Are You Cheating Your Clients?

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success

is more important than any other one thing.”
– Abraham Lincoln

In Issue #141

Are You Cheating Your Clients?
by Krista Jones

When I look back over my life’s track record, I see a trend. The results I get are generally proportional to my motivation and effort. The more motivated I am to do something, the more effort I put into it, and, more often than not, the more successful I am.

My guess is the same is true for you.

The question is: what motivates you—particularly when it comes to copywriting?

Picture landing your first assignment with a new client. That’s something that should get you pretty excited.

Now imagine you just got your tenth assignment from that same client. Are you still pumped up?

You better be. Or else you’re doing yourself and your client a disservice.

I speak from experience.

During the first few years of my copywriting career, a blast of adrenaline shot through my body each time I got a new assignment from a client. I’d say to myself, “I’m going to make this the best promotion I’ve ever written for them!”

Then, the next time the client gave me a project, I’d get all worked up again. My goal was to out-perform my last one.

Granted, that didn’t always happen. Some promotions ended up being big winners. Others didn’t. Such is the nature of life as a direct response copywriter.

My point is I threw myself into every assignment, leaving nothing on the table. And then, whether the promotion did really well or jut broke even, I drove myself to do better on the next one.

But then trouble crept up on me.

After a few years of going all out, my drive to one-up myself started to slip away. I started getting tired. Burned out.

Before I fully understood why, I was walking away from some of my clients and moving towards writing for my own products and services.

But you know what?

Now that I’ve cut back on my freelance clients, I’m excited about the work again. The fire has returned—the burning desire to write the best promotion I’ve ever written.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned from this is I cheat my clients (any myself) each time I don’t give a promotion my all. And that’s a hard pill to swallow.

I hope the thought of cheating your client stays in the front of your mind each time someone thinks enough of you and your work to trust you with his business.

If it does, you’ll stay inspired to do your best whether it’s your first or one hundredth assignment. You’ll work hard, keep up with what’s going on with the craft, and continue to study other promotions. You can’t ask any more of yourself than that.

Resource Referral: Don’t Get Caught In This Jam

Beginning copywriters are always asking me for help on what to charge. I don’t mind; in fact, I expect it. When I started out that’s exactly how it was done. You called a fellow copywriter and yelled “HELP!”

Thankfully, you don’t have to do that any longer. Now there’s a comprehensive guide that provides pricing benchmarks for 60 different types of copywriting jobs.

In the Freelance Copywriter Fee & Compensation Survey, Volumes I and II, hundreds of freelance copywriters tell you what you need to know about pricing yourself on everything from envelope teasers to SEO copy to full direct mail promotions. Not only do they share what they charge for 60 different types of copywriting jobs, but they also share what they earn in a year and where they find work.

The survey contains a variety of charts with different views into the data to help you make your smartest pricing and negotiation decisions. It also gives you information on things like…

If you haven’t yet found yourself in the “What should I charge?” quandary, you will. Don’t be caught unaware when a client calls on you. Get the Freelance Copywriter Fee & Compensation Survey today.

Quick Copy Tip: A Trick for Coming Up with Fresh Expressions
by Mindy Tyson McHorse

The next time you write a promotion and find yourself scrambling for the right words, try this trick for capturing fresh expressions:

  1. Break the subject of your promotion down into smaller topics. For example, if you’re writing a promotion on a computer-help book targeted at travel writers, think of the two topics—computers and travel writers—separately.
  2. Go to Amazon.com and run separate searches within the book section. In our example, you’d search books on computers and books on traveling.
  3. Once you find a relevant book, look at all the supporting information provided by Amazon. Depending on the book, you’ll find everything from editorial comments and reader reviews to glimpses into the actual pages of the book. Within those descriptions, you’re likely to find gems—phrases and words that your target audience will respond to that you hadn’t thought of.
  4. Write down the new phrases, descriptions, or words that are relevant to your topics. Then, as appropriate, go back and plug these fresh expressions into your copy.

We all have our favorite words and specific writing styles, so you’ll find that by glancing through the content of others you can gain great insight into new approaches to framing your own copy.

[Mindy Tyson McHorse is a freelance copywriter who writes everything from fundraising copy to press releases to web copy. She specializes in writing copy for the self-help market. She can be reached at mindymtm@gmail.com.]