This week’s copywriting question #004 comes from Alex.
Question:
What are some of your favorite tools that you use on a regular basis as a copywriter?
Michelle’s Answer:
There are some tools that I use daily and others that I use less frequently (such as weekly or even monthly) but which are still excellent. All of these have made my work and life as a copywriter tremendously more enjoyable.
Tools I use DAILY include:
- Toggl – for time tracking individual client projects. I don’t share time reports with my clients; but tracking my time gives me an accurate understanding of how long I’m spending on each project. I can know how long a project should take me if I’ve done it before. I can run end-of-year reports to see which clients (or projects) took up too much of my time. Also, knowing the timer is running motivates me to work faster and more efficiently.
- YNAB – for budgeting and tracking your finances. This tool has nothing to do with copywriting, but I have peace of mind knowing my finances are all accounted for. I love that you can quickly see a snapshot of everything you’ve spent money on each month in different categories. You can also look at your income at a glance (monthly, yearly, and year-by-year comparison), and see all of your business deductions for the year (great for tax preparation and planning). (Related: see my interview with YNAB on how they use customer education & success stories in their marketing!)
- Binaural beats type music – these are musical sounds that help me focus while I’m working on client projects or journaling. Two of my recent favorites are here and here.
Tools that I use weekly or a few times a week include:
- ChatGTP – this has become my go-to tool for organizing my notes, research, coming up with writing angles I didn’t think of, voice analysis, and editing my rough drafts! Surprisingly, I’ve also found ChatGTP useful for “coaching” me on extremely difficult client situations (or other situations) that I was stuck on – like getting my psychotic previous landlord to refund my security deposit in full. I hated ChatGTP at first simply because it’s AI (artificial intelligence), but one day I found myself diving in and using it and 10X’ing the quality of my questions that I ask it — which forced it to give me better answers.
- Teamwork – a project management site where you can manage dozens of client projects. It’s an absolute GEM for keeping track of deadlines and source materials super easily. You can also comment to different people on the team, and it emails you a notification. (I HATE Slack for project management and will only use it for quick messaging.) I don’t have my own Teamwork account, but one of my clients has an account, and I love using it.
Tools that I use monthly or a few a times a month include:
- Rev.com for transcripts – this is the most accurate, well-formatted transcript service on the planet. Loom is a close second, but the formatting is sometimes weird. Zoom is horrific. And ChatGTP can’t be trusted to format transcripts, because it will randomly revise all the text, which is really frustrating and time-wasting. Rev.com gives you a generous number of free transcribed minutes each month, and if you need more, you can upgrade and pay.
- Splasheo – for video editing short 1-minute reel style videos. I use this service for my personal Instagram page. They have great customer service and they’re very easy to use. (See examples here, here, here, here, and here.)
- Readable – I use this app for a client who requested “fifth grade level” writing for his email newsletters. This app shows you how complicated or simple your writing is. The lower the score, the easier it is to read. For example, 12th grade level means someone would need a 12th grade education to be able to comprehend your writing; it indicates you have a lot of complicated language, run-on sentences, and convoluted sentences in your writing. 7th grade level means it much easier to read.
Action Tip for Copywriters: Study all of the websites I posted above. Read their copywriting on their home page. These are companies that earned my repeat business for YEARS. You can learn a lot by studying their copywriting.
Michelle Lopez Boggs is a copywriter, copywriting mentor, and author of "The Anti-Marketing Manifesto: How to Sell Without Being a Sellout." She's helped her clients sell millions of dollars' worth of products and services online by using the MEI(S) principle — motivate, educate, and inspire, and sell. 