Award-winning journalist and freelance copywriter, Susanna K. Hutcheson, presents news, thoughts and ideas on the world of business, marketing, copywriting and much more.

Should You Ask For a Budget in Your Quote Request Form?

Most copywriters have a quote request form on their Web site. If you're a copywriter, you most likely have one and depend on it to guide you in creating a quote that is a good match for the job the prospective client needs to have done.

Many copywriters, myself among them, asks the prospective clients to provide a budget for the copywriting part of their project. Since the beginning of the advertising industry, asking for a budget has been a standard question and one that's both expected and needed.

I find, however, that those folks who use the Internet to hire copywriters don't answer this important question honestly. It makes them as uncomfortable as a steer headed for Kansas City.

I think they feel you're trying to look under their skirt. Somehow they feel that if they give too large a figure, you'll do everything you can to get every last dime. Of course, we know that's a stupid attitude and not true. But that's the way the majority of them think.

The only people who expect to give a budget and know that it's part of what we truly need to know are the sophisticated businesspeople who are used to dealing with advertising agencies. All marketing people in Fortune 1000 companies, for example, expect the question and usually answer it honestly.

The small guy, the average person who goes to your Web site, doesn't understand this. He thinks it's an intrusive question and he usually will tick the lowest figure you've provided. He hopes by doing so you'll figure that's all you can get out of him and only charge that amount.

We, of course, know that won't happen. Just about everyone who fills out my form, ticks the lowest figure. I usually pay no attention to it and simply quote him my regular fees for the type of work he needs done.

But there are a few times when I'll simply email them and tell them that I can't do what they want for that figure. I'll tell them that perhaps they ticked it by mistake or actually have a more realistic budget. If that's the case, I tell them to email me and let me know.

So back to the original question --- should you ask for a budget or now? My experience tells me that on the Internet it really doesn't matter. Since most people won't tell you the truth anyway, it's sort of a useless query. If they did tell you the truth, it would be extremely helpful and it would help you to give them exactly what they need and can afford. It's a question that's as much for their benefit as for yours. Probably more so.

Unfortunately, people tend to shoot themselves in both of their feet rather than tell the truth. So whether you ask or not really makes no difference. At least not on the Internet where you're dealing mostly with less sophisticated businesspeople who have never dealt with people in the advertising industry and don't understand how we work.
Susanna on 05.16.08 @ 05:37 PM CDT [link]

Most People Who Contact You Are Not Real Prospective Clients.

Most of the people who contact you are not really prospective clients. At least, that's the case with me. I no longer personally accept phone calls and I use email to make my initial contacts with people. Why?

I've found that most people are simply time-wasters. For example, I got a request for a quote today from a man who wanted a long microsite to sell a product.

"I tried several sales copy writer before for my product sold through www.url.com but it still could not achieve a conversion rate of 2%. I really need help on revising this sales copy to achieve much higher conversions. Currently the conversion rate for my sales letter is around 0.40% only. Would you be able to help me?"

That was his message to me. (I changed the URL.) But his budget? Under $1,000!

Do you see what I mean about most people being time-wasters? They seem to want the moon but can only afford a lawn chair from which to view it at night.

So what do you do to get "real" prospective clients to knock at your door?

For starters, I think we should set some minimums in our marketing material somewhere. Let people know that they'll have to pay going professional fees if they want our help. They have to stop this thinking that everything is free or cheap.

They want you to make them a ton of money. They just don't want --- or can't afford --- to pay you to do it. You don't need, nor do you want, this sort of person to contact you in the first place.

While I don't think you have to post your fees unless you want to, I do think you should make sure that people understand you're not in the welfare business.

Once a woman told me that she was just a lone woman and didn't have any money but had a great idea. Surely I'd help her for a few bucks. Since I am a woman, I'd understand. Right? Wrong! I work my ass off for what I have and don't expect free or cheap help. The fact she's a lone woman meant nothing to me. Hell, no one but me pays my bills.

Other people come to me saying they're Christians and surely I'd help them for little to nothing because of that. Well duh. I'm an Atheist and am not at all impressed by their deep religious beliefs or lack thereof! I don't fall for sob stories. I have my own problems.

In other words, I'm a capitalist. I'm in business to make money. I help people create wealth. I fully intend to be paid what I'm worth or I don't work.

I suggest you adopt the same attitude if you want to have a successful copywriting practice. Save your valuable time for those people who are "real" prospective clients and can afford to pay you what you're worth. It's a fact of life that we give more to those who do more for us. Those people willing and able to pay our rightly-deserved fees will get better service and greater results than people who nickel and dime you until you're out of business.
Susanna on 05.15.08 @ 11:31 AM CDT [link]

The Prospective Client You Really Don't Need. Reflection on my thought for the day.

