Meaningful content that has breadth, depth, and ease of relatability is the key to building an outstanding reputation across platforms for brands and individuals. While the author strives to engage audiences for different businesses through distinctive expressions of ideas, some emerging trends listed here lend themselves to further critique and analysis.
Separating the needle from the stack
There are far too many misconceptions surrounding the selection of the right candidate for all the different writing profiles that are growing in demand by the day. Either a candidate is inexperienced, a fresher, or highly experienced. But how is one to judge that? This is where many recruiters may fail to assess correctly. Would a good old interview suffice or should it be a detailed motivational assessment or an exhaustive copy test, or better still a combination of all three?
In most cases, a writer who is able to churn out a compelling copy or draft a mind-blowing emailer may not be as articulate with the spoken word as those verbose types of outspoken individuals on the marketing team. After all, don't we come across people who may go on rambling on about virtues of writing but have yet to themselves pen anything significantly?
How hygienic should you be?
It's sort of becoming a practice to screen out potential candidates by conducting a 'hygiene' telephonic interview. This is certainly a safe approach to weed out candidates with "undesirable" or "unwanted" traits right in the 'top-of-the-funnel' stage. But there is a big drawback to this one too. It might do more harm than good if the interviewer is looking for textbookish answers. Good writing, we understand, is a fine blend of craft and art, and many recruiters, unless they are good writers themselves, may miss the point completely.
In the wake of the creator gig economy and the 'Great Resignation' era, this phenomenon is costing organizations in the long run. Especially now, when after the 'back-to-office' work day is being reinstituted across industries with some caution. However, its newly emerged opponent of 'work-from-home' has proved a strong contender and a tool for experienced freelancers more than ever before. Writers good at their craft are seen to be more in demand than before and talent acquisition teams are flummoxed as to how to determine their true worth.
Can online motivational tests be a good filter?
Writers without exception are a mixed bag of a range of complex emotions. Always thriving on feedback and appreciation. Applying rigid mind-mapping tests may not give a clear picture after all. Having said that, there's absolutely no alternative to a good portfolio any day and some cool work experience. It has been observed that some control freaks end up standing behind writers scrutinizing every letter being written and meddling with the creative process. This interesting behavior demands different analyses.
Are we ready for a phenomenon yet?
But there's more to copywriting experience in today's context. In a few of the author's recent interactions with agencies from the US and Philippines, as well as trends gleaned from the inbox, email copywriting is likely going to be the next big thing very soon. Email copywriting is still in its early stages here since there are by default very few takers. It's our societal conditioning.
As is our collective experience, reading beyond the image copy of an Insta post or a tweet, or single lines of what's app text is what the majority of the minuscule English-educated population wouldn't prefer to venture out at the moment. What with the reduced number of copies of the good old print, the absence of a reading culture structure may not be conducive to such marketing tactics at the moment. It's perceived as a 'waste of time by the super busy on-the-move workforce and the 'come-to-the-point' by the remaining' who are not the TG.
But, our market is just ripe for the extreme long-form of such persuasive communication and its myriad derivatives. A video sales letter is one such form, wherein the audience is not required to take on much of the effort. The onus lies on the presenter and the copywriter. The techniques are a part of the funnel-building process and the results are as encouraging as its original sibling-the humble emailer touted as the number one direct marketing tool. Again, most of the work in the audio-visual space here is created with a view to targeting Instagram and Facebook users and hence is of shorter duration.
Are we trained enough to read and write?
While there are few takers of long-form writing, the number is steadily rising. Brand-conscious individuals and entities should start preparing the ground sooner to avoid being a target for identity theft. Putting to practice the tested and proven formulae to engage your audience, the author yearns to craft your unique story with a visceral meaning.