. They commonly draft marketing emails, landing pages, call to action phrases, product pages, social media taglines and commercial content.

Often, copywriting is used interchangeably with content writing, but the two types of writing are distinctly different. While copywriting focuses largely on sales and conversions, content writing focuses on providing information and generating organic web traffic. Content writers focus more heavily on creating content that is informative, relevant and easy-to-digest for the target audience.  Indeed  states that content writers often work on blog posts, e-books, video scripts and social media content.

The Principles of Persuasive Copywriting

Cialdini’s six principles of persuasion were first published in 1984, long before the digital marketing era began. However, his principles of persuasion are still quite relevant today, and they can easily be applied to all types of copywriting, including email marketing copywriting.

As defined by  weBOUND Marketing , the key principles of persuasive copywriting include:

• Reciprocity — Offer something of value within your copywriting in return for a subscription, a like, a follow or even a sale.
• Commitment and Consistency — Make your first ask a smaller one and prove that you will deliver. Then, encourage the customer to make more commitments throughout their journey.
• Social Proof — One of the most powerful components of any online marketing strategy, social proof is essential within your copy writing. You can do this by adding reviews and testimonials to your piece.
• Authority — Use facts and data within your copywriting to craft a more authoritative, transparent and trustworthy piece.
• Scarcity — Let your audience know that they only have so much time to act. You can rely on scarcity by limiting the number of offers available or setting a deadline for the promotion.
• Sympathy — Use storytelling in copywriting to make your brand more relatable. Consumers who can relate to your brand messaging or mission are more likely to support it.

Crafting a Compelling Message

When you are copywriting for conversions, creating compelling copy is critical to your success. At the end of the day, your target audience must be able to relate to and connect with the content to act on it.

Citing   Super Copy Editors , you can create an emotional connection with your audience by relying on the following writing techniques:

• Offering simple yet consistent information in your copywriting. Clear and powerful wording will get your point across quickly. Avoid unnecessary details.
• Using language that your audience is comfortable with and used to. Your copywriting tone of voice should match your audience, so don’t be afraid to get creative and use wording that they are familiar with.
• Relying on the power of empathy. Use your words to prove that you understand their perspective, and that you are offering them a solution that will improve their lives.

SEO in Copywriting

Commonly known in the marketing industry as SEO, search engine optimization is the practice of utilizing targeted keywords within content to improve the content’s ranking on the search engine results page. SEO-friendly copywriting is critical, particularly with digital marketing campaigns, as it allows a brand to increase visibility, boost traffic and drive conversions.

Given the fact that the search engine algorithms are constantly changing and adapting to the latest technologies, the best SEO practices for copywriting can change at a moment’s notice. As outlined by  Writtent , some of the best SEO copywriting tactics include:

• Focusing on high-quality writing.
• Promote one keyword, and use it in strategic places, such as at the top of the content or within headings.
• Write long-form pieces to improve engagement. It’s recommended to write content that is 500 words or longer.
• Create scannable content that includes headings, subheads and bullet points.

Staying abreast of the latest SEO strategies will allow you to create compelling, SEO-friendly copywriting pieces that not only drive traffic but also increase conversions.

Copywriting for Different Marketing Channels

Your copywriting tone of voice and overall style may vary significantly based the marketing channel that you are writing for. Some of the most common marketing channels for copywriting include social media, email marketing and website landing page content.

Sprout Social  reports that copywriting for social media focuses heavily on using a targeted brand voice to engage a specific audience. Social media copywriting should be clear, concise and accessible, and copywriters should use an active voice, writing in concise yet compelling sentences and keep language as plain as possible.

When it comes to email marketing copywriting, your content might look a bit different from your social posts. The key to successful email marketing copy is personalization. The reader should feel as if this message was personally directed to them, and it should include a promotion that relates to a product or service they have already shown interest in. Actionable language that capitalizes on scarcity works best within email copy.

When you are crafting copy for a website landing page, you will have to utilize a different approach entirely. When it comes to website content writing, you will want to create chunky, scannable content. Rather than providing in-depth information about the products or services available, emphasize the benefits of those services. With copywriting for conversions, it’s important to prioritize benefits, social proof and call to action phrases.

Analyzing and Testing Your Copy

At the end of the day, your content needs to perform well. Copywriting is all about increasing conversions, so you need to feel confident in the strength and clarity of your content. To verify that your content is going to do what it needs to do, you will want to rely on A/B testing. Per  Copywriter Collective , A/B testing allows you to compare two or more pieces of content to test its performance. For example, you may submit two versions of the same landing page to determine which will increase traffic and fuel conversions. Depending on the platform you are writing for, you may have different digital tools and resources available to perform A/B testing.

Common Copywriting Mistakes to Avoid

The art of copywriting is versatile, which means that it’s somewhat easy to make unintended mistakes. LinkedIn states that these are some of the most common persuasive copywriting mistakes:

• Misunderstanding the target audience.
• Forgetting to create an emotional connection with your copywriting.
• Relying on weak and passive call to action phrases.
• Failing to establish a clear and consistent tone of voice.

Ultimately, you will want to make sure that you rely heavily on consumer market data to develop a strategic copywriting marketing plan that allows you to reach your target audience and motivate them to take action.

Future Trends in Copywriting and Marketing

With authenticity being at the forefront of the latest digital marketing trends, copywriters are going to have to continue to adapt to changing technology while still creating compelling and relatable copy for their target audience. The industry is abuzz with the latest AI writing tools, which have been shown to increase speed and efficiency in copywriting, but that human element will remain vital to your success. 2Stallions points out that natural language and human-centric narratives will play a crucial role in content marketing strategies moving forward.

Earn Your Marketing Degree at Park University

At Park University, we offer  bachelor’s degree programs in both marketing and digital marketing , allowing you to develop an advanced understanding of the best content marketing strategies as well as the digital marketing trends that are shaping the industry.

Request more information  today about our marketing degree programs and learn how you can future-proof your career.

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Creative Writing Ultimate Guide

I don’t know about you, but when I start learning a new skill, I want to know everything about it right away. How do I get started? What do I need to get started? How could this new skill transform my life?

Being an incessant researcher of new pastimes, I love a good master post. So, I’ve made one today for one of my favorite things in the world: creative writing .

I wrote this for people who are just getting into creative writing, but even if you’ve been writing for a while, stay tuned—some of the tricks and resources in this post will be helpful for you, too.

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What is creative writing?

Creative writing examples, how to start creative writing, creative writing prompts, creative writing jobs, creative writing degrees, online creative writing courses.

Creative writing is imaginative writing. It’s meant to entertain its readers and get some emotional response from them. You’ll note that I said imaginative , but I didn’t say fictional writing, because while fiction is a subcategory of creative writing, it doesn’t define creative writing. All fiction is creative writing, but not all creative writing is fiction.

While technical, legal, or academic writing might be focused on conveying information in the most efficient and clear manner possible, the goal of creative writing is slightly different. You still want to communicate effectively and clearly, but you also want to put some pep in there. Creative writing uses tools like metaphor and imagery to evoke an image, emotion, or both from the reader.

Another way to look at it: if you were to say what makes creative writing distinct as a form, you could say it’s the artsy one.

Creative writing covers more than just fiction, or even just novels . Here’s a quick rundown of some types of creative writing you might encounter.

Novels (which fall under the ‘fiction’ umbrella) are a type of creative writing where the reader follows a character or characters through a plot. A novel might be a standalone, or it might be part of a series.

Example: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

2. Short Stories

Short stories (which also fall under the ‘fiction’ umbrella) follow a character through a plot, like you’d see in a novel, but short stories are, well, shorter. Generally, short stories run between 1,000 and 10,000 words, with works under 1,000 words falling under the subcategory ‘flash fiction.’

Example: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Poetry is a form of writing which focuses heavily on imagery, metaphor, symbolism, and other figurative tools. It also involves a lot of technical work with form; meter and rhythm are commonly used to enhance meaning. You can generally tell what poems are by looking at them, since they’re usually divided into groups of lines (stanzas) instead of paragraphs, like you might see in other forms of creative writing.

Example: Little Beast by Richard Siken

Related: Where to Publish Poetry

Plays are written for the stage. They include stage direction, brief scene descriptions, and character dialogue, but there’s often not a lot of prose. Plays are intended to be watched by an audience instead of read, so whatever prose exists, it is intended for the people participating in the play.

Example: Hamlet by Shakespeare

Songs are similar to poetry in terms of their structure and use of figurative language, but songs are meant to be performed. People don’t generally read song lyrics without listening to it, and the instrumentation and production often enhance the meaning of a song. Songwriters also use music theory to play with meaning—at a basic level, for example, minor chords generally convey sadness, while major chords generally convey happiness.

Example: Let it Be by the Beatles

6. Memoirs & Personal Essays

Memoirs and personal essays are a form of creative writing where an author draws on their real lived experience to create a narrative. Memoir specifically sometimes plays with chronological order and specific technical fact in favor of symbolic resonance—the author is getting at an emotional truth rather than a literal or objective truth.

Example: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

7. Journaling

Not everyone uses journaling as a creative writing exercise—some people want to log their daily activities and be done with it—but if you’ve ever poured your heart out about a breakup to the nonjudgmental pages of a notebook, you’ve probably already done some creative writing!

Want to find more examples? I wrote on this topic for another site, and it includes even more examples of creative writing for you to try.

Now that you know what creative writing looks like, let’s talk about how to get started, even if you’ve never practiced creative writing before.

1. Try stuff on until something fits

Take a look at the list above (or do a Google search for ‘types of creative writing’ and see if there’s anything else you might be interested in—I won’t be offended) and pick one that seems fun. If you want to try, for example, a screenplay, but you’re not sure how to write one, read a bunch. Get a feel for how they work.

Maybe you do that and decide you don't want to write screenplays after all. Okay! Try short stories. Try poetry. Try songwriting. Practicing different forms will make you a more well-rounded writer in the long run, and you might be surprised at what resonates with you.

2. Practice, practice, practice

Once you’ve found a form or a few forms that suit you, your job as a newbie is simple: practice. Write whatever you want as often as you can and, if possible, for your eyes only. Create a relationship between yourself and your craft.

Some say you should start with short stories before jumping into novels so you can practice completing narrative arcs. That might work great! But if you hate writing short stories, just practice with writing novels.

If you have an idea that feels a little too advanced for you, that’s probably what you should be working on, since it’ll teach you a lot about the craft along the way. Don’t be intimidated, and don’t worry about anyone else’s opinions (this includes any fretting about publishing). Your singular goal here is to create, and your secondary goal is to challenge yourself.

