How we rebuilt the work of copywriters

Since in 2007 we created Textbroker.ru copywriting exchange, a dozen stock exchanges have appeared on the network, which differ little from each other. All of them and now unites the functionality and algorithm of operation that does not change over the years.

Then, at the beginning of the journey, to open the exchange it was enough to hire a freelance programmer who could easily provide the work of the whole mechanism.
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There has never been a lack of people who can write and try to turn their skills into hard currency. Therefore, the owners of the exchanges, without particularly straining and not investing in attracting workers and light heads, could receive a good profit.

In general, the exchanges both then and now were a place where site and business owners, who needed texts, and copywriters who knew how to write or thought they could find each other.

Almost ten years have passed without any major changes. Time passes, and the principles of work are basically the same: all the same customers come out in search of copywriters. Many of them have developed a stereotype since then: an exchange - a gathering of non-professionals, schoolchildren, mothers on maternity leave, office plankton, trying to get rid of office slavery in their free time.

For us, this trend became apparent at the very beginning, so we decided to change the policy, and then the format: this was how the exchange became a bureau.

Of course, something we have left of the exchange, for example, interfaces. But we also reworked them considerably.

Copywriters are our everything

In any business, the main resource is people. It is with copywriters that we started the transformation. You can't get into the Bureau so easily - there is no free registration for copywriters .

The selection of applicants is strict: the copywriter must have experience, feedback, portfolio, recommendations.

Having sent all this, the applicant will not immediately receive an answer, because his application is being checked. We find out if he did not work with us before and was not blocked for any reason.

This happens often. The “former” return to us, because they understand that it’s time-consuming to search for orders on your own, and it’s not always easy to distinguish a fraudster from a solvent client. The bureau on its part guarantees that the work of the copywriter will be paid if it meets the requirements of the client.

Editorial sieve

If the applicant passed the test at the previous stage, his portfolio is sent to the editor Oleg Gubanov. He has been involved in editing since 1988. He worked with the media, Internet resources, advertising releases: from one-time to periodical, from leaflets / billboards to newspapers / magazines. Edited manuscripts, books and even musical compilations.

What guides our editor when considering the next application?

The applicant’s resume concerns me at last, without examples of work (portfolio) I don’t consider the candidacy at all. Nobody conducted statistics, maybe out of a hundred applications we invite only 20-30 writers. We need people who can write in a literary-journalistic sense. Random people. that is, those who would not exactly have taken to work in the media or advertising just a writer (not a creative or designer), do not take.

True, some manage to slip someone else's portfolio, but in the process they are easy to calculate and remove from the system.

Gentle paws of the community manager

A newcomer who has passed the check of the editor gets to the community manager. His task is to lead the beginner throughout the system, answer his questions, introduce the rules and help him deal with the interface.

It should be noted that the community manager is not the only person with whom a novice can communicate. Experienced copywriters can share their experience at any time of the day or night. We have a closed group for copywriters on Facebook, there is always someone in Skype chat rooms and on the forum.

First orders and admission to this work

Access to orders received, but in most cases, a novice begins with our internal orders or receives orders from content managers of the Bureau. He has no access to real orders until the first five works are completed, which again get to the editor.

Again, not everyone can pass strict editorial control. The editor checks every work done and makes his verdict: whether the writer can work in the Bureau, does he have any prospects for growth, or is it better to leave.

Word to the editor

It happens that accepted newcomers are eliminated in the process of work: someone leaves himself, we part with someone on our own initiative. To be a copywriter, one writer's gift is not enough. A copywriter must have certain genres used in promotion and advertising, and he must also have the ability to convince.

The bureau is a game by our rules!

If the newcomer has passed this test, it does not mean that he can relax and work through the stump-deck - the quality of the orders being executed goes on continuously.

Customers can add a copywriter to both favorites and blacklist, give a rating, praise in comments and personal messages. For us, the customer's opinion is important, but the editor is never without work. But now he works with those copywriters who get a rating lower than four, or customers and content managers of Textbroker.ru are complaining about them.

