Does copywriting training work?
Tony Gamble of copywriting company, Writers, considers the case for taking a writing training course.
In this entrepreneurial age, we hear about all sorts of interesting growth industries. And teaching people to become better business writers seems to be one of them. Most copywriting companies – including mine – offer writing training of some sort; and many training specialists offer courses on written communication. Also, hardly a week goes by without a new book on copywriting coming out.
Which prompts two important questions. First, is it possible to learn effective, persuasive copywriting from writing training courses or books? And second, we were all taught to write at school – isn’t that enough?
The answer to the first question is undoubtedly yes – you can learn copywriting skills. More importantly, many people today really need to learn these skills, because the answer to the second question is a resounding no. For many jobs these days, the writing we learnt at school simply isn’t good enough. The effectiveness of reports, presentations, letters and emails can be vital to success at work. And many people unfortunately aren’t very good at them.
Is it possible to learn effective, persuasive copywriting from writing training courses?
So which aspect of writing did our formal education miss out? In the vast majority of cases, it failed to consider something quite fundamental: the reasons why we write. There’s a big difference between stringing a coherent sentence together and writing to get results. What we’re usually not taught enough at school is to think about the effect our words have on the reader – and that’s what good copywriting training can teach.
Sounds obvious, and simple. But it’s not easy (if it was, we wouldn’t need copywriters). Many people don’t realise how difficult it is, and can’t even spot the difference between writing that will get results and writing that won’t. But if a course can teach the basic principles of effective copywriting – plus a few tricks of the trade – then with a bit of practice, most people can develop the skills to some extent.
We’re not taught at school to think about the effect of our words – and that’s what good copywriting training can teach.
So could writing training put copywriters out of work?
On the contrary. In fact, the more people understand what goes into effective writing, the more productive a copywriter’s job will be. The effort and thought we put in will be better appreciated; and even if those with newly acquired skills do more writing themselves, there will still be a need for those of us who do it all day, every day.
As copywriting training increases, more people may be capable of effective writing. But also, more people will demand it.