3. Join some kind of writerly group

But hold on, you might be thinking. How do I know I’m not getting worse the more I practice? How do I know I’m not just churning out garbage?

At some point, especially if your goal is to publish , you’ll want feedback on your work. And while it’s important to have the support of your loved ones, it’s also important to get feedback from other writers.

I do not recommend sending your very first manuscript to an editor or well-established writer for feedback—their feedback, generally aimed at moderate to advanced writers, is probably going to devastate you at the fledgling stage. I do recommend finding other writers at approximately your skill level to bounce ideas off of and exchange critiques. These other writers can be found online or at local writing circles—check your local public library for creative writing workshops.

Have you picked out a form of creative writing to try, but you just can’t come up with any ideas? Try using a creative writing prompt to get those creative gears turning. These are totally for you to use however is most helpful: use the prompt as-is, tweak it a little, whatever works.

Prompts are a great way to explore different types of tones in writing and hone your own personal style as an author!

Use this FREE tool: Writing Prompts Generator

Looking to make some money with your creative writing endeavors? Here’s a few options to kickstart your job search:

Ghostwriting

As a ghostwriter, your job is to write the story your client assigns you . This might be a fictional novel, or it might be a memoir. The client often has specific requests for content, length, and so on. The catch? Your name is not on the book. You’re not allowed to say that you wrote it—the client’s name or pen name usually goes on the author line. You can find ghostwriting gigs on sites like Upwork or Fiverr.

Marketing does involve some technical elements like copywriting, but creative writers have a place in marketing, too. Brands need catchy slogans, funny commercials, and even social media gurus to run entertaining Twitter accounts. For more ideas on how to market your upcoming book , check out our post on the topic.

Columnist/Blog Writer

You can also look for work as an op-ed columnist or blog writer. This might be something you do for an existing website, or it might be a blog you start from scratch on Wix, SquareSpace, or Tumblr.

You might have heard of people getting creative writing degrees, or at least you might have heard some of the discourse surrounding these degrees. Off the bat, I want to say that you don’t need a creative writing degree to be a writer. It doesn’t make you a ‘real’ writer, and it doesn’t indicate your seriousness toward the craft.

If you do want to get a creative writing degree, though, you’re looking (broadly) at two options:

Undergraduate writing programs

This is your BFA in creative writing. Not all colleges offer them—many (like my alma mater) offer a creative writing concentration or focus as part of an English degree. So you might graduate, hypothetically, for example, with a degree in English with a concentration in creative writing. Some colleges don’t offer a major, but they do offer minors.

Check to see what sorts of courses your college or prospective college offers. Do you have to be an English major to take their creative writing course? Does their creative writing course offer guidance in the type of creative writing you want to pursue? For example, my alma mater offered a creative writing concentration with two tracks, one for fiction and one for poetry. There was also a separate film studies concentration for aspiring screenplay writers and film students.

Graduate writing programs (a.k.a., the MFA)

MFA programs can be extremely competitive and prohibitively expensive, not to mention that you’re obviously not guaranteed to come out of them a better writer. They can be a great tool, but they’re not a necessary one. Look at it this way: are you willing to get this MFA if it means you might come out of it without a successfully published novel? If so, proceed.

If you want to pursue an MFA, do your research. Don’t go straight for the Iowa Writers Workshop application page and hope for the best—investigate the universities that look appealing to you, see if your interests align with theirs, and make that application fee count.

Going to college isn’t the only way to take classes on creative writing! If you’re looking for more cost-friendly options, the Internet is your friend. I’ve linked to a few places loaded with creative writing courses to get you started.

1. Intelligent.com: The Best 10 Online Creative Writing Courses

2. Coursera: Best Creative Writing Courses and Certifications

3. Self-Publishing School: Best Self-Publishing Courses

4. Our Programs: Fiction Write Your Book Program

Are you ready to try an online creative writing course? Are you ready to start some creative writing prompts? Or, are you think you're ready to go for a full creative writing project of your own? Here is a resource to help you get started:

What is a Biography? Definition, Elements, and More

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25 Personification Examples for Writers: What It Is & How to Use It

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Content Marketing 101: What is a Content Writer?

It’s often said that “content is king.” Although Microsoft founder Bill Gates made that famous claim way back in 1996, it remains true today. Quality content that delivers valuable, relevant information is the linchpin of most successful marketing campaigns.

Respected SEO and content marketing experts Semrush recently reported that 45% of marketers are publishing more content than ever, more frequently, while 44% stated that marketing success revolves around the quality and value of the content.

But marketers aren’t necessarily creating that content themselves. Statista reports that at least 30% of B2B marketers are outsourcing all their content creation, with more still seeking expert, external advice on aspects like keyword research. The most commonly outsourced task was content writing . To really understand why the role of content writer is so in demand, it helps to get to grips with the basics of content marketing.

Learn more about content creation with Scripted here.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is a way to build brand loyalty and sell products, services, and expertise. You achieve this by creating and sharing information that’s relevant and useful to your chosen target audience. It’s a vital aspect of inbound marketing: marketing that gets leads to come to you rather than you chasing them down.

A great content marketing strategy relies on different types of content such as blog posts, articles, infographics, and video content to demonstrate a brand’s authority. In that way, people are willing to trust the brand and turn to it when they need its products, services, or expertise. Good content is simply well-written, well-researched information that can stand on its own, even though it’s shared by a business to attract customers. Content writers are the foundation of great content marketing.

What Does a Content Marketer Do?

At its core, content is simply information. As we’ve seen, content on the web can take a variety of forms, both written and visual. Content writers, of course, specialize in written content, but that can range from the typical blog posts and web pages to social media posting, press releases , SEO-friendly image captions, whitepapers , and even video scripts .

Take a look at the many products available from Scripted’s content writing team here .

Content is messaging directed toward the needs of a particular audience, which could include current and potential customers, investors, employees, or other stakeholders. That’s why understanding the purpose of content is foundational to producing high-quality work. Content can be well-written, thoroughly researched, and creatively conceived, but if it doesn’t speak to the intended audience and provide the value that the audience is looking for, it's not doing its job. High-quality content for marketing purposes combines creative writing skills with great research and a thorough understanding of the target audience.

Content writers often work directly with a business’s marketing team to ensure their copywriting efforts are ranking in organic search results. Metrics from Google Analytics provide clear insight into how a business's content is performing. Your content’s performance must be measurable so you know what works and what doesn’t.

Content Writers Demonstrate Why People Should Care About Your Products and Services

If you’ve spent hours browsing available content writers online, you probably feel more confused than you were before you started. That’s because a lot of content creators—including journalists and copywriters—position themselves as content writers to attract clients.

However, not every writer qualifies as a “content writer.”

A good content writer has one main job: demonstrate to your potential buyers why they should care about your products and services. They achieve this goal by using your brand’s voice to educate people about what you offer or create content that provides value to that audience in some other way. Getting this job done can take hundreds or thousands of words.

Content writers have several secondary objectives as they work to demonstrate your brand’s value. For example, they might:

•           Include keywords that your potential customers will use in their search queries.
•           Write meta descriptions that encourage readers to click your link over other search results, also known as search engine   optimization .
•           Identify other pain points of customers and clients.
•           Enhance your brand’s image by giving your blog, social media accounts, podcast scripts, email marketing, and publications more personality.

This all feeds into an effective content strategy that delivers genuine, measurable results. Although successful content writers use multiple digital marketing strategies, demonstrating your value to readers is always top-of-mind.

Scripted’s writers come from multiple industries and all have marketing and SEO expertise to help you create content that provides genuine value to your readership. Get started here .

  Is a Content Creator a Content Marketer?

Some content creators might work as content writers, but not all content creators are content writers. Does that sound confusing? Let’s break it down.

People who call themselves “content creators” can work in various areas of content creation. Some are podcasters. Some are directors who make YouTube videos. Some are artists who draw funny memes. And, of course, some work as content marketers and content writers.

You can think of content writers as a specific type of content creator. They might even dabble in other creative areas. When they write for you, though, their work educates audiences so people know they can trust your brand to offer reliable solutions.

Is a Journalist a Content Marketer?

Journalists often have the writing skills to become content marketing writers, but they have to abandon objectivity and investigation when they work for you.

Obviously, you don’t want to pay a writer to hand you an article about some mistake your company made a decade ago. That’s the kind of content journalists write. Great content marketers strive to show what’s great about your company, products, and services. They want to subtly promote you while also helping readers learn something.

What Skills Should You Look for in a Content Writer?

Great! Now you know what a content writer does. Let’s move on to the skills someone needs to work as a successful content writer.

Flexibility to Match Your Brand’s Voice

Your brand has a unique personality that needs to come across in every piece of content you publish. If content marketing doesn’t feel authentic, it will not convert readers.

The best copywriters can alter their writing style to match your voice. They can take a formal tone that appeals to investors interested in emerging cryptocurrencies, or they can take an informal tone that attracts outdoor adventurers who connect with tales of hiking muddy trails and lazily drifting on the water after a long day of kayaking.

Some content writers specialize in certain tones. This approach works well for them, and it could work very well for you, too. Does it really matter that Jack W. can craft hilarious one-liners when you need someone to explain how hedge funds function? Probably not. As long as the writer can follow your brand’s tone, you have a good match.

How many blog posts does the internet need about the benefits of exercise? Do you need to read another piece of content about which social media platform is best?

There are literally billions of web pages on the World Wide Web. Very few of them stand out. For the most part, it’s the same old content pointing to the same research trying to sell you a different version of the same product.

The internet is so cluttered that very few people can write valuable content that stands out. It takes impressive creativity to create brand awareness. This includes keeping on top of emerging content creation trends. Currently, TikTok is the fastest-growing platform for short-form video content, with over 1 billion active users as of February 2023. 18% of marketers have already jumped on this opportunity, and great content writers could help you write video scripts that appeal to a whole new audience.

You can also talk to a content writer about what’s worked in the past for businesses within your industry. When you join a content creation platform like Scripted , you get access to writers that have worked on projects ranging from affiliate programs to creating flyers for trade conventions. While digital marketing is the biggest focus for most companies, these traditional avenues still create excellent ROI. In fact, combining a print advertising campaign with digital efforts could increase success by as much as 400% .

Industry Expertise

Brands usually have specific needs when they look for content writers. If your company makes custom GPUs for hardcore gamers, you should hire a technology content writer who can explain RAM usage, motherboard compatibility, and other topics that interest your customers. You might also need someone who can make currently dry product descriptions pop.