What type of person is your least favorite to deal with? I've worked with the pompous ass, the tight wad and the know-it-all, among others. And in between those boorish folks, I've had quite a large number of very fine people who understand business and who respect what I bring to the table. They realize that it is my work that gives them a large degree of their wealth.

But then, there's my least favorite. Let me explain. This morning I got a request for a quote from a woman who is trying to sell an ebook online. I assume she's a young woman because an older woman would not have been so naive. At least, I doubt it.

Now, selling an ebook online is a hard sell. And it takes keen sales copy to make a person buy yet one more ubiquitous ebook on how to cure some illness or deformity without drugs, surgery or the intervention of a specialist.

But here's the part I hate. She says in her request that the current Web copy needs to be rewritten. But she would prefer it if I will just show her how to do it herself!

Duh. Let's say I need a root canal. I tell my friendly well-trained dentist that yes, I know I need a root canal but I want him to simply tell me how to do it and I'll just swing right out of the parking lot and do that sucker myself!

Yes, my least favorite person to deal with is the one who has no understanding at all of how much work, time and effort it takes to learn to sell in print. In my case, I've been at it some forty years and I still learn something new all the time. I never know it all and any copywriter who says they do is a liar.

The people who insult us in this manner are not really prospective clients. They're time-wasters. When someone like this contacts you, and they will, don't let them take your time. Offer to do a critique for $1,000 or $2,000 and they can take it or reject it. But don't expect to get their business and don't want it. People who think our job is easy are silly twits. Not a one of them could begin to do one time what we do all the time.

And that's my thought for the day.
Susanna on 05.12.08 @ 05:28 PM CDT [link]

How Much Should You Charge? The Answer To the Copywriter's Biggest Problem.

                        

Susanna on 05.03.08 @ 07:39 PM CDT [link]

What You Can Learn From Your Daily Stats.

People search for all sorts of things and somehow end up on my site. Here's an example:

copy writing for my song i wrought

Then she sends me this short email:

im in a worship band i have written 3 songs and people thought my songs were from the fish and i need to get them copy writed thank you (name left off by me.)

Susanna on 04.08.08 @ 05:57 PM CDT [link]

How To Attract the "Smart" Marketers and Eliminate the Rest.

I've been told we're having a recession. I've heard that people are not spending money, that many people are cutting back on their advertising and marketing --- some actually cutting it out. Fortunately, my clients are the smart ones. Why do I say that?

Read what a recent edition of Advertising Age has to say:

Gut-wrenching news, layoffs and budget cuts aside, history shows recessions have been some of the best times for media and marketing innovation. For marketers who kept their wits, economic valleys -- the deeper the better, in fact -- became foundations of empires.

Two years into the Great Depression in 1931, a Procter & Gamble Co. executive named Neil McElroy wrote the memo that ushered in the brand-management system. It eventually helped propel him to the presidency of P&G. It wasn't a cure-all. During the first three years of the Great Depression, P&G's sales fell by more than half, from $192 million to $94 million, and earnings fell 50%, to $11 million. (Deflation accounted for some of that decline.)

But P&G didn't lay off anyone during the Depression. And it charged ahead with innovation. In 1933 it launched the first radio soap opera nationally and its first synthetic detergent brand, Dreft.

Around to cover such events were Advertising Age, launched seemingly inopportunely in 1930, and BusinessWeek, launched at the outset of the Depression, in 1929.

I might add that Fortune Magazine was launched February 1930. In case you don't know it, that was the start of The Great Depression. I keep a copy in front of me at the computer to remind me that smart people get going when times are the very worst. I'm at my best when times are the worst. And you can be too.

The thing is, most people will cut back. That leaves room for the smart people to make money and have all the marketing to themselves. They get all the good air time, all the good print space, Internet space, everything.

Charles Schwab founded his discount brokerage during a recession in 1974. Great people get going in bad times. They do great things. And they spend lots of money. They do not know fear.

According to Advertising Age, "Marketers should draw lessons from such examples of charging ahead despite recession, said Ed Rensi, former CEO of McDonald's USA through the early 1990s recession; he's now a motivational speaker, Nascar team owner and director of several companies.

Unfortunately, he said, companies usually do just the opposite. They cut staff, which he said leaves those left behind overworked and risk-averse. And they cut marketing, which props up profits short term but erodes market share down the road."

