How To Get The Best Value From A Copywriter

Hiring a freelance copywriter for your website, magazine, article or ebook more provides you with a valuable resource to get people engaged with your business.

Most good copywriters will work their hardest for each of their clients. They want to make sure they have a happy customer who may refer them in the future.

However, if you’re working with a freelance copywriter for the first time, here are a few simple ways to make sure you are getting the best possible value from the service.

What do you want to achieve with the project?

A good copywriter will have ways to eek this out of you because there’s nothing more rewarding than composing copy for a client that meets their exact needs.

Spending a few moments to think about what it is you want to achieve from having your content professionally written will make your initial meeting or consultation with the writer much more enjoyable and productive.

Some good questions worth answering before you meet with your copywriter are:

1. What do I want people to do after they’ve read the content (i.e. Sign up to your newsletter, find out more information about your service, buy the product or contact you with feedback perhaps).
2. How do I want people to feel when they read it? (Inspired, moved, motivated, excited?)
3. What kind of style and voice do I want it to be written in? (Professional, calming, chatty, humours?)

Get value from their experience

Your copywriter is so much more than just a good writer with a stationery fetish; they are a valuable communication consultant.  A copywriter’s experience is in crafting copy that creates the desired response with your audience. They have usually worked with a variety of industries and styles of content and with each project, gained new experience that helps new clients.

Ask them about other projects they have worked on. They will only be too happy to share what they have learned and what has worked on other projects. You might even find that they trigger a new idea for the project that you might otherwise not thought of.

Think more than just words

In addition to being able to craft copy that meets your needs, copywriters tend to have a range of other valuable skills to benefit your business.  For example, copywriters have excellent research skills. This is what enables them to write authentically and with authority on a variety of subjects. Copywriters are inquisitive creatures and love getting their teeth into a new subject, or a niche subject within their field of expertise.

As a result, Copywriters usually offer a number of other great value services that you may not have thought about. For example, if you’re having your website re-written, perhaps you’d also like some competitor research as you can bet a good copywriter will already be checking out your competition anyway to understand how your business stands out.

Here are just a few skills and assets your copywriter might offer:

1. Research skills – Competitor / market research
2. Content marketing skills – Promoting your website and business online.
3. Their network – If you need a web designer / developer or other online service a copywriter has usually worked with a number of businesses that they can offer personal recommendations for.
4. Creativity – Brainstorming solutions and ideas for other areas of your project.

Don’t be afraid to negotiate
If an initial quotation doesn’t fit your budget, but you like the experience and style of a copywriter, don’t be too hasty to waste the time you invested finding them.

Most copywriters will negotiate to offer a service that can fit in with your budget. This may mean a compromise on the deadline date, or the amount of copy delivered. It is certainly worth asking your copywriter if a different price can be negotiated as you might be surprised what can be done.

Ask how many rewrites come with the price

Make sure you know how many rewrites come with the price quoted. Tweaks along the way are usually acceptable with one full revision offered if required. Knowing how many rewrites are available means that you can communicate more easily about changes that may be required to your work.

Some copywriters charge a flat project fee with a set amount of rewrites, others may charge an hourly fee which will be added on if rewrites are required. I find it easier to give clients an all-in one-off fee for an agreed project as it makes it much easier for clients to include in their project budget.

It should be a joy working with a freelance copywriter, and these tips will help to make sure you are getting the best value from your experience.