{"id":3405,"date":"2017-05-26T15:10:57","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T15:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/?p=3405"},"modified":"2022-03-10T09:59:14","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T09:59:14","slug":"wordsmith-or-salesman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/","title":{"rendered":"Is a copywriter a wordsmith or a salesman?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

First off, let\u2019s clarify what a copywriter actually is. It\u2019s an individual who writes promotional material. Could be a website, brochure, flyer or press advert \u2013 though it\u2019s not limited to just these types of collateral. Or put another way, it\u2019s someone who writes words that sell a product, service or idea.<\/a><\/p>\n

As much as a slick graphic or image can look enticing, it\u2019s ultimately the words that convinces the reader to make the purchase, or equally, walk away from it. Copywriting can be powerful, very powerful. Regardless of what you might think, it\u2019s a pretty sure bet that you have been convinced by some clever copy at some point.<\/p>\n

As a copywriter myself, I\u2019m very often called a \u2018Wordsmith\u2019. I once worked for a digital marketing agency<\/a> where one of the bosses consistently referred to me in this way. Used to drive me nuts. But there are plenty of copywriters who are more than happy to adopt this label. And over the years I\u2019ve realised why that actually is \u2013 because as far as I\u2019m concerned, copywriting is about salesmanship.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why those copywriters like the Wordsmith tag. Ready? Because they\u2019ve never experienced actually selling anything in their lives. They normally would have studied journalism or English Literature \u2013 often earning a BA(Hons). They were told that they had a \u2018gift for writing stories\u2019. They often didn\u2019t begin their first job until their early twenties \u2013 right from leaving university. The thought of selling something actually fills them with dread.<\/p>\n

Then, they start as an intern in a marketing or ad agency and begin their career as a copywriter.
\nIn other words, they simply have no tangible experience. In fact, you try G\"salesman\"<\/a>oogling the words \u2018salesman\u2019 and \u2018copywriter\u2019 together. You\u2019ll find very few copywriters blogging about themselves in this way. On the other hand, I have a very different background. Copywriting is selling, pure and simple. I was selling advertising space at 16 years of age \u2013 cold calling. And for twenty years there-after, sold everything from film and jewellery to digital marketing services and handbags.<\/p>\n

My advice, when seeking a copywriter<\/a> for your project, look at a copywriter\u2019s portfolio, then see whose the most persuasive and written from the most unique angle. Nine times out of ten it\u2019ll be the salesman that floats your boat.<\/p>\n

So, in short, to answer the question: a copywriter can be both; just be aware that it\u2019s the salesman who\u2019ll invariably knows how to close a deal.<\/p>\n

About the author:
\nJim Morrissey is a website & marketing copywriter and business development consultant based in Twickenham, London. When he\u2019s not making his clients money, Jim is either playing the guitar or writing a film script.<\/p>\n

For help with your digital marketing<\/a>, whether that’s Google Ads<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a>, SEO<\/a> or Social Media<\/a> campaigns, get in touch with us today.\u00a0 We offer training for Google Ads<\/a>, Facebook ad training course<\/a> and Instagram ads training course, <\/a>too. Or, view all our services here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First off, let\u2019s clarify what a copywriter actually is. It\u2019s an individual who writes promotional material. Could be a website, brochure, flyer or press advert \u2013 though it\u2019s not limited to just these types of collateral. Or put another way, it\u2019s someone who writes words that sell a product, service or idea. As much as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs a copywriter a wordsmith or a salesman? - Online Marketing Blog | Flow20<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is a copywriter a wordsmith or a salesman? - Online Marketing Blog | Flow20\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First off, let\u2019s clarify what a copywriter actually is. It\u2019s an individual who writes promotional material. Could be a website, brochure, flyer or press advert \u2013 though it\u2019s not limited to just these types of collateral. Or put another way, it\u2019s someone who writes words that sell a product, service or idea. As much as […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Online Marketing Blog | Flow20\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-26T15:10:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-10T09:59:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/wordsmith.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"5000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"5000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shirish Agarwal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shirish Agarwal\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/\",\"name\":\"Is a copywriter a wordsmith or a salesman? - Online Marketing Blog | Flow20\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-26T15:10:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-10T09:59:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a715387bf0343ed68bf31b62ff452fda\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is a copywriter a wordsmith or a salesman?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Online Marketing Blog | Flow20\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a715387bf0343ed68bf31b62ff452fda\",\"name\":\"Shirish Agarwal\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d12022e7e52e11078c25981a67d3bc76?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d12022e7e52e11078c25981a67d3bc76?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shirish Agarwal\"},\"description\":\"Shirish Agarwal is the founder of Flow20 and looks after the PPC and SEO side of things. Shirish also regularly contributes to leading digital marketing publications such as Hubspot, SEMRush, Wordstream and Outbrain. Connect with him on LinkedIn.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is a copywriter a wordsmith or a salesman? - Online Marketing Blog | Flow20","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is a copywriter a wordsmith or a salesman? - Online Marketing Blog | Flow20","og_description":"First off, let\u2019s clarify what a copywriter actually is. It\u2019s an individual who writes promotional material. Could be a website, brochure, flyer or press advert \u2013 though it\u2019s not limited to just these types of collateral. Or put another way, it\u2019s someone who writes words that sell a product, service or idea. As much as […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/","og_site_name":"Online Marketing Blog | Flow20","article_published_time":"2017-05-26T15:10:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-10T09:59:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":5000,"height":5000,"url":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/wordsmith.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Shirish Agarwal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shirish Agarwal","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/","url":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/","name":"Is a copywriter a wordsmith or a salesman? - Online Marketing Blog | Flow20","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-05-26T15:10:57+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-10T09:59:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a715387bf0343ed68bf31b62ff452fda"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wordsmith-or-salesman\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is a copywriter a wordsmith or a salesman?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/","name":"Online Marketing Blog | Flow20","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a715387bf0343ed68bf31b62ff452fda","name":"Shirish Agarwal","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d12022e7e52e11078c25981a67d3bc76?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d12022e7e52e11078c25981a67d3bc76?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Shirish Agarwal"},"description":"Shirish Agarwal is the founder of Flow20 and looks after the PPC and SEO side of things. Shirish also regularly contributes to leading digital marketing publications such as Hubspot, SEMRush, Wordstream and Outbrain. Connect with him on LinkedIn.","url":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3405"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3405"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3913,"href":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3405\/revisions\/3913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flow20.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}