As a business owner, you know that compelling content is the only way to reach out to your clients. Skilled copywriting teams in 2022 will use persuasive writing to push your prospects further down the sales channel.
Finding the right copywriter who is the perfect fit for your company and will give your brand its unique voice to set it apart from the crowd is paramount. In fact, it is so critical that companies allocate even a more significant percentage of their budget to hiring the right copywriter.
According to Statista, a 42% increase in the budget allocated for content is expected in 2022, with companies struggling to bring in more clients and retain the existing ones.
It is natural that as copywriting prices increase, companies will search for cheaper options. Some may opt for inexperienced writers, while others will choose AI-generated content. Unfortunately, falling into these cheap-for-hire pitfalls can be detrimental for a brand.
So how do you hire the right copywriter or copywriting team and avoid these cheap-for-hire pitfalls?
Skill Level
Obviously, before hiring the right copywriter, you need to assess the copywriter’s skill level. Check for work samples and observe their presence in freelance writers’ communities, forums, and chat rooms. You can get a pretty good idea of how they write by simple comments in forums and communities. If they misspell words often and use wrong punctuation, you do not want to hire them to help your brand gain authenticity and status.
Past Experience
Check your potential copywriter’s past experience. Are they experienced in your particular niche? Does their portfolio show a range of copywriting jobs? Are they well versed in the SEO language? Can they produce compelling pieces for several platforms? If their portfolio only shows blog posts in the fashion industry, chances are they will not be able to produce the copy required for your law firm, for example.
Enthusiasm and Energy
If a writer is enthusiastic and passionate about what he does, this positive energy will reflect in his writing. On the other hand, you do not want a writer who treats writing as a chore. Cheaper writers will be forced to take on several writing gigs to make ends meet. This means that their energy and excitement become diluted with each additional task they have to handle simultaneously.
Commitment to Deadlines
Time is money, and if you choose cheaper writers who fail to commit to deadlines, you will be losing both your time and money. Deadlines are critical, especially if you are trying to work with a marketing calendar. Missing one deadline will push all your marketing efforts further down the month, completely ruining all your hard work and your brand’s credibility.
Referrals And Customer Reviews
Whenever you can, before you hire the right copywriter, reach out to other businesses that have already worked with them. Ask their previous employees to give you honest feedback on their experience with the writer and whether they would recommend hiring them. If they have a website on LinkedIn account, search for customer reviews and ratings.
Tone Matching
It is crucial that you hire the right copywriter who will be able to match your clients’ tone. People like to be heard and understood. If you want your marketing efforts to succeed, you need to appeal to your buyers’ pain points and show that you understand, empathize, and genuinely care. Therefore, find a writer who will be able to match his writing with the tone of your buyers’ voice.
New Ideas
In the world of content marketing, everything has already been said and done a million times. If you want your business to stand out from the crowd, you need to hire a copywriter or copywriting team that will be able to think outside the box and bring new ideas to the table. Relying on AI-generated content or cheaper novice writers will give you recycled content that regurgitates information that is already out there. Stay clear from cheap-for-hire pitfalls unless you want to bore your readers to death.
Unique Style
Writers with unique writing styles do not come cheap. If you set copywriting prices as your determining factor, you will be hard-pressed to find an absolute gem of a writer. Writers who stand out from the crowd with their unique style are the ones that will catapult your brand to success. Choose one that can help your brand shine in a unique and compelling way.
On the other hand, choose a cheaper, inexperienced writer or opt for AI-generated content, and you will definitely not succeed in standing out. How your customer experiences your content is your ultimate success test.
Versatility
It would help if you had a writer who is versatile enough and can write for different mediums and different buyers. For example, suppose you own a business that attracts customers of varying age, socioeconomic and educational backgrounds. In that case, you need a writer who will be able to connect with each and every one of them.
A versatile writer will create content for Instagram to reach the younger generation, ads for Facebook to reach the millennials, email newsletters to reach the 50+ buyers, and so on. Also, a versatile copywriter will switch his style to better reach your buyers where they are at in their buyers’ journey and not where you wish they were.
Understanding Of Buyers’ Journey
A writer must understand your buyer’s journey in order to produce compelling content that will speak to their hearts. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the world to its knees, and as we are beginning to slowly emerge from these unprecedented times, we must shift our attention to how this havoc has impacted our buyer’s journey.
When choosing to hire the right copywriting team, you must pick the one that shows a higher level of understanding of the new status quo. Covid-19 has been a complete game-changer, and nothing is as it was two years ago or even a year ago.
If you choose a writer who will do business as he would in pre-Covid times, you will, unfortunately, damage your brand and its credibility.
Ability to Work Under Pressure
Creating compelling content is not something that flows seamlessly. But on the other hand, content creation is not something a writer can choose to mull over for extended periods of time and wait for inspiration to come.
Ad campaigns, social media posts, blog posts, newsletters, and landing pages are on a continuous streaming process, and sometimes writers must work under pressure to produce their content on time.
Choose a writer who will not crush under the burden of pressure but who will remain calm and composed and create magic with his words, even when the world around them seems to fall apart.
Ability to Work As Part of a Team
This one is a biggie. Sure, geniuses are notorious for being difficult to work with, but success greatly relies on how well your writer works with the rest of your team when it comes to copywriting. So choose a writer who can be part of a team, share your company’s vision, and work together to materialize this idea.
Research Skills
It is paramount that you hire a copywriter with impeccable research skills. Some of your topics may require extensive research and data validation. Most writers can perform basic research, but you might require a writer with more expert skills and knowledge, depending on your niche.
Just remember that writers in particular niches are more expensive than others. For example, the copywriting prices for the gaming, betting, and crypto-currency industry are more expensive than the copywriting prices for the fashion industry.
Hiring The Right CopyWriter: Mission Impossible?
Hiring the right copywriting teams for 2022 might seem like a daunting task. But unfortunately, many businesses owners make the mistake of hiring the cheapest content writer available, hoping that it will suffice. Some may even opt to hop on the AI wagon and use AI-generated content in their marketing efforts.
However, content is king, and without a professional expert writer, you are leaving your kingdom, or brand, in the hands of a weak, incapable king. The competition is fierce, and chances are your
product or services are trying to stay afloat and get a piece of the market pie. The use of cheap copywriters, novice ones, and even the use of AI will give you bulky content that, in all reality, amounts to nothing.
You need new ideas that will make your brand stand out from the crowd, not regurgitated ones that have been used over and over again.
Hiring the right copywriter is not mission impossible. Sure, it is a difficult task, but not an impossible one. As long as you follow the checklist provided, you can ensure that you hire the person that is the right fit for you and your company.
Sometimes, following the checklist may also be time-consuming and draining if you are a business owner trying to juggle a myriad of other things. Again, it helps to simply reach out to professional writing agencies such as Iris Writing in these situations.
These agencies have a team of professional writers who are experienced in several niches and well versed in the SEO language. Choosing to leave your marketing efforts in the hands of reputable agencies ensures that you will have unique, compelling content for your brand.
What are you waiting for? Contact us today at Iris Writing to see our special prices and packages! Let us help you create magic with our content!