As a copywriter, I see a lot of copywriting jobs get posted on LinkedIn again and again. There are some I’ve seen posted, on and off, for more than 6 months!
Why is that? Can’t they find the right person? Is it a terrible place to work?
Here’s underlying problem
The fundamental problem is a lack of understanding to what a copywriter actually does and how they do it.
For anyone thinking about adding a copywriter to their staff, please focus your attention on the next sentence for the answer.
A copywriter writes copy that gets results. No more, no less.
Let me tell you what I mean by that.
I had a phone call with a prospect last Friday and he really had no idea what copywriters do… or what sales copy could do for his business. So I explained it another way.
“Do you remember when the Internet was new and no one had any idea what to do with it…?”, I started.
“Yeah?”
“Copywriters are the ones who learned how to make money there.”
“And do you remember when Facebook was new and businesses didn’t know how to use it…?”
“Yeah?”
“Again, copywriters are the ones who monetized those feeds.”
Simply put, copywriters are just interested in the response
Remember, it’s called “copy” because it’s a message that sells… and so businesses ‘copy’ that message a million times so they can grow their businesses! These are selling arguments.
So you see, while there is some blending with the job description from social media marketing specialists who love tracking ‘Likes’, ‘Shares’ and ‘Comments’, copywriting is mainly about response. And that’s the point that a good 75% of job listings simply don’t understand.
Take a few of these “job requirements” as an example of that disconnect:
- Ability to juggle multiple projects while possessing a positive attitude
- Ensures copy tone and style are consistent with brand guidelines
- Respectfully persistent in the pursuit of creative excellence and timely delivery of work
Respectfully persistent, huh? I think I’ll respectfully decline…
It’s true that these job requirements might lead to a happy, busy looking office… but will they produce the results that the business is essentially looking for? Let’s take one of these requirements and see how that plays out.
Juggling multiple projects:
Ok. That sounds fine. It’s something I do all the time. But in a busy office with people interrupting you every 10 minutes, this can be a receipt for disaster.
Look… it takes a solid hour to get in the zone, to understand what our prospects really want, need and desire… so we can speak in a way that resonates with them, and cut through a thousand other daily distractions.
This isn’t an easy thing to do. We’re essentially creating ‘love at first sight’ for your products and services, and that can’t be done in 15 minutes. Can you walk up to any beautiful woman you see, right out of the blue, and start a meaningful relationship? It wouldn’t be that easy, would it?
So you need to see that for every time you’ve interrupted your new copywriter or called them into meetings to ‘review the pipeline’, you’re breaking that cycle. And you need to realize that might be the reason they weren’t able to produce the results you wanted. And that frustration might be the reason they didn’t stick.
It’s not the person. It’s the misconception of what they’re supposed to be doing that’s interfering WITH WHAT THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING! …It’s a bit maddening, isn’t it?
How to find a copywriter with ‘the right fit’
The last and most painfully obvious reason why so many companies aren’t able to find the ‘right fit’ for copywriting jobs is this. Copywriting is a specialty.
Oh my God! I’ve had prospects ask for samples and, after taking a brief glance they say something like, “This isn’t exactly what we’re looking for.” As if that means we’re not a fit.
“Of course this isn’t what you’re looking for,” I explain, “This wasn’t written for your company or for your prospects. If something that was written for 50-60-year-old homeowners was also ‘exactly what we’re looking for’ with a millennial demographic, there’s something very wrong in your understanding of your target market.”
The problem isn’t with the sample. It’s with the reading.
The problem is that prospects hardly ever ask about the response rates that copywriters have had with their samples. They usually just end up reading them blind, as if they were the target audience.
What if the copy was in another language! Would that also mean that I the copywriter didn’t know what they were doing? むがつく!
Think about it. In any other specialty, doctors, lawyers, etc… one looks at the track record to know if they’re good or not. So why is this any different!?
Oh, that’s right! Everybody can write, so everybody thinks they’re a good judge of proper academic writing, right? Right!
Wrong! I’ve been studying copywriting longer than it takes to pass the bar exam… and I know I still have a million things left to learn.
So when I see job requirements like, “Ensure copy tone and style are consistent with brand guidelines” I know they aren’t really looking for a copywriter. They’re looking for a description writer; someone to write product reviews, or web copy for an e-commerce site for bathroom hardware.
They are not, in fact, looking for a copywriter. They would be much better served with a general writer.
Let me leave you with a little litmus test
to help you separate the two:
If you have a general idea of what you want. i.e. You can say, “Write something like this,” then you need to hire someone with a good attitude and general writing abilities. i.e. Someone who knows at least as much as you know. This way they’ll enjoy the office banter and you’ll get writing that, more or less, meets your expectations. (Just one warning, however: Most people will produce more noise than results)
On the other hand, if you have no idea of how to sell your product or service… if you feel like you’re stuck in a rut and something has to change in order for you to succeed… or, if the cost of running your campaign is high, that’s when you need to hire a specialist. You need to work with someone who knows what you don’t know and trust them to do their job – without interruptions! – because that’s the only way they can discover the unknown buying motivations in your target audience.
As I said, a copywriter’s only job is to write copy that gets a response. Add anything else to the job description or requirements and you’re tipping your hand that you just want a general writer or, the work environment is so distracting that you’ll only get 10% of the potential productivity from your new hire… no matter how talented they may be.
I’ve just finished this article and it’s only 6:35am… and with only a few sips of my coffee, mind you. That’s because I started at 4:35.
The in-house writer, in stark contrast, won’t be able to get much done until after the morning meeting, a few coffees and more than a couple hours spent “checking email”.
Before you post that next job listing…
So before you place your next job listing for a copywriter, I want you to realize one very important point.
Whether you hire a general writer or you decide to work with someone who actually knows how to drive response, the choice will be determined by what you really value. So you should be honest with yourself about that, before you start calling anyone in for interviews. And in that way, you can be sure to save yourself a lot of time and hassle.
Just ask yourself: Are office politics and company culture more important? Do you just need a middle of the road, team player? Or are you mainly interested in bottom-line results?
These are all very different positions!
And while every company and every situation will require something different, the one thing that does not change in this determination is the fact that: the cost of hiring the wrong person… or creating the wrong working environment for the right person – is much higher than you think.
So make sure your values are actually aligned with the position you’re hiring for!
Instead of shouting out some B.S. like, “the ideal candidate should meet and exceed expectations,” you need to understand if your expectations will actually let your new hire do a good job – or not.
All the best,
Jeremiah