You’re part of the marketing or communications team at your company.  Until now, you’ve handled all copywriting services in-house with fairly decent results.

Under these conditions, why would you ever hire a freelance solar copywriter?

Sure it makes sense to bring in outside help if you’re drowning.  Professional copywriting has very obvious advantages when profits start to dwindle or the competition grows much stronger.

But if your company is doing pretty well – why go through the trouble and expense of securing a freelancer?

There are actually many reasons why you might want to turn to an outside copywriter.  Below are the 4 most common reasons I hear from clients and fellow writers.

1.  Freelance Copywriters Bring Expertise

The most obvious reason is expertise.  You might be the leading authority on your product or service, but freelance copywriters are leading authorities in written presentation.

They literally spend all of their working hours researching, writing, and editing (and usually a fair amount of marketing on the side).

This is not to say that you’re incapable of writing press releases or blogs on your own.  In fact, we started with the assumption that you and your team HAVE handled everything up until now – and with solid results.

But by outsourcing some projects to a professional, you potentially benefit from a level of polish that might otherwise be absent.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “I’m just as talented as any writer out there – who are you to elevate copywriters above everyone else?”…. jump to the next reason.

2.  Freelance Copywriters Bring Bandwidth

You’re a phenomenal writer.  The best in the business.  But you’re also a terrific marketer, social media expert, communications guru, etc.  You wear many hats and have many responsibilities.

So why hire a copywriter if you’re already able to do the job just as well?

The answer is bandwidth.

We don’t hire gardeners or assistants or event planners to do what we can’t.  We hire them to free up time so that we can focus on more important areas – areas that speak to our core strengths.

Every hour that you spend writing is an hour NOT spent on some other aspect of your primary business.

By bringing on a freelance solar copywriter, you’re able to manage your time more efficiently.  You focus 100% of your attention on the most pressing areas while the copywriter focuses 100% of his or her attention on researching and writing.

But what if your marketing team has the expertise and bandwidth?  Why would you ever bring on outside help in this situation?

See the next reason.

3.  Freelance Copywriters Bring Objectivity

So you have the talent and time to handle projects yourself.  Why outsource?

Simple – greater objectivity.

It’s easy to get lost in the culture of your firm.  Over time, you become too close to your products and services to view them objectively.

This is true with any corporate culture, highlighting one of the benefits of hiring employees externally.  Fresh, new ideas.

You’ve probably experienced this phenomenon at some level.

Perhaps you’ve worked on a particular document for so long that you need a fresh pair of eyes to look it over.  You’re no longer able to catch typos or objectively judge the overall flow.

Freelance copywriters help with this process.  By asking probing questions about the project, they can poke holes or find leaks – issues that only an outsider could ever spot.

I’ve worked on campaigns in which clients used industry terms and jargon that were totally obvious to them but utterly incomprehensible to anyone outside of their silo.  They needed external help to discover this.

Greater objectivity can help prevent missteps.

New ideas can help amplify your successes.

Because freelance copywriters work on countless projects for many different types of clients, they develop a portfolio of strategies and insights over time.

Imagine having access to that wealth of external knowledge.  You reap the benefits of your own methods while simultaneously injecting new ideas.

But let’s imagine that you have the expertise, bandwidth, and enough fresh eyes already.  Are there any other reasons to go outside the company walls?

There are a ton, but we’ll look at one more.

4.  Freelance Copywriters Bring Savings

It’s a sad fact that in down economies, marketing departments (and their budgets) are usually the first and hardest hit.

This trend is a bit silly when you study the numbers.  Firms that increase marketing activities during recessions generally outperform those that don’t.  And they usually rebound faster once the economy improves.

If you’re gonna cut costs, it’s better to look elsewhere in the company.

The solar industry has actually done quite well overall.  Yes, there are bankruptcies just like with any other sector.  But aggregate solar employment has grown significantly faster than the national average for most other industries (nearly 7% versus 0.7% from August 2010 to August 2011).

This doesn’t mean that marketing budgets are 100% safe.  If you find that your own department is facing hard times, hiring a freelance copywriter might provide some relief.

That’s because employees are expensive.

The value they bring is totally worth it, but still they’re expensive.  In addition to base salaries, you must also factor in insurance, retirement, paid leave, benefits, training, offices – these costs add up very quickly.

Although freelancers occasionally have higher hourly wages, their true costs are often much lower than finding, training, and keeping full-time employees.

This is especially true if your writing needs are infrequent.

It’s analogous to buying a car you use a few times a year versus renting the same car a few times a year.  Rented cars have a much higher hourly cost, but you don’t have to worry about tags, insurance, maintenance, storage, theft, etc. for all the other days of the year.

So Should You Hire a Freelance Solar Copywriter?

Whether or not you hire an outside writer really depends on your unique situation.

If you have the bandwidth, budget, expertise, and objectivity, perhaps it doesn’t make a lot of sense for you.

Then again, I’ve had clients with all of the above who hired me anyway.  They wanted the added convenience of… well… convenience.

Some clients are deeply passionate about their products and services but don’t really enjoy writing about them – even when they’re truly gifted with the pen.  It simply made sense to bring in someone who was equally passionate about writing.

Have you ever hired a copywriter for reasons other than the ones listed above?  If so, share your thoughts down below.