Does your company offer business advice to companies that cultivate or sell recreational marijuana? Then you want a professional content writer with experience in cannabis content marketing .

Any topic that requires a high level of understanding demands a technical writer with plenty of experience. You probably don’t need an expert to write general knowledge posts about home gardening, but your law firm definitely needs a legal expert to cover the specifics of a new law.

Great content writers also have skill sets across a range of different platforms. They know how to utilize trending topics and hashtags on Twitter and Instagram and how to be professional while providing thought-provoking long-form content on LinkedIn. Creating content that can be shared widely creates more opportunities for “earned media”: likes, comments, and even testimonials that your readership provides for free in response to your brilliantly written web content.

Example of Great Content Writing

What does great content writing look like? If you want to see some content writer’s work we believe in, here are some great examples from current Scripted writers that you can hire right now :

•           12 Ways to Repurpose Your Evergreen Content
•           Could ChatGPT Become an AI Tool for Content Writing Services? Yes, But…
•           Defining Lead Progress & How It Relates to Content Creation
•           How To Measure Your White Paper’s Success

Find out more about great content and how to promote and publish it here .

Finding and Working With a Content Writer

If you're looking for a content writer, a content marketing platform like Scripted can help you quickly find the right one for your needs. Before you begin, define the formats and types of content you need and the results you want to get. Do you want to optimize your landing pages for SEO, or create a series of thought leadership blogs? Scripted can match you with a writer that suits your needs.

Determine a general word count and any other considerations. Then search for content writers with experience not only in your industry but also in writing the sort of content you’re looking for. Your content service may also choose specific writers for you.

Scripted's pool of professional freelance writers specializes in SEO-friendly digital content for startups, agencies, and enterprises. Our expert editing team proofreads and hones content for guaranteed results.

We're proud to work with a fantastic community of highly-vetted writers with experience in a diverse range of industries, including automotive, construction, healthcare, IT, security, personal finance, and sales. in fact, our writers have years of experience across over 50 industries. We also have writers who are skilled in languages other than English to help your business's online content gain a truly global reach.

How it works: Register. Order your first piece of content. Work directly with our innovative platform and a content writer who understands how to drive your conversion rate.

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What is creative writing in a marketing and advertising environment?

The correct definition of ‘creative writing’ is “writing which expresses ideas as well as thoughts in a creative way.” Put another way, creative writing is the “art of making things up” or putting a creative splash on history, as is the case with creative non-fiction.

Creative writing is an art form. We say this because you write creatively you need to step out of reality and jump into a new realm which is inspired by your mental meanderings. In the capacity as a creative writer, you’re able to express feelings as well as emotions as opposed to cold, hard facts.

Does creative writing have a place in the advertising industry?

Identify and describe the importance of creativity in advertising within own industry Among their many attributes, creative writers usually show an appetite for linguistic invention. For this reason alone, increasing numbers of marketing companies are hiring professionals with creative writing backgrounds.

An evolving marketing trend that revolves around storytelling has paved the way for digital content that, apart from offering captivating writing, relies heavily on design and web development.

Creative writing is supposed to capture the audience’s attention and guide them through “an interactive and customisable flow of information that conveys your narrative in a way that’s uniquely useful to the individual.” This can be done using both new and existing technologies such as PowerPoint-like presentations, interactive infographics, microsites, and apps.

Creative writers are experts with words. They know how sentences and language features work to take a business as well as the brand to the next level. Still, creative writing isn’t given the importance it should be because of the ‘everyone can write’ mentality.

What do creative writers do in marketing and advertising?

Creative writers help a business stand out from the rest of its competition. No one wants to sound the same as their competitors. Imagine how boring that would be! Creative writers are innovative with words. They can take a topic that has been written about ten thousand times and give it a fresh spin!

Creative writers make sure the business’s messaging is consistent. As well as making sure the messaging is consistent, creative writers make sure the messages are clear. As we’ve moved into the digital age, readers’ attention spans have gotten shorter. No one has the time or patience to read articles and blogs that aren’t clear and to the point. Creative writers make sure the business doesn’t lose customers because of sloppy writing.

Creative writers can take on different voices, depending on what the business wants: Does it want to sound quirky, serious, or casual? Creative writers are experts at doing this. They can wear different language and stylistic hats without breaking a sweat.

Creative writers know how to make sure a business doesn’t disappear in the Internet’s big black hole. This is done through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). SEO refers to how a website is optimised so people can easily find it on Google. Creative writers can optimise a business’s website SEO by writing SEO content such as blogs and articles.

Creative writers understand how social media works. Social media is one of the big ins of marketing and nowadays you’ll be hard-pressed to find a credible business without a social media presence. Creative writers know how social media works. They know how to write quick, snappy, and engaging content for the business’s followers and potential followers. They know the best strategies to grow a following and increase brand loyalty.

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Want to learn more about how to write for other digital platforms? If you do then you need to do our digital copywriting and content marketing course. For more information, please follow this link .

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Writing to Market: What Successful Authors Know

These days, being a successful author isn’t about getting lucky in your search for an agent or soliciting dozens of publishers until one of them takes a fancy to the book you spent countless hours on. With indie authors wielding the power of self-publishing like an entrepreneurial sword, more people than ever are making a living (and potentially a comfortable one at that) from their writing career.

One of the ways these indie authors have found incredible success is writing to market. They treat the process of being an author the same way most people treat their day jobs: do the work, write the things people want to read, get book sales.

It sounds like the dream, right? And for many people, it is. But writing books to market isn’t for everyone. So in this article, we’re going to figure out if it’s something you want to pursue and, if it is, how you’d go about it.

To that end, we’ll be discussing:

• What writing to market is
• Understanding your market
• Crafting compelling, market-oriented stories
• Leveraging trends and market demand

It sounds technical and, to a degree, it is. This is truly about authorship as a career . That doesn’t mean your writing journey isn’t without passion or creativity (and we’ll discuss that in this article), but writing to market means approaching this through the lens of a business.

Let’s clarify that a little.

What is Writing to Market?

"Writing to market" is a phrase that's been bouncing around the indie author community for some time now, but many authors still aren’t familiar with it. So what does it really mean? 

At its core, writing to market is about striking a balance between creative expression and commercial appeal. It's the art of crafting stories that not only capture your own voice but are also tailored to meet the demands and interests of a targeted audience.

Imagine being an entrepreneur and thinking of a product. Before launching it, you'd first research what the consumers want to ensure your time and money are spent on something viable. 

Similarly, you need an insightful understanding of reader expectations and preferences, trending themes, and genre-specific demands to write to market. This doesn't mean you're selling out or dampening your creativity—in fact, forcing yourself to work within a time limit and reinventing known ideas can push you to be more creative. Writing to market is about leveraging your talent in a way that vibes with a larger group of readers, maximizing both reach and revenue .

The importance of understanding your target audience in this can’t be understated. When you know who you're writing for, you can more effectively cater to their tastes, emotions, and desires, amplifying the chances of your work's success in the crowded literary marketplace.

Writing to market merges the heart of creative writing with the strategic acumen of a savvy marketer. It's where passion meets strategy and your creativity meets commercial success .

Understanding Your Target Market

Alright, let's get down to brass tacks. If you're looking to write something people actually want to read (and pay for), you need to know who those people are, aka your target market.

Understanding them is like getting a cheat sheet for your next writing assignment. Here’s how you do that.

Market Research for Writers

This is a crash course in these topics, as they could be their own articles. For the sake of this article, I’ll explain as much as I can.

Identifying Your Niche and Ideal Readers

There are hundreds of genres, subgenres, and even sub-subgenres. You could write a sci-fi romance novel about time-traveling vampires, and guess what? There's probably an audience for that. 

But the key is to find out who's into what you're offering and if there are enough of them. So decide on your niche first. 

Are you all about those heart-pounding thrillers? Or maybe cozy mysteries are your jam? Once you’ve got that figured out, think about the kind of person who'd be super into it. That's your ideal reader.

Analyzing Reader Demographics and Psychographics

Now, get a bit sneaky. Dive deep into understanding your ideal reader. 

How old are they? What's their day job like? What TV shows are they binging? Heck, what's their favorite snack? 

Then psychographics come into play. It’s not just about age and location. It's about what makes them tick. Get to know their values, interests, and lifestyle. The more you know, the better.

Studying Genre-Specific Trends and Themes

Pop into online forums, check out Goodreads reviews, or snoop around in Facebook groups centered around your chosen genre. 

What are readers loving or hating? Any recurring themes or tropes they can't get enough of? Being a little nosy (while being respectful) now can give you a leg up later.

Connecting with Your Readers

Once you know who your readers are, then what? You need to get in front of them to effectively write to market.

Engaging with Your Target Audience

It's time to mingle. Jump onto social media platforms, join those reader groups, and don't be shy to comment and chat. 

Think of this as a two-way street; not only are you promoting yourself, but you're also building genuine connections.

Conduct Surveys and Seek Feedback

Feedback is gold. Want to know if your vampire love triangle subplot is a hit or a miss? Ask! Shoot out surveys, polls, or even DMs if you have permission. 

Listen to the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s all valuable.

Building an Author-Reader Relationship for Long-Term Success

This isn’t a one-book game. It's a journey. The more you interact, appreciate, and value your readers, the more they’ll stick around for your next book... and the one after that . 

It's easier to keep an existing reader than to find a new one.

Then, once you know your readers and exactly what they like, it’s time to write it.

Crafting Compelling Stories for Targeted Audiences

Now that you’re buddies with your audience, let’s chat about how to write the stories they’ll rave about to all their friends. 

We’re not just talking about a good story; we’re talking about the story for them.

To do that, I’ve got nine tips for you, broken up into three categories: genre, writing style, and your plot and characters.

Choose the Right Genre

1. Explore Popular Genres and Their Characteristics

Here’s the thing: genres are like flavors of ice cream. Sure, vanilla is timeless, but maybe matcha green tea is having its big moment. 

Dive into what’s hot now, but also know the main ingredients. Romance novels are all about relationships and emotional payoff. Thrillers need suspense and unexpected twists . 

And don’t forget to sprinkle some of your unique style on top.

2. Evaluate Personal Interests and Strengths

Real talk? Passion shows. If you’re rolling your eyes writing about zombies because it’s "in," readers will catch on. 

Still aim to write what you love. If you can find a sweet spot between what excites you and what your audience craves, you’re onto a winner.

