A lot of writers assume a writing job and a decent salary are mutually exclusive, But, that doesn't have to be the case. In this blog post, Tasneem shares what it's like to work as a copywriter at a digital marketing consultancy.
I never saw myself working at a digital marketing consultancy. But right now, that’s exactly where I am.
On my more existential days, I reflect on how I ended up copywriting at Huble Digital - a consultancy that specialises in transforming businesses with Inbound Marketing and HubSpot. More so, I reflect on why I’m so happy I took the jump to work at Huble Digital.
“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” — Stephen King
I used to think that a writing job and a decent salary were mutually exclusive — until I started at a marketing consultancy. Writing business blog posts might not sound as glamorous as writing novels, or for magazines like the New Yorker, but it’s amazing how creative you still get to be when writing a blog post that extols the virtues of mobile payments solutions. It’s also motivating to know that what you write has a demonstrable, positive impact on your client’s growth, as well as being entertaining and informative.
Career paths can surprise us but this is one I’ll always be happy I landed on. So, what’s it like to be a copywriter at a digital marketing consultancy?
It’s fun
Admittedly, digital copywriting can sometimes have you torturing yourself for hours - when everything you put on the page sounds garbage or every keystroke feels like dragging your nails across a chalkboard.
But when the ideas are there and the words are willing, there’s no better feeling in the world. Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t just apply to creative writing — it can be applied to writing blog posts, articles, and paid media too - assets we get the pleasure of working across at Huble Digital.
Chuck in a few strategic brainstorming sessions with a whole mixture of clients, the ongoing challenge of weaving in keywords, CTAs and product links into your copy, and this whole ‘working at a digital marketing consultancy’ thing isn’t half bad.
If you get bored easily like me and enjoy having a huge range of both topics and content assets to work with, then a digital marketing consultancy - who work with a portfolio of different global clients - should satisfy those needs, while also giving you the chance to hone and challenge your writing skills.
It’s an ongoing (free) education
Ever wondered how vacuum technology works? How about financial stress testing, data governance or purchase-to-pay automation?
Well, expect to become an expert in all things tech and digital because marketing is an ever-changing industry, so there’s always something new to learn. Writing for a portfolio of clients on a global scale is a crash-course education in many different industries (the plus side is everyone always wants you on their team for pub quizzes!).
Bottom line: If you want to produce great pieces of content for clients: research deeply, become an expert, then write about it.
You hone your writing skills
Writing as yourself and writing as your client are two very different things. You’ve got to put yourself in the mind of your client and write according to a brief which outlines who you’re targeting, how the reader should feel after reading the blog post, as well as the overall strategic intent of the blog post.
On top of that, you’ve got to write according to a certain style that‘s influenced by your client’s brand. As a writer at a consultancy, you don’t only have one client; you’re constantly switching between different clients and different styles and tones. Another challenge, albeit a fun one, is making blog post topics that might be considered dry and boring sound engaging. It can be tough, but it takes your creativity to its limits in a fantastic way.
Part of the job here as a copywriter is also proofreading your colleagues' work. You learn a lot about grammar and style from proofing the work of others and learning from your own mistakes. Writing blog posts (which are generally limited to between 500–800 words per article) forces you to be concise - the attention span of internet users is diminishing so you can’t afford to waffle.
Additionally, because an average weekly output for a writer is about eight blog posts, you get much better at writing quickly (without compromising quality) and staying focused. Though, of course, some weeks you’re more focused on longer-form content like pillar pages or eBooks, or working with the strat team to develop content marketing strategies. It’s deliciously varied!
You go beyond your job title
The great thing about Huble Digital is how much freedom all of us have to make changes within the company — we’re not limited to our job roles and their job descriptions
As well as writing, writers at a digital agency like Huble Digital are involved in creating content calendars and creative concepts for clients. Content calendars are strategic plans of the content that’ll be created and posted over the course of the next few months (generally a business quarter). Working on these improves your ability to come up with fresh ideas on the spot. If I have an idea for a new form of content we can offer clients and I take it to our head of content, he just says, “Do it!”. It creates such a great culture of innovation across the company and keeps us all inspired.
Writing on behalf of clients also teaches you how to be humble about your own work — when you’re effectively a ghostwriter, you’ve got to put your ego to the side.
The culture is energising
“Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.” – Simon Sinek, author, Start with Why
Have you ever worked at a digital marketing consultancy that’s more disheartening than inspiring? If you have, then you’ll know how soul-crushing it can be.
Luckily, this is not the case at Huble Digital.
Our team members are highly motivated, experts at what they do, and driven to transform businesses using the latest, best-in-class technology. We’re all about celebrating each other’s good work, even if it’s something small like getting great feedback from a client.
For me, working with a team of people I genuinely like and respect makes ‘work’ feel less like actual ‘work’. Now, if only this damn pandemic would pass so that we can collaborate in person again!
Huble Digital is a HubSpot Elite Solutions Partner with HubSpot’s Advanced Implementation Certification. We’ve assisted hundreds of users with HubSpot consultancy, CRM deployment, CMS web development, application development and integration. If you’re interested in learning more about us, click here to chat with a consultant.
