Your guide to choosing, briefing and retaining the freelance marketing copywriter that's right for you, your business and your bottom line.

For many businesses, outsourcing - of non core skills such as copywriting - makes sound commercial sense, enabling you to extend your talent pool without increasing your payroll. There is, however, a downside…

The lack of any longer term contractual obligation can result in firms’ choosing a writer based on less than stringent short-term criteria – usually something along the lines of: ‘they’re available, and they’re cheap’.

Such ‘commoditised’ thinking makes for promiscuous clients, opportunistic service providers and fleeting - low-value - business relationships.

Choose the right adviser, however – one who has the tactical skills you need now and a reserve of strategic expertise for the future – and you’ll have at your disposal a real commercial asset: a source of advice and support who’ll help you to maximise the return on your marketing investment.

Networking made easy

Thanks largely to the Internet, creating a shortlist of qualified writers has never been easier. In particular, business networking sites - such as Linked-in and ecademy - allow you to review the profiles of a raft of specialist writers, and to browse detailed client reviews, at your leisure. Which means you can establish your prospective scribes’ bona fides - their experience of your industry, your market(s) and your preferred media - before you even meet.

Of course, notwithstanding the global reach of the web, you’ll be fortunate to find a writer who specialises in – say – petrochemical trade press copy for North American o-ring manufacturers. But you’ll have little difficulty sourcing any number of ‘generalist’ writers with an engineering and/or technical background. And this should be sufficient.

Whilst it helps to have a writer who already speaks your language – who understands the lexicon of your business - the broader influences and ideas a generalist writer picks up along the way can enable them to bring a fresh perspective to your project. And to translate your most complex product features into differentiated, benefit-laden marketing communications.

Similarly, although you may be looking for a writer for your email campaign or website, do not feel you have to seek out one of the many self-styled ‘online copywriters’ that you’ll find plying their cyber-trade.

In reality, the principles of effective marketing communications - espoused by traditional advertising and direct mail specialists such as Drayton Bird, Rosser Reeves and Herschell Gordon Lewis - apply equally in the online world: in search engine optimisation, banner and Pay Per Click advertising, email marketing, website creation and so on.

Portfolio

To gain a better idea – of their experience and capabilities – you should ask to see the writer’s ‘book’; that is: their portfolio of copy samples.

The literature that the prospective writer provides to you is important – in terms of presentation, yes, but more importantly, content. So don’t be distracted by stunning graphics and typography. You’re not assessing their (or more likely their clients’) designer’s skills – you’re assessing their copywriting prowess.

Bear in mind, too, that the copywriter’s book will contain only the very best examples of their work. The material they think will most impress you, their hoped-for client. You, on the other hand, want to know how closely that finished product reflected the initial brief – and how effective it proved as a marketing tool.

So be sure to ask what results the copy achieved. And take the names of a couple of referees who’ll be happy to verify the writer’s claims.

Style over substance

In the final analysis, the marketing copywriter lives or dies by results: by the leads and/or sales s/he achieves.

Conversely, the style - or ‘tone of voice’ – that they adopt will vary to suit the project on which they’re working, and the audiences they’re targeting. Thus it should never be seen as a differentiator, at the shortlist stage.

Similarly, a client list that reads like a Who’s Who of your industry tells you the writer has been in business for a while. But here again you shouldn’t be too easily impressed: in reality, it’s not terribly difficult for a freelance to secure a one-off project from, say, Dell Computer – and thus legitimately add the company to their list of credits.

It’s considerably tougher to secure an ongoing relationship with that company, spanning a number of projects. So try to determine for how long – and in what capacity – the writer has worked for each client.

The long haul

So – to practicalities. You’ve established that your writer can get to grips with your business. They have a proven track record. And they can adapt their style to meet your needs. Would that this were enough. It isn’t.

You’re recruiting for the long haul, remember. So you need to be sure your chosen supplier is a ‘good overall fit’ for you, and your firm.

Do not underestimate the importance of getting along with your chosen writer. Marketing is, after all, a creative process; if the team doesn’t ‘gel’, the project will suffer.

So, a face-to-face meeting - to get a feel for their approach, temperament and character – is paramount.

The ease with which such a meeting can be arranged is telling in itself. If the writer drops everything to meet at a moment’s notice, chances are s/he’s not too busy. Does this suggest a lack of work? And if so: why?

If, by contrast, scheduling a mutually acceptable meeting proves tricky you have to question their capacity - their ability to turn your work around in the required timeframe.

