18 Considerations To Weigh Before Hiring A Copywriter

by Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan

All right. You've decided to hire a copywriter because you don't want to put your future in the hands of sporadically performing salespeople and you want to maximise your sales while frugally controlling the your cost of sales. But before you make the final decision, there are some considerations to take into account.

1. Defining Your Objectives

What do you expect to achieve by hiring a copywriter. Are you looking for a copywriter to write sales messages that bring in revenue, or are you looking for a general writer? Here we discuss the hiring a copywriter. Is this copywriter for a long-term relationship (outsourcing) or for a one-off deal (out-tasking). Are you looking for someone good or someone cheap?

Quantify the expected - quantitative, qualitative and personal - return on investment and decide what you're willing to invest to achieve it. No, there are no guarantees to achieve it, but the right writer can help you to increase your probability of pulling it off. Also, according to the laws of the Participative Universe Theory, most of the time in life we find what we are looking for and we get what we truly expect and demonstrate a commitment to achieve it.

2. Check The Copywriter's Own Marketing Materials

Do you deem them professionally done? Do they give you the feeling of confidence that this copywriter can do kick-arse work on your project? Do you like the way the copywriter's own stuff is written? There must be a fit between you and the copywriter to work together. As the saying goes, the way people sell themselves is a reflection of how they do the work.

But there is one thing to consider here. Copywriters write the way it works. Besides, it's not you who has to like it but the market. You're not the market. So don't get to hung up just because you don't like what you see.

3. Meet The Copywriter Either In Person Or On The Phone

You have to feel comfortable with the human being behind the copywriter title. How does the person treat you? Does she treat you as an equal and a collaborator or just as another dumb prospect to be turned into an invoice number? Read the person as much as you can. Read body language, tone of voice, etc. Is this writer a hard seller? Does he use manipulative techniques to close the sale? Or does she use diagnostic questions to find out more about you and your project, and in doing so actually facilitates your decision-making process? Be aware of your gut feelings, and don't rely fully on your intellect. It can deceive you.

4. No Self-Diagnosis

Don't expect your copywriter to go to work based on your self-diagnosis. Expect her to ask you deep, meaningful and - yes - inconvenient and provocative questions. Why? For the same reason why you would feel uneasy if your general practitioner sent you for a heart bypass operation based on your own diagnosis.

Patient: "Doc, I have chest pain. I think I need heart bypass surgery."

Doc: All right! "Do you prefer double or triple bypass?"

Patient: "Let's see! Triple... Just to make sure.

Doc: "All right. Let me write you a referral to surgery.

What you know as the problem is more often than not is the symptom. Together with your copywriter you can find the problem and solve it. But if you tell the copywriter to work as per your self-diagnosis, the best of them will throw you out of their offices and reject to accept you as a client.

5. Never Mind The Copywriter's Writing Samples

Those samples may have been written to a market you don't know and don't understand. Thus you can't judge objectively the quality of those samples. You can only decide whether or not you like them. But you're not the buyer. You're the seller. And you're a copywriting layman. So, your opinion on how good or bad those marketing pieces are doesn't count. Not a sausage. When it comes to copywriting, the centre of the universe is the prospect who receives the message and is expected to buy the stuff you sell, not you who hires the copywriter.

6. Don't Rely On Crutches Like References And Testimonials

Just because a small group of people rave about this copywriter, it doesn't mean you will rave about him and his work. Go with your own judgement and be smart enough not to rely on other people's opinions. During your meeting with the copywriter you must be able to "thin slice" him and decide whether or not there is a connection to work together.

7. Reject Copywriters With Small Print In Their Contracts

Small prints are hidden agendas and they're covert. The copywriter is either willing to do business above the table, showing you his cards or it's a no deal. Make sure everything is on paper and nothing is left to guessing.

8. The More You Share, The More You Sell

The more information you make available to your copywriter, the more powerful the copy will be. Be generous to invest time to work with the copywriter. She can't work FOR you only WITH you. Considering that copywriting is pretty expensive, and also one of the highest ROI activity in any business, make sure there is plenty of interaction between you and the copywriter.

9. "Just Leave It To Me And Get Out Of My Way"

When you hear from a copywriter that she works in isolation, and you'll get the finished copy, then you'd better run. Yes, the copywriter knows copywriting, but you know your business and market. You have to work together to create the best and most profit pulling copy.

10. Never Accept Hourly Fees From A Copywriter

When a copywriter says, "My rate is $125 per hour and I have no idea how long it will take to write your letter", then you'd better run very fast and very far. Remember Parkinson's law: "Work expands to fill the time available." In the hourly scenario, there is no time limit. The copywriter just keeps doing the stuff. This is gross incompetence. Besides, charging for time punishes effectiveness and proficiency. Your copywriter must be able to give you a flat fee for the work that is based on your perception of the value you expect to derive from using the copy. That is, you can expect to pay more for a letter that generates sales leads for a Ferrari dealership than for a letter that sells ribbed condoms. Not the same value. The copywriter is a knowledge worker who gets paid for the value he can bring to your table, so you can't pay him as a manual labourer for the number of hours dispensed or the number of words written.

