Freelancers: Kill Your Ego (before it accepts another rewrite)

Hi Friends,

Important lesson for my freelance copywriter brethren today…

Like me, you probably get lots of requests to “rewrite” sales letters for clients.

I used to welcome these requests because on the surface they look like an “easy gig”.

The client will say to you…

“The current letter’s not converting that bad, but I’ve seen your stuff and I know you could make it really killer.”

That’s where your Ego steps in and pushes your Logic aside like the uptight nerd he is and says, “Give me the phone… I’ll handle this one.”

“Hello client, Ego here… yes, looking at your letter I can see where the writer dropped the ball on you… big time!

“What’s that? Oh, YOU wrote the letter yourself?

“Ah, well, then… hrm-mm… it’s quite good… in parts. You’ll definitely need a seasoned pro if you’re going to improve on a letter of this quality.”

So, now (thanks to Ego) you’ve agreed to take a reduced fee for what will surely be an easy task of improving sub-par copy by simply waiving your magic wand across the page.

You turn in the new copy. The client is dazzled by your skill. “It reads SO much better,” he tells you. “I can’t wait to get it up and throw traffic at it.”

And that’s when it hits you. All the things you DON’T know about this client’s campaign.

All the things that Logic would have covered (and charged accordingly for) and Ego could care less about.

Like…

• Do your clients AdWords still match the crafty new headline you wrote?
• Will he be adding new design elements, like images, to the page without you seeing them?
• What about a video? Will it match the hook of the letter?
• Did the first letter nail the driving motivation of his best prospects, or was it merely a guess?
• What changes in the market could be secretly skewering his conversions?

Just to name a few.

See, that’s the difference between thinking of yourself as a “good copywriter” or a “marketing consultant who writes great copy.”

A “good copywriter” is happy take money for writing what the client wants — and letting them worry about the pesky details of marketing.

A “marketing consultant who writes great copy” only takes a job where he is paid to spend the time necessary to fully understand which changes to the campaign will give it the best shot at bumping conversions.

The difference is night and day — for both freelancer and client.

I stopped accepting offers to “rewrite” sales pages a while back because while you can get lucky and bump conversions by simply improving the writing…

… the other side of the coin was a distraught phone call from a person with the same name as the client who “loved your copy” demanding to know why your awesome sounding new copy is converting worse than the old clunky version.

When that happens it’s time to go back and do all the work you should have done in the first place, then rewrite the copy again, plus tweak the AdWords, and consult on the new images — and the new video… and everything else Ego had no interest in.

Except now you’re getting paid for none of it, and the client sees it not as great service, but you patching the hole you ripped in his campaign. Because that’s pretty much what it is. And you’ll be doing it at the expense of the other project you’re supposed to be working on instead.

When you’re through — even if it does work out for the better — do you think that client will be singing your praises or coming back to you next time?

Unlikely.

So, if you’re a freelance copywriter who is still accepting simple “rewrites”, consider how much effort goes into gaining a new client… and how valuable their happiness is to your business… compared to how costly a simple “easy gig” rewrite can be to your schedule — and your reputation.

Then stuff your Ego in a box, tape it shut and only let him for air when appropriate. Which — unless you’re a rapper or a professional wrestler — is just about never.

Tagged as: freelance copywriting, marketing consultant, rewriting sales copy, sales, sales copy, sales letter