Not a natural-born copywriter? Lack of time to do it yourself? If you’re thinking about outsourcing your copywriting to a professional copywriter and are weighing up one copywriter against another, you want to be confident that the copywriter you choose is the best one for your business.
So, how do you know who’s best for you?
As professional copywriters with more than 20 years’ experience of working with many thousands of businesses in Australia, we’ve identified what companies need to consider when weighing up professional copywriting services.
5 tips for choosing a copywriter
1. What type of copywriter do you need?
There are lots of great experienced copywriters out there, each with something to offer, be it their expertise in writing for a particular industry or skills in a particular type of writing. For example, some copywriting services focus on the legal industry; others focus on writing only blogs.
Think about the type of copywriting you want the copywriter to be doing for you. Consider, too, the people who will be reading the content that is produced. Do you need a copywriter who’s skilled in the type of writing that you need help with, such as a tender writer, blog writer or website copywriter? Or do you need someone who’s experienced in your industry or in writing for your audience?
Consider too the volume and complexity of your copywriting work. If you want copywriting at a low cost, you’ll find someone to suit you who’s good at writing at volume, such as, for example, 50 short product descriptions. However, it’s unlikely they’ll to be able to handle complex projects that have many stakeholders, that require lots of interviews and research or strategic advice.
2. What’s their track record?
Obviously, you want to work with an experienced provider of professional copywriting services. Start by checking out their website. Do you like the style of writing on their website? Take a look at samples of their work on their website, too. Have they included their client list on their website? Are there client testimonials?
Does the copywriter demonstrate a variety of writing styles, which shows they can adapt to writing content for different readerships? Or do they write different types of content, which might be important to you if you have need of copywriting for different marketing and stakeholder communications.
3. Talk to them
Speak to a few copywriters to get a feel for how you will work together. You’ll get an idea of their approach, their experience, and if they’ll be a good fit for you. Do they instil confidence that they will do a good job? You’ll quickly identify their attitude and interest in working with you, how they like to work, their turnaround time, fee and what they would need from you to get the project started if you decide to work with them. And ask for referees.
4. How responsive are they?
Do you need copywriting at short notice? Have you found the copywriters you’ve contacted to be responsive to your inquiry? If you’ve worked with a copywriter, did they take a solid brief and show that they understood your objectives, the word count, the audience and the key messages for the content? Did they deliver as promised? And did they follow-up with you?
5. Do you have a preference for an agency or individual?
Most copywriters are freelancers or solo businesses. We receive CVs from freelancers all the time and it’s surprisingly challenging to find genuinely good copywriters.
One of the benefits of working with an agency copywriter is that there’s a team and processes behind them to support the project. For instance, a good agency will have quality controls in place to maximise your return on investment. And if for any reason you are not happy about any part of the process, there is a team behind the copywriter to support you. This might be the agency’s owner or director, account manager or a general manager.
Plus, agencies have more than one copywriter. If you have a different types of content that needs copywriting, working with a single agency gives you access to copywriters with different skillsets, and not necessarily at a higher fee than a freelance copywriter.
Contact us today for your professional copywriting needs
Partnering with the professional copywriters at Proof Communications will help you to ensure your content is spot-on and increase your opportunity for success. Get in touch or ring us on 02 8036 5532 or 0448 566 377 to learn what we can do for your business.