Should You Hire a Copywriter?

Hiring a copywriter! This is not something that is an obvious to-do when working on your website. Your website is about what you do and what you know best, so who better to write about it than, well, you?

Besides, even if your writing isn’t perfect, how is someone else going to know all they need to know to write about your stuff? And even if you can give a copywriter that info, what she ends up writing won’t sound like you and your business, right? It will sound like someone else wrote it, and will feel false.

I know exactly why you feel that way, but happily, I’m here to tell you that your worries are unfounded, and to show why you’ll be delightfully surprised by what our copywriter, Natalia, can do for your business.

Natalia recently worked with Elizabeth from Scout Salvage on the About page for the store. We asked her about her target customer, keywords that fit her company style, and background information. Elizabeth gave us a great “brain dump” of info that was super helpful, but obviously not anything she would want to plop on her About page.

You’ll be amazed at how Natalia took this raw material and transformed it, and Elizabeth’s reaction is what makes our work so rewarding for us.

Elizabeth gave us:

Keywords:
summer
festival
old west
ghost town
general store
odd ball
barn dance
June Carter Cash
taxidermy
plaid
national park

check out my instagram account  I live on that thing, it will tell you everything you need to know   @scoutsalvage

Here is my general background-
I grew up in very rural Pennsylvania, in the same little town where my parents grew up, and their parents, and their parents….

I stated loving vintage things hanging out with my grandmother, who had saved everything she ever had (from growing up in the depression)

My mother collected pottery, so she dragged me all over when she would be out buying it at estate sales and barn auctions.

I’m now 35, live in Fishtown, Philadelphia with my fella and my dog ( a very friendly pit bull named Lucky)

Ive owned Scout for three years. It started as a Brooklyn Flea stand in Williamsburg, and has snowballed.

Prior to scout I spent about 15 years as a bartender. I’m very glad to not be bar-tending anymore.  I had to pour a LOT of drinks to get Scout started.

But it all fell together really easily and its going so well in the store that it feels like it was meant to be

Natalia then asked some really targeted questions that prompted Elizabeth to give us this great info:

I’ve flown to Los Angeles to buy items, and flown back the same day. I’ve driven cross country in a 16 ft Uhaul truck. I’ve hiked up a mountain to buy a taxidermy squirrel holding a walnut. I’ve been on countless farms, in dairy barns, hiked through muddy pastures, changed van tires on mountain roads, I’ve been everywhere.

I’ll buy anything cool, weird, useful, pretty or ugly. It just speaks to me at the time.

I think Scout is different because we do work so hard to get great things and keep prices somewhat low. I don’t know how much I want to promote that, though. We have really odd ball stuff, that appeals to a wide range of buyer.

Natalia then rolled her sleeves up and got to work. About her process for this project, she says:

One of the things that helped me tremendously was, surprisingly, looking through Elizabeth’s Instagram account for Scout Salvage. Not only did the visuals help me see the “big picture” and get a sense of their personality, but the captions and comments were great little peeks into the world of Scout Salvage and its target audience. I read the captions and paid attention to the words that Elizabeth and her customers used when they got excited about an item or a sale. Something that might not seem out of the ordinary to someone within the world of vintage shopping (like describing a great find as a “score” for instance) stuck out to me as unique, colorful language. I wanted to tap into these details to connect like-minded people together. They’re the kind of details that we’re sometimes too close to the source to see. It helps to get an outsider’s perspective and a pair of fresh eyes (like that of a copywriter) to see what truly sets you apart, and then amplify it.

Natalia came back a few days later, astounding us all with Scout’s new “About” copy:

We’re an oddball vintage store for people who think rehab is for furniture and stripping is for paint. When we say we scored last night, it’s because we found a taxidermy squirrel and a pink-paisley square dancing dress at a rural Pennsylvania barn auction. We believe cowboy boots should be purchased worn-in, the Old West never got old, and that plaid would make a kick-ass flag for any country crazy enough to put us in charge of such things.

Our roots trace back to the ye olde days of 2010, when what started as a humble Brooklyn Flea stand in Williamsburg snowballed into a cross-country, farm foraging, mountain-roading quest to find anything uniquely cool, weird, useful, pretty or even ugly. Prior to starting Scout Salvage and Vintage Rescue, owner Elizabeth Cassel spent 15 years pouring drinks and listening to patrons’ stories. She’s glad she’s not bartending anymore, but she’s still always got her ears open for things that speak to her.

Elizabeth read what Natalia had created for her, and was absolutely bowled over:

That’s perfect. I’m thrilled. Don’t change a thing.

And a day later:

I keep re-reading it and it almost brings me to tears. Lol. It’s so right on

This kind of perfect client/copywriter union is a shot of pure joy. I would absolutely love to do this for your business.

The wording used for your marketing copy needs to be interesting, informational, and grammatically correct, with the goal of making a sale. This means your website text, product descriptions, pitches to editors, blog posts, newsletters, and more.

If you’d like to hire a copywriter to create compelling and polished writing about your work, please get in touch.

Of interest: