One key thing to understand about copywriting is that the first draft of any advertisement is rarely impressive. The real craft lies in refining that initial version—editing, rearranging, expanding, or even removing parts until the message resonates.

I often told my students that if everyone in the class were tasked with any kind of writing, their first attempt would likely rank among the weakest. The difference comes in what happens afterward: the revision, the polishing, the careful shaping of words that turns a rough draft into compelling copy.

When you write your first draft, your aim isn’t perfection. It’s to get your ideas, your emotions, and everything you want to communicate about your product or service down on paper. Don’t get caught up in how it reads—just capture the raw content. Once it’s out of your head and onto a page or screen, you have something tangible to refine and improve.

Copywriting is fundamentally a thinking process. It draws on your personal experiences, your expertise, and your capacity to process and organize information in a way that persuades. The final result is the translation of that mental work into written words designed to sell.