How today’s businesses can get the most out of copywriters

Here at Fi Darby Freelance we are often asked to post contributed content on our blog. We only do this if it is content in which we think our readership will be interested. We certainly found this one useful…

How today’s businesses can get the most out of copywriters

You’ll find lots of helpful tips out there for freelance writers and the copywriting lifestyle. But, in addition to your own needs as a writer, it’s important to understand how businesses work with you to get the best out of your contributions and services.

Today’s freelance economy is incredibly busy and, while this brings about plenty of opportunity, it also means copywriters can wind up in tricky situations or difficult work environments. For this reason, we’re using this piece to cover some of the basics to help businesses and copywriters optimise their working relationships.

If you’re a writer always looking for the next gig, take note of the following to assess whether or not you’re stepping into a good situation. And, if you’re on the hiring side of things, looking to fill out your content team, bear in mind that the following tips will likely lead to the best results.

Allow flexible schedules

One of the best ways to ensure productivity is to keep freelance employees  happy (at least within reason). Allowing for flexible schedules is a great way to do this, especially during an era when good work-life balance is gaining importance. But this practice isn’t just about keeping employees happy. As you see here Flexjobs dug into numerous additional benefits of allowing flexible schedules including greater trust trust and greater productivity. These are all things that relate directly to the work of copywriters. When things are too rigid, it can be difficult for writers to stay positive, maintain productivity, and find their needs met. Plus, in a world where assignments can surface at random times, deadlines can vary, and odd hours may come into play, flexible schedules are a natural fit.

Foster clear communication

Communication is always key when it comes to any type of working relationship but it’s particularly important for things to be clear between management and freelance copywriters. It is important to communicate general work expectations as well as any strategies or direction behind the required content. Keywords are a good example of this. We’ve spoken about the importance of keywords before, essentially they help to dictate how your content is discovered by customers surfing the internet. This means they typically have more strategy behind them than is seen by the reader. Because of this, management and content writers need to work together to agree upon and execute keyword usage. This is just one example of where communication is important, and it illustrates the point that copywriters need to be well informed on relevant practices and priorities in order to do be effective.

Keep your website updated

If you run a site that includes regular content contributions, it can be easy to assume that those contributions are your only important website updates. It is however the site manager’s job not the copywriters’ to keep the whole site fresh and up-to-date. The good news is that today there are tools and services to help. Updatable explains that you can even apply changes to your site while keeping the initial codebase intact, allowing you to fix SEO issues, edit pages, and even create new pages entirely, all with minimal interruption to internal operations. This sort of practice keeps your site optimised for contributions, lifts the burden of updates and allows your copywriter to focus on providing content.

Allow remote work

With some exceptions, writing is one of those jobs that doesn’t have to be completed in a company office. In fact, some copywriters find they’re most productive when they get to choose a work location. Some people prefer writing in coffee shops, in public parks, or even in the comfort of their own homes. Some managers may think remote work like this would hurt productivity but for a writing team in particular a flexible approach can help prevent burnout and foster creativity. This flexibility needs to work for both parties with open communication channels and opportunities for meetings when required.

The great thing about the flexible and remote workforce is that they are unlikely to become stale. If you haven’t tried working with a freelancer before maybe 2020 could be the time to start.