A colleague shared with me the other day how frustrated and disappointed she was with hiring freelance writers and marketing consultants to help with her business. I asked what she thought the problem was and she shared some very specific things with me.

What she said neither shocked nor surprised me. Unfortunately, I hear it all the time from clients who hire me to fix or clean up the aftermath of hiring the wrong person.

Let me say upfront that some freelancers are just plain awful at their craft; others are well intentioned; and still others make excellent partners. And just because someone is good at what they do, does not mean they’ll be the right partner for you.

I could literally write a book about when and how to hire a freelancer — and when not to. So, for brevity’s sake, let’s just look at the topic based on what my colleague shared.

Here’s what she said made her blood boil:

Freelancers who are copywriters but try to be marketing consultants

Marketing communications “consultants” or “coaches” who recommend the same cookie-cutter approach for B2B that they recommend for B2C

Those who are so into social media that they make social media the focus of their conversation before they really understand my business

Yikes. I winced at those. It’s embarrassing to me as a consultant/coach/freelancer to have others tarnish my beloved profession.

As a consultant experienced in both B2B and B2C marketing and communications, I know how challenging it can be to distinguish the two. In fact, I’m working with a client who is using a big, fancy New York agency and we’ve had to repeatedly remind them that our end-customer is not the consumer. The distinction can be a fine line, and I’m of the opinion that social media and e-communication is changing even the B2B space. (More on that another time.)

But, that’s no excuse for delivering shoddy, ineffective copy. And there’s never an excuse for delivering templated anything.

So, here are my suggestions for avoiding what my colleague had to endure:

1. Find and qualify. Get referrals from peers and colleagues, networking groups, etc. But don’t stop there. Do some additional research. Visit their web site, Google their name, set a Google alert, pre-screen by phone before meeting them face-to-face, do a reference check, compare them to others, etc., etc., etc. Be thorough in your research. My own toolbox contains a simple pre-screen questionnaire that I use to qualify clients. Know what your  expectations are before you start looking for someone who can meet them. And remember, it’s rare to find someone who can “do it all.” You may need multiple partners to accomplish your goals. For example, I know some about social media, but it’s not my area of expertise — and I tell my clients that. If your potential partner says, “yes, yes, yes” and claims to be an expert in anything and everything, run for the hills … at least be sure to do additional research. Do they know the difference between PR and publicity? Are they accredited in their niche? How long have they been offering the service and in what capacity? Interview them and research their background thoroughly. Of course, balance that with the fact that until you’ve hired them, there’s a limited amount of time they can invest with you. Be respectful of their time and circumstances while you do due diligence.
2. Perform a gut check. If their web site copy sounds like hype, perhaps it is. If you hear nice things about them with an underlying “be cautious” tone, don’t ignore it. Do not talk your way into or out of a partnership. You should be genuinely excited about who you’re going to work with. In my own business, I only work with people who seem as though they’ll value my contribution and respect my time. I’m not in the business of doing rush jobs, for example. There are plenty of great freelancers who cover that niche. I’m not one of them so I would not be the best partner for a client who has a hurry-up need. If a potential client tells me it’s not a rush job but I still get the sense that it is, I heed the warning. Doing a gut check saves me and my potential client a lot of heartache. Here’s another example from my own business: Like many freelancers, I typically invoice new clients one-third of estimated hours and wait for payment before getting started. Clients who balk at my terms are a red flag for me. Now, I’m not saying every freelancer should do that, but it works well for me and, more importantly, it helps me vet my clientele.
3. Do your part. Sometimes, like it or not, the issue is with you, not your consultant or freelancer. How’s your communication? Do you hand off work and disappear, only to come back at the 11th hour? Touch base, schedule status updates, set guidelines and milestones. Your job is to manage the expectations of the project. Even the most independent professional cannot operate in a vacuum. I recently ended a client relationship for that very reason. My client simply would not engage with me, nor would she delegate that responsibility to someone on her staff. While I’m very flexible in how I work with people, I will not sit idly and listen to the sound of crickets. It’s a deal breaker for me.
4. Remember you get what you pay for. While price is not necessarily equated to quality, it can be an indicator. Great partners charge a fair market rate that’s probably on the high end. While my hourly rate is competitive, I’m certainly not the lowest priced freelancer around. Why? Because I’m worth what I charge. I write fast. Very fast. I write well. I deliver results. And I charge accordingly. When considering hourly  or project rates, consider the time your project could take. A $45/hour freelancer may take three times as long as, say, a $90/hour freelancer. (Not always, of course, but keep it in mind.)

Okay, so I could keep going and going. I have opinions about these things! :)

Bottom line? Do your research, trust your gut, set and manage expectations, take the plunge and learn from your mistakes.

Share your freelance/consultant horror and success stories with me by leaving a comment.

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Regardless of who the copywriter is on your next project — you, a colleague, a subordinate or a freelancer — make a vow to get or give proper feedback. Note that I said feedback, not criticism.

Feedback, according to Merriam-Webster, is “the transmission of evaluative or corrective information.” Criticism, on the other hand, is “the act of criticizing unfavorably.” (Isn’t that a typical dictionary definition?!) Criticism, in my opinion, does nothing to move the copy forward like feedback does.

Before learning how to use feedback to get great copy, you have to understand that copywriting is never done well when it’s done in a vacuum. Taking the time to get and give feedback — and then using that feedback to refine the copy — always leads to better results.

