Is it time to hire a freelance UK copywriter? Could your business use the services of an SEO content copywriter? Here are six signs you need to hire a freelance copywriter to help you with your content creation.
Many companies try to save money by producing their own copy for marketing materials, websites, and advertisements. However, unless you have good marketing copywriting experience, this is usually not a good idea.
The time may have arrived. You’ve achieved the level of success you have worked so hard for. It's at this point in a company's development that you realise you or your staff can no longer handle everything. Emails, blogs, websites, SEO, social media, and everything else related to content generation begin to pile up.
You have three main choices at this point:
Hire a full-time or part-time team member.
Lose money by abandoning some types of content or platforms/channels in favour of concentrating on just a few.
Hire a freelance UK copywriter or content writer to help.
When a content gap is discovered, these are the main paths that business owners follow.
Which one is the best fit for you?
Hiring a full-time or part-time employee might be a wonderful choice if the work required is a continuing project load that requires a new set of talents or knowledge. But it’s a major commitment. It's not financially viable for many business owners, and you need to justify their salary by constantly finding content work for them to do, rather than paying a freelance copywriter just for the work they do.
You may also take a serious look at your to-do list and evaluate what is truly important and what can be delegated. This is usually the only option if you don't have the budget or aren't ready to hire any form of support. This, however, demands a sacrifice on the part of your company. What are you willing to give up in order to do everything yourself?
For many business owners and marketing teams, hiring a freelance copywriter in the UK to help with writing and content development projects is the best option. If you're at capacity, it's usually better to hire an SEO content copywriter than to lose clients and business. Think of the ROI.
How do you know when to hire a UK freelance copywriter? Here are the top clues I've seen with clients when hiring freelance was the best choice for them:
1) Your content is out of date, and you're playing catch-up
The primary motivation for hiring a freelance SEO content copywriter for many of the clients I've dealt with was the realisation that things were falling through the cracks. You haven't updated the blog in a few weeks or months. The website is no longer up to date. The email list has become stale and needs to be re-engaged. Instead of being proactive, the content generation process is erratic or reactive. Or maybe there just hasn't been any fresh content for a time.
Many businesses are just surviving by producing content on the spur of the moment. This may work for a while, but the lack of content will ultimately catch up with you. You risk losing current customers or clients who don't feel nurtured or supported if you don't have current and consistent copy that follows a content strategy. And on the other hand, losing potential customers and clients who aren’t getting the engaging content they need to make that purchase decision.
When you're focused on the business side of things, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that as your audience and list of consumers or clients expands, so does your obligation to them. A company's content is responsible for relaying reliable and actionable information that leads to sales and builds loyal customers who return time and time again.
You may get back on track with your content by employing a UK freelance copywriter. A copywriter can not only begin generating material for your company but also assist you in developing a long-term content marketing strategy or plan that aligns with your company's objectives. It might be time to hire a freelance copywriter if you're feeling like you're flying by the seat of your pants with content creation.
2) Writing is not your thing
Writing isn't for everyone, and in my experience, that goes for most business owners. If writing about and developing content for your business is your least favourite aspect of running your own business, it might be a chore worth delegating. It's not just you that suffers from a lack of pleasure when it comes to writing. Having material written by someone who isn't dedicated to the unique art (and science) of writing could also be hurting your business.
You are missing the point of content creation if you produce content solely for the sake of having content. Brand storytelling is what content marketing is all about. You're telling someone about your company's journey and enticing them to join you on it. It's not easy to tell the right story and use the right language, especially if you don't enjoy writing in the first place.
What separates successful businesses from those that fail is the art of storytelling. You can focus on your strengths while someone else tells your finest story by hiring a freelance UK copywriter.
3) You need an SEO boost
Don't worry if you don't get what's going on when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO). You're not alone. When trying to rank on Google, so many of the start-up businesses, entrepreneurs, or marketing teams I work with admit they are pretty lost with the science-side of copywriting, as I like to call it.
While many people have engaged an SEO agency to help them discover their search engine gaps, such insight is only useful to a certain degree. Most SEO services will identify your target keywords, backend website gaps, and content opportunities for you, but they won't write it for you. That's where I come in.
