🎶 What a client wants, what a client needs …
… whatever makes them happy gets you money … 🎶
I apologize if you have Christina Aguilera stuck in your head. BUT if it helps you remember the key takeaways from this episode, then you’re welcome. 😉
On this episode of the Build Your Copywriting Business podcast, Kate and I are talking about four crucial things that clients look for in a freelancer.
Doing these things is the difference between building long-term relationships with clients or having one-and-done projects with clients (and, potentially, reputation damage).
So, make sure you’re putting your best foot forward. Listen now!
TUNE IN: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Stitcher
Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[02:13] We’re gonna talk about what clients are looking for in copywriters. What makes them happy? What client wants.
[02:42] Number one: A high level of responsiveness. Maybe it’s that initial reach out. I find someone I might wanna hire and I send through the form on their website and I don’t hear anything. It’s a really cruddy experience.
[04:25] It does not take much to impress your clients. A base level of professionalism and then maybe sometimes going over and beyond.
[05:47] Set your boundaries. Set your schedule. You should be getting back to your client at least once a day. I think is a fair responsiveness. It’s important to communicate those boundaries. If you check email once or twice a day, you could either just tell your clients that at the beginning of working together.
[07:31] Set up autoresponders for your vacations. On the form on your website, let people know when you’re going to be back.
[07:59] Number two: A client is looking for a freelancer to take work off their plate.
[08:57] What you are doing by sending an input doc is you’re giving your client more work. On top of the fact that because they want you to be the person who’s doing the work, they’re probably not going to fill it out very efficiently, very effectively.
[09:59] If it involves your client and it’s saving you time and putting time on their calendar, then you need to rethink it. Having a kickoff call with a client is gonna take an X amount of time. You’re including that in the cost of the project pricing. So why on earth would you try to just pass off work to a client when you were charging for this?
[12:00] You should absolutely ask your client questions if you have questions. That’s not wasting their time. If there’s something about the company of how they operate that you need to know, or they have a subject matter expert you need to interview for something that would make the content better.
[14:27] You never wanna come to your client with a problem without a solution. It might not be the right one and it might not be what we move forward with but you’re not coming with just question or problem. Fix it for me.
[16:00] Asking questions is also important as well. I didn’t know is never the correct response in a creative review. Your client is not going to always be able to anticipate what you do and don’t know. So it’s gonna be on you to reach out.
[17:15] Lot of people love recording phone calls and that’s great. Take notes as you’re doing it too, because technology does and will fail. And so you want the backup. You want notes you wanna be able to go back and reference the recording for more fine detail.
[18:25] We as copywriters, as freelancers should be also synthesizing this stuff. Taking notes on what they’re saying, but also the things that they say are going to open up new questions and give us ideas.
[18:57] So content aside and questions aside related to understanding information. If you write copy, you better know why you made the choices that you made. You wanna talk to root it in the creative brief and in the strategy.
[19:40] Fundamentally, when you are starting to work with a client, you want to learn as much as you can about their business. They should feel like you are just as invested in their company as they are.
[23:05] The more you know about the company, about the way they’re operating and the projects, It’s only gonna make your job easier and your work better. It also creates such a strong relationship between you and your client that you will always become their go-to person.
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But here are a few of the highlights:
” If it’s gonna save you time, that should be a red flag for you. Does this make sense? Is this putting more time on someone else’s plate versus mine?.” – Kate
” Asking a client to repeat something they’ve already gone over with you, not a good look. That would be a red flag for me.” – Nicki
” It makes a client feel so valued when you are contributing ideas, when you are learning about the company, when you notice things.” – Nicki
” It takes very little to just have a genuine interest in the people that you’re working with. What their offer is, what their audience is, and just caring about your work. And if you do that, you’re golden.” – Kate
” You do have to not just think about ourselves, but think about our clients’ experiences with us as freelancers.” – Nicki
Mentioned in the Episode
- Setting Boundaries as a Copywriter
- Ep. 5: Why Choosing a Copywriting Niche is Terrible Advice
- Creative Brief: The First Step to Any Successful Copywriting Project
- Questions You Need to Ask Your Copywriting Clients
Related Links
- Ep. 182: What’s the Best Way to Communicate with Copywriting Clients?
- Ep. 10: Your Ideal Clients Want You to Pitch Them
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About the Build Your Business Podcast
Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?
Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 10+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.
Whether you want to land an on-staff job, freelance full-time and work from wherever you want, or make extra money with a side hustle, the best place to start learning is right here.