Smart people find opportunity in everything. Downturns are indeed opportunities for the smart marketers. Now, if you're a copywriter or marketing consultant, you don't want to be bothered with the people working on shoestrings and wanting to get your work for nothing. Turn them away fast. They'll waste your time. Lots of people don't have gonads. They fold at the slightest sign of trouble. They're losers. They're scared to spend money in order to make it. And they're scared to pay you what you're worth. They don't seem to understand that you're using your valuable time and skills to make them money and to grow their business.

You have to stand your ground. Charge what you're worth. If a loser won't pay that, have him look for a junior copywriter. That's all his business is worth to him so that's all it's worth to you.

The bright business people know that now is the very best time to spend the most money and get the best brains in the biz. Yes, it takes a strong stomach and lots of guts. But your smart marketers --- and you --- will come out the other end richer and more successful. The timid and scared will be seen in tents on the side of the road, begging for crumbs.

Happy recession!
Susanna on 04.08.08 @ 10:52 AM CDT [link]

You Gotta Spend It To Make It --- the Secret To Making Big Money In Hard Times.

The people who get rich spend lots of money to get that way. Pinching pennies just gets you pennies. Let me explain.

A wealthy coin dealer by the name of B. Max Mehl of Fort Worth, TX was, at one time, the best known and richest coin dealer perhaps in the world. Allow me to take an extensive quote from "Illegal Tender" to illustrate my point.


"Born in Lithuania in 1884 and settled in Texas with his family at age eleven, Mehl was the first coin dealer to recognize the value of spending money to make money. Though a dull, runtish man with slicked-down hair, he became a P.T. Barnum-like character. His eyes darting suspiciously behind rimless glasses, he always started (sic) straight past the camera, tight-lipped, unsmiling, seemingly bereft of humor - except in print."


Mehl was a shameless self-promoter --- not unlike many here on the Web. He advertised coin collecting and himself to the public in grandiose terms as no one before him or since him. By 1919, he was spending $5,000 a year in advertising. By 1924 he was spending ten times that. THROUGHOUT THE DEPRESSION YEARS HE WAS SPENDING A SENSATIONAL $100,000 A YEAR ON ADVERTISING! That was about $15,04921.04 in 2007 dollars.

The result? He made millions. His clients included people like King Farouk, who spent millions with him. He got over a quarter of a million inquiries per year from his advertising. And, remember, this was during the Depression.

So here's my point. You can pinch pennies and have lots of pennies or you can spend big money and have much bigger money.

The decision is yours.

Susanna on 02.24.08 @ 07:17 AM CDT [link]

Important AP Stylebook Update Regarding Company Names

Dec. 6, 2007 - This is an update we just received from The Associated Press.

An AP Stylebook entry has been updated:

Editor's Note: An update in AP Style to clarify the full use of company names in stories.

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company names

For a company's formal name, consult the national stock exchanges: New York Stock Exchange, www.nyse.com; Nasdaq, www.nasdaq.com; or the American Stock Exchange, www.amex.com. AP staffers may also reference an alphabetical list of all company names, with stock ticker abbreviations, at http://biz.ap.org.

Do not use a comma before Inc. or Ltd., even if it is included in the formal name.

The formal name need not be used on first reference -- for example, Wal-Mart is acceptable for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. -- but it should be contained in the body of any story in which the subject matter could affect a company's business. For example, include the corporate name in a story on an earnings report, or in a story on a plane crash that could affect the airline's stock price. However, the corporate name might be irrelevant in a story about a political candidate's appearance at a local retail outlet.

When the full corporate name is NOT in the story, it should be included in a self-contained paragraph separated from the bottom of the story by a dash: American Airlines is a unit of AMR Corp., or Disney's full corporate name is The Walt Disney Co. If more than one company is listed, each should be in a self-contained paragraph below the dash.

Generally, follow the spelling and capitalization preferred by the company: eBay. But capitalize the first letter if it begins a sentence.

Do not use all capital letter names unless the letters are individually pronounced: BMW. Others should be uppercase and lowercase. Ikea not IKEA; USA Today, not USA TODAY.

Do not use symbols such as exclamation points, plus signs or asterisks that form contrived spellings that might distract or confuse a reader. Use Yahoo, not Yahoo!; Toys R Us, not Toys "R" Us; E-Trade, not E*Trade.

Use an ampersand only if it is part of the company's formal name, but not otherwise in place of "and."

Use "the" lowercase unless it is part of the company's formal name.

See organizations and institutions.
Susanna on 12.06.07 @ 10:56 AM CDT [link]