Explain your thinking, copywriter

I’m sitting on the computer this morning, type-type-typin’ away, when I hear it …

The dreaded PLINK of a Slack notification hitting my inbox.

I check the message.

It reads as follows (completely unaltered and totally factual):

“Hey David hope you’re good thanks for that copy you sent now please can you explain why you decided to write that XYZ copy thing because actually I think we should do it this other way instead and also I already changed it and my new version is live on the site so thanks okay bye.”

..

….

……

My blood? Boiled.

My lid? Popped.

My cool? Lost to the ether, probably never to be found again.

Now I'm all for learning something new. I'm an ardent believer in being a lifelong learner. But that was NOT this situation ... and sometimes you have to stand up for what your produce.

But like I honestly don’t know what it is about copywriting that has “I CAN DO YOUR JOB BETTER THAN YOU” written all over it.

And I know I’m not the only one.

I’ve brought this idea up before here, and I hear the same thing from many of the copywriters on this list.

BUT.

In true copywriter fashion, I recognize that I cannot change the desire many businesses have to rewrite my copy.

I can only channel it.

(H/T to you, Gene Schwartz.)

And awhile back, I figured out a sort of “hack” for doing just this. It started when I interviewed for my current job two years ago.

The hiring manager had me complete a writing test (which I freaking crushed) and — here’s the kicker — asked me to explain my thinking in the comments of the Google doc.

A year later, when I was onboarding a new client, they asked me to do the same thing.

And then it clicked.

It’s all about proof.

Specifically, something I refer to as “skill proof.”

If you want to build more trust and credibility with your clients or employers, skill proof is one of the most important things you can build to get them off your back.

Because it’s one thing to be able to write copy … and it’s another thing to understand the strategy behind it.

Maybe you want to know how you can build skill proof for yourself.

Lucky for you, explaining your copy in Google doc comments isn't the only way.

In fact, one of my favorite ways to do this is through something I call the “training manual.”

Yes, it’s eye-rollingly simple.

But in my opinion, it does a much better job of building skill proof than Google docs comments or even a portfolio.

If you want to see what it is, I explain it in Step 3 of my Client Cloner blog post:

www.stealthiscopy.com/client-cloner

David Patrick