Discussion -- Is offering copywriting services saturated?

[NewYorkCity]

I want to keep this a discussion. I'm more interested in hearing your opinion on the matter then telling everyone what I think.

While there are very successful copywriters (I've met a few). it almost seems like there are almost too many people who call themselves "Copywriters".

It seemed to go to the point that selling "How to become a copywriter" got everyone at home with a laptop all fired up.

I tried to get a few gigs in college (year or two ago) and got a few decent ones, however, it seemed like everyone was offering the same thing and the barrier was WAY too low. (Here I think that you guys call it the "law of entry").

At the same time it seemed like there were a few making a killing (Probably a few percentage of them were truly making a killing).

Maybe a few here are making a killing doing pure copywriting. What's everyone take on this?

Edit: I'm going to quote this chapter from the book which I found to be extremely true, and IMO works very well for this case:

"If you violate the Commandment of Entry, be prepared to be exceptional. Exceptionality breaks the odds of entry. Unfortunately, exceptionality is a long shot, much like an above-average high school athlete going pro."

 

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[Andy Black]

I want to keep this a discussion. I'm more interested in hearing your opinion on the matter then telling everyone what I think.

While there are very successful copywriters (I've met a few). it almost seems like there are almost too many people who call themselves "Copywriters".

It seemed to go to the point that selling "How to become a copywriter" got everyone at home with a laptop all fired up.

I tried to get a few gigs in college (year or two ago) and got a few decent ones, however, it seemed like everyone was offering the same thing and the barrier was WAY too low. (Here I think that you guys call it the "law of entry").

At the same time it seemed like there were a few making a killing (Probably a few percentage of them were truly making a killing).

Maybe a few here are making a killing doing pure copywriting. What's everyone take on this?

Edit: I'm going to quote this chapter from the book which I found to be extremely true, and IMO works very well for this case:

"If you violate the Commandment of Entry, be prepared to be exceptional. Exceptionality breaks the odds of entry. Unfortunately, exceptionality is a long shot, much like an above-average high school athlete going pro."

Yes, there's probably too many "copywriters".


There's also probably not enough people who:

• Help electricians write their website copy.
• Help business owners write their About Us page.
• Help software engineers write their LinkedIn profile.
• Help AdWords consultants write white papers to use as lead magnets.
• Help business coaches write their auto responder series.
• Help people in XYZ location with their copywriting.
• ...

Friendly tip... people (especially parents) often have an instant negative reaction to any phrase that starts with "I want".

What would happen if you started sentences with "l'd love to" or "Just wondering" ?

 

[thinkandgrowrich]

Learn to write copy for a lowkey "unsexy" industry most stay away from. Funny thing is, there's a lot of money to be made in those "unsexy" industries.

And everything, as far as I know, is pretty much saturated.

You gotta learn to be the best in your field no matter what it is, plain and simple. If you're not looking to become the best then just get a job and call it a day.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Can anyone check @NewYorkCity is or isn't our old friend Cyriex? @MJ DeMarco @Andy Black @Vigilante @AllenCrawley



GOLD - How to Make $1,000 a Week with no Degree, no Feedback, & no Portfolio.

Marketplace - SinisterLex's - Executive Contract Copywriter - Final FF Mentorship Offer

Rant - Why copywriting is a bunch of Bull$h^t and you shouldn't learn it...

Rant - Why copywriting is a bunch of Bull$h^t and you shouldn't learn it...

Rant - Why copywriting is a bunch of Bull$h^t and you shouldn't learn it...

 

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[Lex DeVille]

I want to keep this a discussion. I'm more interested in hearing your opinion on the matter then telling everyone what I think.

While there are very successful copywriters (I've met a few). it almost seems like there are almost too many people who call themselves "Copywriters".

It seemed to go to the point that selling "How to become a copywriter" got everyone at home with a laptop all fired up.

I tried to get a few gigs in college (year or two ago) and got a few decent ones, however, it seemed like everyone was offering the same thing and the barrier was WAY too low. (Here I think that you guys call it the "law of entry").

At the same time it seemed like there were a few making a killing (Probably a few percentage of them were truly making a killing).

Maybe a few here are making a killing doing pure copywriting. What's everyone take on this?

Edit: I'm going to quote this chapter from the book which I found to be extremely true, and IMO works very well for this case:

"If you violate the Commandment of Entry, be prepared to be exceptional. Exceptionality breaks the odds of entry. Unfortunately, exceptionality is a long shot, much like an above-average high school athlete going pro."