During the meeting itself, you’ll be looking for a candidate who asks searching, relevant and insightful questions – ensuring a detailed understanding of your needs. Ideally, they’ll reference previous clients, who faced – and with their help, overcame - similar problems.

They may also offer suggestions to complement your piece – and even argue the case for an alternative approach. This is all to the good.

Provided their argument is based on empirical evidence – as opposed to ill-informed arrogance – it could pay you to listen (even if prima facie you disagree). You’re not looking for a ‘yes-man’, after all; you’re seeking an experienced professional who’ll add value – in the form of new ideas, concepts, messages and copy treatments – to your business.

Ways of working

Some writers choose to work from their home or office – others at their clients’.

Either way, if the product is complex, some degree of face-to-face contact will be essential. Generally, however, once you’ve furnished your copywriter with the information they need, they’ll probably be most comfortable (and most productive) working from their own premises - surrounded by their reference library and other accoutrements - and reserving site visits for essential briefing and review meetings.

And even those latter visits may not be completely essential: video conferencing provides a workable alternative for geographically dispersed teams – and it saves on travel costs too.

On which topic: budget, inevitably, has to be a factor in your choice of writer. And with rates varying from £25 or even less an hour - to well over £250 - there’s sure to be a freelance to meet your needs.

Unfortunately, the writer’s hourly rate is just part of the story...

By way of example, at the outset of Steve Calder’s career (some years ago, admittedly) he charged just £10 an hour – and he was happy to negotiate. Needless to say, he was quickly snapped up by an agency, who immediately raised his charge-out rate - to £140 per hour.

Same writer – 1,400% fee difference.

Writers have a range of motives for the level at which they set their fees. Some may wish to remain below the VAT threshold; others may price aggressively, to ramp their new business acquisition - before either hiking their rates dramatically, or buckling under the strain of too much work.

As a general rule, however: the cheaper the writer, the more handholding will be required on your part.

Writers who charge towards the upper end of the scale will usually hit the ground running: they’ll work on their own initiative – helping you to develop new concepts and marketing messages, and offering real added-value based, usually, on proven experience.

Conversely, those operating at ‘the cheaper end’ will require more direction: these are the writers you call upon to finesse your existing materials, and ensure the commas appear in all the right places. Which may be all you need.

In leading copywriter Bob Bly’s view, however, writers need to be involved much earlier in the marketing process. He says, "Too often, clients come to the agency and say Do an ad, when in fact print advertising may be the least effective means of promoting the product.

"View your writer as a source of ideas and marketing knowledge, not a place where layouts are made or insertion orders typed."

Speed of turnaround, too, has to be a factor in your deliberations. Who, after all, is less expensive: the writer who charges £30 an hour and spends a week creating the communication you need? Or the writer who charges £60 and turns the project around, satisfactorily, within two days?

The case for a fixed price quotation is clear – enabling you to make a true ‘apples-with-apples’ comparison and ensuring there will be no nasty surprises when the invoice arrives in your In-box.

With the latter in mind, you should also insist upon a supporting Copywriting Agreement setting out any and all applicable Terms and Conditions - including undertakings (on both sides), access to background information and key personnel, revisions and alterations, proof reading, treatment of expenses and deadlines. On which topic…

Most writers will ask for as long as possible to refine and polish your piece – and rightly so. The longer they are allowed, the better the job will be.

Final word count is of no consequence here: it can take far longer to create a focused 30-word press ad than to write a six page direct mail piece. (Lest we forget Blaise Pascal’s apocryphal postscript: "I would have written a shorter letter but didn't have time.")

And it’s not about inflating your invoice either. In fact, it’s the hours the writer doesn’t bill for that can be the most productive: the period, for instance, between the preliminary briefing session and that all-important ‘first cut’.

During this (usually all too short) hiatus, the writer’s subconscious sets to work, assimilating the supplied information, and devising, sifting and rejecting an infinite series of approaches and ideas.

Consequently, when the time comes to write, the communication is invariably half-formed, and the act of writing comes easy (well, easyish).

On a similar note, the luxury of a break between the first and subsequent drafts allows the writer to revisit the job with a fresh eye – enabling them to quickly pick up on, for example, typo’s, verbosity, clumsy phrases and ambiguity.

The message then is clear: wherever possible, give the writer the time s/he needs to do the job. Properly.

That said, once it’s agreed, your deadline is sacrosanct. And although few writers would be keen to match Steve Calder’s rip-up-your-invoice guarantee, some form of penalty – for late delivery – is not unreasonable.

If – like you – the writer is looking to develop a long term relationship, s/he’ll be happy to oblige.