Having your own business means wearing a lot of hats, including ones that don’t seem to fit well at first. Clients come to me all the time looking for advice on the more intimidating aspects of running their businesses that they just can’t seem to get a grip on.
One of the scariest boogeymen out there is copywriting, and my clients just loooove to ask me about hiring a professional copywriter.
My answer? Nope. Uhn-uhn. No way. Bad Idea.
It’s true — I don’t let my clients hire copywriters. (Though they don’t always listen!)
Believe me, I’ve heard it all…
- “It’s too hard; I’m not trained as a writer!”
- “I already wrote some copy, but it isn’t converting prospects.”
- “I don’t know how to write good sales copy.”
- “I don’t have time to blog or write for my website.”
- “I hate all writing in general and never want to look at my keyboard again!”
If you find yourself in this position, then I hate to break it to you, but most of the reasons tempting you to hire a copywriter are not good enough justifications for actually hiring one.
In fact, these “reasons” are usually just symptoms of a much larger problem with your business — and it’s a problem no copywriter can solve for you.
The Problem, and Why a Copywriter Is Not the Answer
Click to TweetThe reason I don’t let my clients hire copywriters is simple: The #1 skill entrepreneurs need to know, inside and out, is how to talk – and sell – to their potential customers.Profitable businesses don’t just create a product or offer a service and then wait around for the customers to find them. They also don’t slap together any old description of what they do and hope it resonates with their target market.
Successful entrepreneurs devote a hell of a lot of time and energy to crafting their brand identity, web presence, marketing strategy, sales pitches — and even their elevator speeches.
If you’re struggling to do this, then your problem isn’t an absence of writing skills; it’s a lack of understanding about your business and your prospective clients.
That’s so important that I’m going to say it again: your problem isn’t an absence of writing skills; it’s a lack of understanding about your business and your prospective clients.
This is not the time to trust a stranger – even a highly skilled one – with your message, just because you “don’t like writing” or “don’t know how.”
Time to step up and take ownership!
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If you want your business to thrive, you must know as much as possible about your business and your customers: who you are and who they are, what solutions you offer them, why they need those solutions, how you provide value no one else can, and where you see your business going in the future.
But just knowing these things doesn’t get you off the hook — you must be able to communicate them in writing. Generating sales and driving growth is all about communicating effectively with your target market.
How do you do that? Well, start by putting yourself in your their position. Try to see the world from the point of view of your clients and potential clients. Think specifically about the language they use to describe their problems and seek solutions.
Then take out a notepad and start brainstorming – in their words – about:
- their expectations, desires, and goals;
- what matters to them;
- what influences their buying decisions;
- the challenges they face;
- and the problems they need help solving.
It is crucial that you learn to see things from the customer perspective and adopt the exact words they use to talk about what’s important to them as it relates to your business.
Click to TweetThere is no copywriter on the planet who can know your business or your clients better than you!In fact, if you hire a copywriter (against my advice!) without knowing your clients backward and forward and your business inside and out, you won’t get results you’re happy with anyway. It will just be an extra expense and a great big headache.
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While I encourage all my clients to write their own copy and web content to whatever extent they possibly can, I do realize that copywriters have a valuable role to play at a certain stage in a business’s life cycle.
Once you’ve learned to write effective copy on your own and you’ve honed that skill, it’s absolutely okay to hire a professional copywriter to help strengthen your copy or expand your content offerings.
But – and this is a big one – even when someone else writes for you, you should absolutely go over the writing carefully and tweak it so that it sounds just like you and hits all the right notes.
Copywriters can be great, but they aren’t mind readers.
Don’t think that a copywriter will save you if you’re struggling to communicate your business and achieve your goals. I love copywriters (especially my copywriter clients!), but they aren’t going to do the work you need to do of understanding your business and your customers.
Essential to Your Business Strategy
As you know, learning to speak to your people and really connect with their frustrations and desires is essential. to your success. However, this isn’t the only skill required to really make your online business work. In fact, there’s a suite of skills required for building a successful business.
