5 ways to work better with your copywriting agent

So you’ve been signed up by an agent. Congratulations! Think all your problems are solved? Think again. Having an agent is only the first rung on a very long ladder and all those who have been with the agent longer are ahead of you – with good contacts, regular clients and the agent’s trust. But don’t despair. Here are some things you can do to ensure a meteoric rise.

When you sign up with agent like The Collective, who is proactive, you need to help us help you. Being profiled on our website is just the first step. You need to get out of the website and stand out in people’s minds – ours, the clients and in other freelancers.

Here’s what you need to do with you copywriting agent

Promote to the agent

Jobs often come in thick and fast and jobs go to the people we know are interested and available. Our busiest freelancers are the ones that buy us lunch. Call us up for a coffee. Email to ask if there’s any work. Send us a Christmas card. A birthday card. A love letter on Valentine’s Day. They get more work not because we like it or want to pay them back, but because we remember them. When a job comes in we know person is hungry for work and that they’re available – we just got off the phone with them.

Promote to agencies

We are always looking for new and innovative ways to sell our freelancers. Promotional ideas are hard though and take a lot of time to implement, so help us to help you by making your own campaign. We have a large and up-to-date database of agencies and we send them a newsletter, but we always need new content. We need new content for our website, Facebook, twitter and this blog. It’s easy to be features – just be interesting.

Promote to other freelancers

Don’t just make friends with us – we often don’t decide who gets a job. A copywriter for example, is often hired by an agency then asked to bring an art director. So if you’re an art director you should get to know as many of The Collective’s copywriters as possible. Designers should chase art directors. Photographers should try and seduce designers… the list goes on. You can do this by attending as many of The Collective’s social events as possible and preparing mail outs that we can send for you. The freelancing game is all about self-promotion. If you can’t sell yourself, what can you sell?

Two mistakes to avoid

We’ve learnt them from years of dealing with freelancers, and it’s the same things we do to promote you to our clients.

• Answer the phone

There is one major problem we encounter when trying to fill a freelance vacancy. It happens every time. It’s frustrating and makes our jobs harder. It’s that freelancers don’t answer the phone. It’s the No.1 reason why people miss out on jobs. Keep your mobile phone in your pocket. Advertising agencies want people tomorrow – even today. Calling back hours later doesn’t work – we’ve already found somebody else. And if you don’t answer a few times you’ll be last on the list to call again.

• Give us your right number

Make sure you keep The Collective up-to-date with your telephone numbers and give us all your numbers. If you’re on holiday give us the number of the hotel. Even if you’re unavailable for work, because it might be a job that doesn’t start until you get back. You don’t even have to tell us especially because we should be on your mailing list. You should keep all your clients that you update whenever your movements change. It will keep you top of mind.

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