Let’s face it: finding an excellent copywriter is hard. We’re going to teach you what 20 years of running a digital agency has taught us about hiring the best ones, so you don’t need to make the mistakes we’ve made. 

Whether you’re building a content team from scratch or seeking a freelance copywriter to support you on a specific project, the quality of your recruitment and hiring process is critical. A good one means you’ll understand exactly what you’re looking for and be able to find it in no time. A bad one means wasting money on long processes or even bringing someone on board who isn’t the right fit. 

Let’s explore all the steps you should take to find the perfect copywriter and consider key insights from experienced agency owners.

Find the copywriter of your dreams: Our free, downloadable hiring checklist makes evaluating and contracting creatives quick and easy. Download the ultimate copywriter evaluation sheet.

1. Determine Your Objectives (And Tie Them To Your Budget)

Whether you’re an agency owner, part of a marketing team, or even a solopreneur, you know the chaos that often comes with hiring a copywriter. We all love to plan ahead when we can, but doing so isn’t always possible. More often than not, you suddenly realize you don’t have enough bandwidth in-house to work on an upcoming project or land an awesome new client and need support. What comes after that is a mad dash to find a good copywriter who’s available to help you—and fast.

But before you start messaging everyone you know on LinkedIn and filtering through your freelancer contacts, slow down for a minute. Consider the goals behind the project you’re hiring for, as they’ll help bring clarity and intention into your recruitment process.

Some example objectives might be:

• Increasing website traffic
• Generating more or stronger leads
• Boosting conversions
• Promoting a new product or service
• Strengthening brand awareness

Hiring copywriters can also be expensive. On average, they earn around $60,000 a year in the United States, and that’s just for starters. So, identifying your project objectives and priorities before you start talking to candidates means you’ll be able to hone in on what’s most important to you, allocate your resources effectively, avoid wasting money and time, and make smarter hiring decisions. 

Let’s consider a couple of examples to see how this might play out in real time. You work for a startup where every penny counts. You need a copywriter to write content that better targets your ICP (ideal customer profile), converts SQLs (sales qualified leads), and ultimately increases sales. In this scenario, you need to find someone whose rates you can afford, but it’s also important that they know how to write copy that’ll convert and speak to your audience from day one. You probably wouldn’t want to hire a more junior person to train over time, especially if you’re hiring for a one-off or short-term project.

However, if you’re part of a well-established company that’s looking to add an in-house copywriter, you might be comfortable with a larger time investment in terms of training and onboarding, and you might find it attractive to hire a less-experienced copywriter at a lower price point. 

Keep this quote from Rami Sethi—NYT bestselling author and host of the Netflix show How to Get Rich—in mind when hiring a copywriter: “Copy can’t save a bad product or bad marketing.” Basically, you need a quality marketing strategy for any content professional to add value to it. So, if you don’t feel that yours is there yet, rethink your objectives before working on the job description.

2. Clearly Define The Role You’re Hiring For

We know you’re probably eager to start writing job descriptions, sending out messages to your trusted contacts, and sifting through applications and CVs, but we’d encourage you to hold on just a little bit longer and dig deep into the specifics of the position you’re hiring for. First, make sure you understand these different aspects of a copywriter’s potential responsibilities.

Differences Between Content Writers & Copywriters

Many people confuse content writers with copywriters, but it’s crucial that you know the difference. 

Content writers typically produce longer form content like blog posts, whitepapers, reports, eBooks, and social media posts. Their primary goal is to write content that informs, educates, or engages, rather than driving conversions.

Copywriters, on the other hand, specialize in writing short-form, persuasive content that prompts the reader to take action. They have a deep understanding of consumer psychology and use it to write effective:

• Landing pages
• Product pages
• Product descriptions
• Social media advertisements
• Sales campaigns
• Marketing emails 

As Josh Strawczynski, Managing Director of JMarketing, points out, the most important part of a great copywriter’s role is getting a reaction out of the reader. 