However, every copywriter who gets a note gets a chance to improve. The editor points out flaws, and only those authors who focus on diligently proving their case are blocked, do not pay attention to the comments and do not want to do anything. Those who decided to take quantity to the detriment of quality do not remain either.

More than just copywriters

Profession copywriter is not easy. And it's hard to work with us. Especially those who do not want to learn and develop in the profession.

All other copywriters, we offer a lot of opportunities for professional development: we hold webinars and trainings. In the first two months of 2016, our copywriters underwent two trainings: the first - Sergey Troubadour conducted on the creation of designer landing pages, and the second - Dmitry Kot, on email dispatches.

Since June last year, writer Valery Gapeev, marketing expert Andrei Zinkevich, email marketing expert Alyona Melon, journalist Maya Bogdanova, content marketing expert Katerina Eroshina, seo-specialist Sergey Koksharov, copywriters Pavel Berestnev, director of marketing for MosIgra "Sergey Abdulmanov and others. Video recordings of webinars can be viewed on our youtube channel .

We also signed up for a corporate course Glavred advanced course. Practically all our copywriters were signed up for the basic course, and many of them wanted to continue their studies. Therefore, we contacted Maxim Ilyakhov and agreed on a good discount. The format of the newsletter with the ability to do homework and send them for review turned out to be convenient for copywriters, as they can take lessons at their own pace.

The client-manager of the Copywriting Bureau Textbroker.ru Oksana Shcherbina tells about the organization and conduct of training events, as well as their performance.

We started conducting webinars and trainings for several reasons. Since we are a bureau of professional copywriters, we must meet this definition and pump over professionalism. In this we try to help our authors, many of whom read professional literature, study, but knowledge is not superfluous. In addition, to participate in such events is interesting. They unite and inspire, give rise to discussions and disputes.

Working with clients, we see some problems that need to be solved. For example, a year or two ago it was not all right with the selling texts. Now many copywriters write such texts quite well. There were problems with landings and letters for mailings. After the trainings that took place this year, the situation is improving with these formats.

Clients sometimes wonder if we teach our copywriters. And this is a valid question, because they want to work with professionals.

We do not have a clear plan for trainings and webinars, but we are trying to invite diverse specialists with whom we are familiar on social networks, their blogs and newsletters. They may not be directly related to copywriting (for example, Andrei Zinkevich told us about how to build relationships with customers), but can share their experience with our authors. Almost no one whom we invited, refused to hold webinars for the Bureau, for which we are very grateful.

We plan to continue training copywriters once or twice a year, because the results are already noticeable. Copywriters who have been trained at trainings and attended webinars have become more confident in themselves, their range of skills has expanded, and many have learned their knowledge in their work.

Work with customers has become more productive, as copywriters do not just fulfill orders, but can advise, advise and justify their point of view. I personally now have more confidence that the Bureau will be able to cope with any complex and extraordinary order, because there is someone to rely on. And most importantly, we will be able to meet customer expectations.

In general, as soon as we stopped being just an exchange, the approach to working with copywriters changed dramatically. This could not affect the quality of the services provided. Only professionals remained with us.

Portrait of a Textbroker.ru copywriter

Our average copywriter is a woman aged 23 to 35 years old with a higher liberal arts education. Copywriting - its main type of income, and work experience ranges from three to five years.

The results of the survey conducted in 2015 can be found on the page About copywriters

Of course, these data do not reflect the real picture. Since only those who really want and know how to work remain with us, they put their professional growth in the first place, not their personal ambitions.

The "restructuring" of the process of working with copywriters was not easy. It lasted long enough, did not go smoothly for us. From our former “specialists” we received a good dose of negativity.

We stayed with those who wanted to work and become a professional. And those who just wanted to earn, left, leaving negative reviews. But this does not stop us, because thanks to our policy we managed to reach a new level and save the average market price.

We are still being approached by clients who do not have huge budgets, as well as those who need serious analytical content. We have highly qualified specialists, and therefore there are opportunities to cope with any tasks!