You spend your days providing therapy to a myriad of clients. The rest of your time is spent doing paperwork and, God forbid, taking a coffee and bathroom break. By the end of your day, you’re exhausted.
The last thing you want to think about is writing. You don’t have time to spend on website copy, blogs, or emails and newsletters. Your social media engagement is minimal and you can’t find the time to write original posts.
Want to know a secret?
There’s someone out there who can help you with all that. It’s called a copywriter!
What’s a copywriter?
Copywriters specialize in writing all the things you don’t have time for. Do you want to hire a copywriter who is an expert in writing for mental health professionals? You want to hire me.
As a mental health copywriter, I spend my time researching, writing, and tending to your SEO, which is what ranks you higher in Google (SEO stands for search engine optimization). My writing is not just informative, it gets people to do something.
A good copywriter knows how to engage your audience of potential and current clients in order to get them to act. You want them to sign up for your newsletter, download your ebook, and most importantly, book an appointment.
What is your relationship to your copywriter?
A mental health copywriter will spend some time at the beginning of your relationship getting to know you. They’ll ask you questions about your goals and pain points, maybe even find out who inspires you.
You should always do a paid test project before diving into a monthly retainer, just to make sure you’re a good fit for one another. You and your copywriter work together, but your copywriter is not your employee.
Freelance copywriters are entrepreneurs, and, just like you, run their own small business. When you hire a copywriter, you’re essentially contracting someone to do a job for you, but they remain in charge of their business. They do not work for you.
Not all copywriters do everything. There are so many different forms of copy out there that it’s impossible to be an expert at all of them. I love blogs and website copy, but I wouldn’t know what to do if you asked me to write a white paper. And I wouldn’t let you think that I knew how to write one when I don’t.
Everyone is different, but I like to be upfront with my clients about what I do and don’t do. I don’t know about you, but I want to work with someone who knows their own limits and can admit when something is out of their depth. And I want to work with someone who is honest and transparent.
What can you expect when you work with a copywriter?
Copywriters aren’t mindreaders. Communication is key when it comes to working with a copywriter, especially when the relationship is new.
It’s essential that your copywriter writes in your voice, and that can be difficult if it’s unclear what your voice is. If you already have some blog posts written or current website copy that you’re unhappy with, your copywriter has more to go on.
If you don’t, it’s important that you communicate with your copywriter what you want your voice to sound like. Copywriters are ghostwriters most of the time. They are also chameleons, taking on different voices and colors to match their clients’ needs.
When your copywriter sends you the first draft, that’s just what it is: a polished first draft. If you’re unhappy with the draft, it’s important to communicate what specifically you want to be done differently. Simply saying “this isn’t what I asked for, make it better” or dropping your copywriter because you don’t like that very first draft isn’t going to get you the results you want.
Instead, talk to your copywriter about your wants and needs. It’s your money, what do you want to get out of it?
Why are you hiring a copywriter?
It’s important to identify your professional goals and who your audience is, but it’s essential to identify why you’re hiring a copywriter in the first place.
Most likely it’s because you don’t have the bandwidth to run your practice and write regularly updated blogs, monthly newsletters, or website copy. And beyond time, you don’t have the expertise that a copywriter brings. A lot of times when you write, it’s a shot in the dark that anyone will read it.
You hire a copywriter not only because they know how to write well, but because they know how to write to bring in audiences. Remember when I mentioned SEO? A big part of being a copywriter is knowing how to use SEO to boost your website in a Google search and drive more people to your site.
The more people who reach your site, the bigger your audience. And once you have an audience, you can win them over with compelling website copy and well-written blogs that make them say “I need to work with this person!”
Some things to think about when hiring a copywriter
Your reasons for hiring a copywriter are twofold. It’s not just about saving you time, it’s about providing content that people want to read and can find easily.
When you hire a copywriter, you definitely want to think about your “why.” It will help clarify the relationship between the two of you and will help guide the work. If your copywriter knows why you’re hiring them they’ll have a better understanding of what you’re looking for in the copy itself and what you hope to get out of the relationship.
To get started hiring a mental health copywriter today, click here to set up a free 15-minute consultation to see how we could work together.