How do you know when it is time to hire a copywriter, a.k.a one who writes text, or copy, for the purpose of marketing a product, business, person, opinion or idea?
If you’re a recruiter at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, you just know. But what if you’re not in that world? What if you work for a design shop or a Web development firm? What if you work in marketing on the client side? In these cases, the question often becomes a difficult and puzzling one. But it needn’t be that way.
The murkiness, of course, is caused by one overriding reason. Too many people think they can do what copywriters do. Which makes me wonder, do these same wannabe copywriters also think they can perform their own root canal, or defend themselves in a court of law? Perhaps, they can do these things, but unless they’re some kind of real life MacGyver, they’re bound to make a mess of things and cause undue pain.
Because AdPulp is here to help — and carefully crafted lists are helpful constructs — please review these 10 signs that you do, indeed, need to hire a copywriter.
1. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you have no idea what prospective consumers find valuable in your product or service offering.
2. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you lack the tools to express your brand’s singular idea in a concise and memorable way.
3. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you are busy doing the job you were hired to do, versus imitating the job of someone you have yet to hire.
4. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you are ready to earn and hold your audience’s attention.
5. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you realize that without a paid professional on the job, you’re actually wasting all the money you’re putting in to “a new look.”
Perhaps, these logical approaches to the problem aren’t working for you. That’s okay, a nimble copywriter can turn on a dime and head in a new direction.
6. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you start to believe David Ogilvy was born in a French Chateau.
7. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you are done messin’ with Sasquatch.
8. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you don’t want to sell your hair to a wig shop, wake up in a roadside ditch or re-enact scenes from Platoon with Charlie Sheen.
9. It’s time to hire a copywriter when the most interesting man in the world says so.
10. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you are no longer afraid to Just Do It.
This is a great post! I loved the way you drive the point home at the end with numbers 6-10.
Maria Sanders
Intern at Scout Branding Co
scoutbranding.com
Thanks Maria! It was a fun one to write.
I noticed that AdPulp does not have a tagline below its masthead. What would a Copywriter say of AdPulp?
Our tagline is “Daily Juice from the Ad Biz.” And you’re right, we need to find a place to display it.