11. Never Make Copywriters Bid For Your Project

When you do, you automatically cut out the best copywriters from the equation. Every good copywriter knows that RFP (Request For Proposal) really means Real Fools Participate and are issued by cheapskates or some tight-fisted government purchasing agents. Instead of asking them to bid, take some time to interview them one by one. A good relationship with a mediocre copywriter is more profitable for you than a mediocre relationship with a great copywriter. If you give trust, then you receive trust. If you give respect, then you receive respect. And when you build a team of people around you that is based on mutual trust and respect, then become very powerful.

12. Ignore Copywriters Who Don't Charge Royalties

All good copywriters work on a flat fee plus royalty basis. The fee-only copywriters are usually the timid newcomers. Yes, they charge low fees but, again, you get what you pay for. The royalty structure also makes certain that the copywriter has an ongoing vested interest in your long-term success, and to continually tweak your copy for the best results.

Now you may ask, why not only the royalty without the flat fee. The fact that you invest in your own future demonstrates that you are serious. It's only fair to ask you to invest in your own business and in your own success.

13. Ignore Special Business/Industry Knowledge

Copywriting is based on time-tested principles, so don't reject copywriting candidates just because they have a less than 100% understanding of your specific industry or your business. I don't know the intricacies of CRM, but understanding engineering and computer principles, I can grasp the "big picture" of the CRM concept, and have been able to write copy for CRM applications with great success. One of the biggest mistakes many technology companies make is that it's their technical people who basically "dictate" the copy to the marketing folks, or very often to the receptionist. The technical genius/marketing layman "collaborates" with the marketing genius/technical layman. And neither really knows what the hell is happening. They don't even understand each other. And the result is a disaster.

14. Demand Collaboration Between The Copywriter And Your People

Good copywriters insist on working in close collaboration with your business development folks. The copywriter can write but your people know the market, the business and the industry. The copy is basically a written representation of what your business stands for (brand), what your people know, the phrases they use, etc. If the copywriter tries to create a great earth-shattering copy in isolation, in her little home office, then move on and check another candidate.

15. Put Your Marketing Director In Charge Of The Project

16. Treat Your Copywriter As A Knowledge Worker

Regard your copywriter as a knowledge worker who applies years of accumulated intellectual capital to help you to sell more. Consider your copywriter as the part of your business development team. In order to create great copy, she is likely to interact with every other team member who is involved in sales, marketing or client service. And this is perfectly normal. The copy must enhance the brand (marketing), must sell (sales) and communicate how clients will be served and treated once they buy (client service). People know that the way they are sold is the way they are served.

17. Don't Let Operational People Interfere With The Copywriter's Work

Every interference with the copywriter is an obstruction of justice. That is, justice to give you the best copy that can produce the best results for your company. Operational people often regard copywriter as the reason why they don't get pay increase because this bloody overpriced leech, the copywriter, has to be paid. Operational people don't have the gut-level understanding that a business must be profitable to keep them on board.

So, make sure your copywriter works with all the "strategic" people and protect him from your operational staff. Strategic people (at least the ones who deserve to be in these positions) are looking for constant improvements, while tactical, operational people try to keep the status quo. For most tacticians, including accountants, marketing is a waste of time and money, an unnecessary expense which should be minimised or, even better, be completely annihilated. There is only one problem here: Operational people and accountants can't generate revenue. They only demand pay increase.

18. Constant And Never Ending Testing

This is why you need a copywriter on royally payment. No copywriter gets it right on the first attempt. That's why testing has been invented. Many years ago an ad with the headline of "Are You Making Mistakes In English?" was a disaster. For the second test it was modified to "Are You Making These Mistakes In English?" It has become one of the most lucrative headlines ever created. Here's another example: When legendary advertising man, David Ogilvy got Rolls Royce as a client, it took him six weeks to write a headline alone for the ad: "At 60 Miles An Hour The Loudest Noise In This New Rolls-Royce Comes From The Electric Clock" Since its first appearance, this headline has made Rolls Royce billions of dollars. I reckon the Rolls Royce folks were smart enough to be patient.

A fee-only copywriter gives you the first copy and Bob's your uncle. You're on your own. But a royalty-based copywriter helps you with testing and constantly improves the copy. If you consider that the headline alone can make as much as 2,100% difference to your response rate, it only makes sense to keep that copywriter on the royalty structure.

On Summary

Copywriting is more than putting words together. Much much more. It's a part of your whole marketing strategy. Once you experience the benefits of good copywriting in the forms of higher sales, more subscribers, more members, more and better sales leads, shorter sales cycles, then you start viewing your whole business from a different perspective. That's when you realise that to sell more is only valid if you also keep more after the expenses are paid.

Treat your copywriter like the proverbial goose that lays the golden eggs. If you treat her well, you'll get lots of golden eggs, and your company will be bloody successful. If you treat her poorly, she will shit all over your yard and your company will stink like a whore house at low tide.

First of all, she will approach your main competitors, and one of the smart ones is likely to hire her, and then you're toast. Now she's going to write with the intention of to make her new client successful. And you can guess who's going to lose out on the deal.

So, good luck to find the right copywriter.