This is why I’m excited to offer you the opportunity to get on a path to making six-figures in your online business. It’s not easy, and it won’t happen overnight, but it is possible, and I can’t wait to share with you what it takes to get there.
Your turn!
As always, I want to hear from you!
Have you struggled with copywriting in the past?
Do you have any additional tips for those just started out?
What are your other business challenges?
Share your thoughts in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!
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I love this! Copywriters have awesome skills, but if we can’t provide a copywriter with decent material to work with, they can’t do magic. This is one skill that entrepreneurs really need to figure out before hiring someone. Voice is very important.
I couldn’t agree more, Holly!
Jenny, you made me smile.
I agree. No copywriter will magically tease out the true meaning of your business, if you don’t have in the first place. Or, if they do, you better watch out. It might not be the business you had in mind.
A word of encouragement to everyone who dreads writing their own copy – it gets better.
Seriously.
The resistances, the writing blocks, the fear of sounding awkward or stupid, – all of it is still there after a year of writing my own copy. But to a much lesser degree.
In fact, writing copy is almost… enjoyable.
It does get better, doesn’t it?! I tell my clients that learning to write copy is like learning Chinese or Russian. It hurts you brain at first, but that’s not a bad thing! It means you’re learning this new, very, very essential skill that will help you be successful.
I should really try Chinese. Have you?
Russian is the hardest language I know, and I’m a native speaker.
I took a beginner Chinese class a few years ago with my husband (who took Chinese classes as a kid, so he was kind of cheating!). It’s not easy, though I can’t compare it to Russian. My dog’s named Mei Mei (Chinese for “little sister”) because we hadn’t picked a name out and were just a few days away from picking her up. We were in Chinese class and learned the names for family members. Mei Mei felt right (and it’s easy for his Taiwanese parents and my American parents to pronounce!). Although my in-laws are fluent in English, they get a kick out of me throwing out random Chinese words in conversation. 🙂
Jenny this is brilliant and so true. I reached that conclusion too after hiring a SEO company that messed up my copy and my website sounded nothing like me. I couldn’t afford Copywriters and I’m glad I couldn’t and worked on my copy myself (although it’s been on my to do list to go over it again and edit). I agree with Holly, voice is very important!
Good fro you for working through it on your own. That will pay off big time in the long run!
So Right! I happen to actually pride myself on my writing ability, and have been really struggling to articulate what I do, really do, in my business. Great reminder that it’s in knowing your business inside and out (and I am transitioning) that makes for good copy. Thanks Jenny.
As the experts, it can be difficult to explain what we do, even when you consider yourself a good writer. You’re not alone in your struggle. Just keep with it. Determination and commitment to your own success here is essential.
Paying someone to magically make you sound fabulous is SO tempting. But you’re right that having to do it myself forces me to get laser sharp on who I’m serving and what they need. I think one reason people don’t write their own copy is because they don’t know where to start – How do they know when they’re “Good enough”? Where to start? How to do it? How to tell when you’re doing it “right”?. It can be done!
One of things I love about you, Becky, is your positivity and your commitment to yourself and your business. You’re right, it is all challenging and it can be done, and I love how you’ve kept at it and really learned to write well for your biz. Rock on!
Jenny,
Another point that you make is really key here. Our businesses and how we want to come across are always evolving. Why pay someone to create something that you might want to tweak next week, based on feedback from a client? I also find that when talking with clients I occasionally blurt out a really great turn of phrase and being a DIYer, I love to incorporate that into my website.
If I’d paid money to a professional, I would find it hard to make those small tweaks that I feel give a human quality to what I offer.
Great point, Deb! We are always evolving and things will always shift and change. I love being able to update, edit, tweak what’s been written as needed based on feedback, too.
There’s a lot to be said about authenticity. And if we pay someone else to write for us, the authenticity is lost. Nobody can be me, except me. I can see why it’s best that we write our own copy because all the writing will be in our own authentic voices!
Great way to put it, Casey! Thanks for sharing!