3. Align Your Genre Choice with the Target Market

Think of it like a Venn diagram. One circle represents what you love to write, the other shows what your audience loves to read. 

That sweet spot in the middle? That’s your golden zone. Aim for that overlap and you're golden.

Tailor Your Writing Style

4. Adapt Tone, Language, and Writing Style

You wouldn't talk to your grandma the same way you’d chat with your best friend after a T-Swift concert, right? Think of your readers in a similar way. 

Know their vibe and match it. If they're young adults , maybe that snarky, informal tone works wonders. But if you're writing historical fiction for a more mature audience, perhaps a refined, elegant style suits better.

5. Address Reader Pain Points and Desires

Stories aren’t just stories. They're ways for readers to live vicariously, to find solace, or even solutions to their real-life problems. 

If you know that your audience struggles with, say, loneliness, a tale of a character finding their tribe can be super impactful.

6. Balance Creativity with Market Preferences

While it's crucial to keep market tastes in mind, don't cage your creativity. Remember why you started writing in the first place. 

Marry your imagination with market insights . Let them coexist.

Create Great Characters and Plots

7. Develop Characters Readers Want

In your market research, hopefully you find what characters are in right now.

Is it a snarky heroine? A track star? An antihero ?

The main characters in your story will be one of the selling points of your story, and readers are looking for specific ones. Think about ways you can integrate these types of characters into your book.

8. Put a Spin on Familiar Plots

I’m not saying you should recycle whatever the current bestseller is, but look for commonalities in successful new releases.

Is it hot right now to include a magic school as the backdrop to your plot? Maybe chosen ones aren’t in right now, so a story about one won’t sell well.

Figure out what works and what doesn’t, then put your unique take on the former.

9. Don’t Be Afraid of Tropes

Tropes can be powerful tools if used correctly, and are even mandatory in some genres (I’m looking at you, romance genre ).

If you’re writing to market, you know which tropes are in and which aren’t. Think about how you can use these tropes effectively without sacrificing quality or creative genius.

Writing a story isn’t just about stringing words together. It's a blend of knowing your readers, understanding their world, and sprinkling in your magic. 

But, when writing to market, you need to understand that thing you’re writing to.

Leveraging Trends and Market Demand

You've got the tools, you know your audience, and you're pumped to write. Now, let's give your work that extra edge by tapping into what's buzzing in the literary world.

Recognize Emerging Themes and Concepts in the Market

Remember when dystopian novels like The Hunger Games had their big moment? Or when everyone was raving about vampires? Being aware of emerging themes gives you a head start. 

You can either hop on the trend train or, if it's saturated, find a fresh twist on it.

Incorporate Relevant Elements into Your Writing

So you've spotted a trend. Now what? 

Weave it into your narrative in a way that feels natural. Maybe it's the setting, a character's job, or even the central conflict. The trick is to make it integral, not just a fancy add-on.

Understand the Needs and Wants of Your Target Readers

This is where your earlier research pays off. If you know that your readers are craving strong female protagonists or are tired of the same old love triangles, give them what they want. 

But, as always, add your unique spin.

Identify Gaps in the Market

Look, the market is big, but it's not always filled evenly. Maybe there's a dearth of LGBTQ+ representation in a particular genre, or perhaps readers are searching for stories set in a specific era or location. 

Find those gaps and fill them with your awesomeness. But make sure you do it appropriately and authentically if you’re dealing with real-life people or topics.

Tailor Your Content to Meet Existing Demand

Listen to your readers. Check out reviews of books in your genre, participate in online forums, and engage with readers on social platforms. 

What are they wishing for? What makes them roll their eyes? Use that feedback to tailor your content.

If you’re writing to market, you need a thick skin. You need to be able to take feedback and adapt your writing accordingly, because you’re writing more for the reader than for yourself.

It's about being alert, adaptable, and always ready to pivot or evolve. Because in the dynamic world of writing, staying static is not an option.

Write Your Book to Market

One thing we haven’t discussed in this article is how quickly you need to write in order to write to market. In the best case scenario, you’re able to spot an upcoming trend and get ahead of it, giving you a month or two to be part of the first wave of books readers get their hands on.

Worst case scenario, you have a month left to write, edit, format, and publish your book.

Either way, time isn’t really a luxury you have, and you need to get your book done quickly.

That’s where Dabble can help you write to market.

Not only does Dabble come equipped with Story Notes to make planning your characters and world a breeze, nor does it just come with the Plot Grid to make it easy to craft a unique and market-reader plot with killer subplots, but its goal setting feature makes writing a book in a short period of time actually feasible.

Need to pen 70,000 words in a month but have a weekend trip and a day full of calls coming up? Dabble will take your goal, your timeline, and your days off, crunch that all up, and tell you exactly what you need to write every day.

Write more one day or can’t reach your goal another? We’ll adjust for you, no problem.

With that sort of accountability, you can get your book out to the market and start raking in those dollar bills. All you have to do is click here to try Dabble out for free and get writing.

Doug Landsborough can’t get enough of writing. Whether freelancing as an editor, blog writer, or ghostwriter, Doug is a big fan of the power of words. In his spare time, he writes about monsters, angels, and demons under the name D. William Landsborough. When not obsessing about sympathetic villains and wondrous magic, Doug enjoys board games, horror movies, and spending time with his wife, Sarah.

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TAKE A BREAK FROM WRITING...

Read. learn. create..

Whether you're trying to learn the craft of writing or find your way in the publishing business, it always helps to study those who have gone before. Here's how to do an author study that will inspire your own journey.

Kinda wish you didn't have to choose between genres when you write your next novel? Maybe you don't have to! Get to know hybrid genres and what it takes to write a great cross-genre story.

No matter how much we want to ignore it, successful authors need a website. But there's more to a good author website than just throwing up a few nice words and pictures of your book. If you do it right, it could be your most powerful marketing tool.

Writing for Marketing and Advertising

Effective marketing and advertising campaigns have creative and resonant messages. Hone your writing skills to craft compelling messages in this course.

What you can learn.

• Build the essential skills to write clear, concise, and compelling messages
• Study examples of effective writing
• Practice writing tag lines, proposals, direct mail pieces, and other marketing materials

About this course:

Fall 2024 schedule.

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Writing for Marketing Course

Inherent within all of us lies creativity, sometimes dormant, and sometimes lost due to the demands of business.

Creative language enhances effective communication with an audience. To gain global product attention in an ever changing world of marketing, creative language is often a difficult medium to tap into.

However, awareness and understanding of how to generate and form language, from a creative point of view, is possible.

Creativity in language can be learned. Inspiration to develop writing voice can be ignited. Understanding of our creative sources can be invigorated.

To provide personal attention, Irene facilitates personalised individual Writing for Marketing Courses tailored to your writing requirements. Courses are also provided for small company groups. Specifically aimed at your industry sector, you will find, develop and deepen your writing voice, and create marketing content that works. Courses are synced to global time zones.

Craft your messages…to impact an audience. Hone your marketing writing skills. Learn the secrets of good writing.

Client Comment:  ‘Irene’s Writing for Marketing Course was thought provoking, engaging and above all, useful. It has provided a new lens through which to view the art of writing for marketing.’ ~Nick Curtis-Davis, Head of Brand Development, Bord Bia, Ireland.

The LIVE Online Writing for Marketing Course

Writing for marketing and advertising, and the creation of content, is all about crafting a message. Good writing has the power to persuade. This LIVE Online Interactive Writing for Marketing Course aims to build essential skills to write compelling and succinct messages. You engage in innovative right-brain/left-brain writing techniques and exercises that help trigger imaginative concepts, focus thoughts, and develop language to impact an audience.

Throughout the course participants may develop ideas or content for a current project, or work on a new concept.

Who Should Attend the Course? Everyone who wants to understand how to tap into their creative core and evoke creative language for writing marketing copy.

Suitable for all levels of Marketing and Sales Personnel, Managers, Executives and Content Writers.

On Course Completion The participant will have a deeper understanding of how to develop creative language targeted towards a chosen audience for product and communication platforms, and be economical with word choice.

Course Aims

• To facilitate the development of creative writing skills for use in Marketing and Communications using right-brain/left-brain learning techniques.
• To understand the use of creative language for use in a marketing context.
• To provide access to innovative techniques and exercises that aid creativity and imaginative copy concepts.

Course Objectives The course will:

• evoke imagination to help develop language for writing marketing copy
• provide a range of techniques and exercises to access the creative process
• enliven brainstorming techniques to develop figurative language
• help content writers access and establish writing voice
• use innovative techniques to play with concepts and words

Why This Course with Irene Graham? For three decades Irene Graham has successfully shown writers from all walks of life how to find their writing voice, deepen language and shape the content of their writing projects.

This Writing for Marketing Course developed from Irene’s participation as a Creative Writing for Business Facilitator, in an MBA Study Abroad Programme for USA students, as part of their degree course.

Help your company grip an audience. Book your Online Writing for Marketing Course with Irene now.

To discuss your writing requirements,  do get in touch with Irene.

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More From Forbes

16 essential tips for improving your copywriting skills.

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Consumers are constantly bombarded by advertisements, email blasts and other forms of marketing content. Yet, only select pieces of copy truly capture attention and persuade audiences.

Good marketing copy is the bridge between a product and its audience, so any professional looking to make an impact in marketing needs to sharpen their copywriting skills. Below, Forbes Communications Council members share expert tips for improving your craft and better understanding the art and the science behind persuasive writing.

1. Seek Outside Opinions

To be a great writer, you must read much and write more. Find a writer who is stronger than you and let them redline your drafts to bits. Put down a draft for a few hours and return to it with fresh eyes. Are you captivated or bored? (Yes, some of my own writing has put me to sleep.) Your copywriting muscle gets stronger with time and becomes richer with maturity and experience. Stick with it. - Lauren Pasquale Bartlett , Ingenovis Health

2. Be Conversational

Write how you speak. Formal writing to impress is out. Conversational writing to enhance understanding is in. To that end, use short sentences. And before you put a bow on it, read it out loud. Great copywriting has a cadence and a rhythm. It sings. - Colleen Edwards , NextGen Healthcare

3. Make It Enticing Yet Educational

Looking at this through a B2B lens, we can first assume that copywriting includes long-form writing. Since B2B copy is meant to help buyers understand and evaluate complex topics, it needs to be both enticing and educational. It therefore needs to be less like headline-driven front-page news and more like investigative journalism that tells the story clearly and in ways that draw the reader in. - John Steinert , TechTarget

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024, 4. avoid using jargon.

