Monday morning, 7:42 a.m.
You walk into your office early, knowing that you've got a crazy week ahead, with a growing pile of paper on your desk and a truly monstrous to-do list.
Scrolling through your overflowing inbox of unread e-mails, you notice a message from the new freelance copywriter you hired. That's not a good sign, you think. The brochure he's working on is supposed to be due by the end of the day. He'd better not be asking for an extension!
You open the e-mail, gritting your teeth and expecting the worst. After all, you've been down this road many times before.
The message from your new copywriter is short and to the point:
>Here is the copy for the new product brochure.
>Please give me a call with any questions. I'll give a call in a couple of days to check in.
>Thanks again for bringing me onboard! Talk to you soon.
>Best regards,
>Gregg
Pleasantly surprised but still incredulous, you open the file and start to read. As you do so, you find yourself moving in closer and closer to the screen.
This is good. No, this is very good.
All the material you provided is in there. He absorbed it all, and really understood it! And, there are several new facts and benefits he must have uncovered when he interviewed your subject matter experts. Bob, your lead engineer, did comment about the on-target questions the copywriter asked. He said it was as if he had been working with your product his whole life. Coming from Bob, that was no idle comment. The complexity of your products and markets have stumped many writers before. And Bob has had no qualms about letting you know it.
Reading further, you realize that the sales argument is unusually well presented. It describes the key problems experienced by your customers, and then explains in detail how your product can solve them. Logical and effective. It speaks to the customer in terms of their needs, builds a logical and highly persuasive case, backs it up with credible, substantial detail, and motivates them to act.
And then something else strikes you. The tone? The style? The word choice? Whatever it is, the copy sounds perfect for the audience. Professional, yes, but not stilted or formal sounding. It flows like smart conversation. There's none of that "jargon salad" you get when you ask your technical people to take a crack at a draft, and there's not a whiff of that over-simplistic "golly gee" feeling that rises from the copy of a lot of the writers you've tried over the years, especially those without a lot of business-to-business experience.
This copy is really, well, unprecedented. Usually, you'd have to carve out hours, sometimes days, to rewrite the drafts you get from your freelancers or agency, and, occasionally even from your in-house writers, but this is, well, right on target in every way.
Delighted, you read the copy one last time, making one small change (the customer quoted in one testimonial prefers "Charlie" to "Charles") and send it off to your boss for final approval.
One major thing off your plate for today, as the clock nears 8:00 am.
Maybe this week won't be so bad after all...
Yes, you can get copy that's right the first time.
I'm a freelance business communications copywriter, and the scenario above is based on recent conversations I had with some long time clients about their impressions of my work. In fact, you can hear echos of it in the words of the many clients quoted throughout this site.
They told me a bit about how impressed they are that I am able to consistently nail first drafts, that I really seem to get their complex products and services, even when coming in completely cold, that I deliver copy that's pretty much good to go with little effort on their part, and that I always meet deadlines, always meet budgets, always keep appointments and, overall, always do exactly what I say I'm going to do.
All of which goes towards making their day, not to mention their jobs, a little bit easier.
And, all at fees that represent real value.
Perhaps I can do the same for you.
I invite you to click around this site, check out my samples, the types of projects I can help you with, and the comments from communications and marketing professionals like yourself.
And, if you are so inclined, contact me and let's discuss the possibility of working together.
Gregg Siegel
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