You've decided to hire a freelance copywriter. Good. That decision alone puts you ahead of every brand still recycling the same stale messaging because no one has time to fix it.
But hiring the wrong one is worse than hiring no one. Getting locked into a long-term contract with a writer whose work isn't delivering is a nightmare scenario. It's expensive, it's slow to unwind and by the time you realize it isn't working, you've already lost months.
So before you send that first email, here's what to actually look for.
Ask for work samples. Then trust your gut.
This is the most important step. And it's the one most clients rush through.
Ask to see work samples. Not a general portfolio page, specific examples that are relevant to what you need. If you need email campaigns, ask for email campaigns. If you need social media copy, ask for social media copy.
Then read them. Not to audit them technically. Read them the way a real person would. Do they hold your attention? Does the copy feel effortless, or like you're pushing through it? Does it sound like a human being wrote it?
If the work doesn't resonate with you, move on. You don't need to articulate why. The feeling is enough data.
Know the difference between a copywriter and a content writer.
These are not the same job. And hiring the wrong one for your project will cost you time, money and a lot of frustrating revision rounds.
A copywriter writes to drive action. Every sentence is working toward a conversion, a click, a decision. Think ads, landing pages, email campaigns, brand voice development, sales pages.
A content writer writes to inform or educate. Blog posts, articles, thought leadership pieces, SEO content. The goal is visibility and trust built over time, not an immediate response.
The overlap is real. Plenty of strong writers do both well. But if you need a landing page that converts, you want a copywriter. If you need a steady stream of keyword-optimized articles, that's a different hire. Knowing which one you need before you start looking will save everyone a lot of time.
Industry experience matters less than you think. With one exception.
Here's something most hiring guides won't tell you: a great copywriter doesn't need to have written for your specific industry before.
The craft travels. A writer who can find the story in a subject, write in a voice that isn't their own and make a reader care about something they didn't care about five minutes ago — that writer can do that for almost any brand, in almost any category.
The exception is regulated industries.
If you're in financial services, insurance or pharmaceuticals, compliance isn't a footnote. It's baked into every single piece of copy. A writer who has never worked inside that environment won't know what they don't know. And finding out mid-project is an expensive lesson.
Look for someone who understands the nuances of regulated copy. Not just someone who's written about money, but someone who has written within the constraints that come with it. That's a different skill set entirely.
The homework test.
Before a good freelance copywriter can do their best work, they need to understand your brand. That means you have to be willing to put in a little work up front.
Past work samples. A brief, even a messy one. A voice profile or brand guidelines, if they exist. Some sense of who your audience is and what you're trying to get them to do.
If a potential client isn't willing to turn in that homework before the engagement starts, things are going to be bumpy. And if a writer isn't asking for any of it? That's its own red flag.
The best freelance copywriting relationships are collaborative from day one. The writer brings the craft. The client brings the context. Neither one can do the other's job.
What you're actually paying for.
When you hire a freelance copywriter, you are not paying for words. Words are cheap.
You're paying for judgment. The ability to look at a problem, identify the right angle and execute it in a way that makes reading feel effortless. That judgment is built over years of writing across industries, audiences and formats. It's the difference between copy that's technically correct and copy that actually does its job.
The right freelance copywriter shouldn't need six months to get up to speed. By the end of draft one, they should feel like they've been on your team for years.
That's the standard. Hold every candidate to it.
Ready to find out if we're a fit? Let's talk.