Four decades ago, fashion copywriting involved: writing ads for print magazines, creating snail mail, crafting clever billboards, and writing for magazines or catalogues.
Fast forward to today, the job of a fashion copywriter looks something like this: crafting sales emails, writing product descriptions for a brand’s website, and planning a brand’s social media feed.
While brands still invest in traditional marketing, digital advertising is all the rage.
It truly levels the playing field, giving an opportunity for smaller brands to advertise as once only conglomerates could. This also means that it’s tougher to stand out.
Especially in the highly competitive fashion industry.
With these changes in mind — what does a copywriter do in fashion these days?
In short: a fashion copywriter shows what’s special and unique about a brand in a voice that speaks directly to the company’s dream buyers.
What Is Fashion Copywriting?
A fashion copywriter verbally represents a brand that sells apparel or accessories. Also, they collaborate with fashion designers, graphic designers and photographers to create memorable marketing campaigns.
Therefore, they have a deep understanding of the market and all the latest trends — essentially, they know everything about your competition.
They also have a way with words.
From writing compelling copy in the voice of a brand to creating a voice they’ll consistently use across versatile channels, they can do it all.
Finally, they combine their knowledge of the fashion industry with the best SEO and copywriting practices.
As a result, they’ll create copy that makes your buyers fall head over heels in love with your brand, ranks you high on Google, and represents your brand as the go-to company for a specific product.
The result? Higher sales.
And who doesn’t want more sales?
Typical Daily Tasks of a Fashion Copywriter
Have you ever wondered, “What does a fashion copywriter do?”
In short: They drink coffee — lots of it, follow fashion trends, research brands and the market, write words that build brand awareness or sell (depending on the goals of a marketing campaign), and then research some more.
Some of the tasks of a fashion copywriter include:
Research
Writing sales emails
Crafting ads for Google, Facebook and other social media channels
Billboard copy
Crafting compelling website copy
Writing educational or transactional blog content
Planning and creating social media posts
Writing product descriptions
Editing
Depending on your marketing strategy, exact needs, and type of business, you might need a freelance fashion copywriter who specializes in emails, ads, social media, etc.
Let’s break down these tasks even further — examples included.
Research
Copywriting research is more than finding relevant product information and fashion market statistics for copy or a blog post.
It also includes:
Uncovering the target audience for your clothing, shoes, or jewellery brand — because they want to address the right customers (the ones who are passionate about your product and are likely to support you with their dollars)
Checking up on your competitors — to see what you can do better and different from others
Learning more about your brand — what makes you different, how you started, what are your core values, what makes you tick, which campaigns worked best for you in the past, and much more
Writing Sales Emails
Emails that customers get from brands can either end up in the spam or generate the most of your income. For example, this Jimmy Choo’s “Wedding Season Showstoppers” email landed in my inbox:
Jimmy Choo handpicks their target customers by occasion (e.g. wedding, spring, summer vacation, etc.).
Copywriters know which subject line to use to get an email opened, which words trigger the email’s spam filter, and which CTA will lead to sales.
Social Media Copywriting
Fashion is visual art. That’s why many fashion copywriters pair images with well-written blog posts on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
If a copywriter is like us, they’ll also plan the overall aesthetic of the feed in advance and craft the visuals using tools such as Canva, giving you the best of both worlds.
Crafting Ads
Facebook/Instagram ads, billboards, and Google ads have one thing in common — they need to capture attention in seconds.
For example, this road safety jacket starring iconic Karl Lagerfeld meets this criteria.
Billboard ads have the unique power to reach a large audience. Using ads on social media (Facebook, Instagram), copywriters can reach your dream clients (the ones who will buy your product).
Product Descriptions
There’s nothing like a great product description to provide that additional information a buyer needs to add the product to their basket and complete the purchase.
But your customer needs to find your product first. That’s where well-researched SEO product titles and meta titles come in.
Because if they can’t find your product, it will never sell.
The best product descriptions provide information explaining how a specific product solves their problem — it solidifies the strong “why” a person needs a piece of jewellery, a specific bag, or a particular dress in their life.
The product description above helps a customer to find a specific basic white shirt, all the while making it anything but basic with its elaborate description. Also, it provides them with need-to-know information about the piece (e.g. wash instructions).
Writing Website Content and Copy
From educational blog articles, product descriptions, landing pages, and the about us sections, fashion copywriters do it all.
Your website is like your business card. But better.
It shows what your brand is about visually, while the copy that complements it is designed to psychologically connect to the target audience. And sell, sell sell. From the words themselves and their meaning, to the formatting — everything is intentional.
Nothing is left to chance.
Take a look at the latest copy found on the Chanel website.
Addionally, applying the best Search Engine Optimization practices. SEO is vital for ranking on search engines and helping your target audience to find you.
Copy Editing and Revisions.
From polishing their own text to copy editing other copywriters’ work, the copywriting process always involves a numerous rounds tweaks until the text reaches its final glamorous state.
Also, additional editing occurs once the copywriter receives feedback from its clients.
Why Is It Important to Have a Copywriter?
The fashion industry is highly competitive.
To be completely frank, there are clothing brands left, right and center.
A skilled fashion copywriter makes sure your brand’s voice and message are heard across multiple channels. How? They write in the consistent and unique voice of your brand.
Besides reminding your dream consumers that your brand is in vogue all year round, copywriters apply psychology to form a deep connection with target clients and convert them into lifelong buyers.
As a result, you replace hundreds of salespeople with one person who can sell to thousands of dream customers at once.
Where can you hire a great fashion copywriter?
Fashion is our passion. And so is writing.
Need cool website content, informative and SEO-friendly blog articles, beautiful social media posts, or product descriptions that inspire sales?
You’re in the right place.
