Creative Copywriter
Personal brand is just like money, love and success; as a creative copywriter it’s one thing to make it… and quite another to keep it.
I position myself as the creative’s creative. Working with directors and producers to win them more work and help them develop stronger, more vibrant personal brands. The mantra that drives anything I put out is LEAD, WIN, LAUGH. My director treatment masterclass is on how to win more work as part of your umbrella that I’m now selling – the top creative people on the planet – A-list directors, EPs, agency creatives – hire me to amplify their personal brand.
They want to create a catalyst that will raise your creative profile, attract more clients and bring in higher paying work. To do that you have to become a Thought Leader/Expert Authority/Industry Icon where you share and monetize life experience, drive brand and growth and boost revenue, followership and impact
You inspire and instruct others on how to improve their lives and achieve their goals.
I recently worked with a creative director who wanted to position herself as “the Annie Liebowitz of Food’…. rather than the usual creative copywriter.
The way for her to make her brand come to life in public is to explicitly reveal what it is and what you believe in. The way you can do that is through a Creative Manifesto.
If you want to be compelling, distinctive and dynamic, you must truly believe in something. You need foundation. It becomes your trademark. Your ethos. Your edge. It becomes how you distinguish yourself from the pack. Have a clear stand and brand and you stand out from the rest. You declare your values, loud and proud. This is where your values come in super handy. They are a magnet for clients. You don’t need hundreds of clients, there’s only one of you. You just need a few who give you work on a regular basis.
A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives or views of an individual or movement. It’s bold, clear and revolutionary. It can be as simple as a number of statements of values, principles, practices or techniques that you whole heartedly believe in. Or some screed like Das Capital.
Either way, it’s your own Mein Kampf 😉
Modern brand is about strategy and strategy is about communication and consistency. The Manifesto gets your message out there in a fresh, concise and consistent way.
For example… the Creative Manifesto is then the foundation for:
interactive PDF
Web film series
IG stories
Presentation
Public speaking
Podcast material
PR tool for press/magazine articles
TV show interviews
Now here’s why this might work particularly well. A manifesto is a great way to define values, principles and best practices.
So much more powerful than the
“11 ways to make food sexy” clickbait her the average creative copywriter is churning out.
It becomes the template for her and her brand: a living document that you can amplify, revise, share and connect with.
This sets a creative copywriter up for world domination. The roadmap to a modern thought leader brand is pretty clear:
Author
Speaker
Coach
Online trainer
Social Media Thought Leader
Personal brand content should be inspired by stories of vision, resilience and grit. It provides the platform for your expert story positioning.
A creative Manifesto is the result of her hero’s journey to figure out solution to life, work, family and happiness. People don’t believe your successes until they believe your struggle.
Based on our work together, this became a starting point for her to further develop and finesse. All the insights came from interviews, reflections and core story responses.
Learnt how to be a mum, a really good mum and surround myself with good people.
- BE A WARRIOR NOT A WORRIER.
Experience of being overrun with panic attacks and not knowning how to control them
- SELF ESTEEM IS THE EMOTIONAL IMMUNE SYSTEM
Another day being a freelancer when you don’t feel worthy – when you don’t have any jobs booked in and you are aware that everyone else around you is busy and bringing in cash.
- IF YOU’RE GOING TO THINK, THINK BIG.
Be full of energy and now really know a lot about the power of positivity and being kind, along with a sprinkle of relevance – you can’t go wrong of a morning.
- WORK HARD TO MAKE IT LOOK EASY
I also get told I make it all look too easy… that’s mastery
- GET IT IN WRITING
I have learnt the lesson to get as much in writing as possible prior to the shoot- terms and conditions, rights useage etc..
- Happy set, happy film… energy translates into pixels.
I’ve also learnt that being kind and fun on set at all times- makes for a happy day for you, the client and the crew.
- YOUR ONLY AS HAPPY AS YOUR UNHAPPIEST CHILD
- Time in pre pro is never wasted
How she hates how difficult it is to get work, all the boundries of the old system of production companies is now going to pot, there are no rules about budgets and pay for social media, we all have to work three times harder than we ever have for a third of the pay. Everyone is so competitive. Ad agencies try to get you to come up with all the creative ideas and then take them for their own. Companies always misspending and not dealing with pre production with the importance it deserves . The creative copywriter is last on the food chain.
Wisdom works wonders – it’s love combined with intelligence
- ITS NOT ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU KNOW ITS ABOUT HOW YOU SEE
Use your eye and learn the technical stuff later.
- DOT EVERY ‘I’ AND CROSS EVERY ‘T’.
And then go back and check again in your pre production – take time for it – the rest will be easy. Do your homework
- IT TASKES BOTH SIDES TO BUILD A BRIDGE
Its all about good team work – find a good team who you can rely upon, trust and laugh with
- GET A GOOD CREDIT RATING
Nothing worse than going into debt because you are too succesful and the overheads of what you do put you in the red as clients don’t pay on time.
- If you’re true to your authentic self, you have no competition
One of the first people that ever shot food for real. Realy drips, real spills real crumbs – i didn’t actually know any other way – but no one had done it before. It was the beginning of food porn. The rest is history
- Cheap fast good – pick two you’ll never get all three
Fast and good won’t be cheap
Cheap and good won’t be fast
Cheap and fast won’t be good
- LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES
Every company thinks they can all do the same job a) themselves b) cheaper. They realise painfully they can’t and so I get the job to sort them out – for half the budget…
- BE EXQUISITE TO A FEW
Would you rather appeal to many, or be exquisite to a few? As a mother, wife, friend and in this age of accessibility, I’m choosing to be exquisite. An acquired taste. More like lamb than chicken, more like a small dinner party than a hopping restaurant.
- It’s tough out as a creative copywriter but there is always room for another great talent. Don’t be smug but do listen and believe in yourself – and never be grumpy about making the tea!
