Affordable Copywriting: What Does It Mean, and How Can You Find It Without Losing Quality?
You’ve got a brilliant business idea, great branding and marketing materials, and a website that looks incredible. Now all you need to do is sell your product or service. But how? When so many businesses are fighting for the same customers in the same market, how can you stand out from the crowd?
If your business is like most small enterprises, advertising and marketing probably isn’t an area where you have a lot of money to spend. It’s not uncommon for businesses to invest the lion’s share of their initial finances into establishing their company and stocking inventory.
Unfortunately, this often leaves copywriting as an afterthought. But, whilst copywriting may seem like a small investment that won’t pay off right away, it could actually be one of the best ways to keep costs low whilst raising awareness of your brand.
You know the saying, ‘you get what you pay for’? It applies to everything in life, especially copywriting. Good copy is essential to selling anything, so how can you get it without paying a fortune? Well, before you make your decision, let’s talk about a few things.
In this post we’ll cover affordable vs cheap, and what that really means. We’ll explain everything you need to know about affordable copywriting, and how you can find it without losing quality.
Let’s dive right in.
Why are some copywriters so cheap?
We’re not going to be perpetuating the myth on this one — we won’t tell you that all cheap copywriters are cheap because they’re bad, because that isn’t objectively and measurably true. We are, however, going to explain why that myth exists, by outlining the main reasons some affordable copywriting could actually be considered ‘cheap’.
Copywriters are professional writers who write content for other companies. Some copywriters work in-house for a business or agency, and some are freelance. Anyone can become a copywriter, as long as they’re proficient at writing in the target language.
There are several reasons why some copywriters charge so little compared to others.
Location, location, location
The first reason is the geographical area. Different areas in the UK — as well as across the world — have a different cost of living, so freelance copywriters will charge prices based on where they are, not where you are. For example, if you’re in London, and your copywriter is in Dundee, they may seem very cheap by comparison.
This is also true for copywriters in different countries; if your writer has a far lower cost of living, they might charge what seems like a ‘dangerously low’ price, even if they’re an excellent copywriter and a native speaker of your target language.
Even copywriters have to start somewhere
The second reason is experience. Everyone has to start somewhere, and the more experience and training a copywriter has, the more they will charge — it’s that simple. Newer copywriters aren’t necessarily bad, they’re just less polished.
If you want affordable copywriting, then beginners with enough skill to do a good job are a great option. It may take a little longer to get the content and to get it right, but that’s not to say they can’t do it well, and the savings on cost may be worth that extra wait.
They produce a lot of content
Some agencies have a vast pool of copywriters who sign up to take work from them. These companies are sometimes referred to as ‘content mills’. Their business model is similar to that of publishing companies, in that they produce large quantities of low-mark-up product in order to turn a profit.
A classic ‘content mill’ takes orders from customers like you and places all of them into a combined pool for the writers to choose from, bid on, or be assigned to. Many of these copywriters are skilled at what they do, but simply struggle to compete with the high availability of workers in the field. It’s just a numbers game.
What is affordable copywriting?
We define affordable copywriting as copywriting that doesn’t break the bank in order for you to get the quality you need. It’s high-quality content that meets your needs and expectations, written by a professional and at a price you can afford.
It’s worth noting that ‘affordable’ is subjective. One person’s idea of what’s affordable or not could be different to another’s, simply because they have more money to spend.
Bigger companies and large corporations have much more money to spend up-front on a project, knowing that it will give them ROI over a longer period. They also have more of an established brand image, so their expectations and needs may be higher.
Smaller, more independent companies (such as SMEs) will have less to spend upfront and may just be in the infancy of their branding, so it’s all a bit more fluid and malleable. These people will consider affordable copywriting services — which higher-revenue companies would think are ‘too cheap’ — because their needs are different.
What are the benefits of affordable copywriting?
‘Cheap’ is a word that’s often associated with low quality. As we’ve explained, that’s not always true, but in the spirit of the word, ‘affordable’ is always better than ‘cheap’.
So, why is that? Let’s go through the benefits of choosing an affordable copywriter.
Affordable has more value
Simply put, copy that’s considered ‘affordable’ over ‘cheap’ will bring more value to your brand. Not only does it add value by being of a professional quality, it’s also better value for your business. You get more bang for your buck, as the saying goes.
Value is important to you and your customers. You need to offer content that adds value to readers’ lives in order to meet your content goals.
And it’s not just you that it adds value to — it adds value to the entire industry, keeping average rates closer to the living wage, so that copywriters as a whole can be adequately compensated for their time, talent, and effort.
Affordable means the price can be tailored to your needs
Additional services or package deals aren’t always the best for you and your budget.
This is one of the main differences between ‘affordable’ and ‘cheap’: ‘affordable’ means that a company can tailor your package to meet your needs and budget, whilst ‘cheap’ just means it’s a lower price than the average.
An agency, or a decent freelancer, will outline prices for certain services, and can offer discounts, packages, or single services as you need them. Streamlining what you need can reduce the overall price, making it more affordable for you. There’s simply no need to pay for a service you won’t use.
Affordable copywriting is better quality
High-quality content is written to meet your business needs and target your intended audience.
Do you want more engagement? Done. Want to reach more people? Yep, we can do that too. Get more sales and increase brand awareness? You guessed it, we can absolutely do that.
Affordable copywriters know the market and they know their trade. They know how to optimise your content for SEO, how to write for a B2B business over a B2C, how to connect with your audience, and, ultimately, how to make your content more successful in meeting its goals.
Why a copywriting agency is the best choice for affordable copywriting
So, why exactly is an affordable copywriting agency the best choice for your business?
Well, as we’ve learnt, affordable copywriting can still be of the highest calibre. As there are many legitimate reasons for ‘cheap’ copy, it can mean saving a great deal of money without sacrificing quality.
An agency is made up of a team of highly-vetted professionals with years of experience and tight quality control. Not only does copywriting work produced through an agency give you the benefit of the team’s knowledge and experience, it also gives you a relationship with them.
At ZippyLingo, we work closely with our clients to determine what your business needs are, and how we can tailor our services to provide for them. We offer quick, high-quality content and proofreading services suitable for any company, big or small.
We keep our prices low so that we can cater to the world of SME, offering the most value we can, whilst also ensuring that our copywriters are fairly compensated for their work.
Get in touch with the ZippyLingo team today to discuss your copywriting needs — it could be the best decision you make!
