There is one universal fact in business.
It doesn’t matter if you provide a service or a product or even if you run a non-profit.
Everyone, needs money to operate…
Therefore, someone must pay the business for said product or service, or support the non-profit.
I know, nothing new there about business or marketing.
But here’s how I’d like you to frame the money transaction that I think can be useful to you. And by the way this applys in relationships where time or emotion is the dominant currency.
So here we go…
Every transaction is considered an expense until proven otherwise. In other words, the buyer takes a risk that will cost them money unless the product proves itself to be as advertised.
Let me explain a little further with an example.
I am a advertising copywriter. I write ads for clients with the goal of producing leads and/or sales that lead to cash in hand.
The thing is, when the client agrees to hire me as their copywriter, they still don’t KNOW that my work will make money for them. It doesn’t matter how much proof or how many samples I’ve shown them. To them, at that moment they sign the initial check, I am an expense.
Make sense?
And this works on any item I can think of… even peanut butter.
If I want to try a new peanut butter I saw advertised I am going to have to pay for it. So because I do not KNOW whether I will like the peanut butter or throw it away, I HAVE to categorize it in my mind as an expense until I can prove to myself it is worth buying.
Still with me?
If it is worth buying, it moves from expense to more of a trade… I’ll trade my dollars in exchange for the pleasure of tasting good peanut butter. In my mind, it is no longer an expense.
Do you see the difference? It seems minor but there is a HUGE difference in the mind of the consumer.
So what does this mean to you as an advertiser?
Let’s recap…
You, your product or your service is an expense until proven otherwise to the buyer. Once they know like and trust you, your product or service then you get shifted to another more favorable category in the consumer’s mind.
Sooooo…
One of the best ways to make the shift happen in the consumer’s mind is to always think from the consumer’s point of view when creating and marketing your stuff.
Simple? Yes. Easy? No.
Your thoughts, dear reader?
Sean, at what point do you, as a copywriter, become an investment? It seems to me that in order to justify your fees, your clients need to trust that they are getting their money back many times over. That is more than a trade.
In order to have the clients think about your service as an investment, they must also have a goal, know where your service fit in an overall marketing strategy. Without a clear understanding of their goals, your clients will always feel that you are charging them a fee, and will always think of the pain of paying before they think of the pleasure of receiving the return.
Am I missing something? I may sound like I know this stuff, but that is not so. I am genuinely interested to see what you think of my theory–because that is what it is for me. If you think this is right, I am beginning to understand something that will help me get my freelance career up and going.
Thanks for the thoughts.
Niels,
Thanks for the comments and questions.
Let’s see….
As purely a copywriter, you are correct… a client should get their money back many times over. Now, with that said, how do you determine what your copy generated? Is it a front end campaign designed to get leads or to make a sale? Or is it a back end campaign where the copy has a more immediate and direct revenue attached?
Either way, there is a value for each of those situations. If you are writing web copy, how much extra traffic is generated thanks to your SEO skills? How many conversions does your copy create for a landing page, etc, etc…
So you are right again, as a copywriter, you do need a client that either has a complete game plan and your copy fills the one part of the plan… OR…
You need to develop that plan for them. At the very least, you need to qualify how they measure results.
Overall, I’d say you know exactly what you are talking about!