If you’re looking to hire a great copywriter this guide is for you!
Today I’m gonna walk you through a 6-step process to hire a great copywriter to join your team.
I’ve learned these 6-steps from no other than Alex Cattoni, the queen of copywriting – which means, she has years of hiring under her belt and knows what she’s talking about 🙂
Now without a doubt, this is the #1 question I get from business owners in my DMs…
Great copywriters are hard to find because once a business finds a great copywriter they keep their cards close to their chest not wanting to let them go.
Great copywriters are marketers, researchers, strategists, and analysts all in one person… while not all marketers are copywriters, strategists, etc.
So without further ado let’s get to it:
Step #1: Get clear on what type of writer you want
Not all copywriters are created equal!
Just like doctors good copywriters will have their specialty.
If you don’t know what you’re looking for you’ll end up swimming in a sea of applications and create way more work for yourself – and anyone you do end up hiring will be a total shot in the dark.
So first thing first, determine the writer you need based on the following 4 criteria:
- Niche: You want to hire a writer with a relevant niche background. For me, that’s CPG eCommerce (supplements, skincare, nutrition, pet nutrition… you get the idea). For others, that may be finance, personal development, or home improvement…
- Writing style: Determine whether your brand voice is fun, educational, professional, authoritative, cheeky, sarcastic… This information is valuable for copywriters as they will need to match your voice.
- Type of copy: Are you looking for content writers or copywriters? Will they write VSLs, emails, sales pages, social posts… or all of the above?
- Skill level: You want to match the copywriter’s skill level with the revenue potential of what they’ll be writing for.
So if you’re starting out, never worked with a copywriter and don’t have a lot of budget allocated for writing, I recommend you start with a greener copywriter who can learn and grow with your brand.
On the other hand, if you have an established offer and an existing benchmark to be, hire an experienced writer.
You’ll be able to gauge pretty quickly whether that copywriter can increase your current conversions and what you can afford to pay them.
Step #2: Write a detailed, specific job description
There’s no surprise that a value job post will give vague applicants. If you want to find a great writer for your brand you need to have a detailed and specific job description. This will give you fewer applicants but they’ll be of higher quality. After all, you’re hiring only one or a couple of copywriters so it’s a quality game, not quantity.
In your job description include everything we talked about in Step #1 (niche, style, type of copy and skill level). This will help you weed out the writers that are not a fit for you.
Make your job description personalized. Don’t be afraid to talk about your brand’s mission, culture, and beliefs. Copywriters LOVE and crave working with authentic brands so let your colors shine.
Bonus tip: Have a couple of very specific instructions throughout the application (Cover Letter, writing samples) and make them use the specific subject line when sending in their application.
This will help you weed out and navigate your inbox faster. AND you’ll be able to tell who actually followed the instructions and read the entire job description (hint: most people won’t and you just saved yourself a bucket load of nerves and time).
Step #3: Find prospects
This is where the rubber meets the road.
Post your job description on your website, in relevant Facebook groups, share it on LinkedIn and look for writers on social platforms.
When you find the writer you like, send them a quick heads up. Ask for referrals and if nothing pops up check out Upwork.
I don’t have a lot of experience with Upwork and I’ve heard mixed things, but if you know exactly what type of copywriter you’re looking for, you’ll be able to navigate UpWork.
Step #4: Filter your candidates
It’s time for you to sit down, put your phone on Do Not Disturb, and narrow the applicants down to your Top 5.
I’m a big believer in trusting your gut and first impressions.
The easiest way to weed out applicants is to see who didn’t follow those instructions in your job descriptions and apply with the proper subject line – that way you’re getting rid of 90% of the applicants without even opening a single email.
Next, look at their cover letter – look for the ones that are well written (after all you are hiring a writer and they should know how to write).
Then go through no more than the top 10 applicant’s writing samples and pick the ones that are creative and show promise – these are the people you want to interview. (Hint: pay attention to their hook)
You can do video interviews via Zoom and the point here is to get the feeling for their personality, energy and fit more than anything else.
Tip: Don’t even bother looking at their CVs. CVs usually tell you nothing relevant about the person and their creative expertise and potential.
After a video interview, narrow your list down to 5. At this point, you usually have a pretty good idea who your ace was but don’t decide just yet!
So once you have your top 5 candidates…
Step #5: Hire them all
Yes, yes, I know – you’re only looking to hire one but at this point, it’s impossible to say which writer will be the best fit for your brand.
So here’s what you do to figure it out: Come up with a short and simple copywriting project and hire them all to do it.
Give every single writer the exact instructions and deadlines. For example: Hire them all to write an abandonment sequence for the same product, the same Facebook ad – you get the idea.
And sure, you’ll spend a bit of money, testing them out but I CANNOT emphasize enough just how much money and time you’ll save and MAKE choosing the right writer for your brand.
When you’re hiring a copywriter look for creativity first: it’s really easy to tell the difference between a creative and persuasive writer and a writer who knows sales tactics and buzz words.
Once you tested your top 5 writers and paid them their fees choose your #1…
Step #6: Hiring your ace
Now it’s time to negotiate to bring your writer on board.
I highly, highly recommend you pay your writer on a project-based or monthly retainer… and not hourly.
Project-based or retainer is better for your business and your writer because the writer gets fairly paid and you’re getting the work you both agreed to. No scope creep, no productivity dilemmas, just work handed it on deadlines. Clear and simple.
Now I know some do sales commission. I don’t recommend that unless you have a proven track record of doing so…
Sometimes sales can be hard to track or the traffic gets unpredictable and the writer gets left out and unhappy because they were promised a percentage of sales that aren’t there…
Sales are highly dependent on other factors like page loading time, shopping cart conversion, design, and traffic quality…
However, once you have your compensation plan worked out, a bonus structure based on sales is something you can revisit.
And there you have, my 6-step process for hiring a great copywriter for your brand.
Done 🙂
Katja Mokotar
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Katja Mokotar is a professional email Copywriter. She creates email strategies for CPG eCommerce that generate new & repeat customers… and can often be scaled to $1M and beyond.