Inside the Mind of a Freelance Copywriter

Fast-food copywriting

The lovely, sub-tropical, Spanish island of Gran Canaria has all the makings of a freelance copywriter’s paradise. Thousands of businesses need to communicate with the millions of tourists who visit each year. A third of these visitors come from the UK or from the, largely English-proficient, Scandinavian countries so, as an expatriate copywriter, my work schedule ought to be jam packed with local writing jobs, right?

Wrong!

In the course of my networking efforts I have come to realise a rather bitter truth that has forced me to look elsewhere for business. Spanish entrepreneurs and marketing folk have absolutely no clue about copywriting. Much less do they realise the vital role it should play as an integral part of their marketing efforts. There probably are some exceptions to this rule, but, my luck being what it is, I still have to come across them.

From multi-million dollar hotels to family-run diving schools, the response has been the same. Many think that a 10-cent-per-word translation service will do the trick of getting their message through to the English-speakers and convert these prospects into clients. Worse still, others say that they have ‘someone who has studied English’ on their payroll and so they’re covered, thank you very much. The very same goes for businesses in mainland Spain too.

Not even the franchises of giant international corporations like McDonald’s seem to be free from the economise-on-the-writing syndrome, as you can see from the photo of a sign that I took during a recent stroll by the beach.

Now, a trivial gaffe on a McDonald’s sign is more likely to elicit a few chuckles than to put a sunburned family off their fast-food calorie fix. Still, the fact remains that Spanish businesses at large are failing to make the most of the huge amounts of money they spend on marketing. Just like the fisherman who buys a top-dollar fishing rod only to skimp on the bait, they blow their budget on glitzy marketing campaigns and then make do with fast-food copywriting that’s all fat and no muscle. Hardly a thought about their message, how to deliver it effectively and how to make sure it achieves the effect they want it to have.

Then they sit and wonder why no one is biting!

Of course, the Spanish are not alone in the quagmire of ineffective communication. Even in the English-speaking world, many people who should know better still have to understand the simple fact of the matter. Just like the serious fisherman cannot do without prime fishing bait, quality copywriting is absolutely crucial for businesses that are determined to attract as many clients as possible and pays for itself many times over in terms of results.

Are you one of the unenlightened? I hope not!

June 19th, 2006 TrackBack URI