Free giveaways will always be a popular marketing tactic—and they can be a great tactic for your copywriting business, too. Offering free copy evaluations can be a great way to drum up business.
But before you jump in with both feet, you need to keep a couple of things in mind to make sure you’re not giving everything away without getting anything (business) back.
The word “free” is one of the most powerful ones in the English language. People hear “free” and come running. So, you need to be sure to lay some ground rules and get prepared before you get started.
Important Considerations to Make Before Offering Free Copy Evaluations
The first thing (and this should go without saying but I’ll say it anyway) is that if you’re going to offer copy evaluations, you’d better know how to evaluate copy. If you don’t already have a firm grasp on both the basic and advanced principles of copywriting, you shouldn’t be offering evaluations. Your evaluation and recommendation could damage people’s businesses. There are a lot of people trying to make money by doing things they don’t know how to do. Don’t be one of them.
Okay, that said, offering free copy evaluations can be a great way to drum up business.
First, you need to be very clear about what your offer entails. A “free copy evaluation” could have people expecting you to review all their copy or expecting that you’ll review it each time they do a rewrite or any number of things. It’s a great phrase to get people’s attentions, but you need to make clear exactly what your offer entails. A free, one-time, evaluation of their homepage, perhaps?
Second, you may get a few bites or you may get inundated. Just make sure to balance your paying work with this free work. If 75 people request free copy evaluations, you need to set your priorities (and boundaries) and give them a good idea of when you’ll be able to get to the evaluation. Don’t sacrifice the work that pays your bills for free work.
Keeping Your Work in Check
Third, keep an eye on how many requests you have coming in, too. It’s very possible to get to the point when you have more requests than you can handle. When you get to the point that you’ve got all that you can deal with, either delete or update the post to let people know. You don’t want to disappoint people or have them think you’re trying to perpetrate some kind of scam. Be honest with people, and stay on top of the requests you’ve got coming in.
You need to also track the requests, the evaluations you’ve made, when you send them, and when you follow that up with a pitch to do work for them (if you send the evaluation and the pitch separately). Trying to field and answer the requests without tracking them will be a nightmare.
Turning Free Copy Evaluations into Paid Work
Be prepared, too, for exactly how you’ll pitch yourself. Just because someone loves your evaluation and thinks you’re a genius doesn’t mean they’ll take the next step and ask you to rewrite their copy for them. It’s up to you to ask for the sale.
And remember that even though you’re giving a valuable service away for free, you’ll still get plenty of people who won’t opt to work with you after you evaluate their copy. It’s unfortunate, but it’s how selling works.
A couple of final notes for once you begin your evaluations: Be gentle and diplomatic. Often the copy you will evaluate will have been written by the prospects themselves (or at least have been commissioned and approved by them), so you don’t want to rub them the wrong way by tearing it apart. You can make critiques gently.
Remember that your free copy evaluations should have the end goal of getting you work. So, you can tell them what to do (“Your benefit needs to be more prominent in your copy. Your headline should include how you save people money.”) but you shouldn’t be rewriting any of their copy unless they agree to pay you for it. It’s easier to get conned into doing free work than you realize—don’t let it happen to you.
Your Turn!
Have you offered a free copy evaluation? What was your experience? Let us know in the comments below!
Last Updated on July 4, 2023
OMG Nicki! You know this JUST happened to me. ??? I offered free About page audits.
I got inundated, im a beginner so i didn’t know whar i was doing BUT i did know that trying to do the evals by guessing would be unethical. So i gathered all my copy training resources and i evaluated them as I learned what to measure them against.
Alot of them were way off.
But the problem i ran into was how to just DO the eval and NOT do the rewrite. I really just wanna rewrite them all. 🙁 Idk how to provide a softened critique without just rewriting the whole thing. *sigh*
Hi Alandria,
Well, I’m glad you got so much interest! It’s definitely important to tell them *what* needs to be changed, versus *how*. Once they understand the *what* and why it’s so important, you can transition into talking about how you can help them fix it, and why you are the exact right person they need. 🙂
Thanks for commenting!
Nicki
I loved that “Be gentle and diplomatic” was in BOLD. I have been writing email instructions (as a volunteer) for someone who organizes and plans spirituality retreats. We have gotten a much better response since I took on this volunteer role. (I realize now that I should have been TRACKING the change to SELL myself later.) The organizer said, “I think people are answering because you are SO kind and diplomatic.” (That is true. But she doesn’t realize that I have also used the tiny bits of copywriting training that I already completed.)
Nicki, may I kindly and gently point out that the caption under the photo has a typo in the 2nd sentence? It should say, “But before you jump in with both feet…” Right now, it was the word “feed” where “feet” should be. (Just had to share my insane love of proofreading!)
Hi Susan,
I agree – usually people are more than happy to work with you if you’re just reasonable and helpful. And thanks for the heads up on the typo! It’s so annoying to be so hopelessly human. 😀
Thanks for commenting!
Nicki
I just made a comment, posted it, and then re-read it. Time to edit my own grammar! I should have written, “I have used the tiny bits of copywriting training that I HAVE already completed..” The work of revising is never done! 🙂
Hi Susan,
Ha – I hear you on that! 😀
Nicki
Providing something for free will definitely get things kicking into gear quick. I like what you said we definitely have to provide an offer or pitch as this is the end goal, to get paying clients.
Hi Omar,
Definitely – “free” is only the initial enticement; definitely not the full package. 🙂
Thanks for commenting!
Nicki