Day in the life of a copywriter

I take great pride as a copywriter in working with individuals and businesses at the top of their game. My clients range from applicants for the House of Lords to those hoping for knighthoods and OBEs. In addition, I’ve worked on annual reports for the space industry, and showcased a UK plc’s global workplace mental health strategy.

This is one of the many aspects I love about my job – the huge variety of opportunities it brings to work with such a broad range of clients and industries.

To give a few examples, in the past month, I’ve had the pleasure of working with:

An Arctic explorer campaigning against climate change
The UK’s biggest online marketplace working on a landmark US deal
A healthcare facility rated ‘outstanding’ thanks to its superhero staff.

The secret – strategy, strategy, strategy!

No matter who I am working with, I always take a strategic approach. I consider: first; what is the purpose of this piece of content; and second, what do I want the reader to do when they’ve finished it?

My day-to-day routine could involve:

Kick-off meetings to discuss strategy and purpose
Research from interviews, background material provided by clients and online search
Calls and Zooms, of course
Drafting and redrafting content until it sings
Presenting content to clients and working collaboratively to perfect it
Climbing up the hill opposite my office to spur some fresh thinking!

But there are also welcome highlights, such as:

Client lunch meetings – most recently at Annabel’s in Mayfair
Networking dinners with MPs and FTSE100 chairs
Site visits – most enjoyably a perfume factory, a whisky distillery and a tourism project that took me to Antigua.

I can’t complain!

Engaging with the media

My background as a Fleet Street journalist (from the FT to The Sun, including five years foreign editing at the Daily Mail) has given me huge exposure and experience when it comes to dealing with the media. So, it’s a real pleasure to carry out TV and radio interviews about the Honours system and House of Lords as Communications Director of Awards Intelligence. Coverage has been from the likes of Sky TV to the BBC, including ten local radio slots in the space of an hour talking to audiences from Newcastle to Plymouth!

There are always core messages I want to relay. But I have also learned to think quickly on my feet to respond to interview questions that can come from left field. And, even some which can be pretty hostile. Again, as a former journalist myself, I can’t complain …

Collaboration

Fundamental to my day-to-day process is listening to my client’s needs, their priorities, their objectives and their feedback. I also collaborate with other professionals to make sure the work produced for clients is presented in the best possible way:

Graphic designers – to create annual reports, white papers and awards entries that look as fabulous as the company results
Web developers to draw up wireframes for website pages
CEOs and their senior exec team in the Boardroom to devise messaging for a marketing campaign, a prospectus or internal comms
The fabulous Awards Intelligence family of awards experts.

Working with people at the top of their game

It is a joy to work with clients who are high achievers either already at the top, or on the way to the top of their field. What delights me is the breadth of topics we cover together:

Pioneering women, such as a mechanical engineer who is the only woman in her team in a heavy machinery plant in Canada
A City lawyer funding scholarships for disadvantaged pupils between working on £ billion deals
An entrepreneur giving away £100 million to support water projects in the developing world
And a marketing genius devoting the final years of his career to promoting mental health in schools.

So not only can I not complain … but I really love my job!