Freelance copywriting: educate your clients

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As a freelance copywriter, you need to educate your prospective clients.

If your client is a small business person, he isn’t aware that copywriters exist, much less what they do. Corporate clients are aware of copywriters, but often don’t know the difference between bad copy and good copy.

It doesn’t take much to set up in business as a copywriter. Just call yourself a “copywriter” and post your availability on the online out-sourcing boards.

Bad copywriters exist, and they get paid too much
A few months back, I was overloaded with work, and posted a job online at one of the popular out-sourcing venues. The job consisted of a series of short articles on “The Benefits Of A Web Site For A Business”. I got lots of bids on the job, and chose a writer who seemed the most competent.

He wrote 5000 words for me. Here’s an example of his style:

Internet has revolutionized the means of communication and website has become the tool of manipulating business and making global presence. A website works in two ways. While on one hand, it is a strong repository of your products and services, you can use a website as an information retrieval system on the other. Either ways, it is instrumental and beneficial for your business strategy and growth.

How Will Your Website Help You?
Website works on the parameters of flexible time and convenience and has therefore become the most preferred tool for business and spreading information. Your customers and clients expect that you have a web site. Your website would therefore provide them with all the necessary information about your products, services and your deals. On the personal front, your website helps your loved ones to keep a track of the recent happenings and developments in your life.

Did I pay for this cr*p? You bet. I’d commissioned this “writer”, so I had to pay him. I also had to spend the best part of a weekend writing the entire series of articles, because I certainly couldn’t send this gibberish to a client.

You must educate your clients
Copywriters aren’t alone in needing to education their clients. Brett Jocelyn Epstein is a translator, and his article “Educating the Customer” is a must-read, with lots of great ideas:

Something I try to do whenever I receive a shocked response to an estimate is to write a polite e-mail in which I explain what is involved in translation and how I arrived at the price. If a lot of research is required in order to find specific technical words or if the assignment requires you to work nights or over a weekend, tell the customer. If you are expected to complete a large job in a short period of time or if you will have to go to a university library to use reference books that are only found there, explain that. Don’t be shy about saying how many hours you anticipate a translation to take you or about describing what the work will demand of you; most people don’t understand what goes into a translation and they may, as Mr. Rumsey said, view it as merely “typing in a foreign language.”

If you’re a new copywriter, the need to educate your clients may come as a shock to you. If you’re an established freelance copywriter, you may be aware of the need, but chances are that you don’t pay as much attention to the process as you could.

It takes time to educate your clients, and the process is on-going. Take the time, it will pay off in better commissions and better client relationships.

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