I’ll be honest. There are a million illustrations I could give about how effective good copywriting is; how to say something well and how to say something not so well. Copywriters love to give examples of ‘how words work’ and tell anecdotes about the time someone wrote a high profile website and used the word ‘pubic’ instead of ‘public’. The spellchecker never picked it up. Hilarious. Actually, more like embarrassing. Mistakes look shoddy, that’s the bottom line. They make the rest of your work look shoddy and frankly, as if you didn’t care. By the way, searching for ‘pubic’ will always be one of my top tips for anyone writing their own copy, unless of course they’re writing for Biology News.
So, writing. You may have written a good few essays at school or university. You may know how to string a sparkling sentence, or two, together. No need to waste good money on something you can do yourself. Copywriting is surely money for old rope…
But is it? First of all, do you have the time? Some clients have me write their publicity material, website, speech, report, brochure, etc. because they simply haven’t the time to do it themselves. From a purely practical perspective, this makes a lot of sense. How often have we all sat down to do what we think is a simple task, only to then realise it's turning into something quite complex? That paragraph is too long. I haven’t mentioned my services yet. Am I really talking up my usp? In fact, shouldn’t I have framed it all around my usp? What is my usp? Oh no, that sentence sounds rubbish now I read it back. Maybe I can copy someone else’s if I just do a bit of googling. Is it a jumble? I’ll get someone else to read it and tell me.
If at any point you think, ‘I’ll get another person to read it’, you’re half-way to realising the second great reason for getting someone else to write your copy, and preferably someone who knows what they are doing. Why exactly? Because it is rare that someone, anyone, even a copywriter, can write good words about themselves. Since writing is such a delicately personal process (it is an art form after all!) we can hardly ever project ourselves as the heroes. When starting to write, the anxieties and self-doubt travel out of our brain, race down our arms and into our typing fingers. Those that confidently say that they do not suffer from self-doubt have the reverse of the aforementioned affliction; when starting to write, arrogance and self-flattery stampede their way to the digits banging away on the keyboard.
So, lack of time, self-doubt and lack of self-doubt – three very good reasons to use a professional copywriter.
My fourth and most pompous reason is that in order for you to expose the brilliance of your product or service to your intended audience, you need to hire a copywriter that speaks their mind. Let me explain. If I am to write copy about something that needs to sound like the best thing since the microchip, I have to get to the nitty-gritty of it. This means that I can go on a bit, ask questions and behave a bit like an awkward customer. It’s in the client’s best interests; even if I am probing around asking about potentially difficult situations. I might ask ‘why do you do that?’ and ‘why don’t you do that?’ I might ask ‘what makes you believe you’re the best this particular industry has to offer?’ It sometimes jars the conversation a bit, but, I speak my mind. I have to. I always explain to my client that the reason I need to do this is because I need to seal all the edges of their offer, so that I can talk to their customer in full confidence of their product or service. And it’s only through this process that I can capture the right tone of voice, to speak to their intended audience and paint a picture of where they want to be.
“Tell me everything about your company. Tell me the three most important things about your offer. Tell me where you want to be in a year’s time. Tell me who you want your customers to be. What are the qualities of your offer that you feel most strongly about?”
Light-heartedness aside, whilst I do maintain that the above are excellent reasons for using a professional copywriter, I really must come back to mistakes and the effect of shoddiness on your business. It isn’t only a piece of work littered with spelling mistakes that will look rubbish, just one or two slips can undermine you. Copywriters and proofreaders are trained in what they do. They have exacting standards, a trait that you can borrow when you hire them. Copywriters can be your critical friend through this ‘speaking their mind’ business. Whilst this trait can be an annoying in most other areas of life, it can be a good test commercially.
So, if you feel like answering a few questions like the above, then do get in touch, with me, or another professional copywriter who isn’t afraid to speak their mind to really get to the bottom of things. But remember, if they’re not asking all the questions, then they’re doing you a disservice. Just be sure to use my top ‘pubic’ search tip on any work they give you.
Many thanks for reading.
Rachel Guest author bio: Rachel Smith of Rachel Smith Writing and Editing Services www.rachelsmith.org.uk, 07968 398082.
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