Can any website/graphic designers help me with a little bit of advice please?

I will be cold pitching web and graphic designers in the next few months (sorry!) but I don't actually fully understand the nature of your relationships with copywriters. Can anyone answer a few short questions for me please?
Hopefully one day I can repay the favour :)


1. Do you work with a copywriter?

2. Do your clients ever ask you to recommend copywriters or do they send their own copy?

Lastly,
3. I was going to email offering a free piece of work (ie. a polish or rework of stuff on your site) to show what I can do and in a shameless attempt to curry favour.
-Do you get many cold emails from copywriters?
-Is this an approach you have seen before/ what is the usual approach?
-Would this offer be attractive to you if you received it?
-What do you need most from your relations

Replies9

  • Thanks alot to all you guys for taking the time to reply. I know a hell of a lot more than I did before. (And realised just how far off the mark some of my assumptions were...) Lots for me to think about. Really can't thank you enough. I'll be looking for a way to pay all that kindness forward again as soon as I can.
    All the best, Pete
  • Hi Pete, Certainly seems like you're getting a good bit of market research here and I thought I'd pitch in even though I think most people have similar answers to myself.

    1) Yes, depending on the job. Often at the start of the job I'll talk to my client to see if they have copy or if they are in need of help in that department. Most clients seem pleased just to be asked that question even if they have someone already and sometimes they've not even thought that fair ahead.

    2) I've not been asked if I know any copywriters out of the blue by a client. As I mentioned I normaly dicuss it at the brief/pitch stage of the project.

    3a) No cold emails from copywrites. And to be honest, personally, I would generally ignore cold emails. I prefer a connection via something like LinkedIn (if its a genuine connection request with a little message) or via netowkring as that seems a little more personal. It also helps if there's a reason for the person to connect so either they work with similar clients or have similar interests.

    3b) I do get a lot of cold emails from other professionals and they seem to get lost in the spam folder. I've also never responded to a cold emails. I also tried cold emailing with little success but I probably didn't do it effectivly or with the right strategy.

    3c) Being perfectly honest I think offering free work would actually turn me off. What I would respond to is a more human connection. Take LinkedIn for example a nice friendly connect request with no sales, then seeing engaging posts and comments about thinking around subjects is usually how my connections start. Traditional networking is also where I meet most of my contacts.

    3d) I would need a similar ethos, passion for the same subjects and sectors, reliable, communitative and a collaborative mentality.

    I hope that helps and I wish you the best of luck.

    Thanks,
    Alister
  • Hi Pete, hope you are well.
    1. When freelancing for places: No. Cause they normally have a copywriter assigned to the project. When working directly with clients: Depending on the project. Sometimes a strategist and later a proof reader will be more suitable, other times a copywriter is the right person from the start. Highly depended on the client and brief.
    2. Both. But it sometimes can be a bit more work convincing clients about hiring an additional copywriter.
    3.
    - I do not get a lot of cold emails from copywriters (so there is definitely a niche for it :)
    - If the offer comes in at the right time then it would be super useful yes. It’s always great to have a potential contact bookmarked.
    - Clear understanding what they want to do, what they can offer, but also not being sent a monthly email about updates.

    Good luck with everything. k
  • I'm not a website designer, but before I moved into Content Design I spent 10 years in copywriting roles, much of that freelance. I did a ton of work with freelance web designers and agencies.

    My experience was that many clients of web designers didn't understand the value of copywriting, and/or weren't willing to pay for it. And, TBH, neither did some web designers.

    It took me a while to fully grasp this, but once I did I shifted strategy to focus on identifying and working with partners who already had some understanding of the value I could add.

    Trying to sell copywriting services into businesses that had no notion of the benefits of my services felt like a thankless task, and I decided not to tackle it. (That's not to say you can't land sales this way - I just had one too many conversations where people told me "I'll just do it myself," and realised it was wearing me down.)

    Eventually, I focused right in on a small group of designers where I could work closely with the designers - developing content from day 1, attending client meetings, and not getting haggled over every £ on my invoice.

    I had most success working with folks I met at events (I used to attend web design events, and frequently found I was the only copywriter in the roonm, which made me a novelty), and also by picking up "overflow" work from agencies with in-house writers. There is definitely a niche as the freelancer who comes in to help out on client work when the in-house team is swamped.

    Anyway, that's my rambling input. Maybe it can help a bit with identifying folks to pitch to, and figuring out the specifics of your pitch?

    I can see the "free trial" thing both ways TBH. On one hand, it has the potential to get you in the door. On the other, maybe it can underplay the full value of a good copywriter. Like, as a copywriter, projects to polish or rework existing content aren't where the greatest impact is.

    Good luck! Happy to answer specific questions (if I can...)
  • As a designer and art director I worked with copywriters.

    I’ve also been supplied copy by clients from specific sectors.

    So if asked ‘do you know any copywriters’ my response is likely to be ‘yes, but I’m not sure if they’re right for this’.

    However, as an example, if asked ‘do you know any medical copywriters’, the answer might well be:

    ‘I do, although I haven’t worked with them directly, why not sound them out?’

    It makes me look like a well connected problem solver.

    Niches may play to your advantage.
  • Hello Pete,

    1 As a freelancer not so often, this is something most clients don’t like to pay for

    2 Rarely if they need I recommend yes

    3 it’s unusual and no free humans are not attractive.

    I would rather recommend you to offer strategy with copywriting, this is something I saw as a missing point.
  • Hey Pete,

    1. Sometimes (my partner when I badger him to help me!)

    2. Not very often, although one of the biggest clients I ever had was interested in getting copywriting done, which I did a little bit of. I have been thinking about looking for copywriters to work with to make my brand packages more well-rounded.

    3. Have never had a cold email from a copywriter. I don't think I'd mind as long as they seemed human and the email wasn't too long. If it felt as though they were genuinely reaching out to me because they think their services would complement mine, and not just a copy and paste with my name jammed in the first line. I'd be interested in the free sampler if the above criteria was met.

    Finally trust and mutual respect are the things I look for the most. I'm a one-person studio and I want to keep it that way, so I'm on the look out for partners in different fields that I can collaborate with. I like working with people who are on the same wavelength as me - I realise that's very vague but it's more to do with whether we gel and the quality and style of our work would work together.

    Hope that helps! Feel free to drop me an email (hello@laurabelle.co.uk) with a link to your website and maybe we can do something in the future? I'm in the process of moving house and relauching my studio so it's not something I'll be comissioning in the shrort term, but it would be great to find out a bit more about you.

    All the best,
    Laura
  • @Tanel S Thanks very much for taking the time to answer those for me. All the best. Pete

  • 1) Sometimes.
    2) There are clients who ask about copy production and are happy that I recommend or work on my own with copywriter. Most send copy or this is how I prefer to work. Less risks for me.
    2) No.
    I haven't seen it. Though my site is not getting much traffic either.
    It would be attractive for me personally yes as I am not native English speaker or writer type so I would be curious to see how s### everything actually is. Would I convert to customer. Honestly I think not. I don't believe that this is something what could improve my clients quality at this point.
    What I need most? Communication and trust. If I work with freelance partners and I am contact person for client I feel responsible for project outcome and deadlines. So I expect that I have overview about project status, deliverables and working schedule. As an example if there is agreed deadline on Thursday I don't want that my copywriter will send something thursday evening and goes to 2 week vacation straight after that so that there is no time for revisions.

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