If you’re a copywriter, I’m going to apologize in advance if what I’m about to say strikes a nerve. The fact of the matter, though, is that I’m not just speaking from opinion; I’m speaking as someone with experience as both a copywriter and as the head of a successful copywriting company.
There, I said it.
The vast majority consider writing to be a hobby. Most aren’t that good at it. Most deliver late without notice or explanation, and few ever really produce good work consistently. Sound familiar?
Given the limitations that exist, I’ve discovered on my own – and many of my clients and colleagues agree – that if you can simply find a copywriter who delivers on time, you’re doing really, really well. If you can find a copywriter that gets your brand message and can communicates it effectively out of the gate, even better.
Here’s the thing: The hobbyist copywriter who delivers subpar quality and delivers late and the seasoned professional who delivers great work on time can both be liabilities for you. In the former instance, you often find a lot of time being wasted just waiting for work to show up. Then, you get to deal with asking for a dozen revisions as you explain time and again what you actually need the piece to communicate. In the latter, you find that the good ones rarely stick around for long. If you’ve experienced that end of the equation, there is probably a reason.
In fact, there’s probably more than one.
Keeping your writers happy and keeping them on your team is far more profitable than losing them. Here are, in my experience, several key reasons why you’re constantly searching for new writers. I hope that if any of these sound familiar you will commit to making a few changes in how you manage, communicate with, and pay your copywriters.
#1 – You Don’t Respect Their Time.
It’s easy to start looking at your copywriters (and any person or entity to whom you outsource work) in a non-personal way, taking for granted that the service is there and accessing it whenever you want. This is why you find your writers quitting or declining more work than they accept.
Think about it from their perspective: It’s Friday afternoon, around 3:30. Your writer has been hard at work for you (and probably a list of other clients) all week. All of a sudden, you and your partners decide you want to do a product launch and you need a 5-email drip, a landing page, and a dozen social media posts… by Monday.
Sure, it means nothing to you because all you have to do is order the copy and wait for it to show up. For your writer, it means either canceling plans and resolving to work all or part of the weekend or turning down the work. You might get away with it once or twice, but a steady diet of this sort of thing won’t motivate anyone to stick around long.
Make sure that you are always planning and strategizing your content creation needs so that you give your writer the time necessary to produce good quality. Don’t stress him or her out over impossibly tight deadlines. Remember, the most successful marketing efforts aren’t generally born out of impulsiveness. If it’s that good an idea, it’s worth proper planning and execution to make sure it’s done right.
#2 – You Don’t Clearly Communicate What You Want.
Copywriters are not mind readers. Once you’ve worked with one for a while, it’s a lot easier to get on the same page quickly, but it’s still imperative that you convey clearly your wants and needs for every writing project. If you don’t, you shouldn’t expect the writer to donate more of his or her time to fix your mistakes.
Bear in mind that regardless of his or her skill level, your writer is typically giving you his or her best and can only work with the tools you give him or her. With that in mind, supply your writer with good tools. If your company doesn’t have one already, you should consider developing a content style guide that covers all the bases in your content creation strategy. That way, if the writer drops the ball because he or she didn’t bother to read it, you have just cause to ask for those revisions.
Good copywriters know that they need to take responsibility when they mess up. They also know when you’re taking advantage of them, and that is typically when they quit.
#3 – You Aren’t Paying for the Quality You Expect.
Whether you have arranged a per-word/per-piece rate with your writers or if you pay them by the hour (I personally recommend the former), you need to make sure that you are paying your writers commensurate with the quality you expect. If you only want to pay $5 for a 1,000-word blog post, expect $5 quality. If you pay $50 for that same blog post, you are right and entitled to expect it to be superior quality, delivered on time and error-free.
In my experience, copywriters who charge in the upper brackets know they’re capable of producing good content and can prove it with samples of past work. Don’t nickel and dime talented writers. If you do, don’t be surprised if they decide the time they spend haggling with you over pennies would be better spent looking for a client who is more willing to pay for quality.
As a parting note here, I just want to say this: My message today is not intended as a soapbox piece. As always, I remain committed to the success of all my clients, and it is in that spirit that I present my impressions on the writer/client relationship today.
If you decide to follow my lead, you are likely to enjoy much longer and more profitable relationships with a few good writers. The alternative is constantly finding yourself at square one rolling the dice on writers who may or may not be capable of delivering what you want and need.