Lose the jargon. All of it. Every word that is gimmicky. Every word that is shorthand for an idea you have not explored. Every word that presumes to be a shortcut to understanding. Be patient with yourself and use every word with meaning. - Scott Anderson , National Park Foundation

5. Write Clearly

Get clear and concise first. Of course, most writers want to pick the perfect turn of phrase that customers will remember forever. But if your writing is not clear and concise, that kind of flourish won't stick out. Focus on clear and concise copy, and then add compelling language from that solid baseline. - Robert Neely , Lima One Capital

Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?

6. Slow Down And Proofread

When you slow down and read backward or out loud, your errors will jump out at you. If that doesn’t help, then take a break. Once you go back with fresh eyes, you'll have a new perspective. Also, think about your audience. When I'm writing marketing material, I like to read important things to my dad, because he will give me an outside take that helps me gauge how my writing is landing. - Layla Kasha , Grocery Outlet

7. Understand The Larger Message

Copywriting is an art that requires creativity and alignment with a larger messaging strategy. Look to truly understand how your strategy aims to move your target audience. By continuously applying the principles that underpin your larger strategy, you can motivate your audience to take action. As long as you stay within the boundaries of the defined message, you can be creative with your delivery. - Lisa Kalkes , Veteran Benefits Guide

8. Read Out Loud

Read your copy out loud. It will help make your copy clear and concise. Once you hear your words, you'll be able to identify redundancy and awkward phrasing much more quickly. You'll also be able to hear if your message came through clearly or whether you need to go back and rework some areas. - Kathy Sucich , Dimensional Insight

9. Be Empathetic

To truly elevate your copywriting, immerse yourself in empathy. Understand your audience’s deepest desires, fears and aspirations. Craft your message not as a marketer but as a trusted friend offering solutions to their challenges. When your writing resonates on a human level, it inspires action. So, channel your inner empath and let your audience feel understood, valued and compelled to engage. - Katie Jewett , UPRAISE Marketing + Public Relations

10. Spend Time Reading

Read, read and read—there is no easy way. Make it a daily habit, highlighting interesting words and absorbing industry knowledge. Remember, there's nothing more authentic than using your own words and observations. While it's beneficial to reference global brands, rely on your unique perspective to create compelling copy and be ready to contribute meaningfully to conversations. - Suneeta Motala , Stewards Investment Capital

11. Don’t Overcomplicate Things

Keep your copy simple. Write as if you’re addressing a fifth grader. Over 50% of Americans read below a sixth-grade level. The most effective copy is the one that’s easy to understand. If Ernest Hemingway wrote at a fifth-grade level, you should too. - Ken Louie , MetroPlusHealth

12. Remember Your Story

Don’t lose sight of the primary story you are trying to tell. Infusing your story into your copywriting will enable you to better connect with your audience in a way that captures their attention, helps them understand the essence of who you are and moves their heart to engagement. - Rob Forrester , Guardian

13. Consider Your ‘Why’

One key thing to keep in mind is that good writers aren’t thinking about their writing; instead, they’re thinking about the point they’re trying to make. In copywriting, you need to always think about why you’re writing this piece. What is the ultimate end goal of your writing? Start from there, and you’re guaranteed to create copy that resonates more strongly with your target audience. - Alexi Lambert Leimbach , Xcellimark

14. Practice

Write for 10 minutes every day, even if the content is random and unrelated to your subject matter. Put pen to paper and write something. This will help cut through the clutter in your mind and improve your ability to focus on what you actually want to write about. - Sheryl Seitz , May Mobility

15. Listen To How Your Audience Communicates

To improve your copywriting skills, ensure you deeply understand your audience by listening to sales calls, analyzing social media interactions and noting the content and language they engage with. Avoid buzzwords and marketing jargon to sound authentic. Finally, imagine swapping in a competitor’s name in place of yours. Does your copy still work? If so, it’s too generic—strive for uniqueness. - Jeff Marcoux , Entry Point 1

16. Avoid 'Filler' Content

If you're going to do a piece of content, make sure you provide the information and insights that you'd want if you were looking for this article. Too many companies want something written on a topic and they don't worry about quality. Make sure you understand the goals for each piece of content and write in a way that delivers significant value. - Tom Treanor , Snipp Interactive

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Mastering Writing Samples for Jobs: Insight and Tips From My 9-Month Job Hunt

Published: June 20, 2024

Almost a year ago to the day, I found myself job hunting for the first time in a decade. It was unexpected. I didn’t have a current resume or a writing sample for job applications. Frankly, I was in over my head. And the market was ruthless.

If you’re reading this feeling the same way: There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Layoffs have been rampant in recent years, especially amid COVID-19 recovery. In the United States, unemployment sits at 4% — the highest rate in two years. But, at the same time, 270,000 jobs were created just last month. That includes the one meant for you.

An excellent writing sample can be the key to getting noticed. So, coming off my own nine-month job hunt (and now thankfully sitting in the position that gives me your eye today), I’m here to help.

Table of Contents

What is a writing sample?

How long should a writing sample be, what to submit for a writing sample, how to choose what to submit for a writing sample, how to write a writing sample.

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A writing sample is a supplement to a job application that demonstrates your skills for positions that require a lot of writing (i.e. marketing, journalism, communications). It helps a company identify qualified candidates by demonstrating not only your writing skills, but how you think.

During my hunt, it wasn’t uncommon for a potential employer to ask for a writing sample.

I found that employers tend to request a writing sample in one of three ways:

• A long-form answer to a question on the application form
• 1-3 links to past work (or file attachments) on the application form
• A written assignment I completed a few stages into the hiring process

As a seasoned content marketer , I also had an appendix to my resume with links to my writing samples by default. But this isn’t necessary for every industry.

Don't forget to share this post!

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The Creative Penn

Writing, self-publishing, book marketing, making a living with your writing

Collaborative Writing With AI With Rachelle Ayala

posted on June 21, 2024

Podcast: Download (Duration: 44:34 — 36.4MB)

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How can we use AI tools to enhance and improve our creative process? How can we double down on being human by writing what we are passionate about, while still using generative AI to help fulfil our creative vision? Rachelle Ayala gives her thoughts in this episode.

Today's show is sponsored by my patrons! Join my community and get access to extra videos on writing craft, author business, AI and behind the scenes info, plus an extra Q&A show a month where I answer Patron questions. It's about the same as a black coffee a month! Join the community at  Patreon.com/thecreativepenn

Rachelle Ayala is the multi-award-winning USA Today bestselling author of playful and passionate romances with a twist. She also has a series of books for authors, including Write with AI , An AI Author's Journal , and AI Fiction Mastery .

You can listen above or on  your favorite podcast app  or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. 

• Understanding generative AI tools as a non-technical person
• How the creative process can work with AI tools and why it's always changing
• Using AI tools as a collaborative discovery process, and why it's all about your creative vision and author voice. For more on this, check out my AI-Assisted Artisan Author episode
• Aspects of copyright
• Staying focused on writing as new AI technology emerges, and why you need to double down on being human

You can find Rachelle at RachelleAyala.net .

Transcript of Interview with Rachelle Ayala

Joanna: Rachelle Ayala is the multi-award-winning USA Today bestselling author of playful and passionate romances with a twist. She also has a series of books for authors, including Write with AI , An AI Author's Journal , and AI Fiction Mastery . So welcome to the show, Rachelle.

Rachelle: Thank you, Joanna. Thank you for having me.

Joanna: I'm super excited to talk to you. As I was telling you, I have the ebook and the print edition of AI Fiction Mastery because I think you put things so well in your writing. Before we get into it—

Tell us a bit more about you and your background in technology and writing.

Rachelle: Okay, sure. I was a math major, and I actually have a PhD in applied math. So you would think that's kind of the farthest thing from writing .

I got into parallel computing back in the 80s. Then in the early 90s, neural networks, where we were basically trying to recognize handwritten characters between zero to nine. So that was quite interesting and fascinating.

So I basically worked in software development and network management until 2011. Then I got into writing. So romance writing was my gig, and I liked dealing with feelings and happy endings.

Joanna: Well, I love that, going from maths and neural networks into romance. You do explain a lot of the stuff behind AI in your books, which I think is really good. You're used to writing for normal people, so I don't find your writing technical at all.

Do you think people who are not very technical are struggling with this AI world at the moment?

Rachelle: I don't even think you need to be technical to understand AI because—well, there's different types of AI, but we're talking about large language models for writing.

So there's other AI systems like expert systems, machine learning, and people have been using that. They don't even know it, but they've been using it under the hood.

The AI we're talking about, large language models, ChatGPT was one of the first ones that most people became aware of. So GPT is a Generative Pretrained Transformer.

You could think of it as a word slot machine , where you could think of all these slots. So when you write a prompt, then the AI will look at the words that are in there, and then try to predict the best word that comes after.

Let's say, we say Monday, Wednesday, and most people will say Friday because that's the next word that you think of. Or if you say Monday, Tuesday, most people will say Wednesday.

So what the AI does is it was trained on reading, I think somebody said between half a trillion or trillion pieces of text. When an AI is trained, it's not reading a book like we do, where we read it from beginning to end.

So think of if you cut a piece of newspaper into a strip or a square, and then it's got all these words that are in there, and it's looking for words, associations, and patterns. So it'll say, oh, this word goes with that word, and those words go together.

So it could take a word like, say, “bark.” If it sees dog in the other slots, it's going to most likely come out with “woof,” but if it sees trees in the other slot, then it might say, “the bark is wrinkly or hard,” and it's thinking of a tree bark.

So that's how it is able to create words, and that's why you think it's intelligent, because it understands the context. It does so with these huge, huge context windows. So I don't want to get too technical, but a context window is how many words can it keep in its memory .

So it can look at all these associations and how those words go together, so it can best predict the next word that comes out of this word slot machine, so to say. It doesn't remember anything.

Joanna: It's interesting. You mentioned words there, like associations and patterns. I feel like the big misunderstanding with large language models is that some authors think that it's more like a database, where all these “stolen” books are sitting in a big database.

Then if you query it, it will pull out exact chunks from other people's books and use them. So you're always going to plagiarize or you're always going to be “stealing.” Like you and I hear these words a lot from authors who are really just starting out.

Can you explain why it's not a database?

Rachelle: Well, databases are storage. So if you query at a database, it pulls out exactly what's in there. I mean, this is like your social security number. It's not going to get it wrong, it's going to pull it right out. Your birthdate, if it's entered in correctly, it will pull it out.

