Ah, the age-old question. The lone wolf or the travelling band? Lancelot or the whole Round Table? Sting or The Police? Peter Gabriel or Genesis? Rachel Stevens or S-Club 7? (We don’t care what you say, ‘Sweet Dreams My LA Ex’ remains A Certified Banger.)
As an agency ourselves, we might be a little biased; however, we’re still going to do our best to lay out a level-headed argument for both sides of the copywriting agency vs. freelancer debate!
Should I Hire A Copywriting Agency Or a Freelancer?
In many ways, it depends on your situation as to which of these options works for you. Budget, timeframe, type of work – all these variables are in play when you choose to hire someone to spin up some sweet copy magic for your business.
That being said, let’s first look at the benefits of going the agency route.
Why Is A Copywriting Agency Better Than a Freelancer?
1. Team Tactics
By definition, agencies contain more than one person. That means you get a team of people working on your project, as opposed to a single mind. It also means that agencies will rarely turn you down; with a host of copywriters chomping at the bit to get scribing, agencies can generally always take a project on and keep it prioritised when they do. As a one-man-band, freelancers may have to shuffle projects around, which can be rough if you’re on a deadline.
On top of that, having a bunch of agency personnel on hand means that you’ll have access to a range of different services, thanks to the varied skills on offer. On the other hand, a freelancer usually possesses a singular skill. (If you happen upon one person who claims to be the best at everything, chances are that person is lying to you. They may well also be a criminal. Steer clear.)
How to hire an SEO copywriting agency: Hopefully your experience will be as chill as this.
2. One Direction
When hiring a copywriting agency, you’ll usually be assigned an Account Director who’ll be your one source of contact throughout the entire project. You’ll also have all your services centralised in one place, making it a lot easier (not to mention more efficient) to avail of said services. But wait, there’s more! You’ll also have an Account Manager who’s responsible for coordinating all of that on your behalf.
3. Might Makes Write
It’s going to take a pretty acrobatic freelancer to handle the vast spectrum of writing styles that multifaceted copywriting demands. An agency is able to hire a team of writers with different skills, meaning that they’re capable of taking on any project and placing their most suitable best writer on the job. In addition, turnaround time is going to be a lot shorter,; agencies can assign batch articles to a team, as opposed to a single writer slogging their way through a heavy workload.
Copywriting Agency Vs. Freelancer
Having said all that, freelancers do come with their own set of advantages. For a start, they’re probably going to be a little bit cheaper than an agency, as they don’t have to deal with company costs. However, it’s worth checking this in-depth before committing, as some freelancers feel as if they have to charge more than agencies as their time is worth more. It’s worth keeping in mind that this won’t necessarily reflect an increase in quality!
If you have a small project in mind (e.g. one or two blogs, or a brief paragraph of site copy) then freelancers might be the way to go, as they’re likely to take on those shorter assignments. Agencies might require a minimum workload, which can be vexing if you only want a small bit of work done.
Here’s the bottom line: There are great agencies and there are great freelancers. If you’re looking for an ‘all in’ experience that comes with high-quality client service and stellar work to match, start researching agencies. If you’re after a less expensive option or only have a small assignment you need taken care of, a freelancer may be the way to go.
Our personal bottom line: Why settle for Rachel when you can have the rest of the S Club too?
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Centre image by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
Featured image by mohamed_hassan on Pixabay
