Category: Client Questions Answered

The Radix copywriting process: how do we work with our clients?

Posted on by The Radix Team

Entrusting your marketing copywriting to an external party is a big decision – and it’s only natural to have lots of questions about how the work is going to get done, and how the relationship is going to work.

One of the most frequent questions we get asked is about our process for producing a piece of writing work from start to finish. And that’s exactly what I’m going to outline in this blog…

Getting a quote

Before you work with us, you’ll usually want to know how much the work is going to cost. To make that part easy for our clients, we have fixed price lists for frequently-requested content formats like blogs, ebooks, and video scripts. We have one price list for clients that come to us direct, and another for agencies that are looking to get us on board as part of their client work.

As senior account manager Chloe Tidy explains:

“While our price lists don’t offer an exhaustive list of everything we do, they do offer an accurate idea of the content we can produce. If there is something that a client would like us to produce that isn’t on our price lists, we can always create a bespoke quote.”

All of our quotes reflect the time we expect to spend on a project. As standard, this’ll include time for:

  • A briefing call (where required)
  • Any additional desk research to inform the piece
  • A first draft (and, for longer-form pieces, an outline)
  • Review and proofing
  • Two rounds of reasonable amends

The briefing process

How do we get the information for the work we’re going to do? For the sake of narrative convenience, jump into the shoes of one of our regular clients. You’ve worked with us before – on a range of projects from ABM campaigns to web copy – and today, you need a blog for your website.

The blog, which has a working title of ‘The State of Cloud-Native Adoption in Fishmongery’, needs to be written – but to ensure we get it right, you’re going to need to brief us.

In classic ‘choose your own adventure’ style, you have two paths by which you can proceed:

  1. Provide a working title and a description of the desired outcome by email and/or a phone call, asking your dedicated account manager if they have the time to fit the piece into an appropriate writer’s diary. A briefing call will be arranged if there is not sufficient information provided, or the brief is particularly dense.
  2. Use the Radix briefing template to provide a full, written brief for a writer. When you are happy with it, you can send this to your dedicated account manager, who will assign it to the best writer for the job. A briefing call will be arranged if the writer has any questions about the project, preferably with a project lead at your end.

In cases where we are engaging with a new client, or it’s simply our first time tackling a project type, the process is a little more complex.

Senior Account Manager Sarah Gray explains:

“If it’s a complicated topic, or a new client, we’ll run the project by a senior writer to evaluate. If needed, we may also arrange a briefing call with the client before booking in time with the writer. Then, all that’s left before jumping into an outline or a first draft is to send the client a quote and confirm the timeframe for delivery.”

The first draft

So, where are we at? Let’s recap. So far, we’ve:

  • Received word of your new brief
  • Nailed down (figuratively) a writer for the job
  • (Maybe) had a wee briefing call to make sure we have the right info
  • Agreed on a quote and timeframe for delivery

Nice. Everything’s looking good. Now it’s time for our writer, depending on the outcome of the briefing, to either whip up an outline or jump right into the first draft.

With blogs, it’s likely our writer will have everything they need from the briefing (and maybe a little desk research) to begin the first draft. But with other projects – such as case studies or whitepapers – we often write an outline first.

…*Intermission*…

Shiba Inu Dog GIF

Internal quality control

On completion of the first draft, the writer will pass their copy to a content lead or another expert peer to review. This is where the amends process begins (and, in the best-case scenario, ends).

The content lead is one of the most important roles in our entire process. Think of them as your brand guardian, the final hurdle which our writers must leap before the copy lands in your inbox. Internally, we always allocate a content lead for each client. This way, they can build up a wealth of knowledge about you and apply it to the reviewing process, ensuring everything hits the mark.

In our role-play scenario, let’s say the reviewer spotted a non sequitur in the blog’s third and final act. Nothing critical, but enough of a reason to send it back to the writer with comments on how to amend the issue. With the amends made and the reviewer happy, the account manager will send the copy off for you to review.

Reviews and approvals

If the copy hits the spot, what happens next is up to you. If you think it needs some further work, or if the scope of the project has changed, you can let us know and our account manager will arrange for the writer to return to the piece. We can also set up a call with you to clarify the changes required.

As standard, we always include up to two rounds of copy amends in the quote – this way, writer and client alike are guaranteed leeway to tweak the first draft. When it comes to the amends process, we recognise that we’re delivering a product, and as they say in retail: ‘the customer is always right’. While that’s true *most of the time*, we prefer to see our work as a collaboration in which both parties learn from each other (and in turn, get the best outcome possible: damn good copy).

