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As a marketing communications or public relations manager, you may work with freelance or agency copywriters. Some of these relationships are likely to be very smooth and synergistic, while others may be frustrating or challenging for both you and the writer. You want to know:

“How can I choose the best writer for a project?”

“How can I improve the working relationship with writers?”

And, “How can I get the best work from a copywriter, from first draft to final edit?”

Read on for guidelines that will help you choose the right freelance writer for your project and create a positive, collaborative, and fruitful working relationship.

Selecting a Freelance Writer

Before evaluating potential writers, identify what you want from a writer and what your projects need. For example, do you need someone to handle just the writing, or someone who is more of a communications strategist? Do you need a project manager who can handle all aspects from planning and writing to design and production? All of these roles involve very different skill sets.

If you have determined that you truly need a freelance copywriter, consider the style and content demands of your projects. Do they require a high level of creativity, such as a cutting-edge advertising campaign? Or do the projects involve more of a technical or formal corporate style? Different projects require a different mind-set of the writer, and not every writer can produce good work in every style. Indeed, many copywriters focus their work on certain types of projects, industries, or media.

As a manager, you probably won’t be able to find just one writer who can handle all projects. Instead, you will likely work with several writers: one who handles brochures and articles, another who writes presentation scripts and speeches, yet another who writes direct-mail materials. Although these multiple relationships require more time to develop and manage, you’ll benefit from the higher quality of work that specialist writers can deliver. And, when launching a new communications program, you’ll appreciate having multiple resources who can develop several projects simultaneously.

Factors to consider when selecting a freelance copywriter include the following:

Skill level and orientation. Does the project require a writer with extensive experience? Should the writer have an analytical or creative orientation? 

Knowledge. In-depth knowledge of the subject matter may be paramount for a project because it would require too much time and effort to train a new writer. For example, technology knowledge is especially important for projects that promote a high-tech product or service. In other cases, it may be important for the writer to be very familiar with the audience you’re trying to reach.

Strategy and planning skills. Project management or program planning skills may play a part in identifying the best resources for the project.

People skills. Consider a writer’s interpersonal skills, because it is very likely the writer will interact with customers or community members, journalists, executives, subject experts and of course, your marketing and PR colleagues.

Tools knowledge and skills. If the writer must work with particular software, content management systems, or other tools, specify your requirements.

Experience in particular media. The skills needed for Web content or electronic media projects are somewhat different than those required for print materials.

Reviewing Portfolios and Samples

When you have a candidate in mind, typically the next step is to conduct an in-person or telephone interview and review the candidate’s portfolio. The following factors will help you make a better assessment of the candidate’s writing skills when evaluating samples:

Are the materials similar to your projects? 

Are the style and tone in the samples similar to those of your projects?

Is the depth and complexity of content comparable to that in your projects?

Is the text well organized, readable, and free of errors? Even if you have no knowledge of the subject matter in the sample, you should be able to get a sense very quickly whether the writer can produce clear, interesting, and correct copy.

What was the writer’s actual involvement in the project?

Sustaining the Relationship

Once you have found the right freelance writer, you can benefit from cultivating a sustained relationship. First, consider freelancers not only for new projects that come up, but also recurring projects such as newsletters that always seem to be “lost in the shuffle” of more immediate tasks and deadlines.

Develop a writer’s subject focus—such as technologies, issues, audiences—and leverage that focus over multiple different projects.

Give the writer new types of projects as a way to maximize your investment in the writer’s knowledge. For example, a writer who has not previously written a video script, but who knows your products and company, may be a better choice that an experienced scriptwriter who lacks that knowledge.

When working with a freelance copywriter, remember to send samples of the published work. It’s both a courtesy and a way for the writer to learn from any changes that were made between the final draft and published document. Most of all, when you choose the right freelance copywriter, you can look forward to a long, positive collaboration and great materials!

It’s important when you work with a professional writer that you can communicate and end up on the same page. That’s how you’ll get exactly what you envision with your writing projects. The writer you deal with should feel like an extension of your business; a virtual team member. If not, you might want to look for a new website content provider.

When you deal with a professional copywriter, they should be ready to ask and answer questions. Some of the questions they may ask you could include:

What is your goal for your website?

If the writer knows what you want to accomplish, this can help them determine what type of call to action to include in the writing.

Who is your target audience?

A writer should know what demographic they are writing for. If you have several demographics in mind you might choose to write more than one piece. Writing online content for the teen marketplace is very different than writing for businesses or for stay at home mothers.

Where will the articles be posted?

If the writer can see the context of the work, they can learn more about you and your line of business. This can help them write according to the existing voice and style of your website when you are ordering more content to be integrated into an existing website. If your articles are being posted on your site they might be written differently than if they are on an article directory pointing to your site or a news service, etcetera. Seeing your existing keywords and your layout can help substantially.

Managing the Relationship with a Writer

In terms of managing a relationship with your writer, it’s important to discuss things such as deadlines, payment terms and payment methods. If you are working on a larger project together, you might consider interim discussions so you can see the project as it is coming together and reduce the risk of not hitting the mark by the deadline. You’ll also want to discuss how many rewrites or revisions are included in the pricing as well as discussion of future projects so the writer can help you with your business planning.

Having a communicative relationship with anyone you outsource work to is especially important when you’re dealing with someone through e-mail and not face to face where communication can be a less challenging.

When you decide to hire a professional writing company or individual copywriter to do business with it’s wise to deal with someone who you feel comfortable with, who responds promptly to your queries and who is receptive to learning about the big picture. The more the writer knows about your business and your goals, the more likely you are to get written content that will help you reach those goals.