3 unusual techniques to revive your copywriting

When you’re paid to write there’s one thing you don’t want to happen: running out of words.

It happened to me shortly after I began as a freelance copywriter. The problem wasn’t my depleted vocabulary, but that I’d forgotten who my audience was.

As a copywriter, you might peddle designer shirts in the morning and pest-control in the afternoon. But unless you’re a natural-born salesperson (few writers are), flitting from one job to another means you could write something totally wrong for your audience. Or just plain bad.

That’s why I’m sharing three sources of inspiration for you to home in on—and hook—your target reader.

1. Home-shopping channels

I once wrote landing pages for several collections of a large online fashion retailer. I noticed I was repeating the same old words, most of them adjectives like chic, classic, timeless, beautiful. I got so exasperated by my lack of originality that I gave up and turned on the TV!

I just happened to land on a home-shopping channel. As I watched the presenters sell sandals for 60 straight minutes, I realized how much I had to learn about the art of the hard sell.