3 hidden costs of copywriting

When it comes to some things, you know it's best to get the experts in. Need a website? Call the web guy. Need a brochure? Call the designer.

Website building is a specialist skill, as is design. You don't learn it at school unless you choose the course. Unlike writing. We're all taught to write.

With limited money in the pot, copy is a ripe corner for cutting. However, be aware, there are hidden costs.

1. How much is YOUR time worth?
What isn't getting done because you're writing copy? How much are you being paid while not doing something you're supposed to?

2. Are you delaying the return on your investment?
How long have you been putting off writing that copy? Are you holding up a campaign that could be delivering sales? Is your new website on hold waiting for your words?

3. Sure your copy does your company justice?
By developing your website, having brochures designed and printed, running a mail shot, you're investing in the future of your business. If your prospects leave with an impression of 'style over substance', that expense is wasted.

What you want to say shouldn't be an afterthought. Strange how having something look right steals priority.

How much should I pay for a sales letter?

Checking out the competition is always enlightening. I've been looking at websites of other copywriters and noticed a few publish sample fees for common jobs. Being a direct marketing nerd I'm always intrigued by the cost for a letter.

I'm amazed at the number of writers offering one or two page sales letters for £50. Even a cheap writer is only allowing two hours work at most at that fee. Yet the same people charge four or five times as much for a company brochure.

Here's the question - how can anyone get to grips with understanding your business, it's values, your products, why anyone should buy them, your customers, your target market, your competitors and so on; then actually write the thing in a way that convinces those target prospects to respond, all within a couple of hours?

More realistic fees for a researched letter, one that's more likely to get a good response, start around £250. That's about the same as a basic brochure. Think of it this way, the value isn't in the quantity of material, it's in what it does for you.

Or you can waste £50 plus the cost of paper, printing and postage.

So, if you need a letter or email to promote your business, my advice is to look for a copywriter who knows the difference between selling and telling. A marketing or agency background is usually a good sign. Direct Marketing experience is even better, but then I would say that.

Working without briefs

Nope, not talking about going commando. Saw this excellent piece of advice in Marketing Week yesterday:

"The brief is the most important piece of information issued by a client to an agency.It's from this that everything else flows, so it's vital that every effort is taken to prepare the best documentation of what is required. Creative thinkers need the tightest parameters to produce the most inventive response."
Scott Knox, Marketing Communication Consultants Association

There aren't many excuses for not bothering to write a brief. If there's time to reject first concepts and drafts, there's always time to write a brief. Here's a few brief tales from both sides of the divide.

It's a rush job
During a stint in an agency I was given a rush job - 2 days to come up with concepts and 1st draft copy for a mail pack.

The AM (Agency Muppet, otherwise known as the Account Manager if they're any good) met with the client for a half hour meeting. He fed this back to me in 2 minutes and gave me his extensive notes, which nearly filled the post-it. He rejected 1st concepts without going back to the client because:

1. "Oh yeah, there's no budget for photography."
2. "Actually, I now remember that they specifically didn't want to say that."
   
3. "Or that."

Day wasted. Deadline missed. Yep, muppet.

Chinese whispers
Freelancing often throws up some odd situations. Last year I worked on a letter for a copywriting agency who were working for a design agency who had been appointed by the client.

The client met with the design agency and briefed verbally. Probably over a nice cup of tea and some biscuits. The design agency then passed the materials provided by the client to the copywriting agency with some basic instructions. The copywriting agency forwarded what they had to me. The first draft of the four page letter I wrote was rejected outright as the client said "it didn't meet the brief". It became a rush job.

If only the brief had been an actual piece of paper that you could hold in your hands and share. Written communication is what separates mankind from the animals. Still, it was only the big Christmas campaign for a charity so it wasn't like it was important.

Make 'em earn it!
I swear this is true.

Working in a marketing department some years ago I stated my intention to write a brief for a project to my manager. Her commercially retarded response still makes me twitch, "No, make them (the agency) earn their money." Hmm, imagine having a builder start work without plans, would you get your money's worth?

No surprise, the job fell in a vat of poo and started running up chargeable re-work fees. And there's my final lesson - no brief, no guarantees.

Conclusion
If you're in a hurry - write a brief.
If don't' want to be disappointed - write a brief.
If you don't want to pay for extra work - write a brief.

If you need a bit of help with your briefs (chuckle), have a look at the Chartered Institute of Marketing's guide here.

How to compete in a crowded market

I've been scribbling cartoons again.

I met this guy at a seminar who was so focused on his competitor that he forgot to be different. Fortunately the seminar helped him realise this, so I was there to witness that moment of epiphany. Or, as the great Homer said "doh!".

His next question was "how do I compete in a crowded market?". Hmm, tough one. If the product is similar and the price is about the same, there's not much left. Except perception.

Product features and price are rational considerations. But people bring emotions into buying decisions. Call it gut feeling if you like. Have you ever based a choice on something you couldn't put your finger on? That's the power of favorable perception.

Good news. You can manage perceptions through your communications. But, you need to know what your customers will favour. It could be something that you and your competitors all offer - but no-one else has made a selling point out of it. Do you have a service department? Tell your prospects how big it is - their perception will be that you care a lot about service.

Just one word of warning. Watch out for any gap between the perceptions you create and the experience your customers will get.

Marketing doesn't work - all is lost!

"I've tried everything"

You see this a lot on the business forums.

No explanation, just desperation. When you've poured your life savings and 60 odd hours a week into something you had absolute belief in, desperation is putting it mildly.

A bit of fishing reveals that yes, they have tried many forms of promotion, but not in a planned way. Mostly out of desperation. Funnily enough.

Here's the tip: Have a plan. For the love of lemmings, let planning be your guide. Plan.

Meeting the needs of customers profitably
That's how the Chartered Institute of Marketing define marketing. So, start with your customers.

1. Who are they?
2. What do you want them to know?
3. What do you want them to do?

and the really important one...

4. Why should they?

Alright, there's a teeny bit more to planning than this like, knowing your market, watching your competitors, predicting the future (seriously!), blah blah... buy a book, there's loads.

But, before you get bogged in detail, just keep those 4 questions in mind. Especially the first and last - they're the ones you might forget in desperation.