We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Your messaging is integral to the success of your business.

Even with the most amazing product or service in the world, people won’t purchase if you can’t explain to them why it is the most amazing product or service in the world.

And if you want to craft effective messaging that builds a strong emotional connection with your audience and motivates them to take action, the next logical step may be to hire a copywriter.

But when should you bring in a copywriter to work with you on a project? As a professional copywriter with 20+ years of experience, I can certainly tell you that there is a right time to do it and a right way to do it.

So, let’s start off by digging into the key signs you’re ready to bring a copywriter on board.

1. You Know What the Project Is

One of the fastest ways a project can go off the rails is by thinking you need a copywriter, bringing someone in, and then handing them a jumble of ideas without any real clarity on what you want them to deliver.

Without tooting my own horn, I’ve definitely received projects like that, where it has been on my shoulders to guide and direct on what the project needed to be. But not every copywriter might be in the position to figure that out and mind read what the best possible solution is for you. (Plus, if they are, they’re likely to come with a much bigger price tag.)

If you’re still a bit fuzzy on what a project is going to entail, you’re probably going to end up spending (ahem, wasting) a lot of time (and money!) going down lots of different roads as your copywriter starts working on things that aren’t really solid to begin with.

Conversely, when you have a good sense of the projects that you want to do, then it’s a good time to start talking to a copywriter. Let them know what your plans are, whether it’s an email funnel or a sales page, who your target audience is, what you will be selling them, and what the desired action is at each point of the customer journey. This way, you’re going to end up having a much better interaction with your copywriter and a project that will deliver a much better result.

But if you take the right steps to bring in a copywriter for your business, you should be able to avoid this issue altogether. Experienced copywriters will know what questions to ask to see if you’re the right fit to work together and if you’re in a place to start working together. And if it turns out you’re not quite there yet, they might just give you the information you need to go back and reassess what you actually need the copywriter to deliver.

2. You’ve Established an Order of Operations

If you need copywriting for multiple materials, remember that you can’t have everything as a priority. Copywriters are not unicorns, so it’s unreasonable to ask them to complete five different deliverables at the same time.

That’s why it’s so important to establish what the priority is for each project so that you have an order of operations to work from. What do you need to keep going? For example, maybe it’s a welcome series that you need first so that you can start implementing images and testimonials on the back end while the copywriter is working on other projects.

Hire Sooner Rather Than Later

Once you do have a sense of what the projects are going to be and in what order you need them, that is the best time to bring in a copywriter.

Now, I know you might be thinking, “Isn’t that too early if I’m just getting a sense of the project?” But the sooner you can bring in a copywriter, the better. Here’s why:

Strategic Support

A good copywriter will ask you about your target audience, the customer journey, and they’ll dig deep into your messaging choices and interactions with your audience.

These are the questions that are going to get you to a deeper level of strategy, which is something you want to be thinking about at the beginning of the project. You don’t want to bring a copywriter in later on and then have to work backwards to tweak materials after strategizing.

Establish Your Brand Voice

A lot of the elements of your marketing materials are going to be driven by your messaging. And so one of the first projects that you might want to work with a copywriter on is getting them to help you create a tone guide for your business.

This will help you to identify what you want to sound like and establish what your brand voice is. Are you more professional? Are you witty? Are you more conversational versus a little more formal in how you speak? Are there specific words that you use in lieu of other words?

Having this tone guide is essential because it acts as a foundational document that everyone can work from to make sure communication is consistent. So even if you decide to write some bits yourself or hire multiple copywriters to help you with a number of deliverables, it will ensure everything sounds like it comes from the same brand. And good copywriters with training will know how to adapt that brand voice and use your tone guide to extrapolate it into other materials you need to create.

When your customers see this consistency in your messaging, it builds trust. Otherwise, if they see elements that are casual and other elements that are a lot more buttoned up, it’s going to be a very confusing experience and may put them off doing business with you.

