4 Ways To Save Money On A Copywriter

Let’s face it: good copywriters are expensive. Most of us have spent a lot of years, or even decades, learning how to sell with words. That kind of experience and expertise doesn’t come along cheaply, and we know that strong sales and marketing materials will pay for themselves many times over.
But at the same time, I realize that we live in the real world where many of our clients just don’t have the ability to pay top dollar for good copy. Sometimes, it’s because they’ve had budget cuts and need to get a new campaign working for less than they had envisioned. Other times, they’re new entrepreneurs who are launching their businesses and products with little more than hope and a shoestring.
If you find yourself in those shoes, I can sympathize. Most of us have had to build our businesses from something humble, and I’m no exception. And so in that spirit, I wanted to offer a few tips for hiring a good, experienced copywriter for less:
Find an open space on their schedule. Copywriters, like any self-employed professionals, usually have to busy and slow times. Most of us are a lot less picky about the work we’ll pick up, and the rate we’ll charge for it, if we don’t have too many other projects to work on.
Start it yourself. Sometimes, you can cut down on the hours needed to finish a project (along with the budget) by giving your copywriter an outline or first draft to work from. This can be a gamble, since you might end up with something that’s not as strong as it would have been if they’d done it from scratch. Still, you can sometimes knock off as much as half a copywriter’s fee by giving them a head start.
Combine projects. You will almost always pay more for a bunch of small projects done one at a time than you would if many pieces of the campaign were contracted together. That’s because a lot of the research, interview, and brainstorming time for related projects tend to overlap. So if you know from the outset you’ll need a lot of work, get a discount up front.
Pay cash. Who doesn’t love the prospect of being paid quickly? Offer your copywriter quick payment terms once the project has been completed, and they might just give you a break on the size of the bill.
While these tips won’t work for everyone all the time, I hope they’ll be useful for you as you work with professional copywriters. Remember, getting the best work is never going to be cheap. But if you follow these guidelines, you might be able to get some top-notch copy without breaking the bank.