Hiring A Freelance Copywriter
How To Hire A Freelance Copywriter
Copywriting is essential to any part of a marketing campaign. Today the marketplace is competitive and you need to be visible in search engines and engage with your customers. Your target audience is on the go, and you need content that engages and sells readers to drive more sales and boost ROI. People and search engines have learned how to look past inferior content and are drawn to content that creates a lasting impression and meets your client’s needs.
Why Should You Hire A Copywriter?
If you want to stay ahead of your competition in today’s competitive market, you need to build an online presence and engage with your target audience based on their needs. The days are gone when one could just stuff keywords into low-quality content. Now, you need professional and optimized content if you want your business to succeed online.
There are various reasons as to why you should outsource your content needs to a professional copywriter. They include:
- Flexibility – your business likely undergoes seasonal shifts in demand and engagement from your customers. You need someone who can fill in the gaps and not weigh your business down during low periods.
- Creativity – even the most open-minded marketers can fall victim to the "echo chamber” effect of business culture. A freelance copywriter can help provide a fresh perspective to improve your content marketing strategy.
- Efficiency – the economy shifts up and down, and you need an agile marketing strategy during economic turndowns that will not tank your bottom line.
- Scalability – freelance copywriters are a valuable addition to your marketing strategy since copywriters make your content production cycle scalable.
- Pricing – unlike salaried employees, you only pay freelance copywriters for what they produce. Some copywriters charge by the hour and others by the project, therefore, you can find a model that works best for your budget and needs.
What Are The Things You Should Consider When Hiring A Copywriter?
- Identify Your Copy Needs
Identify what you need first before hiring a freelance copywriter. Create a detailed description that defines the parameters of your project and your expectations. The type of content you need will depend on your target audience’s needs, business goals, and content strategy.
When interviewing freelance copywriters, they will enquire about the project in order to determine its level of complexity and quantify the amount of work needed so that they can give you an accurate quote. In addition, you need to consider your budget. Your budget is a general indicator of the quality of copywriting and content marketing types that you can produce.
- Find A Freelance Copywriter With The Right Skills
Writing for the web is different than writing for any other medium. Whether you need content for a blog post or a PPC ad, you need to find a freelance copywriter who knows how to bring sales copy, SEO, and user experience in a way that drives engagement and sales.
Web content needs to be accessible, relatable and targeted to your readers. Therefore, you will need to hire a freelance copywriter with refined skills, and other additional skills. Additional skills include:
- Strong Writing Skills – this is an obvious skill set. When hiring a freelance copywriter, you need someone who can write great content. They should have a firm handle on the basics of copywriting like punctuation, grammar, writing style tone, engaging content, proofreading, and editing.
- Audience & Market Research Skills – another great freelance copywriter skill is market research. It is important to provide useful information on an article, however, you must have the market data to back your claims up.
- SEO Marketing Expertise – when hiring a freelance copywriter, get someone who knows how to format and optimize copywriting projects to get found in search engines with SEO strategies. Hire someone who understands the science behind algorithms and how people interact with content to drive more sales.
- Understand User Experience – the best freelance copywriters are obsessed with the user’s experience. Your content needs to be optimized to get found by research engines and optimized for your readers’ needs. A great copywriter will create high-quality content based on your target audience.
- Look At Writing Samples
The hiring process for a writer can be tiring and you need to make sure that you hire the right one for your content needs. The best copywriters are not just great at writing or technical skills. They also need to be professional and reliable. Make sure to check references and business portfolios of their past work. You will know when you find a great writer because they will have the technical and professional skill levels to stand out from other writers. Usually, this is a straightforward step because you can talk to s-3 references and review past work produced by the writer.
- Consider the Writers Personality
Creating copy for a project can be an intensive process and can take anywhere from a few days to months. During that period, you and your production team will likely have numerous occasions to interact with your freelance copywriter. In this case, wouldn’t you prefer to work with someone you like? That will make the experience enjoyable rather than stressful.
Try to get a sense of the copywriter’s personality when considering them for the job. The best fit would be someone who is personable, sensitive to your needs, and a good listener.
- When Hiring A Freelance Copywriter, Think Long Term
Is your project a one-off? Or do you plan to have additional marketing projects for which you will need content in the future?
If you find a great copywriter, someone with whom you connect, you will want them to work with them for all your copywriting needs. After the first project, you will not have to spend time getting them up to speed on your business. In addition, the copywriter can help you develop a consistent voice in your copy that will help build your company’s brand.
- Enquire About The Process
Every writer has their own method of getting up to speed on a project and making their way to the finish line. Choose someone who operates in a way that you are comfortable with. Some writers will require you to fill out a questionnaire that will provide them with background about your company and objectives. Others will interview you either by phone or in person. Lastly, others will request to see any previous marketing materials for your company in order to become familiar with your style and branding.
- Identify The Style Of Copy You Need And Explain Your Objectives
Consider your audience. Who will ultimately be reading the copy? Is it a layperson or someone with a high level of expertise? What media are you using? For instance, website copy is usually written in a friendly, conversational tone while technical manuals use more sophisticated language that presumes the reader already has a solid knowledge base on the subject matter.
When laying down your objectives, figure out what you want your prospects to ultimately do after reading your copy. Do you want them to just have a better understanding of your product, or do you want them to click on the "Buy Now” button? Make sure that you discuss your marketing strategy with your freelance copywriter.
- Set A Schedule
The type, amount, and frequency of content you need depend on your market strategy and business goals. It is important to build a schedule to outline the content you need and when the content is due. This type of information will help you determine costs, and you can make sure the writer can handle the required work.
- Introduce Your Copywriter To Your Designer & Content Strategists
You will get the most value with top freelance copywriters by connecting them with other parts of your business. Introduce the writer to your design team and project managers to bring the professional writer closer to your business needs. Content marketing is a holistic approach to engage customers, and writing copy should be part of the more extensive business process. The right copywriter will be willing to get involved with other teams to ensure they deliver the content you need on your desired schedule.
Hire A Freelance Copywriter Today
Hiring a freelance copywriter can be a difficult process. However, you can follow the above steps to find the copywriter you need in a fraction of the time.
Talk to us today if you need to hire a freelance copywriter!