I’m a Goldilocks shopper. I’m suspicious of the cheapest option and wary of the most expensive. I want everything to be just right and I’m always listening for the ways businesses justify their price tag.
You get what you pay for, right?
On the flip side of the purchasing process, every now and then I send a copywriting proposal through and hear the response, “Jeez, you’re more expensive than some of the other copywriters I’ve seen.”
It’s a fair comment. I am. And I train copywriters to be premium level copywriters.
The best things in life are free but that doesn’t include exceptional copywriting.
But why are some copywriters so much more expensive than others? The idea of being expensive is totally subjective so first, let’s talk about the value a copywriter offers.
A copywriter asks hard questions
A good copywriter will ask you some tough but important questions. Who exactly is the audience you’re targeting? What do they like/hate/fear/love/worry about? What stops them from buying your thing? How exactly do you make your brand relevant and meaningful? How are you unique in your industry and why the hell should your customers care?
If you don’t think about them regularly, they can be doozies to answer.
A copywriter offers a fresh perspective on your marketing messages
It’s easy to become complacent about your marketing messages and the real value you offer your customers. After all, you spent all that time in brainstorming workshops… now you just get to dish those sound bites out with thinking, right?
A good copywriter brings a clean slate to your project and helps you see the amazing things you do, with fresh eyes.
A copywriter brings the writing skills
Copywriting takes training and effort and a good copywriter is always honing their craft. They understand the words that sell and how to influence behaviour and they can do it in fewer words than a business owner or salesperson can.
Fact.
A copywriter spends time – so clients don’t have to
Everything that goes into good copywriting takes time. Considering the target market, getting to know the brand personality, peeking at what the competitors are doing and creating original copywriting that speaks to the right people, in the right voice.
So the big question your client is left with is – how much is their time worth? That’s how much value a copywriter can add. That’s how much value YOU can add.
And that’s how you can sell yourself as being a copywriter worth your price tag.
This is when you realise you’re competing in a market of copywriters who come with all kinds of price tags.
Comparing copywriters
You’ve probably been on Elance or seen the PPC ads at the side of your search engine… fast turn-around content creation at bargain basement prices. 500-word blogs for less than the price of a coffee.
Copywriters are just like any other service, or product. You’ll find cheap copywriters and expensive copywriters and a copywriter for every price in between. If a copywriter seems too cheap to be true, they probably are.
Good copywriters will charge more for a few reasons.
You spend time on a detailed copywriting brief
When a copywriter asks a client a lot of questions, that’s a sign that they are taking a genuine interest in the business – and that’s a good thing. That time is factored into the copywriting quote but it’s worth every penny. The willingness to dig deep is what clients are really paying for (and it pays back, big).
Some clients find the in-depth questioning tedious and time-consuming but it’s critical. If a client wants to avoid the brief, it’s a red flag to avoid them because you’ll be left writing copy without substance.
You have the experience to back up your price
The more copywriting experience you have, the more you can charge. That’s a fact. More copywriting experience means you know the questions that reveal the secret sauce of a business. You also have a portfolio of projects and testimonials to back that up.
You might actually complete your project faster than other copywriting but the quality is higher. That’s what clients are paying for.
You usually don’t need lots of revisions
Revision time is factored into every copywriting quote. Revisions are a normal part of the process but a copywriter worth their salt, a copywriter who invests time in the initial briefing, will get it fairly close to correct on the first version.
And if you don’t, you know how to approach revisions to get it back on track without much fuss. That’s what clients are paying for.
You’re busy. Really busy.
This might seem counter-intuitive but a crappy copywriter won’t be able to sustain their reputation for long enough to be continually busy. Being busy is a good sign that you’re a copywriter who’s worth the investment.
Is that you? Or maybe, that’s where you want to end up.
Keep at it and don’t compromise your work for clients who don’t want to invest in their copy. There are plenty of clients who do!
Belinda
22 Responses
Yes! Look at it this way. If we were being paid too much, we’d all be rich. We’d take that $3,000 the client’s paying us to write their web copy, churn out some pretty words in a couple of hours, and move onto the next sucker.
But we’re not rich. We take our time, slaving over the copy. Our hourly rate is much the same as other marketing professionals. Copywriting is very labour intensive.
Not just the writing part, though. As you said, Belinda, there’s heaps more to it than that. And just as a good copywriter asks the tough questions. They also make the tough suggestions…
Like, “I don’t think you should refer to your product as a ‘cloud storage solution’. Your target audience won’t know what that means. They’re baby-boomers, so they’ll probably be more comfortable with ‘online document filing’.”
And a good copywriter will be able to distill your offering down to a very tight, cohesive message. Ideally, this influence will extend to the layout of the page, the user interaction design and the information architecture.
