How to Prepare to Work With a Copywriter
Okay overachiever, I see you.
You’ve decided that it’s time to hand off your copywriting to someone who gets it.
Maybe you’ve spent so much time staring at a blank Google Doc you think that your eyes might start bleeding. Or maybe you decided to skip the stress and go straight to the part where your website and sales copy is bringing in organic leads through SEO and converting them through your brand messaging and personality.
Either way, I’m happy you’re here. Let’s talk about how to make your partnership with your new copywriter the best experience you’ve ever had with a contractor.
Deciding on the Right Copywriter for You
The key to success working with a copywriter starts before you’ve even signed a contract. You need to make sure that you’ve found the right copywriter for you. Not just when it comes to being a personality fit (although that’s an important factor for someone that you’re about to spend a decent amount of quality time working with), but in making sure that their skill set aligns with your end goal.
A lot of the time, you approach a copywriter simply because you’re sick of writing something yourself, or you’ve received an investment that finally allows you to invest in branding. Either way, the goal of partnering with a copywriter at first is typically “get this off my plate.” But it goes so much deeper.
Before you begin your search for the perfect copywriting partner, ask yourself what the best possible outcome for your project is.
Do you want to re-engage and delight your current audience with your copy?
Are you hoping to show up at the top of more search results?
Do you want to sell the crap out of one of your offers specifically?
Do you need a funnel strategized and built on the backend of your business?
The list could go on, and different copywriters have vastly different skill sets. So, before you start reaching out to copywriters, make sure you have an end goal in mind.
What You Should Bring to the Table
What’s required of you as a client depends on the project that you’re working on with your copywriter.
For your website, you’ll want to bring brand strategy, branding, and a thorough idea of your intended audience and offerings. Your copywriter can pretty much take it from there, diving into market and competitor research and building your brand messaging strategy for you.
However, if you were working with a copywriter on a specific launch or campaign, then a little more information is required from you. Of course, your copywriter will still be responsible for market research and crafting the messaging around the individual offer. But you need to at least need a very in-depth understanding of what the offer actually is before your copywriter can get to work.
At the very least, there are a few things that you should be prepared to bring to every project:
- An open mind
- The willingness to collaborate
- A baseline understanding of your brand, your audience, and your offers
What to Expect
Every single copywriter has a different process in place. Some prefer to work and strategize live on calls with their clients. Some, like me, prefer to strategize on calls and write in private. Some copywriters utilize templates and frameworks. Some write from scratch every time. It really depends on the individual and their expertise.
That said, there are a few things that you can expect every time you work with a copywriter.
Onboarding
Expect to, at the very least, spend some time onboarding with your copywriter. During this process, they should be asking you in-depth questions about your business, your offerings or services, your audience, and your goals. This is the part of the process that sets the tone for the rest of your time together. It’s more important than you might think.
When I’m working with clients, the onboarding process is where the majority of our time is spent together. We sit down for an hour-long strategy call to talk about your business, your goals, your audience, and your offers. During this time, I’m looking for ways that we can position your copy to help you make sales today while positioning you to achieve your long-term goals. If I’m working with a personal brand or founder-forward brand, I’m also looking for turns of phrase, commonly used words, and language that we can infuse into the copy to personalize and humanize the brand. If I’m working with a company or faceless brand, then I’m listening to how my client talks about their brand and their goals to find ways that we can differentiate them in the market.
Strategy
After onboarding, there will always be strategy to some degree. Depending on the project this could look like in-depth brand messaging strategy, or just some thorough research into the market for your offer.
Personally, the strategy portion of my work is where I shine. Every single decision that I make for a piece of copy has intention and strategy behind it. Though I love to get creative when working with clients (my “dream client” is a creative person doing cool things), I also love being the strategic, data-driven right-hand to creative powerhouses. And if you want your copy to actually work for you, you need someone with the perfect mix of research and creative skills to make it happen.
Timeline & Process
The timeline and process depends on the copywriter and the process. Some people prefer to work in day or week-long sprints. Some take up to two months to finalize a piece of copy because they prefer a super collaborative, back and forth process. On average, I would plan for at least eight weeks for your copywriting project from start to finish. Especially if you’re on a launch deadline for your project, having that wiggle room in your timeline will be a relief when you’re in the thick of it.
Personally, my timelines depend greatly on the project, the client, and the deadline. I’m always happy to add a small rush fee to a project, or do a series of VIP Days instead of a longer project. Because copywriting also requires a lot of feedback and input from the client, the timeline tends to shift based on their availability. Some copywriters will hold their clients to ultra-strict deadlines. I do my best to be as flexible and understanding as possible, given that we’re all just people doing our best.