Once the copy is finished and approved, our account managers will send you the finished piece. And from there, hopefully the copy can do its thing!

Working with Radix

I hope this blog has answered any questions you may have had about the way we work with our clients, but if there’s anything you’re unsure about (or you have any other questions), please do get in touch on 01326 373592.

 

Podcast 58: how to get value for money from your copywriter

Posted on by The Radix Team

Demand for great B2B content is growing, but that doesn’t necessarily mean your budget for copywriting is expanding to match. So, naturally you start looking for ways to get more value for money.

But, obviously, you shouldn’t sacrifice quality just to save a few quid – it’s all about balance.

In the newest episode of Good Copy, Bad Copy, David and Fiona discuss a few ways you can get the biggest possible bang for your B2B copywriting buck.

Listen now to find out:

  • How our pricing strategy and copywriting price list came to be
  • Where you can save money and add value to your project
  • Where you really, really shouldn’t cut corners

How to listen…

You can download the episode here (right-click and “save-as” to download). Or stream the episode in the player at the top of the page.

(Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here. Alternatively, add our RSS to your preferred podcast player.)

Other content we talk about in this episode:

Want to contact the show?

It’s always good to hear from listeners. You’ll find us on Twitter… or feel free to send your thoughts to [email protected] (if you’re feeling fancy, email a voice memo).

Next month, we’ll be talking about the dark art that is writing email subject lines. So if you’ve any questions, thoughts or tips, do get in touch.

 

Credits:

Audio editing and music by Bang and Smash.

“How long will it take?” Five factors we consider when quoting for copywriting

Posted on by The Radix Team

As you may know from your own experience, quoting for any kind of project isn’t all about the money. A major component in delivering a job is being realistic about what’s achievable, so you can keep your promises. It’s how your client comes to know they can trust you to deliver.

Of course, it’s important to deliver jobs quickly, but quality is an important part of what we do – it’s what separates us from the content mills (*shudder*). So we have a clearly defined set of questions we need to ask before quoting for a project, which enable us to stick to deadlines, and ultimately, let our clients know exactly what they can expect, and when.

So, what do we look for before we put pen to paper? Here’s five things we consider when quoting for a writing project:

1. How complex is this, really?

We’ve been doing this for more than a decade (and we’re really geeky about our data). So when we get presented with a brief, we can usually work out how much work it’s going to entail at a glance. But there are of course exceptions.

For example, from time to time we get asked to copy edit an existing document (usually written by one of the client’s colleagues). It might need shortening, expanding upon, or something different to copy editing – like proof reading, or a rewrite. My colleague George has put together a great piece to explain the difference.

It’s only natural to take an optimistic view of an existing piece. But if we don’t quote properly for a project, we’re not helping the client. If the piece turns out needing a complete re-write, this could pose a problem when it comes to delivering the work to the agreed schedule. We pride ourselves on never being late, so it’s essential to get right.

The more information we have at the brief stage, the better we’re able to understand the true scope of the job. (And if we ask to see the content you’d like us to copy edit before we quote, this is why.)

2. Yes, we know B2B tech, but do we need a call, or extra research?

We understand enterprise technology; it’s what we write about every day. But that doesn’t mean we’re experts in every field. The nature of the industry means it’s constantly evolving, so we as much as anybody else to keep up with the latest trends and developments.

For some projects, this is pretty straightforward. But if it’s a key piece of content where you really want to add value for your reader, we’ll need to dig a little deeper, and uncover things your audience won’t already know.

This can mean doing extra research, or having a call with product experts – they live and breathe this stuff, so if anyone is going to give us invaluable insight, it’s them. (In fact, it’s so valuable we recorded a whole podcast episode about it.)

3. Who’s our best writer for the job?

One of the real benefits of having ten specialist B2B copywriters in a room is that we each have our own natural strengths. Like anything in life, we have subjects we find more interesting over others and special areas of interest – and our natural writing styles fit certain types of content.

This means we’ll always to try to match the job to the ideal writer and content lead. This can affect the turnaround time slightly, but it also ensures you’re getting a great piece of copy from a copywriter who has a genuine interest in the topic and, what’s more, truly understands what you’re trying to achieve.

The more specialised or important the job, the more essential it is to find just the right blend of interests and style.

4. Can we be certain of delivering quality work on time?

We know you’re busy, and you have deadlines to meet. If a job’s urgent, having 50+ hours of writing time at our fingertips every day means we can usually turn it around.

But like air traffic controllers at a busy airport, our account managers balance this hectic, fast-moving workload with the absolute need to get the job right. They’ll always have a clear, visual grasp of our writing diaries, enabling them to ensure the right writer has time to do the job well.

