HOW I WORK
This is my process to help you get a clearer understanding of what stage comes next
I often get enquiries from social media channels, or from someone who’s heard of me from someone else, asking if I do this or that, how much, how does it work?
All the usual, fair-enough questions.
After all, working with a copywriter, effectively an outsider to your business, is an alien concept to many. It’s your business and you’re rightly protective, but rest assured.
There is a tried and tested process with copywriting to allow the copywriter (me, in this case!) to come to understand and love your business as much as you do. To invest my time and passion into your business as if I was part of the team and not an outsourced party.
I’ve outlined the process I follow here, but if you are still a little unsure of how it all works, you may like to check out the Frequently Asked Questions page.
Feel free to contact me directly HERE with any questions you may have.
Or we can schedule a free 15-minute getting-to-know-you call.
Step 1: Initial enquiry
The contact form on the website is my preferred method of hearing from you. Simply because, there are fields for you to complete to give me an idea of your project, deadline expectation, and also budget, if you have one.
If I can have these details from you early on, I can tell you if I am able to help you. The only reasons I may not is if I can’t meet your deadline, or I feel I don’t have enough experience to do justice to your project. In this case, I can help point you in the direction of someone who may be able to help.
Step 2: Initial brief
Once I have received your enquiry, I would suggest jumping on a getting-to-know-you-call (usually done via Zoom) so we can talk through a little bit about your business, this project’s details, what help you think you need from me, and clarify details such as your timescale.
If for some reason a call isn’t going to work for you, I can send these through email for you to fill out and return back to me.
This step is because I charge a set fee for each project, so I need to know important details about your brand and the project first, to allow me to give you an accurate quote.
If you just want to know a ballpark figure at this stage, I can do that. If you then decide to go ahead with working with me, we will revisit this stage and firm up the quote.
I like to be transparent so there are no nasty surprises when your final invoice is due. If I exceed my allotted time or don’t schedule enough time for research, for example, that’s up to me to carry. I prefer doing things this way as it is clearer and fairer for all.
Step 3: The proposal
Once I have the important details from you, and hopefully, we have had a chat on a call to actually ‘meet’ each other, I can write up my proposal and send you the quote for your project.
The proposal I send to you will outline the following:
- A brief recap of your business as I understand from the information I have seen so far
- Details of your requirements for this project (as known at this stage). This covers the type of project, number of words/pages, your expectations of me, your aims for the project, for example.
- My proposed scope of work outlining what is included. It may include other services I would suggest for you, depending on what I find out from our initial briefing, and what I think would help you the most.
- A provisional timescale for the project, taking into account your deadline (if any) and my workload in the coming weeks.
- Your investment, including details of my payment schedule and terms. I always ask for 50% of the total due at this stage. For projects of $499 and under I ask for the full amount to be paid at this stage.
Once I send this through to you as a PDF, if there is anything you want to discuss or change feel free to contact me. If you wish to go ahead, there is space for you to sign and then return to me.
Step 4: Main briefing
Once you have accepted and paid the first instalment, I can schedule your project into my calendar. Any delay with this stage may affect the timescale, as I often have a few weeks’ wait-time.
Once we have a kick-off date confirmed, I will schedule a call with you to delve deeper into your business, details of this project, target audience, your brand persona, to name a few. This call is normally around 60-minutes, again carried out typically on Zoom.
Before we jump on this call, I will send you a list of questions/topics for you to fill out, and we will discuss these deeper on the call. Even the smallest detail that pops into your head as we’re talking may be the difference between your copy being great or your copy being ‘great’, so chat away!
This will also be the time for you to send me any necessary documents (tone of voice documents, keyword details, etc) which I may need for your project.
Step 5: Drafts and amends
I like to start off by putting together a very simple ‘pre-draft’ for you, outlining in bullet points what details I will be including, where on each page certain copy will go, and any facts I may be using.
This will need you to ignore layout, grammar, and ‘other’ mistakes at this stage, and focus on fact-checking, brand details, and whether all information you want covered is present and correct.
When you approve this pre-draft, the first draft will follow, and this will be the one for you to review thoroughly. I send it through in a Word document, and I like you to use Word’s Track Changes function for your amendments.
Generally, I ask for your amends within 14 days, which allows time for you to think about and process what I’ve done, but is a short enough time for the project to be kept ‘hot’, and forefront in our minds. Your project is the most important one to me and I don’t like to see it get lost somewhere in between filing your tax return and hiring that new staff member.
After this 14-day window, I will invoice for the final amount, and work on your two free rounds of amends. Once you send me any amendments you may have (some clients don’t!) I will send the second draft for you to review, and once you have noted any changes you may still want, I will draft the final, finished copy, proofread and double-checked, before sending it to you for sign-off.
Step 6: Sign-off and finish
Once you have received the final, proofread draft and paid the final instalment of the fee, I will send you my sign-off form to complete. This acknowledges the work done, and hands over full copyright to you, to use all the copy as you wish.
It also includes a testimonial request, and I would be as happy as a pony who’s broken into the feed room if you would leave me a glowing review on Google My Business and/or Facebook, which I could also use on my website!
* Note: The above process is typical of the method used to write sales pages, websites, and other brand copy. For other content services, such as social media posts, or product descriptions, the steps or the number of drafts may differ slightly. These will be confirmed on a case-by-case basis.