Everybody knows that AI doesn't get things correct, or it doesn't get things exact. If you prompt it twice with the same prompt, like, say, “Write me a story about a road runner who is sick,” or something, it's going to write you something different.

Even that, if you think about how they trained AI, they trained it by inputting all these words that are associated together. Then they adjusted the weights of how these words are more likely to be with those words.

They're not retaining the words, the words are thrown away. The only thing it keeps is the weight.

So sort of like when you read a book, unless you have a photographic memory, you cannot recall that book, but you can recall the concepts because you have made associations between what you read and it communicated to you these ideas.

In fact, people say our memories are not like videos, our memories are actually assembled whenever we're recalling something. So we are making things up on the fly, based on all the associations that we've had in our lives. Similarly, that's how AI LLM really is making up things.

So when people say it lies to you, it's like, no. It's actually just making things up. You gave it a prompt that said, like, “Say happy birthday to me,” and it just keeps going with that.

There's also something called a temperature knob where you could basically increase the randomness, because you know, it's boring if that always gives you the same answer.

So they built in this randomness thing where it's going to look for either the most probable, or the next most probable, or it has a whole list of probable words that come next. If you turn on that temperature, you dial it all the way up, you're going to get gibberish .

The other thing with LLMs, they've literally read the kitchen sink. It's not just literature, they read code. So a lot of times, if I turn up the temperature and I'm prompting it, all of a sudden it's just all this gibberish code that comes out of it. So that just shows you that it has no memory.

Joanna: I think that's definitely one of the reasons why the legal cases are so complicated and why people actually need to have some technical idea. It's not just a case of like copying and pasting.

Let's talk more about your creative process. So you're a discovery writer, which I love, although you have given tips for outlining in your books. Can you tell us—

How does your creative process work with AI? Are you just writing a prompt and then hitting publish?

Rachelle: Oh, definitely not.

I think the first time I got on ChatGPT, and I'm sure every one of you guys have done it, you said, “Write me a novel.” Then ChatGPT wrote a 200-word story about some rabbit jumping across a meadow, and it might have seen a turtle, and it's like a kid story. So it's interesting, and it's fun.

I think today, they probably won't do any of that because they put some processing in where it will probably say, “Please give me enough detail.” At the very beginning, it would happily go off and write this little fanciful story.

So getting back to, yes, I'm a discovery writer, but I think I have also learned about story structure. So very early in writing, I realized that if I just sat there and meandered around with my character, we could do all these interesting things, but it would not be telling a story.

A story has to have some kind of meaning behind it. So it's characters, they're going through actions, they're experiencing things, but there needs to be an emotional meaning behind it or something where readers want to find out what happens next.

So I did study story structure. I think I read Larry Brooks's book on story engineering, so I know about the inciting incident, and the progressive complications, and there's like this midpoint review. So you kind of have to have those things in the back of your mind.

AI actually does not know all this. The other thing most of you've probably tried is if you type in what you want the AI to do for the story, it takes the most direct point .

So like for romance, this really doesn't work because the romance thrives off conflict . It means there's attraction, and then there's this push and pull of, okay, I'm really attracted to this guy, but he's got some things that just doesn't work.

So it's the push and pull between the attraction and the conflict and two people are working things out. Both of them are flawed, but we believe in redemption, and we believe that everybody deserves to be loved. So the reader is really looking for how this is going to work out.

Well, the AI would just say, okay, so we talked about it, and then happily together we can face these things. It's really so innocent. It's like, “Oh, well, why don't we just talk it out? Then they can walk hand in hand and face the future with determination.”

Joanna: You know that's a ChatGPT story!

Rachelle: Of course.

Joanna: What are some of the ways you do use [ChatGPT] in your creative process?

Rachelle: Well, actually, every book I've written with the assistance of AI, I have done something different. That's because the tools change so fast . So I think at the beginning with ChatGPT, I was just asking it questions about, “Oh, let's make up some mythological figures that can do this or that, or some magic.”

I was sort of using it like a search engine, which it's not because it's making stuff up. I was just heightening descriptions and things like that.

So I think I talked about that in my first book, Love by the Prompt , which was basically just brainstorming and asking it, “Give me premises for a romance,” or, “Give me an enemies to lovers story.” So it was doing that.

At that point, it couldn't write more than 300 words or so. So we weren't really using it to write prose, we were using it maybe to enhance your descriptions or bring in things that you didn't think about.

The speed of AI went so fast, so by the time we were into summer when I wrote the AI Author's Journal , we were actually writing scenes. The way we were writing the scenes is we would list out the scene beats.

So these are just very basic actions of, “they walked down the street,” “there was a gunfight going on,” “there was a sheriff that came in.” So basic beats. We were doing that, and then laying that out and feeding it to the AI so that the AI would kind of fill it in.

So you're really leading it like a horse, like a horse to waters. Like, “Come on this way. Okay, now you're going to do that.” It was really funny to see what it would do in between.

I happen to like hallucinations. I think a lot of authors don't like it.

I really get a crack when it goes, what they call, off the rails. I'm like, oh, really? Okay, this is funny.

So that's how I was using it. It wasn't like this prescriptive thing where I already knew like beginning to end, and I'm going to lay it all out, and then push a button, and this is going to go through.

It doesn't listen to you anyway, so you're not going to be able to. Even if you're an outliner, and you have an 80-page outline and you've got everything listed.

I should say, you can make it listen to you by dialing the temperature down and using one of the more boring models. I don't think you're going to like what comes out because it will be very concise and succinct. They would just literally stick to your beats like glue.

It's not expanding from it, so then why bother have AI write it. At the same time, if you turn the temperature up, it might deviate, and it might deviate in really fun ways. Or it might be like, no, this is not what I want you to do, and it's already solved the problem by chapter two.

Joanna: Yes, and I think the temperature dial, as you mentioned, that's really only available if you go through more like the Playground options.

If people are just using ChatGPT, for example, there is no particular temperature dial in that.

Rachelle: There isn't. It's really interesting now because they give you access to the latest 4.0, as well as 4 and 3.5. If you really want some of the more quirky stuff, you need to go back to 3.5.

It's, in a sense, much more innocent. It will just happily go off and do something. Whereas 4.0, I've noticed they've made it more, what they call, safe.

It tends to feel more like business writing a lot more because what 4.0 will tend to do is whatever you give it, it's going to make a bold heading, and then it will give you some bullets, and then it's another bold heading. It's like okay, so you just summarized my scene brief, and you didn't put anything creative in between.

That's what brings me to Claude. I really love Claude. Claude is the other chat. So if you're beginning, I think most people say, well, we've got to get ChatGPT.

With ChatGPT, I think because it's more structured for business, it's much better at writing the scene briefs and the outlines.

It will stick to the topic, so if you wanted to outline so for nonfiction, especially—and I think Gemini works good for that, too—is that it will stick to the outline. Then you can work with it and say, “Okay, I'm going to write a nonfiction book about decluttering,” and it will help you stick to it.

Whereas Claude, I think is a little bit more freeform. With old Claude 2, it might balk and say just, “I do not feel comfortable being judgey about somebody's hoarding problems. I think with the new Claude 3, they've loosened that a bit, and so it will be more creative, but it may be less structured.

So I think ChatGPT, you can use it for structuring and writing your outlines, and even your scene briefs or chapter briefs. What we talk about when we talk about scene briefs is you need to give the AI a lot more information.

Just telling it, “Write me a scene of a cute meet between a cowboy and a waitress,” it gives it too much leeway. So a scene brief basically is a piece of information, and we call this mega prompting, but we're giving it information of the characters in the scene, the settings of the scene, and then the beats.

What's going to happen first, second, third? What's the inciting incident? What are the progressive complications? I'm using the story grids way of developing scene, so you have the progressive complications.

Then you have some kind of crisis because there has to be something to motivate your protagonist or to challenge your protagonist, and then some kind of decision where that's made to move this thing forward.

So if you only have a scene that only has beats and there's no sort of story element in it, then it's not going to work. So that's why you have to do a lot of leading.

Joanna: It's interesting. You mentioned leading there, and also the different personalities of the models, and also, the fun. I mean—

I feel like it's a fun back-and-forth process.

It's like I might ask Chat for a list of things that might go wrong in this particular situation or places where I could set a scene.

I think I use ChatGPT for a lot of lists of options, and also marketing. I think it's very good on marketing copy. Then, as you say, with Claude, I use what I think you call completion prompting. I might upload what I've written so far, and then say, “Okay, what are 10 ways this scene could continue?” and it will help in in that way.

So I think it's being more fluid almost, isn't it? Going backwards and forwards, and you have ideas, it has ideas, that kind of thing.

Rachelle: I've discovered I like Claude Sonnet the best because Sonnet will actually write. Like if you go through a Workbench or Playground type of thing, and I go through Future Fiction Academy's Rexy, where I get to specify every parameter, including the length of the output.

So with Sonnet, we always say, “Write a 3000-word scene.” Some people used to say 10,000, hoping ChatGPT would do it. Well, it doesn't work that way.

They have a parameter called max-length that they've already programmed into chat. You don't know what it is, but it's probably not going to be that long because you're sharing the chat with so many other people. You're doing a flat fee, and they're paying by the token.

When you go into Playgrounds, or through Rexy, you can special specify a max length. Like I said in the book, all of them, even the million context windows, they may have 100,000-200,000 tokens that you can feed in, the maximum output is 4096 tokens, which is roughly around 3000 words.

So some of them are just like the C students. You tell them do 3000 words, they do 500-700. With Sonnet, I found, and Haiku, will gladly go up to your limit.

If you didn't give it enough information to prompt, it'll just kind of get repetitive and have your character doing the same thing over and over in different ways, but that's your fault.

Joanna: I think, again, this is really important. You're still not just copying and pasting that scene, right? You're not taking that scene out of Haiku or Sonnet and then pasting that and then publishing it.

So just explain—

How are you leading the AI? How are you editing?

I still think people are afraid that we're just going to lose our creativity and the AI will do all the writing, whereas that's not really what's happening.

Rachelle: First, I just want to say there is no wrong way to use AI. I know everybody's process is different.

So there are authors who spend a lot of time with their outline, and whether they're using ChatGPT or they're just working on it by themselves, everything is going through this person's filter, this person's creativity.

So even if someone works a long outline, and then tells the AI, “Write these scene beats, write what I just gave you,” that author has put in all those scene beats. That author has said, “This is the emotion I want in the scene.” That author has said, “This is what's going to happen.”