That’s why we need to receive a project brief, set out the breadth of the project, and understand who’ll write it, and when, before we give you a firm deadline. But once we have, you know we’ll absolutely deliver exactly what we say, when we say, for the price we agreed.

5. Have we allowed enough time for review, and amends?

To make sure you’re completely happy with our work, we factor in up to two rounds of amends as standard in our quotes – as well as our own internal review process.

This gives you the flexibility to question and edit what we’ve produced (within reason) if you need to, so we can refine the piece totally in line with what you want.

Quite often, that time won’t be necessary (especially if we’ve worked hard on the brief), but you’re safe in the knowledge that we’ve factored the time it usually takes into your project schedule – enabling you to confidently forecast your content schedule.

Ultimately, we’ll always be realistic and upfront with you

Getting copy projects turned around quickly is great, but getting them done properly – and reliably –  is even better.

In our experience, clients are much more satisfied with the end result (even if they’re in a hurry for it) when we’re clear about what they can expect, and keep them updated at every stage. That’s why we’ll never overpromise or say yes to a project without reviewing a brief first.

If you like the sound of the way we work and you’re interested to know more, feel free to give us a call on 01326 373592 or email us at [email protected].

(Or if you’d just like to see a copywriting price list, that’s no problem either.)

Booking a successful B2B web copy project: a clients’ FAQ

Posted on by John Kerrison

Often, the first really meaningful interaction your customers have with you is through your website. They may have come across you on social media or heard of you through word of mouth, but your website is where they’ll dig in, find the information they need, and start to make a decision on whether they want to get in touch.

That’s why your website copy is so important.

And here at Radix, we’ve seen that reflected in recent years, with four years’ continuous growth in website copy as a proportion of our work.

Where once B2B marketers might have tried to carry out the writing in-house, they’re increasingly turning to professional copywriters like us when it’s time to renew the site. (Whether that’s because their old site wasn’t giving them the results they wanted, or they simply remember what a nightmare the job was last time out, we can’t say.)

For most, running a web copy project will be a fairly rare occurrence – so clients tend to ask us the same (completely understandable) questions:

“What do you need from me to write our web copy?”

There are quite a few bits of information which will make it easier for us to give you an accurate quote and – ultimately – to write your copy the way you want it. And we can get that knowledge from you in a number of different ways.

In the past, we’ve held immersive workshops in clients’ offices, or a series of calls with heads of departments to ensure we glean exactly what it is they need their website to do, what information each individual page needs to contain, and how the overall feel of the site needs to come across.

But generally, we’ll be looking for:

1. A proposed sitemap, if you have one

A sitemap makes it much easier for us to identify what your needs are and provide an accurate quote. (If you have a wireframe or preliminary design too, so much the better, as we can get a feel for how much copy you’ll need on each page).

2. A sense of your audience, and their buying process

It’s also great if we know exactly who your web visitors are, and where they tend to arrive from. For example, a curious visitor with little knowledge about the finer details of your industry is going to need different information than a seasoned industry expert. Also, how much do they already know about you? Will they be turning up fresh from Google (and how much is search ranking a priority), or are they following up to confirm you’re credible, after a different initial point of contact?

3. How your brand should sound

The tone and voice of the various areas of your website – and your overall brand – are very important.

Your voice needs to be consistent, as a representation of the personality of your brand. But we tailor the tone to your audience’s needs as they interact with the site. Even for the same visitor, the tone you use for a cheery greeting might be completely inappropriate for an error message.

(Though as our colleague Katy pointed out, even Microsoft can get that one wrong.)

So as we go along, it helps us to understand the context of each page – why somebody would read it, and how they’re likely to feel about that.

4. What each page needs to say

Perhaps the most obvious part – but, potentially, the most time-consuming. Because we need to know all the information you want on every page of your site – and which parts of that information are most important to your audience.

Of course, if you have an existing page of content to point us at, that’s somewhat easier. But even then, it’s helpful to have some guidance: what’s working for you, what’s not, and what’s new. You’re refreshing the site for a reason, after all.

5. Some idea of your SEO requirements

If you’d like the site to perform well on Google, it’ll be useful to have some kind of keyword strategy and/or research, so we can make sure each page aligns with what your audience are looking for, using the same language as they will. We’ll talk more about this in a bit.

“What if I don’t know about the voice and tone I want to adopt?”

Lots of brands already have extensive brand usage guidelines when they come to us – and some of them are even useful. But if you don’t, there’s no need to worry: as experienced copywriters, tone and voice are our marmite and toast.

