How To Know If You’re Ready To Hire A Copywriter (And What To Do If You Aren’t!)
Thinking about hiring a copywriter and actually being ready to hire a copywriter are two verrrry different things. But then the question occurs “how do I know if I’m ready to hire a copywriter?”
Well, there are several questions you can ask yourself to determine whether you, your business and your offers are ready for a copywriter to come in and work their copywriting magic, or whether you need to do a few things first.
So this is what I’m going to dive into in this blog!
The first part is going to be filled with all the questions you need to ask yourself (and why) before you hire a copywriter and if you answer yes to them all then the next steps are all mapped out for you!
If you answer no (to even just a few of them) then the second part of the blog will contain all of this information on what to do next!
Let’s get started!
IF YOU CAN ANSWER YES TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS, THEN YOU’RE READY TO HIRE A COPYWRITER!
1. Do you have a clear, fully flushed-out offer? Seriously, this is a necessity! Copywriters are not mind-readers (though we are skilled writers and are great at getting your thoughts down on paper — we haven’t yet developed the skill of reading your mind) so we need you to be able to tell us, with all the juicy details, what your offers and services include!
2. Do you know the transformation of the offer? And no, the answer is not that they’ll just be ‘less stressed’! I’m talking about the specific transformation your customer will experience. How are they going to feel, what are they going to achieve, what practical things are they going to gain from your offer and what mindset shifts will they experience? This information is key to any type of sales copy so we need all of the details!
3. Do you know who the offer is best suited for and who is it not for? This is super important, especially if we’re writing about multiple offers in your business. Not every offer is going to be suitable for every person in your audience so it’s key we know which service is for what group of people (and who it’s not for!)
4. Do you know where in your customer journey will this piece of copy fall? This is arguably one of the most important things to know before you hire a copywriter. Because when we write copy, we are writing with a specific group of people in mind and we need to know what stage in your funnel the audience is at. There are several sub-questions you need to answer to make sure you know the answer to this question!
a.) Is your audience aware of the problem they have or that the solution to the problem exists?
b.) Is this going to a warm audience you’ve worked with before or is this for a cold audience?
c.) Does the audience already know about your offer? If so, in how much detail?
d.) Where is the main source of traffic coming from for this piece of copy?
5. Is this offer something people have been asking for? Whether or not it’s a pre-validated offer can have a huge impact on how we write and how we talk to the audience.
6. Do you know if you have used this framework before in another part of your business or in another offer? Knowing things like this can help us determine what worked well before as well as what hasn’t so we can adjust and change to make sure we’re writing the best copy possible for you!
Now, if you’ve got to the end of all of these questions and you’re thinking ‘surely a lot of these questions need to be answered with the help of a copywriter’, then you’re right ( to a certain extent!).
We can definitely advise you and help you to figure some logistical things out but we’re not business coaches!
So we can help use the flow of what comes before and after this piece of copy and share any knowledge we have but the creation of the offer is up to you and this really needs to be flushed out before you come to a copywriter!
But if you’ve answered yes to every question then congratulations! You are officially ready to hire a copywriter for your business.
The next thing to do?
Watch my free training video that explains How to Find and Hire the Perfect Copywriter for Your Business so you know exactly what to look for and how to hit the ground running. Good luck!
I’M READY TO HIRE A COPYWRITER
However, if you answered no to any of these questions, then keep reading because the next section is for you!
IF YOU ANSWERED NO … HERE’S WHAT TO DO!
There’s no need to panic if you don’t have the answers to all of the questions above! You could still be very close to being ready to hire a copywriter, you might just need to flush out a few details first …
There are two ways you can go about this! First of all, you can make sure you’ve figured out the answers to all of the questions above. Get clarity on everything you’re offering and then look at hiring a copywriter. Then do a bit more research to fully ensure you’re ready (My other blogs like this one might help with that!)
Or, you could DIY your own copy first. You can pull from an inspiration swipe file (an example of someone else’s page that you liked) and write it yourself. You could even then get a copywriter to audit what you’ve written and give you further advice on how to elevate it. This is also a great alternative if you can’t afford to hire a copywriter or you want to get better at writing the copy yourself!
And if you are thinking of DIY-ing your own sales page you might wanna check out my Sales Page Sanity Saver. It’s a whole checklist filled with everything you need to sort out before you sit down to write!
DOWNLOAD THE SALES PAGE SANITY SAVER
If you have any other questions about sales copy, I have a whole load of blogs and free resources here on my website, so make sure to check them out!
originally published at www.kristenwestcott.com/blog
