I’m getting along famously with a new client and was able to refer a power partner (Eli Struck of Enlighting Design in Kent) to him, too! Lovin’ my life!
The funny thing is that, this morning, the client mentioned that he hoped I wouldn’t be offended or put off that his team tweaked a couple things that I wrote for him. Mind? I expect some tweaking! I think there have only been a few times in my career when every last word I wrote was accepted. It has happened, but when it does, it always surprises me. Copy writing is a collaboration.
Granted, rarely do I have a client change more than a word here or a sentence there–and then, they usually pass it back to me to be sure it’s as good as it can be and doesn’t “mess anything up” conversion-wise. Great copy has a cadence and rhythm to it–a musicality that must be honored. My client recognizes this. He has been nothing but complimentary. Still, he was concerned that if his team decided to tweak something, I might have my feelings hurt. Nope! I decided a long time ago that my job is to fulfill my client’s vision, not my own.
That said, I’ve been known to suggest that a change won’t be a good thing…that it won’t work…that it will shoot the client in the foot if he or she insists. But even then, they are the boss! So I suggest split-testing both pieces to see which one converts best. In most cases, they either say, “Well, if you’re that sure about it, I’ll go with your copy” — or they say they’ll split test, but I’m not sure they do, because I’ve never heard back one way or the other as to whose copy did the better job. All I know for sure is that I get a lot of repeat business from those same people, so I must be doing something right!
Although I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Dr. McCoy fan, I also love Mr. Spock and I’m mighty grateful for his quote, “I am a Vulcan. I have no ego to bruise.” It gets a lot of laughs from clients who are TOS Star Trek fans! They also know that, coming from me, it’s more or less malarkey. Not only am I NOT a Vulcan (boy howdy!) I do have an ego that can get bruised. But if too much ego bruising had been happening, especially early in my career, I would have given up copy writing a long, long time ago!
Thankfully, my ego usually gets massaged by clients, not mangled. I’m good with that… Tickling my clients tickles me!
