Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as a marketing copywriter and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.

A Marketing Copywriter has the main role of preparing a persuasive, engaging and creative copy for use in media outlets such as radio, print, or television to urge readers to purchase a product or service. He/she discusses the marketing plan with the client and the medium the client intends to use to present the product.

Other duties include liaising with multimedia professional to determine the sound and visuals to use with the copy, liaising with art director to determine the style and the length of the ad copy, editing the copy to ensure it meets the needs of the client, keeping in touch with the client as well as doing internet research.

Core Skills Required to be a Marketing Copywriter

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.

A marketing copywriter should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.

Verbal Communication:

Verbal Communication is the use of tones and language to relay a message; it aids as a vehicle for expressing ideas, concepts and it, is critical to the daily running of the business.

A Marketing Copywriter portrays his/her image and that of the company by the way he/she communicates; strong verbal communication skills are vital for business development and forging lasting relationships with customers, suppliers, and colleagues.

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.

A Marketing Copywriter 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.

Accuracy:

Accuracy refers to the closeness of a measured value to a known value or standard that is passed by the governing laws.

A Marketing Copywriter has to always be accurate with figures and data used and required in the office without any guesswork or estimations to facilitate precise and correct information in every department creating an authentic environment that will be respected by the workers.

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.

A Marketing Copywriter 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.

Planning and Scheduling:

Planning and Scheduling are the act of establishing a plan for a set of tasks that needs to be completed and including when they should be done.

A Marketing Copywriter needs creativity in balancing both planning and scheduling by clearing defining what and how activities will be carried out by when and who in particular to ensure there are a clear flow and accountability to every staff.

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.

A Marketing Copywriter 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.

Self Confidence:

Self Confidence is the ability to know who you are and what you are capable of doing which shows in your behavior, your body language, how you speak, etc.

A Marketing Copywriter must be confident enough to inspire confidence in others while encouraging them to handle daily tasks and their personal lives with self-confidence that will, in turn, produce a well-rounded individual.

Conceptual Thinking:

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

A Marketing Copywriter 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.

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.

A Marketing Copywriter 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.

Analytical Skills:

Analytical Skills is the ability to collect and analyze information, solve problems and make decisions according to the policies and regulations of the business.

A Marketing Copywriter should hire employees who use clear, logical steps and excellent judgment to understand an issue from all angles before executing an action depending on the objective and the methodical approaches to benefit a company's productivity.

Hard Skills Required to be a Marketing Copywriter

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.

A marketing copywriter should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.

Marketing Copywriter: 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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