Welcome to the Otis Regrets blog, now hosted right here. Please check it out.
The job of a copywriter is to make things happen. Doesn’t matter if you are a web copywriter, email copywriter, direct mail copywriter or maybe a traditional print copywriter, your job isn’t done until you have caused someone to click on a registration link, send in a coupon, buy a product or take some other decisive action.
It can be fun to write for the pleasure of turning a phrase, and you may even get compliments from clients looking for “edgy creative”. But that’s not the same as copywriting that gets results and it isn’t a good way to win repeat assignments. On the other hand, savvy marketers know that an investment in copywriting that increases sales and boosts response is one of the smartest investments they can make and they will pay good marketing-driven copywriters accordingly.
My own first copywriting job was freelancing at a department store. I considered myself lucky to get paid for writing and didn’t take it too seriously. Several assignments later, I found myself copywriting for a mail order tool company. I’d chat up the receptionist on my way in, and eventually it dawned on me that when she was too busy to talk, it meant we had a successful promotion in the mail and she was handling overflow 800 calls. That’s when I realized: I wasn’t just writing, I was selling something.
This website is for two different readers. If you are a prospective client, right now you’re the most important person in the world to me. Please join me with a virtual cup of hot strong coffee and stroll to the examples page. That’s where I’ve shared some of my favorite work, along with the thinking behind each project. If you’re one of my students or a fellow copywriter, please check out the otisregrets blog or my David Ogilvy tribute page.
Otis Maxwell