How to Deal with Feedback and Criticism from Copywriting Clients

Advertising and marketing (and, therefore, copywriting and design) are very collaborative fields. You put your best foot forward with great copy, but the team you work with is always going to have added insight and opinions based on their own expertise.

But it’s not always so easy to listen to feedback and criticism of your work, especially since what’s up for review is your creative output (and you know how crazy-hard you worked to solve a challenging project!). It is easy to get a little defensive during reviews, when reviewing marked-up copy documents, or even when you see your copy in final layout…and it’s completely different.

Here are six things to remind yourself as you’re receiving feedback that starts to feel a bit personal so it doesn’t affect your mood and you don’t lose your cool in front of a client! Save them, bookmark them, or even post them on the wall above your desk.

1. Remember That This Is Feedback to Help the Team Get the Right Result

It may feel like the creative output belongs solely to you and your designer, but that’s really not the case—everyone on your marketing/advertising team is accountable for its results. And everyone on that team has different expertise and insights that can help make it better.

Your job is to execute the creative, but their job is to help direct you to get to the right execution.

The more you can see it as feedback versus criticism, the more you’ll open yourself to learning and growing as a copywriter.

2. No One Is Questioning Your Copywriting Ability

And no copywriter gets copy right 100% of the time.

Feedback is when imposter syndrome can start to creep in, especially if you’ve never received it on your copywriting work or haven’t received feedback on your copy for awhile! First of all, remember that the review is to discuss how what you’ve created has solved the problem: Not about your ability to solve it. No one is saying that you’re not creative or that you aren’t good at what you do. They’re not giving feedback on you.

Remember, too, that is very, very rare that you’ll get it perfect the first time. There are considerations and insights that you just can’t possibly know and angles you can’t have thought of. It’s okay: No one expects perfection, they just expect your best. (But please don’t make any goofball mistakes like leaving typos in your copy! It’s very important to self-edit your work before sharing it.)

3. Ask Questions to Get to the Root of What’s Wrong

Marketing managers, product managers, project managers and all of the other people in your meeting usually approach things differently than creatives do and can have problems conveying what they mean. They aren’t copywriters and designers and, therefore, often don’t have right words to help you understand what’s not working for them.

Simply “It’s not working” or “Somethings just not quite right” aren’t going to be helpful for you. Ask them what about it isn’t working or where, specifically, something isn’t quite right. Don’t leave that review until you’re clear on exactly what needs to change.

Similarly, ask if something is working well. Maybe you nailed the tone in one section, but a single word choice is throwing the client off in another. Asking what’s working well is sometimes just as helpful for addressing the areas that need to change.

4. Keep Them Focused on the Problems So You Can Come Up With Solutions

On the other hand, sometimes the other people in your creative review will start trying to help you come up with the right changes in the meeting; things like “Maybe this should be blue” or “If you cut this copy here, you could move that message there.”

They do this for a couple of reasons. First, some people actually feel bad offering criticism on work but not helping you come up with a way to fix it. Second, quite simply, writing copy and designing are fun. People want in on that. But while a few suggestions are fine, don’t let them spend too much time on it.

Remind them that the best way to help you is to let you know what’s not working or what the problem is, so that you and your designer can come up with a new execution that solves. them.

5. Commiserate

Look, sometimes you’re going to have a review and people aren’t going to like something that you and your designer love. It sucks—so go ahead and acknowledge it.

After your review, discreetly meet with your designer somewhere private to regroup and allow yourself to spend a little time being disappointed. “I can’t believe they didn’t love that line!” and “That was my favorite part! I’m going to hate to cut it!” are perfectly reasonable responses. Just be sure that you spend only a bit of time mourning that last creative incarnation before you move forward onto the next one.

6. Keep What You Really Love for Your Portfolio

Just because your team isn’t going to use a piece of creative, doesn’t mean that it’s not good. If you love it, keep it for your print and online portfolios—not everything in your portfolio has to have actually been produced.

When you talk to it in meetings with clients or potential employers you can explain that that execution wasn’t what the team ultimately ended up going with, and then explain exactly what you loved about it anyway.

Your Turn

How do you deal with feedback and criticism? Do you have any useful strategies? Let us know in the comments below!

Last Updated on September 23, 2023