How I Work
So, you’re thinking about working with a copywriter.
And you may be vaguely curious as to how things might unfold if you bring me into your fold.
(If you weren’t thinking either, what the heck are you doing on this page? Here, go watch this video that hilariously depicts the true horror of tabletop gaming.)
But the question “How do I work?” is a little loaded, because there’s two parts to it:
- How I work in harmony with you to deliver tip-top and timely copy
- How I work to craft that copy for maximum persuasiveness and power
Ultimately, you want copy that’s going to get results… so let’s start with #2: how I go about making your copy the tip-toppiest it can be.
SERPO: The Secret To Smashingly Good Copy
(And Just Not An Interstellar Alien Conspiracy)
If you’re up-to-date with conspiracy theories, you know Serpo is a secret alien planet that people have apparently visited and lived on.
(Seriously… it is!)
But it’s also the name of the framework I’ve developed over the years to produce A-grade copy.
I use the SERPO system to methodically give businesses like yours the results they’re searching high and low for. With SERPO, I operate differently to most freelance copywriters, following principles like:
- The “copy context rule” that when not applied, makes the best-written copy as useful as a chocolate teapot… and by following it, transforms average copy into a powerfully persuasive tool
- A hardened, battle-earned edge that’s slowly formed over years of frustrating failures and scathing critiques
- The secret weapon behind scrolling through social media feeds and browsing Amazon that gives you an unmistakable edge over your competitors
- A cookbook of psychological ingredients to create copy that talks to prospects, connects with them… and gets them to pull out their credit card
- Why going live with your copy is the “end of the beginning”, and how to turn great copy that’s getting results into KILLER copy perfectly tuned in to your prospects
So what is SERPO exactly? Well, it spells out how I get fantastic results for you. Let me break it down…
STRATEGY
Just like your lungs if you were suddenly rocketed into space, your copy too often gets the air violently sucked out of it. And the #1 reason is that it’s used without knowing what the deeper strategy is (or no strategy at all). A kick-arse sales page disconnected from the emails, landing page, ads, or whatever comes before it just isn’t going to perform at kick-arse levels.
So, we kick things off by discussing your mission and strategy. And if you don’t have a plan, no problem! I can help you develop one.
EXPERTISE
Jump on Fiverr or any freelance platform and you’re going to find copywriters… LOTS of copywriters!
And they’re happy to charge $50 for a landing page (bargain!) or $20 for an email (unbelievable!)… but what you ultimately get is just words. Not well-written, persuasive copy that engages readers, takes them on a journey, and makes buying or clicking the obvious next step.
But perhaps that’s why you’re here: because you’re looking for a copywriter who understands psychology, persuasion, structure, syntax (plus an active affinity for alliteration)… and not bargain basement prices for warmed up words that do diddly squat.
(OK, I’ll stop now.)
RESEARCH
Even the best copywriter does the legwork before laying virtual pen to paper.
While you might be a fantastic source of intelligence about your audience or market, you’re often the beginning and not the end of the research process. Us copywriters have a NEED to know as much as we possibly can, because even the most trivial nugget of information might uncover a big idea that turns your funnel, marketing, or promotion on its head.
So, to get the best result for you, I dig. That might mean ambling through Amazon reviews, scrolling through subreddits, or forensically examining forums.
(Damn, sorry… this time I’ll stop for sure 😉
PERSUASION
If you don’t need copy that aims to persuade or convince, you probably don’t need a copywriter like me. For example, if you want blogs or content, find a rockstar content writer… which I am 100% not!
Direct response is a different beast, with its own principles and rules (and part of the “art” is knowing when to break those rules). If this is the kind of copywriter you’re chasing down, well…that’s me!
OPTIMISATION
Once your copywriter delivers the copy, they typically ride off into the sunset never to be heard from again. I don’t like to do that, and here’s why:
Sometimes a promotion will knock it out of the park first time, and other times strike out. More often than not, you get something in between (a safe hit, if you want to continue the baseball analogy). Either way, reviewing the data once your marketing’s been live for a while and then fine tuning it to boost results is a big part of the process… or at least, my process.
Dean was great to work with. He communicated very well with me, fixed any problems that came up and answered all my questions. But the part I am most happy with is, I walked away from this with a great sales video script and sales page copy.
– Jeremy Valentine, Mind Growth Academy
Dig a little deeper into your copy
To really know whether I’m the right fit for you (full disclosure: I’m not always), the best thing to do is to jump on a call where we can talk about your project and how I might be able to help make it go “BOOM!”.
(In the good way, of course.)
Just click here and fill out the form and I’ll get back to you within a day or so. If you’re feeling adventurous, click the “Copy Consult” button and book a call for a time that suits you.
The Start Of A Beautiful Friendship
Still here?
Well, here’s where we tackle the #1 mentioned at the top of the page (AKA How I work in harmony with you to deliver tip-top and timely copy).
So, here’s how things typically unfold in terms of the process and relationships…
First Contact
Just like the thrilling and bizarre tale of Serpo (the alien planet, that is)… there has to be a first contact. That usually comes from you sending me a message or booking a copy consult, both of which you can do here.
(Pro Tip: On the contact form, I recommend you fill out your favourite board game for a more interesting reply… OK, that “interesting reply” part might be a lie, but it’s fun to hear what people like to play.)
Sorting The Fine Print
All things going well, we agree that this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
But before I can get stuck into your project, we have to agree on details such as cost, timing, scope, and all other fiddly bits. I’ll send you what I think based on our chat, and if you’re happy with everything, we’re in business, baby!
After this, I’ll ask you to do two things:
- Pay a deposit invoice
- Fill out a project brief to share as much about your business, audience, and product
Putting SERP Into Action
It’s time to get to work.
I follow my SERPO framework (minus the “O” that comes later) to research, draft, and refine your copy, all in the context of your marketing strategy.
At this point, you might have to answer a few questions. Sometimes, we’ll review an early part of the copy to really lock down tone and key points before I roll through the rest of the project. But right now, it’s mostly up to me.
Barring mishap or sudden changes, you get the first version of your copy by the agreed date.
Polishing The Gem
Now it’s your turn to put your thinking cap on, since you get to review everything! Generally, I ask you to look at the following:
- Product details (are they accurate?)
- Tone and voice (does it match your other marketing or what you want?)
- Legal details (are we pushing too far… or not far enough?)
Once you send back your edits and suggestions, I clean it up and get the copy back to you. We then repeat that one more time to polish the gem to a sparkling finish.
At this point, you’ve got your copy ready to lay out and launch.
Here Comes The “O”
If you’ve studiously read everything on the page up til now, you already know that optimising the copy for certain projects is part of my process.
We’ll have talked about that before getting started on the project… and now your promotion’s gone live, it’s time to put it into action. Here’s how it unfolds:
- The copy / funnel / marketing runs for as long as it takes to collect enough data (i.e. more traffic, the quicker it generally is)
- Once there’s enough data, we review it and aim to identify what’s working and / or what we might want to test
- Now that we know what to tweak, I’ll make the changes
- You implement… and happy days!
We retained Dean initially for some personal profile pages on our website and then after successfully completing this project we moved to general web pages and then landing pages. I would say already this task has been the most cost-effective ROI we have undertaken in the last five years. When we looked at our Adwords spend over 6 months and the improvement we achieved since retaining Dean in our targeted conversion, it’s really been fantastic. My suggestion would be to listen to him – I learnt a lot.
– Brendan Hanks, Kate Austin Family Law