So even the most prescriptive author that architects it from the beginning to the end, that person has put themselves into that story.

It's not like AI is just going to write you a story.

The other thing I think people forget is that it's humans that tell stories because we're the ones with the emotions. When we see a list of things happening, a lot of it depends on the context.

So if, for example, you see a man punch out another man, if it's on the theater on the stage, you laugh, but if it's on the street right in front of you, you're like horrified. So these contexts are all happening emotionally in the human being.

AI will just describe, “Okay, this man punched the other one, and he hit his jaw, and the blood went flying.” It will describe the stuff, but the storyteller is putting the emotional context into that scene, and what the reader is going to feel is coming from the human.

Whether the AI writes the words or not, or even draws the cartoon or not, it's the medium of how you're communicating that story that's eliciting the emotion. So I think I don't worry whether you're a plotter or a pantser, it's more just believing that the story is coming from you.

Whether you dictated it, transcribed it, I just look at AI as it increases the accessibility of storytelling for people.

Maybe English is your second language or you're a visual person.

Joanna: Yes, it's interesting. I feel like because we describe ourselves as writers, and for a long time we've used this number of words written. You know, people will say, “Oh, I wrote 2000 words a day,” or, “I wrote 10,000 words today.” We've really viewed value of being a writer on how many words we write.

Therefore, I think people are struggling because if you can generate 3000 words with one prompt from an AI—and that's where we are now, I mean, goodness knows where it will be in a year or two. I think I did, and maybe other people, are struggling with this question of—

What is our value if it's not generating words? So how do you see that question?

Rachelle: I think your value is making sure those words are words that people want to read. That's the same with whether you're doing your messy draft or not too. I mean, before AI, I wrote 90 books. I can write 50,000 words in two weeks . I've done all the NaNoWriMos and all that.

So the thing is, you as the creative person, you can generate the words, but it may not be words anyone wants to read, maybe you don't even want to read it. So you're also the curator of those words.

Basically, it still comes down to you're the storyteller. You have to have a story worth telling.

I mean, you don't want to just report what you see without putting meaning into it. The meaning into it is what gives you the story, because ultimately, the story is a human to human communication.

Whether I'm talking to you face to face and telling you what happened to me last Friday, or I'm communicating through a novel, it really is still, like I would say, heart to heart. It will come from my heart, but when you read it, it's going through your heart.

Like I said, the AI can throw out a lot of words, and some of the time I have to admit, I don't even read what it gives me. Sometimes I ask it for ideas, and then I do exactly what it doesn't say to do. Or it can spark something totally opposite or just unrelated.

You're a discovery writer, right? So you know that ideas don't come until you start moving. It's like getting on a bicycle. So before I even sit down to write a scene, I could say, “Oh, this is what's going to happen. I think I know what's going to happen,” but when I start writing it, it's like something else just pops into my mind and it deviates.

Joanna: I totally agree. So this is the point.

We are the ones with the creative drive. We have the ideas, we have the prompts, we have the story; we have the emotion. The AI tools, they're just tools.

Someone has asked me that—

They worry that they might not be able to find their voice if they start writing with AI. Or that they might somehow lose creativity in some way. What do you think about that?

Rachelle: I actually think it's valid. I've been writing, oh, I don't know, 12/13 years, and you develop the voice by just writing, free writing. So I think it is valid because if I read too much AI, I find myself kind of writing like them, like using some of the same phrases.

So we're sponges, we absorb what we read. I mean, that's how we developed our voice. We read lots of books, right? You probably have your favorite authors, or if you're like me, I read across multiple genres. I love everything I read.

We're like humans, sponges. The LLM is just like us. I mean, if you noticed ChatGPT, it read a lot of fanfiction. So it has a lot of the same names that it gives and the same things that are always happening, and it's only because it's read all these fanfiction sites. So it tends to write like fanfiction.

So I worry about that too. I look at it, and I say, “Oh, I don't want to sound like ChatGPT,” and if I keep reading what it writes, sometimes I catch myself.

Joanna: That's interesting. It's funny, I haven't felt that at all. I feel like this comes down to being confident in your voice.

I think when we've been writing as long as we have, we kind of know when it sounds like us.

So if I read something, I'll be like, that doesn't sound like me, so maybe I didn't write that, or I don't know where that's come from. So certainly in my editing process, I edit pretty hard in order to bring my voice.

I really think that maybe people will just learn to write in a different way. In that we wrote with the Internet, so we've had the internet, and we have learned and written in that particular way.

People growing up now, this is now free, kids at school are going to use these tools. So they will probably just learn in a different way.

I still think it comes down to what you, as a creator, have as your creative drive.

I think that is really particular to you.

Rachelle: Right, and actually, I think we don't have to worry as much going forward. As we've seen, Claude Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus, they write differently. I think a lot of what we think is AI is from ChatGPT 3.5, because that was the first one that came out.

You're right, the kids that are growing up today, they're going to be reading as much AI-generated content, if not more, than the classics. Though you could always go back and read the classics, too.

Joanna: So there's definitely the responsibility of the creator. I guess we're saying, and that I'd say, I'm an AI-assisted artisan author . So it's still my work, it's what I want to do.

I am interested in what you think about copyright in the USA. In the UK, our copyright law is that anything created by a machine belongs to the creator.

“In the case of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work which is computer-generated, the author shall be taken to be the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the creation of the work are undertaken.” Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Section 9, 3

In the US, you have quite a lot of copyright rulings that still haven't happened around that. So how do you think about that in the US?

Rachelle: Well, first of all, I'm not a lawyer. So I don't know what the legal things are. I think the US, and this is what I think, t hey think there has to be some kind of human touch in it . So they're trying to measure how much of the human touch.

[ Read the US Copyright Office guidance here .]

An analogy is like taking a picture. I think immediately people probably thought, “Oh, well, all you did was click the button, and you took a picture,” but the copyright office ruled that, “Oh, but you had to set up the shot. You had to adjust the lighting. You had to catch it at the right moment.”

So the camera didn't take the picture by itself—well, actually, you can set the camera to take pictures, and nowadays, you might have a video camera that's just been watching something and AI can pick out the best shots.

At the time they did grant a copyright to photographs, the thinking was a human was behind it that pushed the button and it composed a shot. I actually think AI prompting is actually more work.

Everyone just thinks that you just push the button and out pops an article, and that's not the case.

I went to a seminar where one of the lawyers said, “Oh, well, it's all in the prompts. The originality is in the prompts,”

which does go back to that plagiarizing. If you copy and paste somebody's work into the prompt, you can get AI to spit that back out . That's on you because that was in the prompt, it wasn't AI's fault. So the lawyer said that, and believe me, all your prompts are stored somewhere.

I mean, they have not discarded any of the prompts. So he's saying that in the future, he thinks cases will be decided by looking at how creative the prompts were .

Joanna: That is really interesting. I totally agree, and it's one of my sort of red lines. I say to people:

Don't use other people's names or brands in your prompt, whether that's images or music or authors.

I can use my name in a prompt, but I'm not going to use your name, I'm not going to use Stephen King, I'm not going to use Dan Brown. I'm not even going to use dead authors because I want my own voice. So I think that's really important.

It is also interesting because in the early days—I say the early days early, like last year—I was still taking screenshots of prompts in case.

Rachelle: Like I've got to save these?

Joanna: Well, no. So that in case I had to prove that this was my own work. So I was keeping that, I took pictures of my edits, like I was quite paranoid last year. Now we're in mid-2024, I'm starting to relax a lot more.

Let's just think about what's happened. I mean, as we're speaking now, last week they released 4.0 Omni. We've had Google releasing Gemini 1.5, Microsoft has announced new PCs that will have AI in them. I mean, the pace is so fast now, and Apple's going to announce something soon.

How do you adjust to the pace of change?

Are you, as you said earlier, are you changing your process all the time? How do you stay focused, rather than getting sidetracked?

Rachelle: Well, it is harder to stay focused because there's always some new toy that comes out. Just yesterday, I got into the Hunch beta, which is basically a drag and drop prompt sequencing.

So you can put in context blocks, and then you can drag that context and feed it into these AI blocks and it does something to transform it. Then you can feed multiple context blocks into AI blocks, and multiple AI blocks into another one to aggregate the content, or you can split it out in different ways and use different LLMs for each output.

So yes, it's hard to stay focused. I think once I get into a story, I do focus on that story. Then I keep kind of an ear to the ground on what's going on.

So I joined the Future Fiction Academy because it's a group of people, Elizabeth Ann West, Steph Pajonas, and Leeland Artra, who they are all over the place looking at all this AI. They are also real writers because I knew them from indie publishing 10 years ago.

So they look at these tools and they're always thinking of new methods. It's not just them, it's the whole group in Future Fiction Academy. Somebody will say, “Oh, did you see this Hunch thing?”

So Hunch was brought in by somebody else who said, “I use this to sequence these prompts, and I wrote my scene briefs, and then I had five different LLMs write the scene, and then I'm going to look at them all and pick out the best ones.”

So by joining a group of active authors who are focused on their writing, because each one of these authors are still focused on their author career and not the AI.

AI is a means to an end

— not like the YouTubers where—and they have their uses too, but they are focused on the AI. So they're always looking at the new AI and how it came out. That's great to also subscribe to a few of their channels so you kind of know something's coming.

Also, you have to know, well, okay, I'm not going to distract myself with the new music stuff because I don't really use music in my work, but I know it's there type of thing.

Joanna: Well, what do you think's going happen next? I mean, how do you think things are going to change in the next year or two? I guess we're looking at maybe GPT 5, which might be another step up.

I guess some people think that that will just mean we can write books even faster. As you said, you were writing books pretty fast before, and romance authors are fast. So I don't really see it as a speed thing.

How do you think things will change, both creatively and in the business of being an author?

Rachelle: Well, it's hard to say. I mean, look at ChatGPT 3.5, now we're looking at it like training wheels. What we have today is Omni, and like you said, GPT-5 will come out. I don't really know, I just know that as long as these companies are fighting it out, we get access to the latest and greatest.

So I think I'm more worried about when the industry consolidates, and all the best writing tools, the AI that's able to not just spit out words, but the one that can analyze novels. Believe me, I'm sure these publishing companies already have it.

I have heard somebody say that Netflix actually has analyzed streaming behavior of their customers. So they know when the customers quit watching the video, they know when they rewound, and they know when they watched it all the way through without stopping.

