So you’re looking at all of your options when it comes to getting your content written. You’re looking at freelancers, you’re looking at custom writing services, you’re trying to decide how much is too much money to spend on an article about cow pies and trying to get the best possible deal.
I also know that most people’s perceptions of what a copywriter actually does to get that cow pie article delivered and make it interesting are very narrow. I don’t mean to insult you, but if you outsource all of your writing, chances are you don’t quite get what it takes to get that article (or script, or sales letter, or product description) written. So, before you decide to place a low value on that next article, you might want to consider everything your writer does to get it to you.
1. Copywriters Are Master Researchers.
Most of the time, your writer does not work in your specific industry. In fact, the odds of you finding one who does (or has in the past) are astronomical, even if you decide to partner with a copywriting company with dozens or more writers on staff. Once given a topic, most writers get to work learning about the subject, and here’s the kicker: It’s knowledge that they will quite often never need or use again once they finish writing your piece.
Most clients only provide a thumbnail sketch when it comes to explaining what they want, leaving the writer to hit the Web searching for information on his or her own. The smaller minority of clients will hand their writers a library to work with and will expect them to come across as an expert on the subject on paper.
With that kind of pressure, one has to know how to sort through the sea of information available and decide – with no experience in that field – how to best communicate the essentials of the subject at hand. If you think that’s easy, think again. It’s also time-consuming. It’s not unusual for a writer to spend an hour or more compiling notes and research to write a simple 500-word blog. Sometimes the investment of time is much higher.
2. Copywriters Create Excitement and Enthusiasm for Any Subject.
This can be a singular challenge when writing on a topic that flat out doesn’t hold your interest. This is something copywriters do all the time: They get handed a topic and have to figure out how to present it with the same level of enthusiasm you would if you were writing it yourself. How excited can someone really be about cow pies?
The bottom line is (and most professional writers understand this) most of the time copy exists to sell or presell a product or service. So since I’ve used cow pies as an example already, odds are that whoever wants the article also wants people to understand the “features and benefits” of a product or service that revolves around – or, at a minimum, involves – cow pies. The copywriter’s job is to show how vital those cow pies are to the equation and get people excited about how product X or service Y can help maximize their usefulness in areas like fertilizer manufacturing, energy creation, or chemical separation. I know this because it’s an assignment I was once handed as a writer.
3. Copywriters Wear Many Different Hats and Speak with Many Different Voices.
Copywriters rarely get the opportunity to just “be themselves.” Most clients rightly expect the copy written for them to coincide with their branding strategy and fit well with existing writing on their sites done by a variety of other writers. This all goes back to research. A good writer will take some time reading a client’s blog to see what kind of tone is right for this particular job.
After writing that piece, he or she has to immediately switch gears and become someone else entirely on paper. On any given day, a copywriter can go from writing product descriptions for drill bits to an article on global terrorism to a blog on how to make the best chocolate peppermint fudge for your next holiday gathering. That kind of mental organization is impressive to say the least.
4. Copywriters Are Widely Uncredited for Their Work.
A huge percentage of the copy you see online (and elsewhere) is ghostwritten, meaning that many clients will simply tag their own name or a pseudonym onto the work they buy and the actual writer is never outwardly acknowledged for creating it. This can make it difficult to present samples or show where one’s work lives online since the writer is now forced to rely on prospective clients taking his or her word for what they’ve written in the past.
Some writers reserve the right to use what they write for clients as sample material, but not all clients are equally accommodating to those requests. This leaves writers in a constant state of building their reputations and selling themselves on not just their writing, but also their personalities and their abilities to work with a broad range of clients and topics.
5. Copywriters Use Their Skills to Make Others Successful.
This, to me, is the one that commands the most respect. When one considers that a good article could see returns in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, it’s frustrating when we know clients won’t hire us because they think our rates are “too expensive.” It’s been my experience that any savvy marketer can manage a return equal to whatever they paid for a piece of copy and at least break even on it. Not all articles are going to be rock stars, but the ones that are justify the expense of all of them, and, really, a successful article isn’t just the result of good writing for one piece – it’s the result of a good piece against a backdrop of a number of other good pieces.
Quality in your content is key to your success, and the best copywriters are those who maintain a solid commitment to upholding and strengthening their clients’ reputations as authorities in their fields. The next time you’re faced with the decision of paying more than you want to for written content, remember what you read here today and ask yourself what you would charge for the amount of time and effort if it was you having to write it.
When that final piece is delivered, a lot went into to getting it to you, and higher quality always fetches a higher price. Writers know what they are capable of delivering, which, quite often, is the difference between a writer who charges $5 for 1,000 words and one who charges $50. It’s well worth considering and even testing out for yourself. We think you’ll notice an immediate and measurable difference.