Copywriting Information Blog

11 Things You MUST Know
Before Hiring a Copywriter!
by Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen”

If you're considering hiring copywriting help for your next brochure, Web site, or marketing project. Congratulations! You should get great results if you hire a pro to do it right.

Many business owners and marketing professionals have valid concerns about letting an outsider develop their content. After all — it's your business, you know it best, and your image is critical. However, you're wrapped up in your business every day. A good copywriter can see your business in a new light, draw out the key benefits of your products and services, and communicate that excitement to your clients and prospects.

Working with a writer isn't a complicated ordeal, however it will benefit you tremendously to become familiar with how the relationship typically works and ways to help the process move along smoothly. So, here are my top 11 tips on how to choose and work with a copywriter:

1. Understand your mission beforehand.

A crucial factor in streamlining the writing process is determining the principal points you need to communicate — *before* you bring in a writer. Who is your target audience? What is your message? What is unique about your company? In what type of tone do you want to speak to your reader? What type of response do you ideally want the reader to make? Having this information agreed upon before you get a writer involved will save you unnecessary copy revisions and keep your costs down.

2. Develop a realistic schedule.

Yes, you've heard this all your life, but haste makes waste. Avoid hastily hiring a copywriter and dumping a rush job on her. Not only will you not have time to thoroughly check her experience and references, but, no matter how wonderfully talented she is, her first draft will not be 'fully cooked.' Most copywriters need time to let words and ideas simmer.

Most writers will request a few weeks to develop your copy, so set a realistic schedule to give the creative process ample time. Count on going through one or two revisions as your writer refines the piece's angle and conveys the key benefits of what you're promoting.

3. Make sure the writer you hire has written for the medium you want.

Let's say you need someone to re-energize the copy on your Web site. A freelancer who has only written magazine articles won't likely have the skills to create content for a dynamic Web site. She's probably not proficient at breaking-up copy into easily digestible bits, integrating hyperlinks that entice your users to take action, and keeping your end-user in mind to plan a friendly, easily-navigable site. She may be able to learn how, but you'll be paying for her slow ramp-up speed. Take time instead to find the right person — it will save you many headaches down the road.

4. Experience within your industry isn't always necessary.

'So you've never written for a _______ company before?' I've heard many prospects say. Don't worry. A writer's ability to write well for the medium is more important than her having prior experience in your industry.

Many writers are true generalists and write just as well for an edgy new media start-up as they do for a giant hospital network. They're very proficient at diving into your business, learning it inside and out, and churning out great prose to entice your target market. Now of course, if you're producing a technically oriented business-to-business Web site or marketing piece, you may want to hire a writer with experience in both your project's medium and your industry. If you find a good one, hold on tightly. You've struck gold!

5. Ask for references, and contact them.

All writers can show you samples of well-written material, but how do you know if they'll work to understand your communication needs, meet deadlines, and act professionally in front of clients? Any great copywriter should have an ample list of references that she can share with you. Be sure to contact at least two of them, and ask them about the writer's weaknesses as well as her strengths.

6. Keep in mind that you get what you pay for.

It amazes me how businesspeople will drop thousands of dollars on Web or print design and hesitate to spend half as much on great copy. Pictures and design enhance your message, but jeez folks ...the writing IS your message!

Good copywriting does not come cheaply — you'll find writers who charge anywhere from $50 - $150 per hour and up. You'll pay more for an experienced writer, one with a particular specialty, or one who's also a proficient editor. (Many writers are also great editors, but not all writers are editors, and vice versa.)

7. Work on more than a handshake.

True writing pros will give you an agreement they've drawn up for you. However, you'll occasionally find yourself having to draft an agreement for the project. This doesn't have to be complex — a simple letter that you both sign should do fine. Be sure to include the project size, number of revisions included, timetable, and agreed fee (this can be a flat fee or hourly rate).

And don't forget to ask what's *not* included. For example, many writers charge extra for in-person meetings, research time, and weekend or rush work. You should also expect to pay an upfront retainer. Most writers charge one-third to one-half of the total project fee upfront, and many won't begin your project until they have the signed agreement and check in hand. And if you have sensitive or proprietary information, don't hesitate to have your writer sign a non-disclosure agreement.

8. Give your writer background info at the start.

I've often heard the story of a writer being hired for a large project, and the first thing she's asked to do is come in and interview several principals of the company. After several days of interviews, the writer is then handed the company's annual report, previous brochures, and marketing plan.

