When a Client Wants More Than Copywriting

Sometimes a client needs more than your words. Sometimes they need graphic design, keyword research, SEO, media placement, or one of a wide range of other services that often go hand-in-hand with copywriting. If you offer these services, great—work them into your existing project.

But what if you don’t offer the extra service the client wants? You have several options, each with its own pluses and drawbacks. Here’s an overview of your possible responses:

“No, I don’t offer that service.” Sometimes the easiest thing to do is just say no and move on. This is the best track, I think, if you genuinely don’t know anyone who provides the service well enough to recommend them. Recommendations reflect on you, too, and you don’t want to recommend just anyone.

That said, by brushing off the client’s question, you do miss an opportunity—not just to make things easier for your client, but also to make a friend and even yourself some extra money.

“Sure, my company can handle that!” You also have the option of handling it all “in-house.” Don’t have an in-house graphic design department or SEO? No problem…bring one in! It works like this: you negotiate separately—and sign a contract separately—with the service provider you bring in. Then you offer your client a marked-up price, and the contract they sign with you covers the service provider as well.

The bit about the mark-up sounds good—but it’s not free money. You’ll have to earn it by doing some project management. You may act as a liaison between the client and the service provider, and you may be held responsible if the service provider doesn’t deliver on time. This type of arrangement usually comes with added responsibility as well as added revenue, which is why many feel it’s fair to charge a mark-up.

“I don’t offer that myself, but I can recommend someone who can…” This is an in-between option. Instead of brushing off the client’s request, recommend a service provider you know—or give the client a list to choose from, if you know several.

Under this arrangement, the client contracts directly with the service provider—you won’t be asked to manage the project. You won’t get any revenue, either—unless you and the service provider have a separate referral-fee agreement. This arrangement is usually easy to manage for you—no added extra work. It helps a fellow provider who may be inspired to return the favor someday. And it makes things easier for the client, who would likely rather use someone you recommend than find someone on their own.

How do you handle client requests for added services?

Content vs. Copy

I think the word “content” when applied to writing is a bit misleading. The way it’s used, it implies a commodity—like writers are just sitting on content warehouses and can just offer bulk rates on their inventories and still make a profit. No matter how much the web tries to commoditize writing, content-writing is still a service—content is not a product. But that’s another blog post. What I’m mainly concerned with today is content vs. copy—and the difference between these two projects.

There’s a distinct difference between what people refer to as “content” and copy. I’ve heard the word “content” used in a variety of ways to refer to writing, particularly writing online. And while some may define it differently than others, to me there’s a very clear divide between what’s called content and what’s actually sales copy. I quote and charge differently for these two types of writing, and I approach copy and content projects quite differently.

Dealing With Requests for Free Copy

Like a lot of freelancers, I do have a friends-and-family discount. Very few people in my life get completely free copywriting and editing help, no questions asked—but there are a handful of people I do that for. Close family. Close friends. My boyfriend. People like that. People who’d do anything for me, and people I’d do anything for—including write for free, anytime.

There are other people who fall into a gray area. A casual friend who mentions he’s setting up a website and starts to get excited about getting me involved—I get excited too, until it becomes clear to me he expects my help to be free. Random people like my landlord or my dentist—people I have a friendly relationship with, but not exactly a “do-anything-for-each-other” relationship.

The truth is, I can’t give free help to everyone who asks. Nor do I believe I should. There aren’t enough hours in the day, and if I’m doing something for free, it’s for someone or something very important to me. Still, a lot of the time, the people asking for help are friends, in a sense—people I have a good relationship with. So how do you say no without ruffling feathers?

The Conversation on Getting Started

I was having lunch with a friend recently. I asked him how his job was going—not good, apparently. After telling me a few hair-raising stories about his boss and coworkers, my friend told me something I’ve been hearing a lot of lately—“really, I want to be doing what you’re doing.” And then it came—the “how can I get started?” question.

I get that question a lot. From friends and strangers alike. It’s a question I’ve gotten a bit frustrated with in the past, as I feel like the answer is huge—and I can’t just give someone the magical formula for starting a freelance writing business. Because the truth is, everyone’s start-up story is different, and mine can’t really be replicated. I got my start on Elance, and they’ve changed their payment structure to the point where I no longer felt like it was viable to keep going. I’m not sure what it’s like over there these days—it’s been a long time since I used the site—but last time I checked, it was a much less hospitable place for newbies than it used to be.

Twitter: How Has it Helped You?

I have to admit—I haven’t quite gotten the hang of microblogging. I’ve made some stabs at Twitter in the past, but generally lost interest when I felt like I didn’t have any particularly interesting 160-character thoughts to share that day. But as part of my New Years resolutions (yes, it’s February and I’m still talking about those), I’m trying to get better about social media—and making a stronger effort with Twitter is one way I’m doing that.