So they've analyzed those story structures to come up with better stories. I'm pretty sure that anybody who owns a reading app knows this.

We buy a lot of books we never read, I mean, especially free books. You downloaded them, maybe opened into the first page, read the first page, and dropped it.

Those owners of those reading apps know full well which books have caught on , which books are the ones that it's 3am and you haven't stopped and you just keep going and going and going. So they have all that data.

So once they train their AI to recognize that kind of pattern—what kind of patterns of story, not just words, because right now, today's LLMs are just looking at word patterns.

We're looking at AI agents that can analyze the patterns of the story, like the rising action, the conflict and tension points, all of that. Then they can actually generate story, critique the story, and then match it to what readers' preferences are .

Then maybe we may just become providers of experiences, I suppose.

Joanna: I mean, let's fast forward. There's going to be perfect algorithmic fiction, you know. It'll be perfect, people will love it. They'll go and they'll get that, and that will be a lot of what people read. That's why I say to people —

You need to double down on being human, because you are not an algorithm, and I'm not an algorithm.

So I think that there's still a place for the human writer, which is flawed. We have flawed writing. So I think there's room for both.

Rachelle: That's the whole thing about romance, the characters are flawed, but they're still lovable.

Joanna: Yes, so let's hope we are!

Rachelle: It's going to be interesting. It's almost like the way with social media. They've done studies on dopamine hits, and so they made their things addictive so that you're always scrolling and scrolling and looking at the videos and hitting the likes. That's all these little shots of dopamine.

So they've done all that research on how human minds work to get you addicted to a platform. I wonder if the AI can also create books and stories that you just can't put down because it just kind of knows. It can individualize this for every reader. If your Kindle Library's as big as mine, it knows what I'm really interested in, and not what I say I'm interested in. It knows if I buy a book because I liked the author, but then I never read the books. It knows what you're really doing, and it can personalize that for you.

Joanna: Yes, well, we certainly live in interesting times. It's been so great to talk to you.

Tell people where they can find you and all your books online.

Rachelle: Well, I have a website, RachelleAyala.net , but you can just find me on Amazon. Just type in Rachelle Ayala and AI Author’s Journal or Romance In A Month , and then you'll find my nonfiction books. Then for the fiction books, I think type in Bad Boys For Hire , or something like that, and you'll find my fiction books.

Then I did recently start a new pen name using my real name, Clare Chu, C-L-A-R-E-C-H-U. This is much more AI. I decided to do these humorous guidebooks that are called Misguided Guides .

So my first book was Why Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You . I made the cover with Midjourney, so I'm showing this to you on the screen.

Joanna: That's very cute. I think experimentation is fantastic, and you certainly do that. So thanks so much for your time, Rachelle. That was great.

Rachelle: Okay, sure. It was great being on. Thank you, Joanna.

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Back to the office means the return of the age-old question: What's for lunch?

The fight to be the answer to that question is a valuable one. Market research firm Future Markets Insights pegged the lunch takeout market at $215.3 billion in 2022 .

Chipotle's latest marketing campaign shows how creative restaurants are getting to nab your lunch order. The fast-casual chain knows where its bread is buttered burrito is wrapped, advertising a limited-time meal targeted at young, male office workers.

The Chipotle Boy Bowl has double chicken, white rice, black beans, mild salsa, corn, sour cream, cheese, guacamole, and lettuce, in a nod to the gym and finance bros who frequent the chain. (Truly knowing their audience would have been touting the "macros" — carb, protein, and fat stats — of the dish, but I digress.)

The newest addition to the menu could have been a mea culpa by Chipotle. In recent years, the chain has faced criticism over what some customers say is a drop in quality coupled with rising prices .

That culminated last month in popular food influencer and former Chipotle collaborator Keith Lee complaining about the chain's portion sizes .

Still, Chipotle's stock, which is preparing for a historic 50-for-1 split next week , has persevered. Its share price is up more than 43% this year.

But the competition to be your go-to lunch spot is fierce.

A newcomer to the public markets has come on particularly strong. Fellow fast-casual chain Cava, often viewed as a Mediterranean Chipotle , has been on a tear since it went public last June. This year its share price is up more than 125%.

And that's not even tops in the sector. Sweetgreen, which went public in 2021, is up roughly 165% this year. It also has an eye toward the future with the launch of a robot-driven location in Illinois last year.

But other lunch options haven't enjoyed as much success. Yum! Brands — home to KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell — is up less than 4% this year. And Restaurant Brands, which includes Tim Hortons, Burger King, and Popeyes, is down more than 10%.

Even the granddaddy of them all — McDonald's — is having a slog. Its share price is down more than 14% as customers criticize its new value meal , and it struggles to integrate AI into its workflow .

But the real threat to chains isn't each other: it's consumers' kitchens. Rising prices have led some to brown paper bag it .

3 things in markets

• Citadel grows its South Florida fortress. Ken Griffin is reportedly adding two more floors to Citadel's planned offices, which will now feature eight floors within a 55-story tower in Miami's financial district. It shows the billionaire's continued investment in the Sunshine State .
• The US government is wracking up quite the bill. The Congressional Budget Office projects national debt will reach $56.9 trillion by the start of 2034 . That represents a 64% increase over the next decade.
• Bitcoin's cooldown might be a warning for the stock market. A Stifel strategist predicted a late-summer stock market decline based on bitcoin's 10% sell-off in the past few weeks. He pointed to the strong correlation between bitcoin and the Nasdaq 100 since 2020.

3 things in tech

• Apple's AI rollout faces a huge hurdle in China. ChatGPT, which powers Apple Intelligence, isn't allowed in China , a key market for Apple. Large-language-model chatbots operating in China need Beijing's permission, which has only been granted to domestic companies. That's reportedly led Apple to consider deals with Chinese makers similar to OpenAI.
• Nvidia and Microsoft beefed over chips. Jensen Huang's attempt to closely control how Nvidia chips are used reportedly led to a weeks-long feud with Microsoft . The tense standoff made it all the way to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's desk before Nvidia backed down.
• Amazon goes back to basics. The company got its start selling books in 1994. Decades later, its original business is thriving — and outpacing sales of e-books. Internal documents show Amazon sold $16.9 billion worth of books in the first 10 months of 2022.

3 things in business

• Elon rues the breakup with Twitter's advertisers. Two years after telling advertisers to get lost, Elon Musk is courting them again in the face of X's plummeting revenue. But advertisers seem to think they're better apart , with many turned off by his chaotic tweeting habits.
• Sorry, it's for close friends only. After years of favoring influencers, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat are all leaning into features for close friends . They're intended to foster connections between users and the small subset of followers who get access to exclusive content.
• A16z-backed Knownwell is buying Alfie Health. Alfie Health, a Y Combinator startup, uses AI to treat obesity. With Ozempic sparking a boom in the weight-loss business, obesity-care startup Knownwell plans to integrate Alfie's AI tech into its obesity and primary-care services.

In other news

• AI could become a lawyer's greatest help in the courtroom .
• How to live happily past 100, according to 7 of the world's oldest people .
• College donors are tired of the pressure to pay more and more money to attract top athletes. It could lead to big changes .
• Fahim Saleh murder jury must decide if Tyrese Haspil believed stabbing and dismembering tech CEO was 'reasonable' .
• Ted Cruz's leaked donor docs show how money in politics really works .
• Looks like Elon Musk just added Melinda French Gates to his list of billionaires' ex-wives who 'might be the downfall of Western civilization' .
• Millennials and Gen Zers are 'quiet quitting' friendships, and it could backfire .
• This new technology for nuclear power could help fuel the AI revolution .
• 'The Hunger Games' star Donald Sutherland dead at 88 .
• New Tesla video shows an early glimpse at how Elon Musk's Robotaxi service could look .

What's happening today

• Donald Trump appears at a court hearing on charges of mishandling classified documents.

The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London. Annie Smith, associate producer, in London. Amanda Yen, fellow, in New York.

Watch: Marketing leaders from TikTok, Roku, Mastercard and more tell Insider how consumer behavior has changed across industries

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Biden campaign announces $50M ad campaign aiming to strike a contrast with Trump's hush money conviction

The Biden campaign announced a $50 million advertisement investment Monday as part of its effort to demonstrate the contrast between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in the days leading up to the first presidential debate at the end of June.

As part of the $50 million investment, the campaign is releasing a 30-second advertisement titled "Character Matters," which highlights judgments against Trump in both criminal and civil trials.

"He's been convicted of 34 felonies , found liable for sexual assault, and he committed financial fraud," the narrator says in the advertisement. "Meanwhile, Joe Biden's been working."

A jury in New York last month found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in his hush money case, while a New York jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s. In 2022, another jury in New York found the Trump Organization guilty of tax fraud . Trump himself was not charged in that case.

The Biden campaign said the television advertisement will run "in all battleground states" and on cable TV.

"This election is between a convicted criminal who's only out for himself and a president who's fighting for your family," the narrator says.

Biden referred to Trump as a "convicted felon" shortly after the verdict was announced, saying it was "disturbing" that "a former president that is a convicted felon is now seeking the office of the presidency."

As the Biden campaign attacks Trump for his conviction, Biden’s son was convicted on three gun-related felony charges last week. After Hunter Biden was found guilty, the president called his son “one of the brightest, most decent men I know” and said he was “extremely proud” of him.

Biden and Trump, who remain neck and neck in polls , are set to square off at a debate on June 27. The new advertisement is in line with how Biden is expected to emphasize the contrast between him and his predecessor on the debate stage.

In response to the ad, the Trump campaign called the hush money case a "sham trial" and repeated claims of a "weaponized" justice system.

"The contrast between President Trump’s strength and success versus Crooked Joe Biden’s weakness, failures, and dishonesty will be made clear on the debate stage next week," campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on X .

The Biden campaign has said the president is preparing to "hold Trump accountable for his extreme record" during the debate, saying Biden is "projecting himself as the wise and steady leader in contrast to Trump’s chaos and division."

The paid media campaign for June includes investments designed to reach Black, Latino, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander voters, according to the campaign.

The $50 million paid media announcement comes on the heels of successful campaign fundraising efforts. Over the weekend, it said, the Biden campaign and its allies raked in more than $30 million as part of a Los Angeles fundraiser , which featured a slew of celebrities.

The Biden campaign ended April with more than $84 million, compared to the Trump campaign's more than $49 million, receipts from the Federal Election Commission show. April is the most recent month for which FEC fundraising data is available.

Megan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.