Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as an advertising copy writer and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.

An Advertising Copy Writer generates words, slogans, catch phrases, and messages for advertising campaigns by producing a written copy. He/she conceives, develops and creates advertising campaigns by writing text for web advertising and also scripts for TV commercials and radio jingles.

Various responsibilities include liaising with the art director to develop creative ideas; writing an original copy that is clear and persuasive; proofreading the text to check grammar and spelling; revising ad campaigns according to the feedback from the client; discussing the requirements of the clients, target audience and core messages with the account executives; familiarizing with the client's products, target audience and the activities of the competitors; monitoring if the advertising campaigns are effective; overseeing the ad campaign to completion as well as liaising with photographers, printers, designers and illustrators.

Core Skills Required to be an Advertising Copy Writer

Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.

Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.

An advertising copy writer should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.

Writing Skills:

Written Communication involves the interaction that makes use of the written word with precision and logic making it the very common form of business communication.

An Advertising Copy Writer must necessarily learn and stay updated on effective written communication skills that involve the construction of a logical argument, note taking, editing and summarizing as well as incorporating new ways of writing presentations.

Delegation:

Delegation is assigning responsibility or authority to another person a junior or subordinate to carry out specific activities while remaining accountable for the outcome.

An Advertising Copy Writer must be equipped with skills on how to make the delegation work correctly to save the organization time and money and to allow the subordinate make wise decisions, skills, and motivation to become better and grow the company.

Enthusiasm:

Enthusiasm is an intense enjoyment or a lively interest in a certain thing with a zest and a strong belief that can be felt by those around you.

An Advertising Copy Writer ought to be enthusiastic as well as create a friendly atmosphere that makes the staff comfortable with the surroundings, with the other employees to create a less passive working place.

Conceptual Thinking:

Conceptual Thinking is the ability to recognize a situation or problem by identifying patterns or connections while addressing the underlying issues.

An Advertising Copy Writer must be a conceptual thinker who has a keen understanding of why things have to be done the way they are; he has to think at an abstract level and apply his insights to the situation across all facets to compete in the diverse and growing economy.

Goal and Objective Setting:

Goal and Objective Setting is the strategic plan that is set and laid down identifying how goals should be accomplished, by who and by what time.

An Advertising Copy Writer must detect and schedule each employee's goals, strategy, and objectives and keep motivating them to ensure all of them are met within the set time bringing growth to both the company and the employee.

Organizational Skills:

Organizational Skills is the ability to make use of time, energy and resources available in the most efficient manner to achieve their goal.

An Advertising Copy Writer should organize the work for the employees to ensure overall organization, planning, time management, scheduling, coordinating resources and meeting deadlines is handled most efficiently by each employee for both personal and professional growth.

Project Management:

Project Management is structuring a to-do list for your project or company containing tasks and responsibilities as well as creating a roadmap for the execution of those duties promptly.

An Advertising Copy Writer must place emphasis on the application of the project management methodologies and principles by the staff in the daily functions and responsibilities to foster efficiently as well as create a competitive advantage in the heavily competitive business space.

Quality of Work:

The quality of Work is the value of work or products produced by the employees as well as the work environment they are provided with.

An Advertising Copy Writer needs creativity in assisting all teams in identifying characteristics that will result in a quality product and lead to greater efficiency and increased productivity by following the four critical outcomes of employee retention, customer satisfaction, profitability, and productivity.

Quantity of Work:

The quantity of Work is the amount of work accomplished by an employee against the expectations set by the employer.

An Advertising Copy Writer should be keen to monitor an employee's job performance by comparing it to the standard work measurements that are often given at various intervals while evaluating the production to tell when to refresh a worker's skills or address any behavioral factors.

Training others:

Training is the ability to expand the knowledge base by learning new truths that are useful in the workplace.

An Advertising Copy Writer needs to creatively schedule training for his employees in a focused manner that will allow the employee stay useful in the workplace and get new knowledge so that both the business and the worker not suffer from delays and work related stress.

Hard Skills Required to be an Advertising Copy Writer

Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.

Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.

An advertising copy writer should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.

Advertising Copy Writer: Hard skills list

Administrative
Analysis
Author Meetings
Blogging
Budgeting
Business Storytelling
Communications
Computers
Content Development
Content Management
Content Management Systems (CMS)
Content Review
Contracts
Copyright Laws
Copywriting
Copy Editing
Creative Writing
Desktop Publishing Software
Developmental Editing
Devise Structure
Digital Content Editing
Digital Media
Distribution
Drafting
Editing
Editorial
Electronic Design Specifications
Eliminating Jargon
Establishing Tone
Fact Checking
Feature Writing
Final Manuscript Production
Formatting
Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation
Grant Proposals (write grant proposals)
HTML
Identifying Audience
Identifying Theme
InDesign
Indexing
Interpersonal
Interviewing Techniques
Journalism
Journalist Ethics
Language
Layout Creation
Line-by-line Editing
Magazine Writing
Manuscript Creation
Marketing Communications
Marking Color Breaks
Marking Head Levels
Mark-Ups
Mechanics of Style
Media Writing
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Word or Word Processing
Mock-Ups
Newsletters
News Writing
Online Editing
Online Research
On-line Search Techniques
Page Layout and Composition Techniques
Pagination
Presentation Writing
Print Writing
Project Editing
Project Management
Proofreading
Proofreading symbols
Proposal Writing
Publishing formats and Technologies
Research
Report Writing
Revising
Rewriting
Rhetorical Triangle
Rough Manuscript Edits
Social Media
Social Media Marketing
Spelling
Story Development
Strong Vocabulary
Structure
Structural Editing
Style
Style Manuals
Stylistic Editing
Substantive Editing
Technical Writing
Terminology
Tone
Typesetting
Vandyke Checking
Verbal Communications
Vocabulary
Voice
Web Content Writing
Web Publishing
WordPress
Working Sketches
Written Communications
Writing
Writing & Procedures & Documentations

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