He explains: “I’ve worked with hundreds of copywriters. One of the things that I’ve noticed is that people confuse copywriting—or deliberately evoking a reaction that you want—with grammatical correctness. And the data is really clear; it doesn’t matter whether it’s right or not. It matters that it moves people. Really good writers are people who understand that.”

So basically, while some content professionals do both, not all content writers are copywriters. If you’re looking for an experienced copywriter to work with, make sure you’re specific about that requirement from the beginning of your search.

Decide Between an SEO Copywriter or a Conversational Copywriter

SEO-driven copy is designed to rank well on search engines, so it’s typically used for websites, landing pages, and blog posts. SEO copywriters know how to balance engaging, product-focused, and relatable content with technical SEO best practices. Users find this kind of work on search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Yandex, as well as platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.

Conversational copywriting, on the other hand, focuses less on keywords and positioning and more on building a relationship with the reader. It’s often used in lead magnets, newsletters, and paid ads to make an impression, create a sense of connection, and encourage action. This is the type of copy that hits on a person’s frustrations and motivations and makes them feel like the brand “gets them.”

Pro tip: “With AI around, you don’t need someone who can write correctly. What you need is someone who can achieve your goal. And I’m going to assume that your goal is to get your content read and understood. When someone lands on a website, their brain makes up an opinion about whether it feels good or not in only a few seconds. What does that tell you about how important the headline is, for example? I have almost never met a copywriter who has understood not just how to appeal to people with that headline, but how to make it look balanced so someone’s eye gets drawn to it. 99 out of 100 copywriters that I’ve interviewed have never thought of that.” — Josh Strawczynski, Managing Director of J Marketing

List The Ideal Candidate’s Duties & Set Priorities

By this stage in the process, you should be ready to write a comprehensive list of your open copywriting role’s specific responsibilities. This clear list of jobs to be done means you’ll be able to define key deliverables and set the right expectations, whether you end up working with a freelancer, an agency, or an in-house writer.

Also, explicitly stating the job’s core responsibilities will protect you from incurring unexpected expenses, as anything out of scope can cost you extra.

So, sit down with your team—or by yourself if you’re going it alone—and list every project and task you expect your ideal candidate to handle. This exercise will help you visualize the copywriter’s responsibilities and let you prioritize tasks based on goals and budget. For instance, you might choose to allocate your budget to your most pressing, high-impact projects and push other initiatives to the next quarter. 

3. Understand Your Hiring Options

Again, copywriters can be expensive! Depending on your needs, you might not need to hire someone full-time. Let’s explore the different hiring options you can choose from:

Working model	Pros	Cons
Freelance copywriters	Flexible to hire for short-term or one-off projects, fixed hours, or fixed deliverables. Possible to allocate your budget across different contractors with different areas of expertise. No long-term commitment.	Can be challenging to find the right professionals to work with. Lack of control over their ways of working. Possible quality inconsistencies, especially if you collaborate with multiple different freelancers. The most affordable option.
Copywriting agency	Shorter learning curve. Guaranteed expertise. Access to cross-team collaboration and tailored solutions. Possible to work with different agency professionals, especially if one doesn’t fit with your brand or preferences.	Tends to be more expensive. Longer term commitment, and you’ll likely have to give notice if you want to end the collaboration. Depending on the size and organization of the agency, you may not get personalized attention. Significant changes and full rewrites may cost extra.
In-house copywriters	The person will become deeply familiar with your brand and grow with you. Quality tends to be more consistent and up to your standards. There’s no extra cost for revisions or new copy. Invoicing is less complicated as the person receives a fixed salary.	Necessary to provide ongoing training and support, especially when the person is more junior. Benefits and legal obligations can be expensive. If you don’t end up having enough work for someone who’s working full-time, you might end up overpaying.

Remember, there’s no one “right” decision when it comes to hiring a copywriter. Simply choose the working model that aligns with your situation and objective. For example, if you’re launching a single marketing campaign through Facebook ads, it might make the most sense to work with a freelancer for a limited time period. Then, you could return to them in the future when similar projects come up. 

