Cam... for me, if I have to educate a client on the value of copy... it's probably not a good sign, and there's probably going to be issues... and the biggest one is getting paid what you're worth.

Seriously... most clients who you'd want to work for, they're business owners... and business owners understand that sales drives business.

And what drives sales? selling... whether in print, person, video, skywriting, etc...

So, personally I always move on if I even sniff out the client doesn't appreciate or respect what good copy can do.

I think you'll find the same... that if you have to educate a client on why they need to use good copy, you're just setting yourself up for hassles and headaches.

You CAN'T earn a decent fee if the client doesn't appreciate good copy.

Move on...

Never try to convince people that copy is valuable to thie business. Ever.

The fact is...

Unless you grasp how powerful emotion is in influencing your decisions, you'll NEVER understand copy.

And people who think "content" is just as good as copy, don't have a clue about emotion.

Mark

^^

Good answer from both of the above posts, and I agree ... some clients will never understand the value you bring. I remember pitching an $8,500 website to a customer once and he asked about a TV ad he saw for web.com where he could get a site with no upfront payment and $20 per month - and if I would price match it. I thanked him for his time and left.

If they don't understand the value of what you bring, you'll waste more time educating them on why they should be paying you.

You already know the answer to this question, don't you?

Great answers from everyone.

Let me clarify.

When you are QUALIFYING your prospects, ie. before you accept anyone as a CLIENT, you are looking for people who will:

• treat you well
• pay you well
• value what you offer.

If any ONE of these three factors is missing, it ain't a fit.

You want prospects & clients who THINK LIKE YOU DO. Otherwise it's a waste of energy and will quickly lead to frustration. Does that sound like a good client to you?

If you want to educate, consider the approach of marketers like Daniel Levis and Craig Garber, where they share their philosophy, establish authority and pre-qualify clients with valuable content.

The more value a person places on their product, the more value they place on the marketing of it.

If you're dealing with IMers that pump out cheap info ebooks they limit their product value to a percentage of the cheap traffic they can attract. They themselves have no fantasies about the value of their product...they see it as a way to make a couple extra bucks. Why would they spend a lot on marketing?

Big time players know how to attract a larger audience and are more inclined to spend more on marketing because they see their product as having value.

You should market yourself to attract your ideal customer.

If you're attracting the wrong customers you need to rehabilitate your personal marketing strategy.

This is why when I'm doing any kind of marketing for copy services... I'll set up ads and copy so that it resonates with my ideal prospect. I want it to go right over the heads of those who have no idea what copy, or good copy is.

Simply by writing your marketing in a certain way, you can attract your ideal prospects and not even be understood by those who are less than ideal.

I can't ever remember writing an ad or letter that said "and now here's why you need to have copy on your site"

BUT, if you can write so that higher end marketers and business owners can just "sense" you're someone they want to work with... you don't have to worry about educating anyone.

I've landed a bunch of clients just from articles and content I wrote... they'd contact me and say "that thing you wrote... I can tell I need you to do my copy", etc...

and that's simply from writing to attract your ideal prospect... and no one else.

Good point--like Bruce's sales page is educational/informational, but he's mostly establishing authority and expertise more than educating clients.

copywritingmaniac.com |

If your copy is positioned correctly...

It should be pre-qualifying your prospects on auto-pilot.

So...

If someone who doesn't understand the value of copy (or the value of you) finds his or her way into your email, something's off in your funnel.

Talking to just anyone who has something to sell will inevitably attract bottom feeders - who don't GET it.

If you want to play with the big boyz, your copy has to target people who don't need convincing that copy works.

They just need to know YOU are the right copywriter.

mark

Everyone else who responded before me covered this thoroughly, but I just wanted to chime in with a resounding "Move On!"

The clients you want to work with know and understand your value. Or maybe they start out thinking you're worth "X" and you end up convincing them you're really worth "Y," but they are in the same ballpark.

When you have prospective clients trying to lump you in standard article writers, that's when you know it's time to jump.

Every no is another opportunity to land a better, well-paying client.

Good luck,

Corey