When copywriting is NOT the answer
Small businesses sometimes struggle with marketing. They know they want the cure - more sales usually - but they don’t want to take the medicine. In my experience marketing embraces a range of disciplines and activities: branding, PR, advertising, websites, product literature, case studies etc. etc.
Copywriting touches all of these points but, on its own, it isn’t sufficient. I have worked with a couple of smaller companies who have had this problem. I’m good at what I do and I can help most businesses a lot. I’m good at prioritising and categorising product features and translating them into customer benefits. I’m good a project management and understanding website development and magazine production. I’m really good at website copy, brochures and other long copy. But I can’t solve all their problems on my own.
I have a good track record, good clients, do good work and, yes, talk a good talk. Small businesses sometimes see me as a kind of magic bullet. What tends to happen next is that the projects start off with great enthusiasm but turn to disappointment when their expectations (usually unspoken) aren’t met. Then they turn to the next magic bullet solution. It’s expensive for them and frustrating for me.
The reality is that my work is best when it complements the work of other experts. Typically for my lovely, large clients like Microsoft, HP and eBay, I work with an ‘ecosystem’ of agencies and staff to deliver large projects. My work infuses everyone else’s and their work builds on what I do.
I’ve had a few small business clients where everything went brilliantly (RiskCare’s website was one or case studies for a couple of small tech companies) but in those cases the brief is very specific.
The warning signs that a project is going to be a problem are:
- The absence of any coherent marketing plan or strategy, just “we need to sort out marketing.”
- Vague, non-specific briefs. Even if I draft a brief for them, there is sometimes an expectation that I’ll do “more” somehow.
- “Can we just book a day of your time?” as if that’s going to solve all their problems.
- Being asked to attend lots of meetings that don’t actually produce decisions or confirm briefs but just help them think through their troubles.
- When I’m asked to comment on or contribute to areas that aren’t really my primary expertise.
- Very long, rambling introductions to the company or its products. “The company was started in …” followed by a life story, as if the company’s history IS the company. “ProductXYZ has…” followed by a two-hour super-technical presentation, as if the product IS the company.
- They want me to be a kind of surrogate marketing director.
- Time goes by, work is done but nothing changes.
- Vagueness about budgets, the process of purchasing (e.g. no purchase orders) or the business side of the engagement.
- Lots of free pitching from me and other agencies.
- I get a nagging feeling that I’m not really “deploying my full force along lines of excellence.”
I guess this post is a long way of thinking through some of the factors that might cause me to suggest that a prospective client look for a different advisor or where I might want to do some education and pre-qualification before I work with a company. I know a few copywriters read this blog and I’m interested if this tallies with their experience.
Technorati Tags: Freelance, copywriting, business, marketing
The Wordsmith wrote:
This has been my experience too. I do work with huge corporates such as Microsoft like you do, but I’ve done copywriting for a lot of small and medium-sized businesses and run into similar problems. I have a possible potential problem client on the go right now, who is giving me just those sorts of warning signs and I’m on the point of refusing to do the job.
Posted on 31-Oct-07 at 8:10 am | Permalink
richard wrote:
Fascinating. I’m involved with two very similar scenarios right now. I’ve gotten the looongg history of the company, the rambling on about this product and that one and so forth. It is exactly right that they are looking to me to be a kind of marketing advisor/consultant. I am asked to comment on the new website design (they are hopeless about design) and a million other things that are not my area of expertise.
My particular complaint is that a lot of companies hire me to write the website or corporate brochure or whatever, but never give a second thought as to how to integrate the copy into a beautiful, compelling design treatment, which in a lot of cases means they’ve thrown their money away.
Great post. Glad you’re back!
Posted on 31-Oct-07 at 12:32 pm | Permalink
Bruce Pilgrim wrote:
Too often, marketing is an after thought.
OK, we’ve got the company alll set up and we’ve got the product kind of sorted out, now how are we going to get people to buy it?
Let’s get some marketing going. But, we don’t have a lot of time — we need results (i.e. sales) right away. We also don’t have much money available because that’s all tied up in R&D, salaries and benefits, and so on.
If we could just get some good press coverage — PR is free advertising, you know — we’d be home free. We probably also should have some kind of brochure, like a tri-fold with a picture of our building on it maybe.
My girlfriend’s cousin is kind of artistic, and I’m pretty sure he can gin up some kind of logo for us.
We’re going to want to be at some trade shows. I saw this nifty portable booth online that is very lightweight. We could get Jimmie to make some jpgs of screenshots to show the product.
