5 Signs That You're Ready to Hire a Copywriter

One of the biggest buzzwords in the small business world is outsourcing. As soon as you complain about a task in your favorite FB group, everyone jumps into the thread to tell you to outsource it. And they have a point. But when it comes to hiring a copywriter, there are some things you should handle first.

I suppose it’s counterintuitive to sit here writing a blog telling you to slow down and NOT hire me yet. But the truth is you might not be quite ready to have someone like me write your blogs or website copy. And that’s ok. 

To get started on your own, you can grab your free copy of Write a Blog for Your Business in 10 Simple Steps. But if you are ready, or if you want some help with strategy, let’s get on a call!

Hiring a Copywriter Isn’t Only About the Words

• I don’t know what to write about for my blog articles.

• I’m a bad writer.

• I don’t have time to write blogs.

• I don’t know the SEO stuff to make my blogs worth the effort.

These are the most common themes from people who reach out to me to write for them. Does any of it sound familiar?

Many entrepreneurs hit stumbling blocks when it’s time to post blog articles, and they think that all their content woes are due to some epic battle with words. And if they could just hand off that chore, everything would be fine.

But the reality is that it’s not always the right time to outsource your blogs, web copy, or emails to a copywriter. There could be some other pieces of the puzzle to address first for your business.

If you’ve been considering taking the step of hiring a wordsmith, yay! But let’s make sure you’re prepared to do it so that you’re not wasting any precious time or money.

Here are the top five signs that you are ready to hire a copywriter.

1. You Have a Website

There seems to be a thing lately where “experts” tell you that all you need is a landing page for your business because social media is all that matters. 

They would like you to believe that combining an active social presence with a cool-looking landing page is the ideal strategy for achieving the infamous six figures and beyond.

So...they’re wrong. At least in most cases. 

Yes, some companies may achieve a high-figure launch with only social posts and a landing page. But it’s rarely reproducible, and it’s unlikely to be scalable for your business. 

And here’s why: 

• Social media is fleeting. Algorithms change all the time, and what works today might not work next week. 

• The time commitment is enormous. Because of all those algorithm shifts, businesses must spend a lot of time creating, curating, or repurposing content to try to get in front of their audiences.

• The reach is minimal. As ubiquitous and in-your-face as it is, social media just doesn’t reach that far for most entrepreneurs. Organic reach is hovering around 5%. In case you’re wondering, that is not a great number.

• It requires pay-to-play. I hope I’m not delivering a horrible shock here, but social media platforms make money off ads. Which means that they favor ads in their algorithms. Which means that most companies must pay to gain any meaningful reach.

• You don’t own it. This is the kicker, you guys. Yes, it’s your content when you post on IG or FB or Twitter, or wherever. But it can disappear in the blink of an eye, and you have no say over that and may never get it back. Your website, however, is yours, and it doesn’t exist at the whim of Zuckerberg or anyone else.

So before you hire a copywriter for ads or landing pages or anything like that, make sure you have a website up and running. You need to have a legitimate online presence for your business to thrive. There’s no use dumping money into a content writer if you don’t have a website to hold the content.

2. You Know Your Ideal Client

Your copy and content have several jobs to do:

• Your copy needs to convert potential clients into paying clients.

• Your content needs to educate and inform your potential and current clients.

• Your copy and content need to help Google let your ideal clients know that you exist and are awesome.

That means that every word you write must have your target audience in mind. If you haven’t figured out who that audience is, you can’t write for them. And neither can a hired copywriter.

You are ready to outsource your copy and content once you have that avatar dialed in and crystal clear in your mind. Give them a name and a job and an income and a favorite hobby.

The more you can visualize that ideal client, the better you can imagine a conversation with them, and the more clearly you can communicate to a copywriter who that person is. It isn’t the hired writer’s job to discover your target audience, so you need to have that info ready for them.

3. You Have a Marketing Budget

I have worked with companies with a $50-per-month marketing budget and some with budgets in the tens of thousands of dollars. It doesn’t necessarily matter how big your budget is when you want to hire a copywriter. It matters that you have one. 

Why? Because when you have allocated funds to marketing, it means that you are taking your business seriously and want it to grow. And it means that you understand the value of having professional help in this area. 

Perhaps at the outset, you have enough money for one professionally written email campaign each month. Eventually, that investment does its job, and your revenue grows. Then your marketing budget can grow, too. Ta-da!

4. You’ve Already Done Some of Your Own Copywriting

I make my living off of writing words for other people. I need them to hire me for my business to keep going. BUT, I firmly believe that you should not hire a writer for your biz until you’ve done it for yourself first. 

By all means, get feedback or get help with editing and cleaning it up if you want. But I think every business owner needs the experience of communicating what they do to their audience. Doing your own copy for a while helps you dial in that aforementioned ideal client avatar, which is critical.

5. You’re Ready to Scale

A significant part of growing and scaling a business is having excellent content. The words on your website, in your emails, and in your social media posts should all be building you up as an expert and an authority. 

When it’s time for your biz to grow, it’s probably time to hire a copywriter. This step is perfect for you if you:

• Hate writing. Period.

• Love writing, but only for yourself, and you don’t want to share it with the world wide web.

• Want to spend your work time doing other tasks in your business.

• Some combo of all of the above.

With consistent, high-quality content, you will position your brand as authoritative and trustworthy. And this presence can help you land higher-paying contracts, speaking gigs, and marketable interviews.

Is It Time to Hire a Copywriter for Your Business?

If you’ve checked off some or all of these boxes, then now is probably an excellent time to outsource your content and copy. And I’d be thrilled to talk with you to see if Kristin Ratten Content Services is the right fit.

Whether you know it’s time, or you just have some questions, I’m happy to hop on a call with you. Schedule a time, and let’s get started!