On the other hand, if you need to build and execute an ongoing ad strategy, test every piece, and analyze daily spend, an agency or ongoing partnership would likely be a better fit.

Find the copywriter of your dreams: Our free, downloadable hiring checklist makes evaluating and contracting creatives quick and easy. Download the ultimate copywriter evaluation sheet

4. Start Looking For and Getting to Know Candidates

Now that you know what kind of copywriter you’re looking for and what specific tasks and projects you need them to work on, you can start analyzing prospects. This process can be daunting, especially if you haven’t done it many times before. Here are our top tips to get started.

Determine The Best Place to Find Candidates

With 20 years of agency experience under our belts, we can tell you for sure that your best hires will likely be referrals. As you build relationships in your industry or chosen niche over time, it’ll get easier and easier for you to turn to your connections or frequent collaborators when the need to work with a new copywriter comes up. Having said that, there are a few good places to begin if you don’t feel confident with your existing network just yet.

For instance: 

• Job and networking sites like LinkedIn, Upwork, Fiverr, FlexJobs, or Indeed.
• Forums and online communities like Superpath, Reddit, and Exit Five.
• Recruitment agencies that you can pay to handle the hiring process and provide you with a shortlist of candidates.

Once you start receiving CVs and portfolios, do a quick review and discard applicants who didn’t fill out the application correctly, don’t have the right experience, or submitted lackluster samples. Start developing a shortlist of people who you think would be a great fit for the job. 

Define An Assessment Framework

Assess each candidate with a consistent process to ensure a transparent and fair approach. Doing so will also make the best use of both your and your candidates’ time if they don’t qualify for the role.

Try following these steps to evaluate applicants for your copywriter position:

1. Review their samples or portfolio and industry experience. This is especially important if you work for a niche industry. 
2. Ask for client reviews or previous work references. Verify the quality of their work and look into previous client satisfaction. 
3. Review their rates and working model. Be sure to investigate if what the person charges aligns with your budget. Some freelancers charge by project, day, hour, or number of words, so you may have to do some calculations to compare different rates.
4. Host an interview. Use this time to get to know the applicant and talk further about their skills, experience, and approach to work.
5. Run a test. If possible, ask the shortlisted candidates to perform a paid test or sample assignment. 
6. Determine if they’re the right fit. Choose the best person for the job—not necessarily the best candidate on paper. Look for someone who aligns with and will add to your company culture and ways of working.

If you’re assessing an agency rather than an individual, research testimonials, their employee turnover, their company culture, and their ability to scale, as these could impact both their ability to meet your needs and the quality of their work. 

Host Interviews

A good interview should give you a deeper, more well-rounded impression of a candidate. You’ll get to see how they present themselves as a professional, learn more context about their previous work experience, and get to ask them any questions or doubts you have about their CV or portfolio. 

Be sure to structure your interviews to evaluate both cultural add and job-specific knowledge. You may want to focus on these key points:

• Do they ask thoughtful questions about your brand and objectives? A strong applicant will be genuinely interested in how they can add value to your business and help you achieve your goals. Curiosity is a good indicator of their engagement and strategic thinking.

• Are they familiar with your product or service? A well-prepared copywriter will research your business before their interview and may even have specific suggestions for or questions about your current content strategy. This shows that they’re proactive, responsible, and able to take initiative without being asked.

• How do they handle feedback and revisions? Copywriting is a collaborative process that can involve a lot of back-and-forth and edits. Ask how they handle constructive feedback and ensure that they’re comfortable refining their work to align with your vision.

• Do they demonstrate creativity and adaptability? Great copywriters can think on their feet and are comfortable pivoting and coming up with new ideas when something doesn’t work out. Gauge their ability to brainstorm innovative concepts, as well as their flexibility to write in different styles, formats, or tones of voice (TOVs).

• Would they add to your company culture? How someone fits into your company culture is often just as important as their skills, especially when it comes to long-term collaboration. Observe the applicant’s personality, communication style, and values and determine whether they align with your team and company ethos. Then, think about how the person might add to your culture, perhaps by bringing a fresh perspective, kind of experience, or skill set that you don’t currently have in-house.

