Should you hire a freelance copywriter or get an agency to complete the job? This is a question many small to medium-sized companies ask when choosing someone to do copywriting work.

While it may be tempting to choose an agency to write your copy, hiring a freelance copywriter has some notable advantages. Read on to discover the benefits of freelance copywriting verses working with an agency.

First up: what’s an agency?

To avoid any confusion, an agency is a company that offers marketing/copywriting/design services all under one roof. A marketing agency or digital agency does have benefits in that a lot of specialist services are available in-house. If you want a full website design, copywriting, leaflets printing, and ongoing marketing campaign, it might make sense to choose an agency. But there are still situations where an agency could not be the best route for your project.

Why hire a freelance writer?

1. You get a personalised service

A copywriting freelancer will provide a superior customer service experience, fully tailored to your individual needs and requirements. It’s worth remembering that agencies often have multiple dozens — possibly hundreds — of clients to satisfy. This makes it difficult for them to offer a truly personalised and consistent service to each and every client. Agencies also focus much of their attention on their larger and newly acquired clients. If you’re an older customer, you may find the quality of work slides over a period of time. A professional freelancer will negate much of this worry.

2. One single point of contact

When you work with a freelance copywriter, you aren’t dealing with a project manager or a team of individuals. Your point of contact is the person who writes the copy. This has significant benefits in terms of communication and delivery. Many agencies often ‘farm out’ content writing work if they have little time to dedicate to it. Or they may employ a team of junior writers with varying levels of skill and experience. You can avoid these issues by selecting a freelance writer.

3. More favourable rates

Freelance copywriting rates vary, but they are typically more competitive than those offered by agencies, who have to contend with office rent, employee wages, equipment costs, utility bills, and a host of other expenses. Freelance writers can work from anywhere with an Internet connection, meaning there isn’t the same outlay, so rates can be more affordable. Of course, we still have bills to pay. And no copywriter worth their salt will work for entry-level rates.

4. You avoid inexperienced, junior writers

Using an agency might feel like the ‘safe’ thing to do. They have an office building, a team of employees, a fancy website — and they’re reassuringly expensive. But what they don’t tell you is that your copy will likely be written by junior copywriters, many with limited experience or just starting out in the trade. In fact, your copy could very well be written by MANY writers, some internal and external. Most agency writers perform a host of other tasks as well, so they’re probably not as focussed as you think!

5. Enjoy better project outcomes

When you deal with an agency, one person will liaise with you, another will manage the project, another individual will write the copy, and another will handle the billing. This team-driven approach often means that key messages get lost in the system. You give a brief to the project manager, who then briefs the copywriter. It is no wonder with this ‘too many cooks’ approach, crucial elements get diluted during the process. Choosing a freelancer often significantly improves project outcomes.

Summary

When choosing between a freelancer and an agency, it is important to select what works best for you. While this blog post is obviously biased towards the freelancer option (no surprise!), agencies are not necessarily a bad approach to take. Indeed, they are often more suitable for multidisciplinary projects where you need a mixture of talent under one roof. Having said that, even if you currently work with an agency, you can still test the waters by using my competitively priced copywriting services.