How to Make Your Ad Agency More Profitable – And How Copywriters Can Help
As an agency owner, you (hopefully) love your copywriters and the work they produce.
But copywriters have no concept of the pressure you experience as an agency owner.
Having to fire someone you’ve worked with for years.
Constantly worrying about cash flow.
Waking up at 3:00 in the morning wondering if you’ll meet payroll.
That’s okay. That’s not their job.
However, they can take some of the pressure off of you – and create better work – by making minor tweaks in their approach to copywriting.
1. Stop “Cranking It Out.”
I hate when copywriters use this phrase. Some ads, we know, will never win awards, and writers should always work efficiently.
But to “crank something out” implies a complete lack of respect for the client’s money.
They may not be paying a lot for a particular project. But they still deserve the agency’s best (even when they’re micromanaging the creative). Even worse, this phrase reflects poorly on your agency.
No matter how minor the project, you should be proud of any work that you produce.
In my early days of copywriting, my art director partner and I were tasked with doing a job no one else in the agency wanted: bill inserts for a new wireless company, Verizon. Rather than crank them out, we looked at this as an opportunity to do great work. Six months later our agency landed the entire marketing account for Verizon’s Midwest region.
“We often miss opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
― Thomas A. Edison
2. Run the Copy by Accounting.
Copywriters love being clever. Clever makes us feel smart and helps us to win awards.
But does clever sell?
One easy test: Run an ad, or whatever piece you’re creating, past someone who resembles your target audience AND who isn’t in the creative department. Accounting comes to mind. If the CFO says, “It’s cute,” your ad needs reworking.
“If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”
― David Ogilvy
3. Turn Off Email and Phones.
Technically, this doesn’t count as a copywriting tip. But for agency owners, it’s arguably the most important one on this list.
Adobe reported that we spend an average of 4.1 hours checking our work email each day. According to ComScore’s 2017 Cross Platform Future in Focus report, we spend 2 hours and 51 minutes on our smartphones every day.
That’s nearly an entire work day spent not working.
By simply turning off their phones and email (even for short amounts of time), your copywriters can be more efficient. The more efficient they are, the more they can produce. The more they can produce, the more billable they will be.
Encourage your writers to try this and see how much more they can accomplish without distractions.
You might want to try this one, too.
“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.”
― Winston S. Churchill
4. Keep it Simple.
Everyone knows this phrase, but it’s actually an essential business tactic.
According to the Harvard Business Review, “The single biggest driver of stickiness (likelihood to follow through on an intended purpose), by far, was ‘decision simplicity’ — the ease with which consumers can gather trustworthy information about a product and confidently and efficiently weigh their purchase options.”
If the main message isn’t instantly obvious, your audience isn’t going to stick around to figure it out.
You’ve lost their attention – and any chance at a sale. Keeping copy simple, however, isn’t easy. So how do your copywriters do it? Start by following George Orwell’s advice:
Always use a word instead of phrase;
A phrase instead of a sentence;
A sentence instead of paragraph;
A paragraph instead of a page.
“I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”
― Mark Twain
5. Hide the CAs.
Creatives love going through awards annuals and “finding inspiration.” Problem is (besides reducing billable hours), the ads in annuals aren’t the ads your clients need. They’re the ads those agencies’ clients needed.
To create ads that sell, your copywriters need to know who they’re writing for, how that person thinks and what that person needs.
The only way to find this out is through research.
This doesn’t have to be formal research. Your writers can search Facebook groups that mirror the target audience and read the comments and responses. They’ll understand the pain the audience is experiencing, which will help them to better set up the possibility that the product or service you’re advertising delivers.
“If you want to understand how a lion hunts, don’t go to the zoo. Go to the jungle.”
– Jim Stengel
Copy Rocket was created by a former agency owner to simplify life for other agency owners. Questions on how we can help your agency? Contact us today.
Photo by Lindsay Henwood on Unsplash