Ever wondered what a freelance copywriter does?

Perhaps you’re a business owner with a website to write. Maybe you’re a course-creator with a membership to launch. You might be in sales with a proposal to present.

Crucially, you probably want to sell something.

‘Copy’ is simply the words that help you do that selling. And a copywriter is a skilled writer who can write those words for you.

Perhaps you’re now imagining the pyjama-clad writer, sitting in her home-office, around about midday, flexing her creative muscles to craft a few clever words for your campaign, before charging you an arm, a leg, and a kidney.

Well, hold onto your internal organs, and banish that (well, perhaps not the pyjama bit, given the recent rise of the ‘Zoom Meridian’.)

Any copywriter worth a limb or two will give you much more than just words.

They’ll give you stories, emotions, persuasive arguments, rational reasoning and more.

Here’s how:

A good copywriter won’t write a single word until they know you, and your customer, better than their best friend’s husband (wife, roommate, dog, you get my drift).

So, once you’ve decided that you want to work together (you’ve likely paid a 50% commencement invoice), the copywriting process begins with the Copywriting Brief.

This is a document that asks you lots of questions including;

• the details of the copywriting project itself, and what you want it to achieve

• details of your product or service and the problems it solves

• your brand personality and tone of voice

• your ideal customer/target market

• what makes your solution different

• what action you want your potential customer to take

• and who your competitors are

You can fill the Brief out and return it to your copywriter, or you can talk through the questions and complete it together. However you complete it, this is a really important document. The better the brief, the better the copy. Once complete, your copywriter will want to run through the brief with you on a call, just to make sure they’ve captured everything you want to cover, and hear it in your words.

So, let’s presume the brief’s been nailed and approved, it’s time to get started. But it’s still not quite time to start writing…hold your horses!

The Voice of Customer treasure trove

Customer research data is gold. And not just the facts and figures from your website or email analytics that tell you how your customers behave. A good copywriter will want to know what your customers SAY about you and your market. They’ll want to speak to your customers if they can. And they’ll trawl through your reviews, pick through your customer feedback, speak to the lady on reception or stalk your customers online. Like your very own superhero, they’ll do whatever it takes to get some golden ‘voice of customer’ nuggets.

Why? There’s so much benefit to it. Not only can your copywriter use your customers’ comments (word for word sometimes) in your copy to engage with them, they can also tackle customer objections (what’s stopped them from buying in the past), and describe their ideal outcomes (by painting a picture of what their life will be like with the benefits of your solution).

In short, your copy should tap into the conversation already happening in your customer’s head. If you speak in your customer’s voice, and address their concerns, then they’ll feel understood and want to know more.

Your copywriter will also want to weave some of these customer testimonials through your copy at just the right moment.

How do you want your customers to see you?

Your ace copywriter will also want to know about your brand’s voice. How do you present your brand to your customers? What tone of voice do you use? Are you serious and authoritative? Are you fun and playful? Are you friendly and familiar?

If you’re not sure, your copywriter might ask you about any other brands that have values similar to yours, or any websites that have an approach you like. This gives your copywriter important information about what words, phrases, and tone of voice she should use for your project.

Keeping the Google gods happy

If your project is online, you might have some SEO keywords you need to include in your copy. These help you rank highly in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). An SEO copywriter will know how to pepper these keywords through your headlines, main copy, or blog. If you don’t have your keywords, they’ll be able to help you identify the ones worth trying to rank for.

Design and write in tandem

If you’re working with a designer, it’s a good idea to get them connected with your copywriter. It makes sense that your image and your words work well together from the beginning, rather than trying to push a square peg through a round hole later in the process.

It’s finally time to do some writing

Rather than a complete document, this is likely to start as an outline or a skeleton, including suggestions for different sections or pages (of your website, email sequence or brochure, for example) and a sample of the tone of voice and vocabulary to be used.

Your copywriter will ask you to approve or amend this document, and from there, will be able to get cracking on your first draft. Most copywriters will include two rounds of amendments within their proposal. This means that after they’ve submitted the first draft, they’ll make any necessary changes and submit a second draft. Then they’ll make final amendments before handing over the final document.

Time to go live!

Huzzah! After much back-patting and a little lie-down, it’s time to watch the results, to see if you’ve achieved the outcome you wanted. You might want to try something a little different next time, and compare results. Something as simple as a change in the subject line of an email can have a big impact, and it’s great to be able to build up an idea of what works well for your future marketing.

Whatever your business, good copy can make all the difference. The right copywriter will take the stress out of finding the perfect words for your business, so you can get back to doing what you do best.

Want to know more about how my writing can help your business? Read more here. Or email me at laura@lauramcnerlin.com. I’d love to hear from you.