7 reasons for hiring a copywriter

(There’s more to it than spelling and grammar)

When you engage the services of a professional copywriter, you begin to feel the benefits before you even see anything written down.

1. Getting the job started

How many times have you told yourself you’d write that piece of copy about your business… and never quite got round to it. A copywriter will push you through that mental barrier and get the job started. You know, that job you’ve been putting off for the last two years!

2. Picking your brains

You know your business better than anyone but when asked about it, do you remember all the services and benefits you offer and all the interesting jobs you’ve done? By asking questions, a copywriter will pull valuable information out of your head that you had completely forgotten was in there. So when it comes to presenting your selling points, you don’t leave anything out.

3. Planning the user experience

You may be the expert on your own business but when it comes to understanding the customer experience of your business you’re probably in the worst possible position. Too close, you see. A copywriter will look at your business with an objective eye, which will help in planning the content and its structure for the best usability and relevance to customers.

4. Making it punchy

OK, so you’ve picked your own brains and written down a long list of all your selling points. In fact, it’s not so much a list as a copy of War and Peace. A copywriter will take all that valuable information and craft it into a succinct piece of copy that potential customers will want to read, rather than switching off from. They might even tell you it would work best as a video or an illustration – ideas that it’s hard to see for yourself.

5. Looking professional

I never said spelling and grammar aren’t important. The accuracy of your writing says as much about your competence and professionalism as the quality of your products and services – possibly even more, since it’s what potential customers see first. If a copywriter ever gives you bad spelling and grammar, you’re entitled to have them flogged. It’s the law!

6. Being seen

Good writing gets noticed and that’s the general idea behind marketing. This can be through traditional channels like editorial in a trade magazine, or modern digital channels like web searches. You’ve heard of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)*? A copywriter will enhance your SEO by researching keywords and working them effectively into your online content. Search engines also now take into consideration ‘user experience’ factors, like time spent on the page and how far down the user scrolls, so having engaging, well-written copy that keeps the user reading is very valuable.

7. Saving you time and money

Compare your need for copy to a leaking pipe. The longer you ignore it, the more damage it will cause. Your communications will look out of date, irrelevant, unprofessional… all of which will cost you sales. Fix it yourself and you’ll be taking up time that could be spent more profitably on some other aspect of your business. More cost. But get a professional in and they will do the job more efficiently and more effectively, helping you to start making more money sooner. For a relatively small cost you’ll be boosting the profitability of your business for a long time to come.

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* SEO is the means by which search engines decide which websites to show in which order for any given search. If your website doesn’t appear on the first page when you search for your core service or product, you could do with some work on your SEO.

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This is a guest-written article by Tim Glynne-Jones.

Tim is a copywriter, journalist and author who has written extensively for print, digital, video and public speaking since 1985. Writing has taken him into music, cars, football, food, travel and the multifarious ways in which people bring ingenuity to the world. It has given him an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of every medium, as well as the importance of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each client. Through his company Balance Media, Tim advises businesses on the best ways to get their message across, helps to plan their content strategy and manages the delivery.