If this background info had been given up front, the client could have saved hours of time and money! At the beginning of your project, pass on any and all previous brochures or sales kits, direct mail, Web site URLs, annual reports, research results, or business or marketing plans.

9. Appoint one person as your 'project captain.'

Appoint one person at your company as project captain. If you allow too many people in your organization to work with the writer directly, each of them will likely have a different opinion of the copy and request different edits from your writer. She may be forced to make many unnecessary revisions, adding time and cost to your project.

If you need to involve multiple reviewers in the process, have your project captain handle the internal reviews and edits and decide which ones supercede others. Then give your writer one master copy that includes all edits to be made. Also, be sure to involve your final decision maker early on, be it your CEO or board of directors. This gives your writer clear direction and avoids costly revisions down the road.

10. Give constructive criticism.

Although copywriters have egos of steel and are accustomed to criticism, make yours helpful for best results. 'This paragraph just doesn't work' isn't as effective as 'What we need to do here is stress the benefits of the non-skid surface.' Also, tell her what parts you *do* like, so she can emulate them elsewhere. And of course, everyone loves to know when they've done a good job. If you like her work, be sure to share that with her!

11. Don't discount 'chemistry.'

You need to feel comfortable with your writer in order to work effectively together. Take the time to find a great copywriter whom you truly like and develop a good working relationship together. You'll get top-quality work that will help your business thrive. And you'll have a skilled and knowledgeable copywriter on call for your next communications effort.

(c) 2002 - 2003 Alexandria K. Brown

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” is author of the award-winning manual, “Boost Business With Your Own E-zine.” To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at The Ezine Queen

"Appeal to the reason, by all means. Give people a logical excuse for buying that they can tell to their friends and use to salve their own consciences. But if you want to sell goods, if you want action of any
kind, base your real urge upon some primary emotion!"

So how do you inject more emotion into your websites and direct mail and thus turbo-charge the selling power of your copy? While there are many ways to 'emotionally-charge' your sales letters, for our time together let's focus on these three shall we?

1) Stir Up Pain - Here's where you want to get inside the heads of your readers. Focus on how they have this problem (that your product solves) and that because of this problem, they're hindered, frustrated, troubled and unable to attain their deepest desires because this problem lingers. You want to agitate their perceived problem and make it seem worse than it really is. You can do this by telling them stories, facts, case histories and linking their problem to bad scenarios to persuade and influence them into believing your product is the solution to their problem.

2) Mesmerizing Stories - I already don't have to tell you that stories will obviously evoke emotion. Watch a tragedy, you'll feel sad. Watch a sci-fi movie and you'll probably feel excitement. Watch a horror flick and you'll more than likely feel scared. My advice to you, is to weave stories into your sales letters that stir up hope in attaining a goal, avoiding trouble or achieving a dream. You can also craft stories detailing what happened to someone who never took action to solve the problem your product or service is intended to solve. This kind of story will produce fear of loss, which is usually a more powerful motive than desire to gain in most people. You can also use stories that have a 'human' element to it. Simply tell a story about someone whom your readers can easily relate too, describing their problem and the frustrations that go with it in detail. And then, illustrate how this person used your product and solved their problem. Consequently making their life or business much better. This kind of story creates a type of "Social Proof." Meaning it cultivates a follow the leader response.

3) Use Emotional Words Instead Of Logical Words - It's no surprise that some words fire off stronger reactions than others. Words like abortion, pro-life, Soviet or dictator have an immediate effect. Other
less controversial words such as mom, dad, family, home, friends sister and brother have strong emotional impact. You need to evaluate your target market and find out what key words your market really reacts too. The key thing to remember is that just about every word has an emotional element to it. If your offer is greed oriented, then words and phrases like "money"; "get rich" ; "six-figures"; and "make money easily" will excite your readers. Ideally you want to use many small, one syllable words that your prospects can relate an emotion to. Pick five or six key words that'll stir up the emotion you want in your reader and subtly plant them throughout the sales copy to spark an emotional reaction.

Whether you're vexed by a sales letter that's performing terribly or you already have a sales letter that's getting decent results, you now realize what to do to make it sell more. You simply make it more emotionally-charged. As of right now, you know three shortcut ways to make your sales letters more emotional. They are: stir up pain; use mesmerizing stories; and weave emotional words into your copy. Go ahead and start making those changes and if you do this correctly, you should see a rise in sales and profits.