A couple of years ago I worked on a video script for a major pharmaceutical company. My first draft was solid, however, feedback from the project team really helped me streamline and sharpen the final copy. I’m grateful that the client provided clear and appropriate feedback; some of which was related to things surrounding the brand that I, as a consultant, could not possibly have known.

Here’s how to give the kind of feedback that promotes great copy:

1. When possible, allow the writer to briefly present the copy. Writers make a lot of decisions throughout the copywriting process and likely have a  reason for why they wrote what they did. If you go into the feedback process with insight into the copy process, you’ll at least be able to determine whether or not the writer succeeded in achieving what they said they would.
2. Read the copy to yourself. Not skim. Not scan. Not skip. Read the entire copy through once; then read it again, this time out loud.
3. On the third read-through, put yourself in the reader’s shoes. Ask yourself if the main message is presented early, clearly and succinctly. The copy should always address the benefit(s) to the reader in a way that’s both memorable and easy to understand.
4. Make note of the copy’s positives and start the feedback process there. You or your writer will be more open to hearing and receiving feedback that starts with the positive.
5. Conduct a SWOT analysis, looking for the copy’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. During your SWOT analysis, look for common copy mistakes such as vagueness, redundancies and overuse of jargon. Identify any potentially confusing areas, looking to see if the overall flow of the copy makes sense.
6. Watch for your own biases. If you prefer the word “prior” over the word “before,” don’t sweat it. Unless it changes the meaning of the message or is completely off-brand, let it go. Limit your feedback to the messaging of the copy rather than word-for-word commentary. That being said, be as specific as possible in your feedback. Instead of saying, “The copy is boring,” explain the ‘why’ behind your feedback, such as “The copy lacks an emotional connection. Use a success story to illustrate the point.”

So even if you choose to call feedback constructive criticism, make use of these six tips for giving good feedback. Your writer will thank you. But, more importantly, your reader will.

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I’m doing a site audit for a client of mine and naturally it includes a few thoughts on web copy.

While looking for some small business sites within her industry as good examples to share, I was shocked at the number of poorly done web sites from Boston to Seattle.

There were plenty of hideously designed and whiz-bang-whistle, super-flashy sites that took too long to load, but the biggest thing I noticed was how rotten much of the copy is out there. Seriously. Stinky. Rotten.

A good share of it started with something like this:

As a ______ specializing in _______, I know _______. Our well-trained, highly competent staff will _______.  We take every measure to ensure that ___________. As a leading ________, we’re proud to offer ___________.

Aargh.

Investing time and money into a new web site is a challenge, especially for small businesses. I know, it’s something that challenges me, too, as I work to do great work for my clients and have work-life balance. (Finding the right WordPress partner has been a nightmare, but I digress.)

At the very least, though, schedule a semi-annual review of your content. Do an honest assessment of it. Better yet, have someone else do a more objective evaluation. What content should stay? What should go? What should be refreshed? How can you make it happen with your internal teams or an outside partner, such as a freelance web copywriter.

Remember that the web is a significant channel for reaching, communicating and transacting with your customers and potential customers. Strategic, optimized, consistent, on-brand copy will help you leverage the web’s inherent power to influence and persuade. And that, dear readers, is priceless.

P.S. I’m planning my own web site makeover in 2010. Are you?

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It’s nice to be back blogging, in part, because I enjoy sharing ideas but also because it means I have some breathing room in my schedule. Which leads me to what I want to share here: do you give yourself enough time to write?

Just about everyone underestimates the amount of time needed to write well.

Sure, Stephen King or John Irving can bang out novel after novel after novel. But they are the exception, not the rule.

I believe that writing even a thoughtful email should take a certain amount of time. And certainly writing web copy requires more than a day or a week.

One of the projects I’ve been working on are some fast turnaround presentations for a major health care company. We typically have a week to distill the message, craft the story, create visuals and produce what is essentially a mini movie. It’s a very compressed timeframe. And while we’ve done a really good job, it could have been less painful for all involved if we had extended our project timeline just a bit.

Sometimes a project dictates a short timeframe. But most times, we self-impose time limits. Perhaps we do this because we don’t want to disappoint the client, the boss, the coworker. Perhaps we do this because we (or others) don’t value our contribution. Or perhaps we do this because we simply don’t know how much time something will take. (Trust me, it will invariably take longer than you think.)

Honestly? I’m a fast writer. Quite fast, in fact. But that doesn’t mean I don’t need a fair amount of prep time, which could include doing research, conducting interviews, brainstorming, noodling, whatever I need to in order to get as much information in me as possible. In fact, I believe I’m a fast writer because I do so much upfront work. It makes the writing process so much easier when I’m well prepared.

Let me encourage you to allow adequate lead time for all your writing.

I recommend keeping track of how long various writing projects take you. It’s a necessity for me to log my exact hours since I juggle multiple clients and projects at any given time. But the other important reason I do it is because it helps me more accurately estimate needed hours for similar, future projects.

It’s also good to build in at least part of a day so you can set your writing aside and come back fresh in the morning for one last round of revising and proofing.

And, lastly, I find it challenging to write for hours and hours on end. I prefer to chunk my writing time with breaks in between, which means I need to allow perhaps two days instead of one for a small project, or fours hours instead of two.

Do you agree that it takes time to write well? Do you allow yourself the time? Do you feel resistance when you do ask for extra time?

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