8 Most In-Demand Kinds of Copywriting
Today we’re going to talk about the different kinds of copywriting you can specialize in as a freelance copywriter.
But first, what is copywriting?
At a high-level, copywriting is any words that businesses use to sell their products or services. Many businesses have dedicated copywriters on their marketing teams that write their copy and content. Even businesses that have in-house copywriters will hire freelancers for certain projects.
And you could be one of those freelancers!
Keep reading to learn the different kinds of copywriting you can offer as a freelancer.
Niche vs. Service
If you’re a freelance beginner, I recommend that you choose one service and one niche when you’re just starting out.
Your niche is a money-making industry that you work in. Examples of niches are beauty, fashion, automotive, travel, etc. For more information on freelance niches, watch this video.
Today we’re talking about the kinds of copywriting that you’re going to do for your service. I recommend getting really good at one type of copywriting and then you can start adding other types of copywriting to your services.
Got it? Let’s get to the eight popular and in-demand types of copywriting, plus books to help you jumpstart your learning.
8 Popular Types of Copywriting
1. Email Copywriting
Have you signed up for a business’s email list at some point in your life?
If you’ve ever had emails like, “We’re having a 60% off sale!” or “Try our new item!” in your inbox, then you know email copywriting. An email copywriter writes the words in those emails. They typically come up with the ideas of the emails and give creative direction on design for the emails, too.
The exciting thing about email copywriting is that businesses always need emails! Emails aren’t going anywhere, and email copywriters will always be in-demand.
There are two major types of emails: promotional (sales, new products, new blog posts, etc.) and transactional emails.
Transactional emails are automatic emails from the business that are sent to customers based on certain parameters. If you’ve ever left something in your online cart and then received an email about it later, that’s a transactional email. Other transactional emails include emails when your item has shipped, a confirmation email after purchasing something.
Drip campaigns and email funnels are a series of automated emails that customers receive when they sign up for an email list. The purpose of email funnels is to welcome new customers into the brand and teach them about it, with the hope that they’ll eventually purchase from the business.
If you want to learn more about email copywriting, check out How to Write Emails That Sell by Matt Bacak.
2. Branding Copywriting
If you’re a person who believes you have really good taste, then you’ll enjoy branding copywriting!
This is one of the types of copywriting that I do, and I love it because it gives me a chance to be creative, do research, and have a big impact on a business. As a branding copywriter, you come up with the voice a brand is going to use on their website, advertising, social media, etc.
Essentially, you’re responsible for coming up with the language that the business is going to use to talk to their customers. Your job is to figure out the best way to talk to a business’s target customer.
Branding copywriting is an advanced form of copywriting, but it can be very lucrative.
If you want to learn more about branding copywriting, check out Brand Identity Breakthrough by Gregory V. Diehl.
3. Website Copywriting
A lot of time when a client hires me to do their branding, I also do their website copy for them. They’re a brand new business and they don’t have a website yet, so they need someone to create their brand voice and create the content for the website.
Website copy is basically any words that you see on a business’s website. The home page, the about me page, the contact page, the product descriptions – that is all website copy written by copywriter.
As a website copywriter, you are writing content that is going to get the website ranked on google while also sticking to the brand voice and guidelines AND convincing customers to purchase from the brand.
If you want to learn more about website copywriting, check out Web Copy That Sells by Maria Veloso.
4. Direct response or sales copywriting
Direct response copywriting is a specific type of copywriting that focuses on sales.
Conversions are sales generated from a page, so people who write sales pages are sometimes called conversion copywriters. If you enjoy psychology, you’ll enjoy this type of copywriting.
As a direct response copywriter, you use a lot of psychological tricks to get people to click “purchase.” Direct response copywriting is also measurable, so your clients can see how effective your copywriting is because they can see how many clicks and sales your copy is generating.
The good news? This type of copywriting can be highly lucrative. Some copywriters even charge based on a percentage of sales their copy generates.
I usually charge a flat fee for copywriting projects, but with direct response copywriting you can charge a percentage of the sales that are generated through your copywriting. For example, I could charge $1,000 for a sales page that generates $100,000 for the client.
But what if I charged 10% of the revenue instead? Then I’d make $10,000 instead of $1,000!
If you’re confident in your sales copywriting skills, you can make A LOT more money working this way.
If you want to learn more about direct response or sales copywriting, check out Copy Logic by Mike Palmer and Michael Masterson.
5. Blog posts
No, blogs aren’t dead! Businesses love blog posts because they bring organic search traffic to their website.
When someone Googles a problem or question, businesses want to come up at the top of the search engine results and have that person click on their blog post, get their question answered, and then buy the business’s product or service.
The thing about blog posts is that businesses need a ton of them in order to get search traffic from Google. And if a business starts a blog, then they have to be consistent with it so that customers trust their credibility.
This type of copywriting is usually outsourced the most because blog posts are time-consuming and marketing teams are always busy.
If you want to learn more about blog posts, check out Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi.
6. Automated message copywriting
Automated message copywriting is a new type of copywriting that’s writing scripts for chatbots like the ones you see on Facebook Messenger.
This is a new field, so there’s not a ton of information out there about it. But that also means that there’s not a lot of copywriters specializing in this!
If you want to learn more about automated message copywriting, check out Message Me by Joshua March.
7. Paid ads copywriting
Paid ads copywriting is ads you see on the Internet and social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.). As a paid ads copywriter, you’re generating leads for businesses.
Companies always need dozens if not hundreds of versions of ads for testing, plus they need new ads to replace the old ads that aren’t performing anymore.
So this can be a lucrative field for freelancers!
8. Social Media Copywriting
Chances are, you’re probably familiar with social media copywriting. Social media copywriting is any words on a business’s social media that isn’t an ad – think Instagram captions, TikTok scripts, etc.
If you want to learn more about social media copywriting, check out Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath.
What’s Next
OK, buddy! I hope that helps.
If any of these types of copywriting sounds interesting to you, pick up one of the books mentioned above!
From there, you can start practicing and growing your skills.
Of course, the best way to learn is by doing. So don’t be afraid to start making a portfolio. Start by pretending to work for clients that you want to work with. Create paid ads for them or create a sales page for them.
Then you can use this portfolio of sample pieces to win actual clients and make money.
If you want more help with getting started check out my How to Start Freelance Writing in 3 Simple Steps Masterclass. You’ll learn my proven 3-step method for getting your freelance business off the ground and earning money as a freelance writer – no experience required.