August 8, 2010Copywriting for SMEs – should you change your game?

Every client is different. Fact. Some clients want you to make their business look young and dynamic, attracting investors. Other clients want you to make their latest product offering sound irresistible — to the right people, of course. But what all clients have in common is that they’re looking for you to improve on reality in some way — to take a story and tell it better. That’s the name of the game.

When you’re dealing with SMEs and start-ups, companies that don’t have much of an image yet, companies with products you probably haven’t heard of, the temptation is probably to keep things simple and do at least two things with the copy:

1. Promote a sense of trust (as people are less likely to naturally trust companies they haven’t heard of)
2. Make the company look bigger than it  is.

1 and 2 are interlinked. Unfortunately, 1 is fine — but 2 sometimes isn’t. Now, I know some people will tell you that copywriting — that the advertising industry in general — is all about telling lies. When I hear this I usually joke, “telling lies only really takes up about 50% of my time. The rest of the time I’m doing invoices or going for haircuts.” But the fact is that when you’re trying to promote a sense of trust in a company, telling porkies isn’t always the best option.

Many SMEs have small budgets. They want you to make a big impact for not a lot of money, and as a copywriter that almost instils a sense inside you that I must make this company sound bigger, more professional, than they actually are. Sometimes, that’s a good call. Especially if it’s what the client wants. But there are occasions where it’s worth arguing with your clients. And I think in certain cases trying to make SMEs and start-ups sound bigger than they are is a big mistake.

Being the underdog isn’t a bad thing.

Maybe it’s a British thing, but I’ve always had a soft spot for the scrappy underdog. The new kid on the block. The guy who’s gonna fight tooth and nail to stay in the business because he’s just laid out a deposit on an office for 12 months and he’ll be damned if he’s going to lose that by going bust in six months. And sometimes I think pitching yourself as the underdog really works. I do it.

My services are about 1/3rd cheaper than an agency and I make sure everybody knows it. I also make sure everybody knows I’m good. I haven’t been in the business for decades because two decades ago I was still looking forward to the bike I’d been promised for my tenth birthday. The point is, I’m the scrappy underdog — and I’ve fought my way from piecemeal two or three hundred pound jobs to bringing in accounts worth thousands of pounds — and I’ve done that by being better than the competition.

I want you to know that I’m a fighter, because that’s the kind of copywriter you want. If you’re an SME, a start up, or an entrepreneur who’s just had a brilliant idea, you don’t need to tell the world you’ve been doing this for years, you’ve got a staff of twenty million, or a fancy office in Central London. You just need to believe in what you’re doing, and have copy to match.

“You haven’t seen this before. Take a look.” – Who can resist the temptation?

When it comes to promoting a sense of trust, I think it’s easier to tell the truth to your clients. You just have to make sure the truth is portrayed positively. Being new or being small isn’t a disadvantage. It’s an opportunity to re-brand yourself.