I also heard of the great marketing guy named Matthew, let’s get him in here and get started.
The scenario above is known as a marketing plan.
Posted on 31-Oct-07 at 1:16 pm | Permalink
Tom Chandler wrote:
Once you demonstrate some marketing prowess above and beyond the ability to write, small companies will often start viewing you as a virtual marketing guy. And why not — you’re not on the payroll, so the price is certainly right.
Sadly, you aren’t their in-house person, and without an in-house champion, you either do everything it takes to make a project happen (often getting paid only for the words), or projects begin and fizzle.
That’s a scenario where you need to keep the following in mind: I’ve heard people say the success of your client is your #1 priority, but that’s wrong. Your success — your ability to pay your bills and make a living — is your #1 priority.
You won’t reach that level by doing scads of free consulting and project management.
Posted on 31-Oct-07 at 3:29 pm | Permalink
Matthew Stibbe wrote:
It’s revealing that so many of us (professional copywriters) recognise these symptoms.
Tom’s comments are particularly relevant. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of free pitching or doing unpaid extras simply to be agreeable.
It’s happened to me a couple of times: I’ve done free work for companies that have much bigger revenues than I do because they were a “small business” with a “limited budget.”
Posted on 31-Oct-07 at 4:28 pm | Permalink
Toddie Downs wrote:
I feel your pain. I specialize at the moment in small business copywriting, particularly web site analysis and revision. Many of my clients have (understandably) tried to save a lot of money by having a friend or their wife’s brother design the website, but don’t have a good handle on the co-dependent nature of design/copy/SEO to bring traffic to the website. While I have working partnerships with people in these fields, those pieces often still get left out.
I also run into the situation you mentioned of having clients look at me, the copywriter, as the marketing expert. And while there is obviously some overlap, I do not have the metrics background to want to take that piece over.
There’s definitely something to be said for doing some pre-screening of potential clients to be certain the expectations are clear on both sides.
Posted on 31-Oct-07 at 7:05 pm | Permalink
Linda wrote:
Yes I am nodding vigorously!
It has been a huge learning curve in terms of making sure everyone is clear what expectations are realistic.
Even on something as specific and potentially (or hopefully!) straightforward as working on copy for a brochure, it’s funny how this can change into the client wanting you to chuck in a few ideas about “branding” and design while you’re at it, and oh please can you tell them what the copy should be in the first place - all for a day of your time of course!
Posted on 01-Nov-07 at 12:30 pm | Permalink
Sherrilynne Starkie wrote:
You’ve forgotten to mention the client that really only brought you in to tell his colleagues that he is, in fact, a brilliant writer. If you don’t back him up he just rewrites everything you do anyway. I am not fond of this client.
Posted on 02-Nov-07 at 2:24 am | Permalink
Laurence Vittes wrote:
Your summary crystallized my experiences, also with companies and organizations large to small. The person I worked with at one extremely large client was unusually insightful into the process of coordinating all marketing activities so that they could serve the company’s goals. His most practical observation was that the expense of such operations, when done properly (i.e., the only way to do it), is almost always significantly underestimated. As a result, most proper operations are never funded, those that are under-funded fail, and only the few that are properly funded succeed. Sobering.
Posted on 02-Nov-07 at 7:03 pm | Permalink
Clare Lynch wrote:
Oh dear, I think I’m in the same situation with a client. No written brief despite several requests, and constantly shifting deadlines because the political situation at the organisation is always changing. They want me to put together a magazine and are expecting me to start writing it even thought I’ve not even managed to get them to tell me how many pages long they want it . . .
Posted on 18-Nov-07 at 2:38 pm | Permalink
Vikram Manghnani wrote:
Hi All,
Am overwhelmed after reading your views. Let me start my comment by patting Mathew’s back for categorising the “this job is in trouble” symptons. I run a copy boutique in India and it is surprising to know that free pitches are not just a nuisance out here. Hoping to comeback to you guys again with a solution to eradicate this problem!
Posted on 18-Jan-08 at 11:39 am | Permalink
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Posted on 28-Jan-08 at 4:55 pm | Permalink
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Posted on 13-May-08 at 1:39 pm | Permalink
Rajendra Grewal wrote:
Extremely lucid analysis and trenchant conclusions.
Having been an adman, client, and now a communications consultant (with a bent for writing)
all the conditions described are prevalent at small and medium-sized companies.
Posted on 05-Jul-08 at 12:15 pm | Permalink