When does hiring a copywriter makes sense?

Running a business takes a lot of admin. You’re busy all the time and there’s always something else in need of your attention.

With an ever increasing ‘to do’ list, when is it the right time to bring in a professional, and pass on a bit of that hard graft? When does hiring a copywriter make sense?

The copywriting profession is completely alien to plenty of people. For some, it’s surprising to know there’s a whole world of writers with different specialties. They freelance, or work for an agency – some focus on certain subjects or on specific mediums.

Traditional advertising copywriters (like those in the TV series, Mad Men) do still exist. But now there are also copywriters who specialise in website copywriting, SEO, content marketing, and nearly any area of your digital marketing you can think of.

Whatever the skills required, or the subject area, somewhere there’s a copywriter who can transform your copy into a successful marketing tool.

We’ll look at the benefits of hiring someone else to handle your writing, and the pitfalls to watch out for – especially if you’re on the verge of taking that leap.

Good return on investment

If you’re selling a high value product or service online, hiring a copywriter is a no brainer – as long as you keep an eye on your return on investment (ROI).

A copywriter’s job is to get people onto your website: via SEO, content marketing or social media for example. And sell your product or services: with well-written, targeted copy.

On the whole, if you hire a copywriter who knows what they’re doing – your investment will be paid for, many fold, by the profit you make from their writing.

Of course it’s not always simple to see the correlation between your marketing spend and how this translates to sales. Buyers take many different journeys depending on your product or services.

But even with difficult to follow user journeys, it’s usually possible to estimate ROI – indeed most copywriters will be more than happy to help you calculate how much profit they’ve sent your way.

And if you’re seeing a clear increase in website visits and/or enquiries, working out your ROI is just a matter of revisiting how much you’ve spent on your copywriter, and calculating the difference in profit.

Is your time better invested elsewhere?

Your business may have started on a shoestring budget, but there comes a point it’s worth investing a little to reap a lot more.

When you’re struggling to keep up with all areas of your business, hiring a copywriter can remove some of the burden, while also making financial sense.

Successfully maintaining, marketing and growing your business when you’re short on time is difficult. So bringing in someone else – even if they’re just covering your social media, writing your newsletter once a month or doing a bit of editing – can really help.

That way, you can focus your efforts on other areas of your business, like the day-to-day work, or the tasks you’re especially skilled at.

This is particularly important if writing doesn’t come easily – copywriters tend to be much quicker at producing compelling copy than those who don’t do it for a living.

It comes down to deciding whether it’s more economical to invest your own time into writing, or if it’s better spent in other more profitable areas.

Copywriters aren’t short on ideas

Forget structuring your ideas into a coherent, effective sales pitch. Sometimes it’s the ideas themselves that are the stumbling block.

Copywriters come up with ideas and different ways to express these as their job. They’re adept at turning the uninspiring into the inspiring. And they know what sells, why, and to whom.

So if you’re really struggling to come up with new ideas, a different direction, or the right focus to market your business, it might be time to hire a copywriter.

Even seemingly dry products and services can be made exciting when you have the right person doing the idea generation for you.

Minimise risks

You’ll never know 100% if something you’ve never tried before will work out. The same is true for any new working relationship.

Choosing a copywriter can be scary: there’ll certainly be an outlay, and in the end there’s a chance it won’t work out.

But there are plenty of ways to minimise this risk:

Do your research beforehand. Ask the copywriter for writing examples, talk about their experience and understand their processes – before you decide to work together.
Look at testimonials or ask someone in a similar business to yours to recommend a copywriter they’ve worked with.
Hire a freelancer, or a copywriting agency, rather than employing someone permanently (at least to start with). Taking on an employee is a far bigger commitment and risk.
Keep to smaller projects when you first work with a new copywriter, that way there’s very little to lose if it doesn’t work out.
Check you’ll be allowed to ask for amendments. Most writers factor at least one or two rounds of amendments into their pricing.
Set deadlines from the start to minimise any delays.
Be clear with your expectations to avoid miscommunication.

In the end it’s about weighing up the costs versus benefits. But if you have the budget to spare and you choose someone with the right skillset, hiring a copywriter can certainly be worth the investment.