I'm not sure how anyone could think the barrier to entry is low. Just because someone adds "copywriter" to their profile doesn't make it anymore true than if they added "nuclear physicist." Those who need a nuclear physicist won't hire someone who can't prove they know their sh*t.

Copywriting has a high barrier to entry for exactly the reasons you described. Too many people say they're a copywriter but don't know jack about copywriting or grammar or telling stories. Without at least grasping the fundamentals of human psychology and creative writing, no copywriting course on the planet lowers the barrier.

For the sake of discussion, let's say there are a LOT of good copywriters (that's who you compete with when you enter the industry and stick with it for a couple months). By good I mean people who understand the fundamentals and can apply them at a competent level. Good copywriters don't compete with bottom feeders just joining the trade because it's much easier for them to prove what they can do. This is the first big barrier of entry.

But there are plenty of good copywriters...and in general, the freelance market is crowded. Upwork and others are experiencing a flood of copywriters due to threads like mine and other "fast cash" courses out there that cater to the masses. So if you're on those platforms, you end up competing with those people.

But high earning copywriters don't compete with "good" copywriters. Instead they carve out a niche within the industry. They aren't looking to pick up every general gig that comes their way. They only care about working with specific clients because that's what makes them an expert and it's why they can charge more and get paid for it.

Saturation by "copywriters" is a barrier to entry. The more copywriters there are, the harder it becomes to move from newbie to good and from good to great. But if you're willing to learn the trade, and only serve clients in an industry you can help, then there's plenty of opportunity whether you write copy online or offline.

Consider this...

New businesses open every day all over the planet. There are way more businesses than copywriters. Most offline businesses don't even know they need a copywriter. Good copywriters can find work anytime anywhere. If they can't, then it just means they're not that good (yet) and they need more practice.

Great copywriters don't have competition. They own the market.

So a better question than, "is offering copywriting services saturated," might be...

Who do you serve and why should they choose you over the next guy?

What makes you different?

Why are you better?

How do you help?

 

[Chazmania]

You gotta learn to be the best in your field no matter what it is, plain and simple. If you're not looking to become the best then just get a job and call it a day.

Couldn't agree more on that. When you filter it all down, the essence of what we're all doing is competing in markets - especially if it involves making millions from home. Who wouldn't want that? The competition is fierce.

Looking to crack the million dollar net worth? That means you're looking to enter a pretty small percent of the population. Kind of like looking to be a pro athlete, pro musician or physique competitor.

'Average' won't cut it.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I want to keep this a discussion.

Why wasn't your other account worthy of this discussion? Which one would you like deleted?

 

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[NewYorkCity]

Why wasn't your other account worthy of this discussion? Which one would you like deleted?

The other one.

This one has a 2011 join date

 

[Andy Black]

Beware trying to be the best technically at whatever you do.

There are people with less technical skills than me, who are light years ahead of me financially.

Once you're good enough technically, then commercial skills matter more than technical skills (if you're trying to make money from your skills).

Read threads by @SinisterLex and @Fox and you'll see there's more to making money than technical skills.

Learn a skill. Sell that skill. Scale that skill.

 

[Brian C.]

While there are very successful copywriters (I've met a few). it almost seems like there are almost too many people who call themselves "Copywriters".

Same could be said of the title of "entrepreneur."

I've come to abhor the idea of "over-saturation" in markets. I think it's one of the best excuses to not take action - ever.

The world is over-saturated with mediocrity. Industries are over-saturated with mediocrity. Copywriting is over-saturated with mediocre copywriters.

Great copywriters don't have competition. They own the market.

Become good - and I mean really good at copywriting for a specific niche, and market saturation becomes irrelevant.

 

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[Fox]

Don't look at it from the copywriters side, look at the need on the client side.
Is there current products or services that are not getting the results they need because they aren't using amazing copy? Yes.
So copy is still very much in demand and always will be.

It might be saturated at the lower levels for people who want/offer 1000 words for $10 but the real jobs and opportunity are very much still open.

If you are great at what you do you will always be in demand and there is no shortage of money. If you were planning on only being another generic ("I wrote copy letters for a week and read 2 books") copy guy then ya it is probably not going to go so well.

Going on upwork (or similar) and trying to gauge if a market has potential is sure to make it seem like its tapped out. The best guys find their own work and get a lot of referrals. They know how to avoid the saturated low-bidding-fests that are freelance sites and go right to the source.

Copy = sales. If you can't find your own work and sell yourself you probably can't do it for other people either.

