It’s always fun to celebrate today’s successes. As important as that is, like all business owners, freelance copywriters must have an eye on the future as well. Will your business model be viable in five, ten, twenty years?
Clearly, none of us has a crystal ball that can tell us for sure. We do, though, have access to masses of information about growing trends, and we can use that to make some educated guesses about what’s ahead. These are my top predictions for the future of copywriting and the best ways to modify your business model so you keep thriving.
Genuine Human Content
There’s been a lot of talk about artificial intelligence lately, including its increasing ability to generate content and conversation. That’s spurred the question, are we heading into a war between copywriters and content generators?
It’s not likely. While AI improves, search engines are also getting better at discerning between intuitive, well-written human content and awkward-sounding content their users won’t enjoy. There’s no replacement for human emotion and our ability to relate to readers, so rest assured that your copywriting career is probably safe.
Still, that means it will be more important than ever that copywriters write in conversational, authentic ways rather than an overly clinical or dry way. Sure, every client has their own brand voice. For those who lean toward overly rigid writing, though, tell them why they’ll have the edge over AI if they take on a more “human” voice.
Adapting Writing for Changing Technology
Today already, we have ways of consuming content that never existed before, from mobile phones to smartwatches. Copywriting has already adapted to fit those new technologies. For example, it’s good practice to incorporate questions into your content so it’s better optimized for voice assistants like Siri and Alexa.
As new forms of technology appear, we’ll need to adopt new practices and types of copywriting for them too. My advice? Keep an eye on the tech world’s trends and when new innovations arise, research how to modify your writing for them.
Quality + Quantity
The question we ask with everything from clothes to food: is quality or quantity more important? With copywriting, the answer is “both.”
Today, 77% of companies have a content marketing strategy. That’s a lot of competition for each content piece you publish.
There’s no magic trick for topping those competitors. It comes down to great writers producing terrific, search-optimized, valuable content and tons of it.
More Targeted Content
It’s no secret that big data is getting bigger. Businesses have more ways than ever to gain information about their consumers’ buying, web browsing, and content consumption habits.
What does that mean for content marketing? Each content piece should already be catered to specific audiences based on the company’s goals. Increasingly, though, we’ll have more information at our fingertips about that audience.
We’ll know their favorite sites, their favorite products, and probably much more. Your content will become more personalized as a result, with more detailed data to guide you.
Increased Digital Collaboration (and Freelancing)
COVID-19 has changed all our lives in some ways, and as devastating as this pandemic has been, it’s also had a silver lining: more digitization in workplaces. Businesses who hesitated to hire remote workers and freelancers were forced into giving it a try. Now that they have, they’ve seen the benefits so they’re more likely to lean into digitization in the future.
Because of this, freelancers can expect more business in the future (yay!) but we can also expect clients to want more digital collaboration with their team too (not so yay). Before any project, find out how much collaboration will be needed and work that time into your invoicing accordingly.
Added Bonuses for Complementary Skills
This trend is growing already but I expect it to continue into the future. As wonderful as copywriting is, companies want contractors who can multitask. It’s becoming more beneficial for copywriters to have a wider set of skills that complement their writing.
For example, learn WordPress so you can publish each blog post yourself. Get social media marketing experience so you can write and create social media posts. Learn SEO basics so you can optimize content.
Future-Proofing Your Copywriting Business
Copywriting is a beneficial part of any client’s marketing strategy, but it’s important we never take it for granted. Always take steps to future-proof your copywriting, starting with the tips above.
