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Freelance Copywriting Clients - Are yours Peppermint, Bitter Lemon or Pure Humbug
Clients can get in the way of a perfectly good career; or at least thats the impression given by some freelance copywriters who work in the advertising and Internet marketing sector. Like it or not, learning to love clients - warts and all - is essential if you want to succeed as a freelance copywriter. This article gives some useful tips for those on the threshold of what could be a truly great future.
Copywriters need clients
So you set yourself up as a freelance copywriter. Youve always fancied yourself as an advertising copywriting sort of person. So whats stopping you scaling the heights of fame and fortune as a true copywriting professional?
The stark lesson is and its a lesson that comes as a shock to so many who are new to freelance copywriting: copywriters need clients. Convincing clients to use the services of an unknown copywriter is hard enough in itself. If you dont have a thick skin, an adaptable personality and a physical presence that confirms you can at least spin a sentence together, youre likely to have a hard time of it.
Like copywriters, clients come in all shapes and sizes. As theyre paying the bill, theyre likely to come in some surprising flavours too. Theres bitter lemon, the type that will always be hard to please. Theres humbug who will always downgrade your offering, the more to minimise your fee. And you may also come across peppermint-flavoured clients whose sharpness and critical faculties are so highly tuned, youll wonder why they bothered to hire a freelance copywriter in the first place!
But despair not! With a little more experience you can at least purport to be an expert although, it has to be said, any copywriter who cannot back up his or her claims to be able to walk on water will soon be found out.
Depending on which copywriting sector you enter and what type of expertise you are offering, theres a wide spectrum of responses that could greet you. In the early days, youre probably best to avoid copywriting projects which require an understanding of the marketing context of whatever it is youre writing about. This requires commercial insight and experience that doesnt come with a degree in English, useful though that is.
Clients who are used to hiring creative copywriting talent will find you out in seconds. Obviously, they wont expect you to know as much about their business as they do, but naivety is the kiss-of-death for freelance copywriters, especially in the world of owner-managers of small and medium-size companies.
Off-line or online copywriting?
Before the ubiquitous Internet entered the marketing fray, an aspiring copywriter could sometimes get away with selling his or her creativity as opposed to good, solid commercial awareness. The good news is that off-line copywriting techniques still make up a big part of the total marketing mix. That isnt to say that online copywriting isnt creatively demanding. It is. But in a different way!
The BIG change is that Internet marketing is an informational medium that sets out to inform. In this respect, it is more like PR. The type of copywriting this calls for is therefore more akin to a journalistic style that tells before it sells.
There is a subtle difference here and one which demands even greater subtlety on the part of copywriters who need to develop an informal yet authoritative style. Many clients themselves will not be aware of the changes the web has brought to copywriting techniques. Unaware, that is, until their website, e-zine, online articles or blogs simply bomb out.
Despite all this, for aspiring copywriters, the web has to be good news. Its not ALL about fiddling with on-page search engine optimisation (SEO). In many cases, a half-way decent freelance copywriter with a lively style could satisfy the needs of many companies.
The web is a massive consumer of words in the quest for developing keyword-rich content to generate website links. The need for informative press releases and newsletters (on and off-line), for example, has never been greater. Website content, articles, e-mails, blogs the world of opportunity for aspiring freelance copywriters is exciting and full of potential if youre looking to make your mark and a dollar or two!
Already, there are website copywriting gurus, especially in the USA, who could claim to match the legendary status of direct marketing copywriters of the past. And although nothing stays the same even in the world of freelance copywriting clients of the bitter lemon, humbug and peppermint persuasion will always be around to get under the skin of new and experienced copywriters alike.
Mike Beeson is a UK freelance copywriter, PR consultant and journalist specialising in advertising copywriting, media relations, website copywriting and direct marketing. Mike's company, Buzzwords Limited, was established over 20 years ago and is located in Knutsford, Cheshire (south Manchester). For more information, visit: http://www.buzzwords.ltd.uk or e-mail: open@buzzwords.ltd.uk
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