• Why are they interested in your business or project? Motivation matters. A copywriter who’s passionate about working with you will likely go the extra mile to deliver impactful, compelling deliverables.

• How do they manage deadlines and multiple projects? Ask about their approach to time management, especially if your role requires handling several deadlines or tasks at the same time. A reliable candidate will have a clear system for keeping track of their work and making sure nothing falls through the cracks.

These questions will help you build a complete view of the candidate’s capabilities and ensure you hire the best copywriter for your business.

Put Their Copywriting Skills to the Test

Ideally, you should run a paid test for your top candidates. You don’t need a huge budget for this as no more than a handful of people should reach this step. We recommend sharing an actual brief that you’d use in-house with your shortlist as you’ll be able to easily observe how they’d approach the kind of day-to-day work you’d like them to carry out in the role. Give all candidates a certain amount of time to complete the test and give them specific parameters for what you’d like to see when they hand it in.

You might want to offer a tiered payment structure depending on the quality of the test assignments that applicants submit. That way, you encourage candidates to give their best while evaluating how they’d perform their potential key responsibilities—without wasting anyone’s time.

In addition, remember that when testing an applicant, you’re not just evaluating how well they write. Here are some top criteria to look out for, according to JMarketing Managing Director Josh Strawczynski:

• Focus on the immediate impact they make with their writing and how effectively they communicate their message to the reader: “Constantly, I see copywriters bury the lead. No, you need to get out of the gates fast. The first sentence is the only sentence you can guarantee someone is going to read. Its goal is to hook you and pull you in.”

• Look for experience with A/B testing and analytics: “Opinions don’t matter. Data matters. We do a lot of A/B testing for headlines and bits of content layout. It’s my strong recommendation that every copywriter you hire has a background in it.”

• Search for great content architecture. An excellent copywriter’s work should be easy for people to read. They should make good use of headings, subheadings, and bullet points and ensure all their formatting is consistent and easy to scan.

• Don’t mistake a lot of content for good content. It’s often harder to write brief, persuasive content than it is to write long-winded, vague content. Quantity doesn’t mean quality. 

Wrap-up: Hiring the Best Copywriter

Running a digital agency for 20 years teaches you a lot about hiring excellent copywriters. And if there’s one thing we can say for sure, it’s that hiring an ideal copywriter can be a game changer. The right hire will quickly integrate into your marketing team, deliver quality content every time, and help your clients reach their most ambitious goals. 

We’ve covered a lot in this article, so here are our key takeaways before you go:

• Begin your search with specific objectives and a clear budget in mind to help you understand what to prioritize and start your recruitment and hiring process on the right foot.
• Get crystal clear on the job’s main responsibilities and determine what kind of copywriter will best fit your needs (before you start collecting CVs and getting to know candidates).
• Evaluate applicants with a consistent process that involves interviews and a test assignment. 
• Choose the candidate that fits best with the project at hand, not the best candidate on paper.

That’s it! All you have to do next is enjoy the benefits of having the perfect copywriter on your team. 

Find the copywriter of your dreams: Our free, downloadable hiring checklist makes evaluating and contracting creatives quick and easy. Download the ultimate copywriter evaluation sheet.

#1 Question For Hiring The Best Copywriter

How do you manage multiple copywriters at once?

To manage multiple copywriters at once, we recommend that you: 

• Standardize guidelines and metrics: Ensure consistency by creating clear briefs and brand guidelines for all writers. Also, track the same key metrics over time to see the kinds of copy, headings, CTAs, and layouts that perform best.
• Set clear expectations: Define deadlines, deliverables, and communication channels to avoid confusion and bottlenecks.
• Encourage collaboration: Foster communication between writers and cross-functional colleagues where possible to align efforts, foster development, and improve results.

Also, even if they don’t work with you permanently in-house, it’s a good idea to offer feedback and optional learning opportunities to your team of copywriters to nurture long-term relationships with them.