How a copywriter recharges her writing

After you’ve been a copywriter for a while, it’s easy to fall into a rut. Everything you write starts to sound the same.

This irks me, both as someone who has hired copywriters and as one myself. I don’t like to see stale copywriting come across my desk, and I don’t like to be the one creating it, either.

So, how do we copywriters keep it fresh?

For me, it takes exposure to other writers’ styles.

Reading a lot is what helps me write better. When I come across really fun, inspiring copy, I make a note and go back when I need to.

For instance, I adore copywriting for ecommerce. But there’s not much out there to inspire when it comes to writing product descriptions. Yet branding a company through the descriptions of its products can be so exciting! When I need inspiration, I browse through some of my favorite clothing retailers’ websites, like Boden USA. (It doesn’t hurt that I love the clothes, either!) It may not be the style that I’m writing for at the moment, but somehow it never fails to remind me to stay fresh.

Reading novels, magazines, blogs, and so on give you ideas that swim in your head, diversify your vocabulary, and show you new ways to describe without being boring.

Blog comments and product reviews are also a great place to pick up ideas. See what customers, the common people, are saying, the words they use and the things they care about. It doesn’t have to be for your client’s product, it can be for any related product.

The point is to expose yourself to different points of view, words, phrases and ways of thinking.

Then you will find it a little easier to step outside yourself and write the words and ideas that set your copy on fire.