Why did you choose a career in copywriting, and how did you get into it?

Like every human on this earth, I was once a young person. And, as a young person, I picked up words easily – these were foreign words, interesting words, incorrect words (from my foreign parents), rhyming words, fun words. I loved reading, I loved language and I loved languages.

What came between these early years and graduating from my bachelor’s degree in German, French and Italian was a difficult period of getting to grips with grammar in four languages and figuring out how to survive early adulthood unscathed. I emerged very much scathed, but I learned a lot and now owe Student Finance a lot.

I moved to Hamburg, Germany, at 22 years old to become a translator and editor at a small agency. Words were still my life but added to the mix were consistency, clarity, corporate language and extensive Denglisch (German feat. English).

Since then, I’ve transitioned from translating content to writing content for a range of sectors – from travel and healthcare to technology. I’ve been working as an in-house copywriter/content and SEO specialist for around five years and have sporadically picked up extracurricular copywriting projects along the way to help businesses here in Hamburg win new English-speaking customers.

What work are you most proud of?

The job market is hard and hiring is hard, so writing the right copy to bring in the right talent is non-negotiable. And when you get it right, it’s rewarding.

When I first started writing for adjoe, a growing B2B SaaS (software-as-a-service) company in Hamburg in 2022, I researched and wrote the copy for multiple new company pages. These pages showcase company culture and perks, as well as its international and extremely driven workforce. We hoped this content overhaul would drive more qualified job applications and grow our teams.

Website visitors engaged very little with the old company pages. But after implementing the new fun pages with my new fun copy in early 2023, we saw a 167-per-cent traffic increase and 201-per-cent increase in engaged sessions. 

And the company grew. Headcount grew from below 50 people when I started the project to over 100 people after the pages went live. I can’t take all the credit for this, but I can celebrate the visible increase in website-driven job applications after these page revamps.

What piece of copy do you wish you’d written? 

I think you would be lying if you said you were indifferent to Innocent Drinks’ copy. The brand’s playful illustrations and tongue-in-cheek humour have always been iconic. I spent more time as a kid enjoying the puns on my carton than enjoying the smoothie itself. That level of engagement is what writing should always be about.

But certain fintech brands are now delivering brilliant conversational copy. More banks, such as Wise and Revolut, have ditched ugly banking jargon and pivoted towards people-first product storytelling. You need only compare the German neobank N26’s copy and app’s UX with the other boring and overly corporate banks here in Germany to understand how much the narrative is pivoting towards building connections with consumers and their lifestyles, rather than their assets.

I know what you’re thinking: Banking is not an obvious choice of sector to look to for inspiration when it comes to fun and accessible copy, but spying on these brands has been a pleasure of mine these last few months.

What do you do if you hit a bit of writer’s block?

Sometimes writer’s block lasts days – sometimes just afternoons.

If I don’t think a change of scenery is necessary, I’ll work on the structure of an article rather than its content. I’ll make it crisp; I’ll brief the visuals; I’ll figure out how to tell the bigger-picture story rather than focus on the words I use to tell the story.

But if I need time and a change of scenery, I’ll go for a walk, go to the gym, go for a run, listen to an irrelevant podcast, talk to another human. If I have the luxury of more time, I’ll come back to my text after 24 hours.

Occasionally I keep writing – even and especially if what I’m writing is horseshit. It makes me more resilient to writer’s block because writer’s block often comes from not wanting to write anything imperfect. Once I get over that barrier by writing this horseshit, I can focus on progress and not perfection. 

Also shame and vulnerability drives me to improve my shit copy as soon as feasibly possible.

What are your favourite and least favourite writing-related tasks?

The B2B SaaS space I work in demands writing about abstract advertising technologies or concepts. The topics are difficult to grasp and visualise, but writing articles and product page copy that bring this abstraction to life is the best challenge. 

It calls on you to think outside the box and to focus on a product’s value, rather than how it works. And the nicheness of the topics and products means that your responsibility as a writer is to create search volume from scratch.

My least favourite task is writing emails or Slack/Google Chat messages – does that count? I overthink everything and often spend longer than I’d like writing these kinds of messages.

Any copywriting pet hates?

Absolutely. 

•  Inconsistency when it comes to UK/US style and spelling. 
•  Incorrect capitalisation. Living in Germany where all nouns are capitalised has made this pet hate an everyday reality because translated content is littered with excessive capitalisation. 
•  The overuse of the gerund (“ing” words). I never knew this until I proofread a text written by a non-native English speaker. I finished proofreading the text and realised that, even though nothing was grammatically wrong, I didn’t have a clue what the text was about. It took me a good few hours to go back through the text and make suggestions, whereby I removed every damn gerund that added complexity and confusion to sentences.

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve been given?

I read something recently that talked about energy management as opposed to time management. We always complain we don’t have enough time to do the things we want to do, but really it’s our energy that is stopping us from certain activities, whether they’re professional or personal.

We don’t need to get better at organising our schedules; we need to get better at preserving our energy, so that we can approach our work with energy and enthusiasm. You don’t do this by working more but by resting and enjoying yourself more.

What advice would you give to people starting out on a copywriting career?

Fill your time and inspiration board with conferences, podcasts and reading. These will always give you confidence, connections with peers and a glimpse of what thought leadership looks like.

You will likely also feel a lot less alone in your writing profession – this is invaluable for someone working in-house like me. 

Why do you find ProCopywriters membership useful?

Learning is incremental, and I‘m always learning small ways to fine-tune my writing skills through CopyCon or through the ProCopywriters workshops.

Connecting with bright and creative like-minded minds makes me proud and excited to be a copywriter. Especially, when I doubt the career choice I made for myself in my twenties.

Where can people find out more about you?

You can drop me a line or two or three via my LinkedIn.