Copywriter of the Week : Mirka

Hello, my name is Mirka.

This is me…

I come from the northernmost part of Finland, from a little village called Karigasniemi. It’s in Lapland–you know, that magical neck of the woods where contrasts thrive and myths are many. The breath-taking beauty of midnight disrupted by legions of blood-sucking mosquitos that drive you crazy. The nightless nights were compensated by damn long winters without any daylight. Santa Claus and his reindeer, who, contrary to the popular belief, doesn’t have a red nose. People of few words persevere theirs. The kind most visitors find just a tad peculiar but friendly. Especially when you see them shyly smiling at you from a safe distance which apparently means they’re actually pleased to see you. Even though they won’t easily admit it. Moulded by living in harsh conditions, they may strike you as somewhat reserved and stoic at first. But once you get to know them, they’re as soft and smooth as pebbles in little mountain streams. They’re hardworking, humble and kind, and have a ridiculously high tolerance to cold weather. Some of which even seem to enjoy in a slightly twisted way. I’m that way too, kind of.

Even though they know how to handle the cold, they wouldn’t stand around outside chitchatting in that bone-piercing coldness just for the sheer pleasure of seeing who freezes up first. If there was something you wanted, you’d better spit it out quickly and be on your way. So perhaps that’s why they’re known for their “economy of words” when it comes to expressing yourself verbally.

Check out Mirka’s portfolio

But I digress. Or do I?

Words are, after all, the reason we are gathered here today, dear friends. And ever since I can remember, I’ve always had a thing for them, especially when they came in the shape of the English language.

The nearest university where English was taught was in the city of Oulu. So it was my obvious go-to choice for studying. After I had done enough of it, I decided not to pursue a career in my alma mater any further but take a big leap instead. Ergo! I left the humanist world behind me to try my wings in the mighty ICT world. Before long I found myself pounding the keyboard as a technical writer in a smallish company at first, and later I became the senior copywriter working for global giants like Nokia and Polar, and that journey lasted for 12 years altogether.

Nowadays my home is my headquarters, and my headquarters is where my laptop is–as for work goes, that is. The very best thing about being a writer in my hometown is that it plays absolutely no role in my being a writer. I mean, no offence, dear Oulu, but it’s just that in this case location, location, the location has no bearing whatsoever with what I do. And that’s the beauty and the brilliance of it. But as for life in general, I do love living here with my family, and luckily, the sleepless summers and the winter wonderland aren’t that far away either.

I specialise in being just a smidgen silly, but I’m also very good at hiding it.

Depending on the circumstances, I can be very professional if need be (and I have a PhD to prove it).

As for work that I’m proudest of, I present my adorable, lovable twin boys. They’re also a LOT of work sometimes. But when it comes to showcasing my best-written work, I’ve attached a few examples here to your delight. Besides doing client work, I enjoy teaching copywriting, especially to beginners. I currently have one of the highest-rated copywriting courses on Udemy (lookup for Simple Copywriting Secrets: How to Write Killer Sales Copy), out of hundreds of courses offered there.

If you have a relatively brief piece of copy in mind–or a series of them, say, an email welcome sequence, brochures, app update descriptions for Google Play–do brief me about it. With a background in analysing poetry (re that PhD of mine), creating and proofreading mobile phone texts, subtitling lots and lots of movies and tv-shows were abbreviating the dialogue is a must, I am in fact in my element in being brief and pithy. So, I say “yes please” too short texts–I love them. And if you let me help you with creating such gems, I’m sure you’ll love them too.

So, let’s have a word, shall we?