The job I’m working on at the moment, for instance, has gone from a stuffy, jargon-laden, lumbering white-paperish sort of brand to something simple and elegant that can stand proudly alongside the likes of Dropbox and Google Drive. My client said, just this morning: “We couldn’t have gotten this far without you.” And she’s actually a marketing consultant engaged by the end client (software vendor).
I’m not saying that to brag (although, yes, I’m chuffed). Belinda gets comments like this all the time, too. My point is that we’re more than just wordsmiths, we’re business analysts, information architects, SEOs, user interaction designers and marketers. Only when all that’s done do we become writers.
Hear Hear Glenn! Thanks for taking the time to leave such a comprehensive response.
“we’re more than just wordsmiths, we’re business analysts, information architects, SEOs, user interaction designers and marketers. Only when all that’s done do we become writers.”
>> Once you forget you wrote this, I’m stealing it for my own marketing. It sums our jobs up perfectly. You should be a copywriter.
I thought about becoming a copywriter, but decided against it because I’d never know if my mistresses only wanted me for my millions.
Fair enough. You probably wouldn’t cope with the rock and roll lifestyle.
I wouldn’t say that. True rockers don’t need millions.
We’re not talking about chairs are we?
Not deliberately, anyway.
Well said Glenn. It sure is much more than churning out pretty words.
Some of my projects have included coding, design, strategy and analysis of SEO and markets, formatting (and sometimes uploading) content, marketing and social media strategy, and – on occasion – writing pretty words (after a thorough analysis of all the things Belinda covered above).
Then there’s the ongoing learning curve to keep up with SEO best practices and the constant changes to online publishing platforms to ensure client copy will perform at it’s best.
Show me a copywriter who churns out a 500 word blog post for $10 who will (or can) do any of that.
Thanks Anna. Sorry. Can’t show you any. 🙂
Maybe they’re all off slaying dragons while riding their unicorns 😉
LOL. Aha! And they thought they’d keep that a secret forever!
Those tough questions… they’re standards.
This is probably the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with as a new copywriting business owner – how do you put a numerical value on your work? I’ve been guided by other more experienced copywriters and am finding as things progress I have less and less need to justify my prices – my work is starting to speak for itself (as it should) and anyone who can’t see the value in the service provided should go elsewhere. I am still frustrated though by the people who baulk at the price or say I shouldn’t tell people the rates straight up because it’s ‘too confronting’ – I was told once that my rates were too high and people wouldn’t pay them because copywriting isn’t viewed as a highly skilled profession the same way law or medicine is. Obviously I disagree but it seems to be a common perception.
Thanks for commenting Shauna.
Pricing is SO HARD. I hate evaluating my pricing because there is so much to consider. Not only how long you spend on jobs but your skills And the perceived value.
I was told once that I should put a quote together and then add 25% to get it about right. Another piece of advice is that if you convert every single quote, your prices are too low.
I give myself regular pep talks about putting my prices up but I feel like I have to be comfortable handing the quote over. It’s such a fine balancing act!
People want to know how much you cost. It’s only confronting if it seems that’s all you’re interested in. And the flip-side is, if you show any reservation about your prices, the prospect will either run away (assuming you’re too inexperienced) or screw you down. It’s an open invitation to one or the other.
Your value is your value. And if you ever feel like you need to rationalise it, tell your client to engage a plumber in Sydney.
I will speak from a client’s point of view Belinda. I review what they have done, with a price range or an indication to go with the examples and compare to others. Hopefully this information is on their website. The other thing is to compare the copywriters’s features and benefits but that is increasingly different because so many say the same thing as others. The last thing is I would look to see which ones have a simple process to save me more time. Price is one part of the equation but is I have all the information then I already know if it is within my budget. And I don’t believe in trying to reduce their price. One last thing is I would not go for any copywriter who charges by the hour.
I agree Susan and go through a similar process. By putting my “customer-hat” on I’ve tried to make my own process as helpful as possible- so that when the price comes out, a lot of value has already been communicated.
It’s an interesting point about charging by the hour. I don’t, but I know Glenn Murray does. I’d be interested to hear his thoughts. Glenn?
Good copywriters aren’t expensive… they’re FREE. That’s because good copy pays for itself. If you don’t make more profit as a result of a copywriter’s efforts, then they’re not a copywriter, but merely a writer, who are a dime a dozen.
oooh that’s good Charles. I might pinch that for my marketing as well!
BTW I was looking at a quote for a plumber earlier this week. He charges $220/hour for digging a hole. Today I saw a car wash that probably takes 20 mins for $69. That makes copywriters look pretty good value to me!
Flamin’ Nora! It sure does.
Exclamation aside, I remember a story I read about a guy called in to fix a conveyor belt in a factory. With the belt not working it was costing the company millions of dollars per day. The guy came in, tightened a screw and said, “That will be $10,000 thanks”.
The company reps were outraged at the price for such an easy fix.
The payment is for knowing which screw it was. Expertise is worth paying for And your “expense” is relative.
I bet plumbers face the same value/price battle we do.