Copy writing – The first key is the copywriting itself. You should be able to provide copywriting of a higher quality for profitable copywriting for the web. The content you write should be a good quality content with the relevant information. IF the content needed is SEO content, then you should add relevant keywords in the content. Good quality content can make you popular and people will like to offer their projects to you.

Article marketing – Market your articles to create a good name for you and your writing. Article marketing will get more visitors and readers of your copywriting content. You will get more business from such readers and visitors.

Ezines- Use ezines, to make yourself a trusted source for different types of copywriting jobs. Ezines can spread your work and your name to so many people.

Testimonials – Use testimonials to show about your competence, experience and past performance with achievements. These testimonials will help you to get more and more business and links for future use. Profitable copywriting for the web will be possible with more and more copywriting jobs.

Negotiate price – Negotiate the fee you want for copywriting. Depending on the project, project originators and the quality needed, you can negotiate the price for your profit.

One of the most important steps you can take "before" writing your sales letter (whether that be for an email campaign, capture page sales letter, or direct mail) you need to do your homework so you can make sure you are targeting your right prospects. For most in the MLM field, it's fairly easy if all you do is recruit others into your business. But that will be in another post ...

The goal of your sales letter is to offer a solutions that speak "directly" to your prospects problems and/or challenges. To do this the right way, you need to harness the power of a few things first.

1) Make certain that your message matches the needs of your prospects: Check yourself at the door before you write your letter. Does your offer match the needs of the recipient?

2) Build that trust! Some say that "testimonials" are over-done, but the truth of the matter to keep on the top of your mind, and especially if you're writing to those who don't know you all that well, is testimonials do provide an initial trust based relationship offer. Let's put it his way, by adding "high-profile" endorsements from former or current associates - heck even those you have worked with in the same industry that are recognized and popular, will provide trust. So for this example, your sales letter could read at the top and "after" the short and to the point testimonial, "says, Mike Dillard, a Guru Internet Marketer who trains others to become the hunted instead of the hunter."

3) Get to the point and don't give out a bunch of hazy information: It's important to make your point in the first few lines of the sales letter. If you provide information that is going in circles, or straying off the point, you will risk a high chance of losing your readers interest right off the bat. So make sure to be very clear and concise about what you are saying. You don't have to speak to your prospect as if they are a 2 year old, but you might want to consider keeping is at a grade-school level. This doesn't mean your prospects are stupid adults! But studies have shown that the majority of society do read at an 8th grade level. Just avoid BIG words and keep the language simple and easily understood.

4) Its IMPORTANT to sell the "benefits" and NOT what you think the great features are: This goes back to leaving your opinion out of it. Your prospect wants to know how they will benefit from what you are selling. Feature listing is "ok" but only if you list the benefits to the prospect "just" after each feature listing.

5) Stand out and become memorable! Your goal is to end up on the prospects refrigerator! You need to provide some "staying-power" to your letter, so your prospect prints this out and slaps it up for later consideration. Provide 5 tips on lead generation, or whatever your niche is. Make sure those tips are something they can implement right away. Make sure those "tips" are something that are worth trying out because they are proven to get results fast.

6) Stay away from the "form letter" style - it's NOT for a sales letter! Simply, write like you talk and this will provide a "warm" feeling for your prospects. You will create a genuine appeal to your reader on the other end.

7) White Spaces! Short paragraphs, indents, bullets or numbered lists will give readers a break from gobbled up text. Keep them short and to the point. One of my favorite books has two to three page chapters with short paragraphs. Don't bore your prospect with too much clutter and big paragraphs. You'll lose them every time. With that said, also try and keep this within one page.

8 ) The CALL TO ACTION, deadline and incentive: Tell the prospect what to do next and emphasize a real deadline. This will increase the rate of responses. You have created a "limited" time to act and "why" to act now! The "why" should be explained as the benefit they'll receive for acting. Then provide the way to action with your telephone number, email, or sign up form.

9) The "No Risk" or Guarantee offer: Offer something to the prospect free, like industry tips in form of an article, eBook, or a "how to" tutorial, or even a product sample. Include that guarantee, whether it's 100% money back, 24/7 customer service support, the follow-up, free delivery or whatever you feel is right for your product and time.

10) Lastly, don't get stuck trying to "sell" your prospects: I know this feels like a contradiction, but by "pushing" your service or product will only result in a dead sale and maybe lost lead. Develop that long-term relationship with your prospect by "solving" their problems and meet their needs. Again, nobody wants to be "sold" to, they just want a simple solution to their issues and to be the one who makes the decision based on the information you've provided to them, to buy or not.