Today’s blog is a little different. I’m sharing a little bit about how I work with my clients, and what I bring to the table.

I’ve just wrapped a fun project with a UK-based client (which makes zoom call scheduling a lot easier, I’m not going to lie!).

When you get to see your work in real life (or on a screen) there’s this little shiver of excitement. A lot of what I do as a copywriter feels abstract and amorphous most of the time like I’m drawing in the air. The moment when all my hard work coalesces and appears in front of me on a snazzy webpage with a funky design still gives me butterflies. It’s also quite nice to have something to show to my father-in-law to help explain to him what a copywriter actually does!

One of the reasons that this project was so much fun was the big picture thinking I was able to do. 

Some clients just need you to write words. 

They need a description of a product or a blog about why mums should buy their baby bottles. These things are important, don’t get me wrong, and they take skill.

But, while jobs like that do involve a lot of Listening, Empathising, and Directing (you can find out more about these 3 Youth Worker superpowers of mine on my blog), the client has probably already sorted out who they are, what they do, and how to communicate this. I’m just helping them speak more effectively to their ideal customer.

But occasionally I get to work with clients on a higher level, and it’s hands-down my favourite thing about my job.

This client was an established stationery company who was relaunching, with a new website and messaging. This gave them an opportunity to rebrand and be clearer on their marketing message.

But they were lost.

They’d spent hours and hours trying to come up with one strapline that explained everything they did. But they sold loads of stuff, so this didn’t seem possible.

They needed another way to stand out and get people to stay on their home page, rather than wandering off because it was all a bit vague.

So, what did I bring? 

How could I help when they’d already been struggling for so long?

Well, a few things:

An outsider’s perspective:

You know when you’re doing a massive jigsaw and you’ve been looking for one particular piece for AGES? And then your partner/child/mother comes along and immediately picks it up from the pile of loose pieces? Annoying, isn’t it? But they looked at the problem from a different angle. 

We’ve all been there. Stuck staring at a blank page for so long that you can no longer see any possible solution. Going around and around in circles. The issue? You’re too close to the problem. Grab an outsider (preferably one with some understanding of your field or business, don’t draft your dog walker in to look at your sales page unless they’re your target audience!) and explain the issue. They can help you find solutions you hadn’t even thought of, because their perspective is slightly different. 

I helped the client look at his webpage from a different angle. We looked at how you could use it to take the reader on a journey that fit with their needs, rather than just focus on showcasing products.

A strategic overview:

Was finding this one phrase really the most important thing? Perhaps focusing on the feeling that you wanted to create on the page could draw people in more effectively than making sure that a reader instantly knew everything you did after reading the headline of your home page.

Strategically, this client operated in a fairly crowded marketplace. It made more sense to find a different way to engage their customer. So we settled on creating the feeling of a tribe, finding people like you and products that fit with that feeling.

That way, the company stands out, there’s no need to try and fit hundreds of different product lines into a single magic sentence, and you end up with intrigued visitors who turn into loyal customers.

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So, I’ve ended up with a very happy client, and they’ve ended up with web pages that will bring them more traffic and more sales.

Fancy some help with your bigger picture?

If you’re a business owner and you’d like to work with me then fill in my contact page here.

Or, why not send me an email and tell me what your business is struggling with right now. I’d love to lend you my outsider’s perspective!