Building a small business requires tenacity and creativity. In the early stages, especially, it also involves a lot of on-the-job learning of things you never had to worry about before—from bookkeeping to marketing and more.
At a certain point, you'll discover that growing means leveraging the expertise of professionals. And if your business is a few years old and you're still DIYing your writing, I can promise you that it's costing you in ways you may not even realize.
In this blog post, you’ll learn about three times I see a commitment to the DIY copywriting route cost brands time, money, and major headaches. You’ll also get insight into when to consider hiring a professional and how to allocate your copywriting budget to reach your goals effectively.
First, let’s talk about the sneaky pitfalls I often see when it comes to DIY small business copywriting. Consider whether any of these three scenarios feel familiar.
1. You’re stuck in the DIY Struggle instead of focusing on what you do best.
Often, in business and life, we forget to put enough value on our own time.
Are you caught in an endless cycle of writing and rewriting your website—or spending hours battling the blank page? Even if you consider yourself a good writer or enjoy writing, crafting business website copy can be hard. That's because it's a specific type of writing—one that requires research, strategy, and psychology before a single sentence is crafted.
You might also be using up precious hours recreating the wheel whenever you need to write an email to your list, a blog post, or social media captions. But when you've invested in dialed-in and clear messaging, you'll find that all of those smaller pieces of copy and content come together faster and yield better results. With the time you save, you can focus on revenue-generating activities and stay in your zone of genius.
2. You aren’t getting the biggest bang for your marketing buck.
Marketing channels, tools, and tactics change. And, in recent years, they are changing faster than ever.
Did 2019 you expect to be saying “ChatGPT” so often?
Did Early 2021 You realize you would have to make a billion reels to get Instagram traction?
And, as 2022 You toiled away at those reels, did you have any idea that in summer 2023, you'd have to worry about Threads?
All this to say, things move quickly, and you can easily fall into the trap of spending lots of resources (time, budget, brain space) trying to keep up, all while losing track of your goals and your message.
When you work with a professional to establish your brand messaging, you can make the most of any channel and get a better return on your investment. You'll be confident that your words are targeted to connect with your ideal client, speaking their language in your brand voice and focusing on the same key points. By staying in message alignment, you'll help everyone interacting with your brand better understand your key value propositions and what to do next if they want to buy your service or product.
3. You are missing out on site traffic and sales.
In DIYing your website copy, you might miss opportunities to drive traffic and improve conversion rates.
When you have a website that uses strategic copy to connect with your ideal clients, it does so many incredible things for your brand, including:
Making it immediately clear who you serve and what you offer so that the right people stay and the wrong-fit people go
Demonstrating how your products and services improve lives so that your dream clients are over-the-moon thrilled to have found you
Streamlining the booking or purchasing process, saving your time
Answering common questions to avoid lots of email back-and-forth
Justifying higher price points thanks to a professional image and clear communication of the value you bring
Okay, so it’s time to pause and remind you: there is NO SHAME if any of these apply to you. We have ALL been there with different aspects of our business. My downfall was bookkeeping. It took me wayyyy too long to give up my many Excel spreadsheets and reach out to a professional bookkeeper who got me set up with a better system.
I also want to remind you that it is perfectly okay to do your writing yourself at the start—in fact, I recommend it!
In the first year of your business, you're learning a lot about how you work, who you serve, and what you want to be offering. You're likely also operating with a tighter budget during that early phase. It’s a-okay to leverage free or low-cost resources to help you create “good-for-now” messaging, copy, and content.
In fact, here are a few I’ve created to help you get started:
DIY Brand Messaging Resources
DIY Website Copywriting Resources
DIY Business Blogging Resources
However, at a certain point, your business will be stable, and you'll be ready to level up. At that time, it's crucial to recognize the benefits of working with a qualified professional and start putting copywriting into your annual budget, along with design, photography, and other marketing expenses that many businesses plan for.
If you’re wondering how to allocate that copywriting budget, start by identifying your most important goal or biggest challenge.
Here are some common challenges or goals that I see my clients have before they reach out to me for content writing, copywriting, or messaging support:
They're routinely referred to as the “best-kept secret”
They've been getting poor word-of-mouth referrals that don't match their offers
As they have expanded their team, their messages and brand voice have become diluted
. . . for these challenges and goals, working through a foundational brand messaging process is what I typically recommend.
Their products or services have changed, and their website no longer reflects their offers
They want to increase the volume of qualified leads from their website
They get a ton of questions about how to sign up, where to go on their website to get their answer, or other things that are creating roadblocks for customers or clients to purchase their products or services
. . . for these challenges and goals, tackling website copywriting is the most direct solution.
They have trouble keeping up with their blog
Their content marketing feels all over the place
They want to become known as thought leaders in their industry
They want to focus on search engine optimization
. . . for these challenges and goals, a business blogging strategy or retainer writing support is the right solution.
If you are realizing that you've outgrown DIY and are ready for bigger things, it's time to find a partner who can help.
I'd love to discuss your goals and help you make a plan. Book a free discovery call to share your struggles and learn about my process!