The first advertorial I ever wrote, back in 2016, started off by telling the story of Arcan Cetin, a man who walked into a department store in Washington state, took out a shotgun, and shot four people, killing three of them.
When Cetin finished his killing spree, he put the shotgun on the cosmetics counter and walked out of the store.
This advertorial promoted some kind of service to help people get a concealed weapon license. (In my research, I found out that the no. 1 reason people wanted a concealed weapon license was the fear of mass shootings.) The headline I used, a swipe of a classic Gene Schwartz headline, read:
“Should obtaining a concealed carry permit really be this easy?”
This advertorial must have done ok because the client hired me to write some more copy for him after that.
From what I could understand, he had a bunch of offers in the gun and gun training space, and he was running a ton of traffic to them.
I think I did a good job with those followup projects too, but really I never found out. After I delivered those projects, the client didn’t ask me to write any more stuff. When I tried following up with him a few months later — “Hey how’s it going? Do you need any more help with copy?” — I never heard back.
So here’s my tip for you today, in case you’re a copywriter who works with clients:
The early time in a client relationship is often the best time to really find out what a business does, to ask lots of questions, and to set yourself up so you maximize the LTV you can get with this client.
After all, when I first got hired by this guns-and-ammo guy, I got on a call with him, like I do with every other client. He was accommodating and open, and answered any questions I asked.
But here’s the thing. I only asked questions that were relevant to this one project.
Had I thought to find out a lot more about his business or businesses, beyond just the project I was hired for, I would have been in a much better place later, when I wanted him to hire me for more stuff.
The bigger point is this:
In my experience, many business owners think of hiring a copywriter as a one-time, unavoidable expense. Not in terms of money. But in terms of their attention and time.
Once that one time is over, business owners often want to put you out of mind, and get on to next things. You can slip off their radar easily. And if you follow up later by naively saying, “Hey, how’s it going, do you need help with anything?” — well, that just creates more work for them, not less.
So the next time you start work with a new client, become genuinely interested in their business, way beyond what is relevant to your own project.
Then squirrel away that knowledge, and use it later.
It might be the most unfairly easy way to get more client work down the line — without ever having to hunt for new clients.
And now, you might like to know I am preparing a guide all about the business side of succeeding as a copywriter. It’s called Copy Zone. If you’d like to find out more about it when it comes out, sign up for my email newsletter.