Tuesday, September 27, 2005

A Yummy Justification for Copywriting

I admit, I do have one anxiety about my work. Sometimes I get a project from a client, take a look at what it needs...and the little monster peers up over my shoulder. "They could do this themselves," he whispers. "Why are you doing it when they could just save money?"

I wrestle with that little guy now and then.

I was wrestling with him a short time ago, while eating lunch out at a local Italian place that I love. Excellent fettucine alfredo. Somewhere around the fourth escaped noodle, it hit me. A justification for copywriting. A three-fold, very thorough, easy-to-remember explanation of the need for strong copywriting services in the corporate economy. Large or small. High-tech or low-tech.

And it all stems from eating out at restaurants.

We can cook our own food. Recipes are everywhere; supermarkets are enormous. So we don't NEED restaurants, right?

Yet the restaurant industry is a $300 billion+ market. Few markets are larger than it. And with good reason - we do need to eat, after all.

But with our ability to cook our own food, how come restaurants are so popular? After all, we can do it ourselves...

In answer to this conundrum, I present "A Yummy Justification for Copywriting" - three reasons why we eat out. And at the same time, three reasons why copywriting is best handled by a copywriter.

1. It's Quicker, And Easier.
There's no huge effort required - go to the restaurant, sit down and order, eat, and pay. There's no time spent in the kitchen, setting the table...you get the idea.

Having a copywriter do the project takes the burden off employees and eliminates the worry of, "If I say this will it work? If the campaign fails will I be fired?" They can do their jobs worry-free, and trust the copywriter's specialized skills.

2. It's Better Quality.
Let's face it, we're not all gourmet chefs. If we were, no fast food chain would have made it past the 60s. Hmm, with that thought, maybe we SHOULD learn to be gourmet chefs...
Anyway, food at restaurants is usually very good. They'll have specialties we don't know how to prepare, but love to eat. The restaurant survives on how good its food and service are.

Just the same, we're not all snappy copywriters. Each of us has things we do well and things we don't. A copywriter writes well; they know how to sell with words. It's their job. And just like the restaurant, their livelihood is based on how good their product and service are.

3. You Get Relaxation.
At a restaurant you get the full dining experience, without doing the work. You're seated in a nicely-decorated place, there are no obligations for you to fulfill while here, and you get food to boot.

With a copywriter that knows their stuff, your concerns will be laid to rest on the quality and clarity of the copy coming to you. The client hands over the information, answers the copywriter's questions, and relaxes. The copy comes back, goes through revisions, and sent on to its destination. The worries of quality, timeliness, focus and self-risk are gone. The client divests the obligation...and gets good copy to boot!

Not everybody would draw a comparison between fettucine alfredo and the value of copywriting. But then, I'm the Blue Ferret. Odd topics are my domain. And hey, it's resulted in a simple, well-connected justification that any copywriter can print out, stick to their wall, and affirm their value with day by day.

1 Comments:

At 8:10 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love your justifications! Your restaurant analogy was just the hammer-hit I needed!

Julie

Julie Ann Waid
Copywriter & Editor

 

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