And remember, too, that a tone guide is not just for one project. The tone guide is for your company and all the messaging projects in years to come. So it’s really an investment in your branding for the future.

(Good) Copywriters Get Booked Up!

Another reason you want to get a copywriter in sooner rather than later is because copywriters are popular. They are valuable resources, which also means that they book up fast.

That means you might get in touch with a copywriter and they may not have availability for a couple of weeks, or potentially even a month or two.

And if you find yourself in the place of needing to get started right away, then it’s likely you didn’t leave yourself enough room and you may not be able to work with the copywriter that you want. You may have to push your timeline back or find someone who has immediate availability.

As soon as you have an idea that this might be a resource you need, it’s a good idea to start having a couple of conversations with people to see if they’d be a good fit. And depending on the copywriter, you may be able to give an approximate timeline and ask to follow back up in the future.

It’s all about being clear in your communication. While they can’t necessarily save a spot for you, they will be able to check back in with you to see if you still need support.

Hiring Copywriters to Give Feedback

Sometimes you can hire a copywriter to do the work for you, but if you just want another set of eyes on something you have produced, you can also hire someone to give you feedback.

But if you are doing this, you have to set the expectations to begin with. You can’t say you want feedback and then ask them, “OK, how would you write it?” But you could certainly hire a copywriter to read over what you’ve done and give you recommendations of how to move forward.

However, you also need to bear in mind that a copywriter might not be able to just “make it better”. A good copywriter isn’t going to just be looking at the words—they’re going to be looking at the strategy behind it. And so if the fundamental strategy and ideas behind the writing aren’t strong or the messaging isn’t strong, they’ll raise that point with you.

If they are going to take on more of a strategic role as opposed to writing, it’s sensible to bring them in at the beginning so they can give you feedback along the way. They can ensure the creative brief is filled out for maximum impact, even if you’re the one who is going to be writing it. You certainly don’t want to have a conversation at the end of the project that makes you realize you need to go back and restructure everything that you’ve produced!

Avoid Compromising on Quality

If you bring in a copywriter too late, you could be setting yourself up for trouble. First of all, as we mentioned earlier, they get booked out. But second of all, they’re human. And that means they can’t produce something immediately.

If you say, “I have to have this ready to go by next week”, they may not have the time to do that. And remember when you’re working with a copywriter, there should almost always be a round or two of feedback. Because as excellent as your copywriter may be, they’re not in your head. So there should be some time factored in for a little bit of back and forth.

The closer you get to a deadline before hiring, the greater the risk. You could end up working with a copywriter who will charge a lot more because it’s rush work (and quite frankly, they should—it’s no different to rush shipping!). Or you will have a copywriter who is trying to do the best work they possibly can to hit the deadline but if you haven’t given them enough time, the quality is naturally going to suffer. And as we’ve said a few times now, messaging is NOT a place that you can afford for quality to suffer.

Building Effective Copywriting Partnerships

I see so many entrepreneurs (not pointing any fingers…) who leave their messaging right until the last minute. Sometimes, it’s because they find it intimidating, and other times it’s because writing just isn’t their forte. A great way to solve that problem is by hiring (and following this system to do it).

A good copywriter can become an amazing partner in your business. And when you find one that you like working with, it could be a relationship that potentially lasts for years to come. But you have to make sure that you set that relationship up well to begin with by bringing them in at the right time, bringing them in for the right projects, and continuing to clearly communicate with them and give them feedback in the best ways.

In this blog post, we dig into how you can really dial in your messaging and utilize the most unique asset you’ve got: YOU!

Watch More

In this Energize Your Online Business podcast episode, Nicki and Kate discuss how you could end up running into trouble if you leave it too late to hire a copywriter. Listen in to find out the best time to involve a copywriter for maximum impact and the kinds of projects you can expect them to help you with.

Your Turn!

Are you looking to bring in a copywriter to help craft your messaging? Let us know in the comments below!

When Should I Hire a Copywriter?