Broadly, there are two approaches we can take. We can chat about your brand, your existing copy and what you do and don’t like, then approximate something for you. Or we can conduct a proper voice and tone workshop, and give you a short, usable document with some rules, suggestions, hints and examples.

(The former is OK if we’re the only ones writing for you; if you have writers in-house too, the guide is a good idea, because it can help you to stay consistent.)

“What’s the best stage to bring a copywriter into my web project?”

Most of our clients come to us with a plan for their site, normally devised between them and their web developer, and ask us to populate the pages. That makes it easy for us to give you an accurate quote and delivery schedule.

However, we’re open to other ways of working too. So, if you’d like our input on how many pages we think you should have and what should go on each one then we’re more than happy to put our experience to good use.

Likewise, some people like to create the copy first, and the design later. That’s fine by us.

“Do you write pages that are short/long/scrolling/really long/parallax/mobile/really, really long?”

The short answer is yes. Whatever kind of web page you want (so long as it contains words).

There’s been something of a cultural shift in web design over the last few years which has seen a rise in more mobile-friendly, scrolling websites. These tend to have smaller chunks of copy in panels scattered across the length of the page, whereas a traditional website will have tabs at the top of the page and longer sections of copy.

So alongside the traditional “250-words, title, copy and some bullet points” kind of web page, our price list also includes options to buy your web copy by the chunk. So we can build a quote for whatever kind of page you – and your web designer – can dream up.

“Do you do web design?”

Nope. We’re strictly words-only.

BUT we do often work in tandem with freelance designers and web developers, agencies, and in-house experts. We’re happy to collaborate in this way if you think it would add to the process, and may even be able to recommend someone if that would help.

“What’s your approach to SEO?”

Ah. We could (and possibly should) write a whole blog post about this. But in short…

We’re not search engine specialists, but we act on guidance SEO experts provide – like keyword recommendations and research. If one of your site’s objectives is to attract search engine traffic, it’s a good idea to work with an SEO consultant (as well as – not instead of – your copywriter, of course).

Most of the copy on your website is aimed at people. Some of the rest is primarily there to please search engine robots. And some parts (like your page title) is a mixture of the two.

Usually, we’ll work on the people-facing parts of your copy (on-page body text, meta description), incorporating keyword recommendations as appropriate, and leave the search engine-facing bits to the experts. Where the copy is dual-purpose (titles, headers, alt text), we tend to collaborate – generally, we’ll suggest something, then recommend you have your SEO team tweak it as appropriate.

We find it’s a good balance, because refinements to Google’s algorithm improved its ability to prioritise quality content, satisfying at the intent behind each search – there are fewer tricks and shortcuts. We use the keyword research to deduce your web visitor’s intent, then – without focusing too much on the technicalities – simply write the best page we can.

It seems to work well – and we’re regularly recommended for website projects by SEO agencies, so they must be happy too.

“Who else have you written web copy for?”

We’ve had the pleasure of writing web copy for dozens of B2B, technology and industrial brands – including some of the world’s largest organisations.

Sometimes, that work is confidential (we’re happy to namedrop, but only in private) – but to give you a flavour, a few sites we are allowed to tell you about include:

Aon Employee Benefits

VoxGen – conversational software and services

Tectrade – cloud services and consultancy

TomTom – fleet tracking technology

The Daniel Group – customer feedback for industry

Penzance Dry Dock – industrial and marine operations

“How much will my new web copy cost?”

Once, copywriters could quote a flat, per-page price for web copy. But that was when pages were all fairly standard. These days, a page could be anything from a 30-word text panel and a couple of buttons to a 1000-word Homerian epic in parallax form.

That’s why our Senior Account Managers will work hard to define the exact scope of the copy you want, and build you an accurate quote in advance.

But that’s not to say we can’t give you a good, ballpark idea before your sitemap is finalised. All the components we use to build our quotes – various sizes of panels and pages – are included in our price list, so it’s easy enough to get a thumbnail picture if you know the rough dimensions of the site.

If you’d like a copy of the price list, do get in touch.

“How much time will I need?”               

If history is any guide, significantly more than you’ve allowed so far. There’s something about web projects (the temptation to make last-minute additions to the site, maybe) which means they never seem to run to schedule.

But whatever’s delaying things, it won’t be the copy. We’ll give you a firm schedule alongside your quote, and we’ll stick to it.

Obviously, that schedule will depend on the scale of the site, and the amount of input we need from you and your stakeholders. But given a little advance notice, we’ve been known to take smaller sites from fact-find conversation to signed-off copy within a matter of days.

Got any more questions? Our Account Management team are here to talk you through the process. Please drop us a line…