Anyway, I just read a really interesting article over at Freelance Switch about the types of content people like to see on Twitter. The info comes from a study conducted by the Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science entitled “Who Gives a Tweet: Evaluating Microblogging Content Value.” A team of researchers collected anonymous feedback from Twitter users about the types of posts they liked. I recommend going over to their site to read the whole thing.

Reasons People Criticize Your Writing—That Have Nothing to Do With Your Writing

I have a lot of friends who don’t write for a living, but who still write a lot in the context of their jobs. And I frequently hear them complain that the feedback they get from coworkers, bosses, and stakeholders in their writing is excessively critical and demoralizing. It’s a frustration I can definitely relate to. And as someone who does this as my day job, I’ve had to develop a very thick skin.

The thing is, sometimes the criticism is warranted. Sometimes there is definite room for improvement. But you always have to take into account that you might be dealing with an alternative agenda, especially when the criticism is excessively negative or looks irrational. It may not be about you at all—but about one of these things instead.

They want to prove their own expertise. Some people think of themselves as great writers—and yet for some reason, they’ve had to bring in a professional writer to do the project. These people often can’t help attacking your work with a red pen—more to prove to others and themselves that they are, indeed, writers themselves than to really help you improve the copy. If they’re getting very insistent about a grammatical rule that you broke mindfully for the sake of tone, for instance, you’re probably dealing with someone like this.

They’re not sold on this project. It’s possible that the person you’re dealing with isn’t sold on the prospect of hiring you—even after you’ve been hired. Maybe they resent the money spent—and maybe they wanted to hire someone else but were overruled. Sometimes, people in this situation may take it out on you. It’s never happened to me, but I’ve heard of instances where a client has been excessively critical of a project in an effort to justify withholding payment—probably the worst case scenario.

They don’t know what they want. They may have told you they wanted edgy and fun in your phone interview about the project—but when they get the copy, what they really wanted was conservative and safe (edgy projects are particularly susceptible to issues like this in my experience—I’ve written about it before). It’s possible that the person you’re dealing with wasn’t as sure as he or she sounded when they talked about tone or message—and expected you to read their mind.

They have a lot of misconceptions about writing. Some people have grammatical or craft-related misconceptions that they believe whole-heartedly. It’s sometimes difficult to persuade these people that your way is right—and it can take a lot of tact. But I always try to do it.

Excessive criticism can be difficult to deal with—and it’s hard not to take it to heart. But when it happens, take a step back and think about it objectively. If your copy followed the parameters your client laid out in your discussion, it may be that there’s an underlying reason for it that has little to do with the work you produced.

Defending Your Prices

I used to avoid any potential job where the client stated prices up front that were too low. I would just not apply to the job, or I’d let the project go without any objection. There was plenty of work out there that paid well, and I didn’t want to waste my time.

It occurred to me at one point, though, that negotiation wasn’t necessarily a bad thing—and some of these lower prices represent what the client ideally wants to pay, not what he or she is ultimately willing to pay. I started defending my prices in situations like this—more as an experiment than anything else. Sometimes, it didn’t work—the budget was truly inflexible. Other times, however, it actually did work—and I got some projects I never would have landed if I hadn’t bothered. Here are a few pointers for defending your prices.

Talk about what the money buys you. One of the things I emphasize—particularly when talking to the five-dollar-an-article crowd—is that there are certain things you can’t get when you’re paying that little for writing. You don’t get research, for one thing. What you’re usually getting is work recycled (or sometimes directly cut-and-pasted) from other articles already on the web. You don’t get someone assessing your market and the type of information your audience is hungry for. You don’t get research into topics that aren’t already well-covered. You definitely don’t get interviews. Breaking down exactly what work and expertise the client gets—and explaining why they won’t get that with the low-budget option—can be enormously eye-opening.

Talk in terms of money saved, not money spent. If someone’s trying to find a student or newbie to do their ten-page brochure for $50, it’s not necessarily money wasted—there are a lot of talented newbies and students out there. But the likelihood is higher than if you pick someone with a track record of experience in this area. And if you’re putting money behind the campaign—mailing costs, printing costs, graphic design, etc.—then the message is definitely something you don’t want to skimp on.

Talk about results. I like to talk about successful past campaigns. I talk about clients who’ve dramatically decreased time spent in sales, boosted revenue, or raised their click-through rates or web traffic as a direct result of my work. It helps to occasionally check in with clients to get the results of finished projects—and a few testimonials with specific figures definitely don’t hurt.

This won’t work all the time. But it does work enough that it’s worthwhile to do. How do you defend your prices?