A copywriting company has discovered that some businesses are paying over £350 per hour for copywriting services – because they are doing the writing themselves.
The writing agency, a Leeds copywriting agency, surveyed existing customers to find out how they had written copy before going to the professionals. The results found that the vast majority of companies had written copy themselves, including press releases, brochure copy and even website content.
The survey showed everyone from CEOs to admin staff had been involved in copywriting for their company, and this is where the costs soon mount up - often costing much more then contracting a copywriting agency from outside.
In one organisation that took part in the survey, the managing director valued her time at over £300 per hour, but regularly spent time editing her own sales letters.
Workers at another business would write brochure copy between themselves, often spending hundreds of man-hours writing and checking copy. The problem was compounded by their lack of understanding of basic grammar.
The findings come as no surprise to Peter Bletchen from the writing agency: "When you remember how much these people’s time is worth, it's astonishing that they are copywriting instead of concentrating on what they do best"
The results also found the real cost was much higher, because this copy will rarely be as effective as professionally written content
"The costs are twofold” Peter Bletchen continues, “This is the time spent on writing copy and the fact that it will be inferior copy. Professional copywriting agencies can seem unnecessary to some companies, but when you consider the cost of workers in your company doing the writing, and the effectiveness of well-crafted copy, the results are well worth it!"
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