Copywriting as a career.

“It’s fairly limiting.” That’s the answer, pretty much, to most who ask me what copywriting is like as a career. That’s because copywriting is not so much a career as it is a function of my primary activity — content management. Do a search for ‘copywriting agency Singapore’ and you’ll likely find Quantico’s name cropping up. What Quantico is, is a content company. Copywriting — like copyediting, content strategy, and communications training — is a function of our product, but not the only instrument in the orchestra, and certainly not the whole orchestra.

So if you’re considering copywriting as a career, pause for a bit. Think instead of copywriting as an essential skill to help you become better at (insert job title here). Here’s another way to think of copywriting. A Content Manager is to a Programmer, as Copywriting is to Java. Certainly we have Java Programmers but as is the case for most professional programmers, Java will likely be a specialty skill within a range of expertise like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python or PHP. So why does Quantico also refer to itself as a ‘copywriting agency’ or ‘copywriter Singapore’?

Because that’s what our audience feels comfortable with when beginning a conversation with us. To us copywriting is a highly niche and technical term, but not so to our publics. But stay with us over the course of a project and very quickly our clients understand what Quantico is — a content company. Copywriting is a term of familiarity that gets us on the same footing with our audiences, before we invite them into our world, and the much larger sphere of written communications. So if you’re considering a career in copywriting, think broader.

Are you specializing in just one function or will your expertise extend to the other equally important (but less sexy-sounding) communications functions? Consider your title carefully. You’re going to have to wear it proudly for many years. And that’s great so long as it doesn’t limit you to basic, easily replaceable functions.