 

[Fox]

I watched a quick YouTube video recently on "does CGI suck?" - the conclusion was that CGI is actually really amazing but you only notice it when it is done wrong.
Great CGI goes unnoticed and therefore you don't even realize you seen it.

Same with services like copy and web design.
You go to upwork and presume all jobs are terrible pay with 100 people trying to outbid you. You don't see the guy who does only 20 jobs a year at 6-30k each and works out of sight. You don't notice his work because when you use that site or product it just feels right so it doesn't even register. Meanwhile he is working away, finding his own work and building his own network. Great copy (and other services) are all around you all day but you never notice. There is so much work but the people who need this type of work done are usually able to approach directly or get approached directly.

For those looking in it seems saturated but it is far from it.

 

[ApparentHorizon]

You could look at it this way:

(This goes for any field)

There's so much knowledge shared, like in the insane amount of content @SinisterLex puts out. Hell, just reading his marketplace threads can teach you something.

So many profiles to study. (I think I skimmed over 311 profiles yesterday on UpWork)

Just so many data points freely available...and you know 88% of them are mediocre at best.

You just have to put in that extra hour of work no one else will.

What's that famous quote? ... "Do what others wont, so you can live like others can't"

There's also probably not enough people who:

• Help electricians write their website copy.
• Help business owners write their About Us page.
• Help software engineers write their LinkedIn profile.
• Help AdWords consultants write white papers to use as lead magnets.
• Help business coaches write their auto responder series.
• Help people in XYZ location with their copywriting.
• ...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B1I9puxrTc


This mentality is underappreciated. (I must have watched that video 21.5 times.)

You think if you niche down, you won't make the big bucks 2-3 years down the line b/c your community is so small.

However, if you go into a space where no one else is competing with you, you have a chance to build out your portfolio.

Once you exhaust your market (if that's possible), you can branch out into other areas, and people will still hire you with a generic "Copywriter" title.

 

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[Choate]

I used to sell auto and home insurance to leads over the phone that my company bought for a dime a dozen... literally... the problem is, 8 other insurance companies also bought the lead. The customer just filled out something online to a lead gen, who sold us all the information which the lead gave permission for telemarketing.

Well guess what, I am a no name joe from a company most of these people haven't heard of, from the other side of the country. The only thing I have in relation to them is that I have my insurance license in their state which means I can legally offer and solicit them P&C insurance.

That is the pure essence of competing in a saturated market. Customers tellin' ya, "what's your story, I just talked to 3 other insurance agents and none of them could save me money, I don't even want to talk to you. hurry it up".

But guess what. I still sold some of these anyways. The customer that hated me most in the first minute was the one I ended up selling to. Meanwhile the pleasant, kind, old lady who heard me out, hell I could beat her price but she would still burn me just for the quote so she knew State Farm was still somewhat competitive.

In insurance, people need auto insurance constantly... their policy expires, they add a relative to their policy, they married, new vehicle, their company uprated them for no reason, or they feel their company uprated them too much.

Copywriting is no different. People could have outdated copy, copy that just isn't effective, no copy at all, or they have new products, a new website design, changed their funnel, etc.

Me, being the licensed insurance agent, I was the "expert", the one who discovered the problems for the customers and lead them into the direction they needed to take to get on the right policy, sometimes that involved saving money, other times they might not have been adequately covered, etc.

You are the expert in copyrighting, which means you not only have to write good copy (like I had to write a good clean insurance policy with great attention to detail), but you need to uncover your client's problems, get them thinking about their problems, visualize them, and advise them why it's not ideal for them to stay in the situation they are in. Only then you can offer your solution.

So for anyone who thinks copywriting is too crowded, or whatever market is too crowded... you're not positioning yourself as the expert by discovering your client's problems for them and offering a solution. Investigate, ask questions, and get to know them - and learn when to walk away because you legitimately can't offer value and you'll save both you and your client's time which they will respect you more for and perhaps even offer a referral.

 

[MoreVolume]

The past 3 weeks I spent time realizing that most of these online copywriting services are trash. Supreme trash
Most of them are headed by people who speak English as a 2nd language. Most of the quality is trash, and it is obvious that they rush through their work due to the high volume or orders. I have yet to find a copywriter that actually gave me what I want. I had to accept the fact that I was going paying for a guide. They are good at coming from angles that you wouldn't be able to in terms of creative writing, but you have to trim things up before make things public. Thats the price you pay for saving money...hah

 

[jsk29]

The dating market is saturated. Too many dudes out there!

 

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