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I think most business owners would admit to feeling overwhelmed or confused when it comes to hiring freelancers—especially when it’s a freelance area that you are not adept at yourself. And messaging is one of those areas you might be looking to outsource to make sure you’re communicating effectively with your audience (just a minor detail, right?).
But how can you make sure you end up with a stellar copywriter that can elevate your copy as much as possible? In this episode, we’re talking you through the process that will make sure you hire the *right* resource for your team. And the best part? This is applicable to any kind of freelancer you might need to work with, whether it’s developers, graphic designers, or Meta ads managers!
Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[2:23] In episode 40, Nicki and Kate talked about when to hire a copywriter and in this episode, they’re following on from that by discussing how to hire a copywriter (or any freelancer).
[3:41] When you need a copywriter, get the word out there! And not just to your immediate network, but also further afield—for example, on your social channels (LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.). The more quality applicants you have, the better.
[7:01] Always check the freelancer’s portfolio website. This should be a body of work with explanations around how they solved the challenge they were tasked with. Look for depth and breadth of experience in their work, as that shows they can write in different brand voices.
[9:14] How a copywriter writes for their own brand is irrelevant to how they will write for your brand. Remember that you’re looking for someone to adopt your brand style for your pieces.
[10:10] You want to make sure a copywriter has experience writing across different mediums. If everything on their portfolio is blog posts (or other content pieces), that’s a red flag they may not have the necessary skills and expertise in copywriting.
[12:50] On any freelancer’s website, the way they’re speaking should be focused on what they can do for you and your company. How can you benefit from a partnership with this person versus anyone else?
[14:23] It’s always advisable to check a freelancer’s social media presence to make sure it’s professional—and there’s no evidence of badmouthing previous clients!
[15:40] Once you’ve found a few potential copywriters, set up a call with them to get a sense for how it would be to work together. The best freelancers will come with a baseline understanding of your business and ideas for how they can already partner with you to make a difference.
[18:49] Do not expect to get a price on that first call. They need to understand a lot of different elements before they can run their numbers and figure out how much to charge you. Usually, they’ll send through a quote within 48 hours of the call.
[21:20] A paid copy test is a good way to assess a copywriter’s skills and see how well they’re able to translate your brand voice into a small project for you (no more than 30 minutes). You can also ask them to explain the reasoning behind the choices they made in their copy test.
[24:53] Copywriter certificates don’t really prove anything about a copywriter’s skills—the proof is in the pudding (i.e. their portfolio and the copy test). (Note: Our Circuit Sales System copywriters are trained in and certified in the CSS method. That is an additional specialization—not a certificate for buying a copywriting course.)
[27:40] Once you have narrowed your applications down, reach out to the copywriter you want to work with to make sure they are set for your timeline. You should then reach out to the other applicants (with feedback if possible)—no ghosting!
[30:26] When you have hired your copywriter, schedule your kickoff call so that they can learn everything they possibly can about your business. The clearer you both are at the beginning of the project, the smoother it will be.
[33:42] In addition to this episode, if you’d like a cheat sheet for how to hire a copywriter, take a look at Nicki’s book: “Copywriting Strategies: A No-Nonsense Guide to Writing Persuasive Copy for Your Business”.
Mentioned on this Episode
- Your Seamless System for Narrowing Your Applicant Pool
- Writing Your Own Copy? Why You Should Hire a Copywriter Sooner Than Later
- Copywriting Strategies: A No-Nonsense Guide to Writing Persuasive Copy for Your Business
Related Links
- You Can Benefit from Hiring a Copywriter Sooner Than You Think…
- 10 Must-Use Marketing Messaging Strategies to Turn Leads to Customers
- 6 Ways to Know When It’s Time to Hire for Your Small Business
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But, here are a few of the highlights:
“Get the word out there. Tell everybody, and again, whether you’re looking for a copywriter, whether you’re looking for another kind of freelancer, get the word out there because the more that you get it out there, and the more you start sharing it with people in Facebook groups, or of you’re a member of an entrepreneur Facebook group or that kind of thing, the higher the chances are that someone’s going to send someone to you, but also the higher chances are that copywriters are going to see it and then apply to you and reach out to you. And the more quality applicants you have, the better.” – Nicki
“Another thing you want to look for, again, on any freelancer’s website, is the way that they’re speaking on their website. It should be focused on what they can do for you and your company. You want it to be someone who comes across like a partner versus focused on themselves and kind of tooting their own horn. Yes, can they toot their own horn in the sense of like, ‘here’s this amazing project I did, and here’s what I did for my client’, sure, but it should not be focused on, ‘here’s me and I have five cats and I live in Bora Bora and I do this and I do that.’ Especially I think on the about page in particular, you want to look at the about page being about how they can help you and how they can best partner with you and how they specifically do that versus any other copywriter or again, any other designer, developer, etc. How are they different than the other people that you could hire because you do have a choice of folks that you can work with. So what is it going to be like to work with them?” – Kate
“Probably your first question is going to be, how much is this going to cost me? And I get that, I absolutely understand it because that is first and foremost in your mind, am I getting a quality copywriter and how much is this going to cost me? However, if you ask that as your first question, they’re not going to be able to answer it and quite frankly, they shouldn’t. And if they do, that’s a red flag. Because every client is different and every project is different. They need to talk to you first to get the full understanding of the scope of the project(s), they need to know what you’re timeline is, they need to know who they’re going to be interacting with, they need to know what the project is, what your business is, all of these elements before they can run their numbers and figure out how much to charge you. That’s how it should be.” – Nicki
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About the Energize Your Online Business Podcast
Are you sick of the stress, chaos, and risk of trying to keep up with the next big thing in digital marketing? And what about the confusion of trying to scale, build a team, and still try to make sure your business is worth the effort it takes to run it? You are not alone.
Join Nicki Krawczyk, a 20-year marketing veteran and owner of a multi-seven-figure-per-year digital training company and her co-host Kate Sitarz as they bust through the online business industry echo chamber to talk about how to make consistent, predictable sales and how to scale your business with simple and stress-free systems.
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