That said, here is how I typically quote timelines for specific projects:
WEBSITE COPY: 6-8 weeks
SALES PAGE: 2-4 weeks
LAUNCH COPY: 6-8 weeks
EMAIL BATCHING/FUNNEL BUILDING: 4-6 weeks
How to Give Great Feedback
Feedback is arguably the most important part of the copywriting process. Having a clear and open line of communication between you and your copywriter, and knowing how to give clear and helpful feedback can eliminate a lot of back and forth, and ensure that you’re 100% satisfied with the end results.
My ultimate goal when working with clients is for them to be itching to share their copy with the world. In order to make that happen, my client and I have to be on the same page when it comes to feedback.
Here are a few pointers to help you give your copywriter useful, constructive feedback during the revision process:
- Try to keep emotions out of it as much as possible. “This doesn’t feel right.” or “Something about this feels off.” is vague and easy to misinterpret. Instead, spend some time reflecting on those emotions and try to pinpoint the source. When something feels “off,” it could be a sentence structure thing, a sentence or section that feels misaligned with the target audience, not in line with the brand voice, contrary to the brand’s bigger goals, or simply just a sentence that doesn’t serve as much purpose as you’d like it to. And that’s just to name a few reasons.
- Make sure what you want is actually possible. And if you’re not sure, chat with your copywriter about possible solutions.
- Be as specific as you can be. Vague, open-ended feedback leaves a lot of room for miscommunications and misunderstandings, which can lead to extensions in the timeline and less than favorable end results.
- Trust the process. A good copywriter will be willing to bend and break the rules when it works for a brand’s voice, vision, mission, and audience. In fact, I’d argue that if your copywriter is too beholden to “best practices” then it’s a bit of a red flag. That said, your copywriter knows the psychology behind the pretty. Trust them and the process, and ask questions when you need clarification.
- Be kind. If there’s something in your copy that doesn’t hit home for you, it’s not a purposeful sabotage of your brand. It’s simply a misdirection, misunderstanding, or missed shot.
Launching
If you’ve been an entrepreneur for any amount of time, then you most likely have a love/hate relationship with launching. It’s fun, exciting, exhilarating, and one of the most stressful periods you go through as a business owner. When I launch something for one of my brands, I always feel like I need to go into a month-long hibernation afterwards. So. Much. Socializing.
Your copywriter should be right there alongside you during the launch process, ready to jump in and make any tweaks or adjustments needed to get the project over the finish line. Am I saying that you can expect them to jump in and write 10 new last-minute emails for free? No. But they should be there to make sure that everything you’ve already created together is working and going right for you.
When my clients launch their new website, I stay on their team for 3 months to monitor performance and analytics, see where people are falling off of the website, and make improvement suggestions.
During any other type of launch, I’m there through the finish line to make suggestions, monitor performance, and offer as much moral support as my client needs.
Copywriter FAQs
Hopefully, this post helps you feel confident and crystal clear about what it’s like to work with a copywriter for your website, launch, emails, and more. But if you’re still left with some questions, let’s get them cleared up. Of course, you’re always welcome to reach out to me directly and ask any questions you have about working together. I’m always happy to help!
Do I need to give my copywriter credit for their work?
No, but it’s nice if you do! Different copywriters have different policies about giving credit for their work on your website. I love when my clients do this for me (literally just a little shout out at the bottom of their footer, in their blog, or on a separate “site credit” page) because the backlink helps my SEO and it exposes me to more potential clients. But I don’t require that my clients credit my work, because there are a lot of different reasons that they might not want to.
It’s less common to credit your copywriter for something like emails, product descriptions, eBook writing, content, or launch copy.
Do I own the rights to my new copy?
Yes. You own the rights to your copywriting. Depending on your contract, your copywriter will likely retain rights to share the work that they did for your brand in their portfolio. That said, it’s not appropriate for them to share information about your internal business processes, intellectual property, or proprietary methods without your permission.
What happens if another brand steals my copywriting?
Disclaimer: I AM NOT A LAWYER, and this is not legal advice. There are many amazing lawyers who work with freelancers and small business owners specifically to help them protect their work and their assets.
If another brand or business steals or copies your copywriting, you can and should take legal action to protect your brand and your work. Get in touch with a lawyer to help you take the next steps.
What comes first, copywriting or web design?
Copywriting comes before web design, always. If you’re doing a branding/rebranding project, copywriting, AND web design, the process should go like this:
Brand strategy > brand design & copywriting > web design & development
What kind of copywriting do you do, Kori? How can I work with you?
Great question! I’m a conversion copywriter, meaning that I use market research, buyer psychology, and data analysis to back the decisions that I make for your copywriting. This works especially well for website copy, sales copy, and launch copy.
As a lean team, I have the unique ability to provide hands-on, messaging-first brand building and digital marketing support to businesses with big goals and a smaller than usual budget. If that sounds like something you’re interested in, click here to download my services & pricing guide and get in touch directly about your project!
