A copywriter for the construction industry?

The interest in Buzzwords’ construction industry and property copywriting services in the past six months has been surprising.  Given the dire state of new house building in the UK and the contraction of the commercial side of the construction industry – what’s going on?

Here’s my guess.  Unlike during the last recession, marketing people in 2009 aren’t simply battening down the hatches until this ill-wind dies down.  They are in fact taking the medium-term view – and most aspects of construction planning involve time-spans of three years or so.  Seizing the moment has translated into ‘getting ready to seize tomorrow’.

Whether we’ll ever return to the mad days of the past decade is debatable, but one thing is certain.  The UK has a housing shortage – and there will always be a demand for high quality offices, stores and warehouses on both urban and out-of-town developments.

So it looks like construction industry marketing departments are diverting some of their resources into developing their business profiles, extolling their expertise – and maybe using the services of a copywriter or two to help them out!

Construction industry copywriter – a new page on Buzzwords’ website

Flying in the face of the recession, a new page has been added to Buzzwords’ website today: Construction Industry Copywriter. This complements the other building industry page on the Buzzwords’ site: Property Copywriter. Building is still continuing in the UK, even if at a much reduced level. Crucially, from a copywriting point of view, there are still thousands of people out there who are employed in what could be described as ‘construction industry support services’ – surveying, civil engineering, consultants and so on. Many major planning projects are either mid-stream or being discussed for launch in the medium-term once the major impact of this recession has passed. And there are of course parts of the economy, such as supermarkets, which are doing very nicely and which need buildings into which they can expand their business. And as with all businesses right now, everyone is fighting for market share. Fortunately for copywriting, this creates demand for website copywriting, SEO copywriting and e-mail/e-zine marketing – to name just a few disciplines.

Freelance Copywriting Offline – Business Sectors

It’s amazing how many people call me with the question: ‘Have you ever worked in… beta blockers/timeshares/materials handling’ – or some other highly specific industry. Any half-way decent copywriter can turn his hand to almost any subject.  That’s simply because it’s experience of copywriting techniques that matters – not the subject matter being written about.  (That can always be researched.)  Just for the record, I’ve worked on some very obscure topics.  Here’s a few of the more ‘mainstream’ sectors:

Travel Copywriting – Upmarket or down dale.  UK hotels or jet-set hideaways.  Brochures, ads and direct mail.  Nothing fazes me with travel copywriting – although it has to be said that this is a more difficult writing genre than many imagine.

Industrial Copywriting – This is a catch-all label for what covers a multitude. If you want to find out about the diversity of UK industry, become a copywriter!  (I did – but not for that reason.)

Financial Copywriting - Banks, building societies, insurance companies, financial advisers, brokers and accountants – Ive written for them all.  Quite a mix, with some pretty impressive names too. 

Property Copywriting – Scene-setting and then getting to grips with the selling points of everything from a one-bed flat to a major mansion house – property writing has its own unique demands.  Brochures, news releases, ads – whatever your weapon, I’ve used it.

Advertising & Design Agencies – I know about agencies.  It’s where I started my advertising career, and I’ve written for hundreds of them since.  I know what agencies want – their target markets, the tone of voice needed.  If you have an agency and you’re reading this, I can probably help you get over the ‘cringe factor’ that comes from writing your own publicity!