Many entrepreneurs ask how to hire a good copywriter. Whether for regional jobs, specific (e.g. Latam) or global ones, they expect a professional more than “good”. In fact, excellent. The question is, on what criteria? These generate debates and controversies. To keep it simple here, we can say that for a significant portion of experts on the subject, a complete copywriter would be “an excellent marketing strategist, with above average creativity and impeccable writing”. Nowadays, this “marketing” is generally focused on digital. However, there are professionals with experience in all areas. Anyway, you will probably see that there isn’t “the best copywriter”, but there it “best copywriter for you”.
Criteria, reason and emotion
Defining criteria for a service provider will mainly involve your psychosocial values and specific needs. Cultural issues might also be important, so if you’re from USA and you’re dealing with a copywriter from South America, express what you value most. Inevitably, you will end up choosing someone with whom you feel empathy. Therefore, receiving a reasonable proposal and feeling that there are conditions to adapt it to your plans will be the ultimate reasons for establishing a partnership.
Good is not enough, the copywriter’s got to be “clean slate”
One thing is for sure. There will be two important aspects of the evaluation that you should do, in order to have a good experience with a copywriter. The first is to evaluate them from a technical point of view, the proven skills. The second, is to check their credibility as a citizen and/or professional. Both assessments are essential. I don’t know about your personal experience, nor am I a statistician. However, from business colleagues, I’ve heard many more reports of having difficulties finding committed copywriters than competent ones. As they say out there, “here’s the tip”!
What do YOU need?
Now, before I make your life easier, I’m going to complicate it just a little bit. You need to know that, just like in different professions (chef, yoga teacher, stylist…), there are also copywriters with distinct profiles and different specialties. They are not all the same (no one is the same!), not all offer the same services.
No! You don’t need to memorize a pile of names and acronyms, however, knowing what you need, you can compare what fits best according to each professional’s offer.
How to know which is the ideal profile?
Here are some examples:
Strategist copywriter
It helps you plan your marketing and communication campaign, ads, placements, email sequences, not just the content and creation.
Content copywriter (or content writer)
Writes blog articles and optimize for Google with strategic keywords (SEO – Search Engine Optimization).
Copywriter SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Focuses on writing descriptions and captions for social media articles and posts, focusing directly and exclusively on optimizing content for search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, app stores).
Launch copywriter
Works with intense short-term campaigns involving high budgets and high earnings (6 in 7 or similar strategies), with courses and infoproducts.
Social Media
It’s not the same thing as a copywriter, but the two functions sometimes get confused, accumulate or work together, because often the social media administrator is the one who writes the captions of the posts. Depending on the structure of the company, there may even be a “social media copywriter”.
Advertising Copywriter
He is the editor most focused on online and offline campaigns, but he is in charge of conceptualizing the advertising pieces (ads) as a whole. He often creates creative combinations of images with text, most often working in big ideas, headlines and layouts with an art director or graphic designer.
UX Writer
A User Experience writer is someone who is dedicated to researching, analyzing and defining the tone and voice of the brand, and develops writing style guides, microcopy for application interfaces, websites and mobile sites, chatbots, customer service whatsapp, devices and accessories. It is closely associated with the online environment, but it is not limited to that, as it is involved in all kinds of solutions to improve the user experience – this can involve reception, queue, counter, shopping, circulation, among others.
Niche Specialists
Last but not least: it is natural for most copywriters, with any of these skills, to specialize in one or a few niches. Although they are able to develop any theme, they tend to attract work from segments similar to those already mastered. Unless you want to be someone’s “first” in some market, chances are you’ll also choose someone who knows your market.
What technical criteria to observe?
To find out if a copywriter is really an expert, check out their education, certifications, and experience. As it is not a profession regulated by law, the academic title is not mandatory, but it can be a positive point in a market where there are no clear parameters. There are many professionals trained in Communications (Advertising, Journalism), Literature and Marketing available, with internships in these courses. There are also good training courses with market personalities and certifying schools. The degree of requirement for student approval may vary from one to another. Are you in doubt? Evaluate the professional’s portfolio.
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions
What should I check in a copywriter's background?
There is no single formula here. If you already have a certain amount of “life experience”, you may already notice a lot in a first conversation, even a remote one. Anyway, you can ask and find out about the work already done, check customer testimonials, and even check portals like Google to make sure that at least there are no records of occurrences of dubious reputation.
How much does a copywriter service cost?
The answer to this question is the same as for “how much does a car cost”, or any other service or product (watch, show, dinner). It depends. For starters, not all billing methods are the same. Some professionals budget for projects, others follow a price list, others by the hour, others earn a commission for results.
The important thing is to always remember that, when making comparisons, it is necessary to consider all the services and details included or charged separately. Reading all the footers can guarantee your peace of mind and show that what looks cheaper is not always the case.
How much does a beginner copywriter charge? It is worth it?
“Beginner” would also allow for some subcategories. Here, let’s understand that this is someone who does not yet have a portfolio or professional experience. In fact, it can be half the price or even less. Whether it’s worth it or not will depend on a few factors: your and your audience’s demanding and linguistic sophistication, and the time you have available to dedicate to correction rounds. If you have urgency and a high level of demand, the journey may not be good for both of you. But if you are willing to bet on someone who demonstrates creative potential and commitment, and gradually evolve, it could be a good business opportunity. In that case
What does it take to be a copywriter?
- Be creative and curious;
- Write correctly;
- Read and write a lot, of everything;
- Master the necessary tools for the services you will provide;
- At least one good training course, even if it is not academic;
- Other training and/or complementary knowledge;
- Experience (even if it is an internship or volunteering).
Want to chat about business opportunities and how I can help you with copywriting? Contact me!