A skilled freelance SEO content copywriter isn't just writing content; they're focused on the aim of that content and working within your SEO plan to help your company rank and develop. Writing copy that answers your audience's questions, keeps them on your site, and strategically optimises your content to guide them to an action or sale through engaging content is part of a freelance copywriter's job.
With an SEO content copywriter on your side, search engines are no longer your burden; you can rely on us for SEO help, guidance, and content that aligns with your marketing and SEO objectives.
4) You don’t have the time
Time is a precious commodity. This is a big one for a lot of the business owners I work with since the more successful your company becomes, the busier it gets. Spending hours generating material feels like a huge use of time and resources, and because you don't enjoy writing or believe your time is better spent elsewhere, you push it to the bottom of the pile.
There are 1,001 things you need to get done yesterday and writing another blog post feels like the last thing on your mind, especially when you consider how long it takes to create a valuable piece of content.
It's not enough to just write the content; you also need to research the topic and brand, conduct consumer/audience research, optimise the content for SEO, and then format and edit it until it's perfect.
This means many business owners and entrepreneurs often overlook content. Content creation, to you, is not as urgent as other areas of your business. As a result, you may find yourself working late at night trying to create content after you've ticked everything else off your to-do list, or you may decide not to create any content at all.
Hiring a freelance copywriter helps you to offload specific jobs, including your blog posts, email campaigns, social media posts, and website updates, that you don't have hours to fulfil. The freelance UK copywriter owns all aspects of content creation. This frees up time in your calendar so you can focus on growing your business rather than spending hours writing about it.
5) You need a more consistent brand voice and more effective writing strategy
Many of the larger or more established businesses I work with create content but do not have a unified content marketing plan in place. Some companies, for example, have many writers creating and posting content with no checks and balances in place to guarantee that the brand's message is consistent throughout and reaches the target audience in the best way.
Other companies are more reactive when it comes to content production. This suggests they don't have a plan in place for developing content that fits with their business objectives. It’s scary the number of times I've seen a new product about to be released, and there is a last-minute hustle to put together an email and blog campaign that will coincide with the launch date.
It might be time to hire a freelance copywriter in the UK to help you organise your content development process more effectively. The role of an SEO content copywriter is to speak in your brand's voice and connect the story you're trying to tell with your content. A copywriter can assist you in developing a long-term, results-oriented content marketing strategy while also ensuring that your brand voice and style remain consistent.
6) You’re too close to your business
Sounds oddly counterintuitive, right? But many of the business owners I write for and enjoy working with have done most of the writing for their company until they hired a freelance UK copywriter. The realisation that they are too attached to their business to write about can often end up being the deciding factor in hiring freelance copywriting help.
You may believe that, as a business owner, you are the best writer for your company because no one knows it better than you. While this is true, and no one knows your business better than you, it can sometimes be beneficial to have your writing done by someone outside your company, who can see through an objective, outside eye to look at your business and identify gaps, strengths, and weaknesses in your content you didn't even know you had.
Taking off your CEO hat and putting yourself in the shoes of your customer can be difficult. Hiring a freelance SEO content copywriter may bring fresh content ideas, topic areas, or writing styles you haven't considered before.
Although not every company hires copywriters, every company writes copy and needs content. Every brand needs a voice. It's not always easy to decide whether to write your own copy or hire a UK freelance copywriter to do it for you. If you find yourself in any of the above dilemmas, it may be time to consider (or reconsider) hiring a leading SEO content copywriter who gets results and creates loyal customers.
I’m AJ MacDonald | Writer, and I provide creative copywriting and specialist content services to increase traffic, generate leads and business and ultimately create revenue for clients.
I help brands say what they want to say in the best way, putting their ideas into compelling copy, taking stories from concept to print, website, social media—whatever the channel, medium, or message. I get results no matter the channel or brief, with clients ranging from GSK to BBDO to SD Worx.
Whether you are looking for a freelance copywriter or considering one, I'm in your corner and here to help. Schedule time with me (free initial consultation) to discuss how I can meet your content and business goals.
Why not check out my work, testimonials, and happy clients on my website? I can do the same for you.
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