The Hybrids Are Coming … Tell 'Em To Bring Copywriters

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I just listened to a nifty PRSA webinar about “hybrid marketers,” given by Paul Roetzer, founder and CEO of PR 20/20.
Roetzer spoke about how digital has revolutionized public relations and marketing. He talked about how companies are recruiting for positions that didn’t exist a few years ago — and struggling to find the right candidates.
It got me thinking about what I need from our team at Dragonfly. And what I’ll be looking for in the future.
The ivory tower days are gone
It wasn’t too long ago that copywriters could afford to ignore digital and social media. They could cavalierly say something like, “ugh, I’m not on Facebook. I don’t know anything about social media and I don’t want to know. I don’t have time for Twitter, etc., etc.”
They can’t do that anymore. (At least, the ones at Dragonfly can’t.) Our writing projects, more than ever, are tied to social media. We often write different versions of the same content for print, web, and blogs. Link Facebook posts to feature stories. Create landing pages for white papers.
If we didn’t understand how the different social platform operate and intersect — we couldn’t write for them.
To be a successful copywriter today, you have to be a hybrid. Or in Roetzer’s words, a professional who can “deliver services across search, mobile, social, content, analytics, web, PR, and email marketing … provide integrated solutions that used to require multiple agencies and consultants.”
But you still gotta specialize
This doesn’t mean that our writers can be “jacks of all trades, masters of none.” They must still be amazing … well … writers.
They have to dig deep into that core competency. Take webinars, go to seminars, rifle the internet for new trends. Accept ruthless feedback and raise their game in response, rather than raise their defenses. Read other writers’ work and be willing to be humbled by it. And always, always, hunger to learn more.
That’s what we’re looking for at Dragonfly. That’s what we’re hiring.
Samantha Enslen runs Dragonfly Editorial.

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