With economic uncertainty, ever-changing consumer expectations, and countless automated integrations, business owners are being pulled in a multitude of directions. This leaves many entrepreneurs wondering when they’ll even have time to write and market their business.

As a service-based entrepreneur, you know that compelling copy is essential for attracting clients and growing your business. Yet one question consistently emerges: should you write your own marketing materials or hire professionals to do it for you?

This isn’t just about saving money or time – it’s about determining the right approach for your unique business needs. On one hand, DIY copywriting gives you complete control over your message and builds an in-house skill. On the other, professional copywriting services deliver expert results without consuming your limited bandwidth.

But what if there was a middle ground that combined the best of both worlds?

In this blog, we’ll explore the true costs and benefits of both DIY and Done-For-You copywriting approaches. We’ll also introduce a third option that many service-based entrepreneurs find strikes the perfect balance between quality, control, and resource management. By the end, you’ll have clarity on which copywriting solution aligns with your business stage, available resources, and growth objectives.

Let’s dive in and find the perfect copywriting approach for your service business.

The DIY Approach To Copywriting

Is your brain spinning with ideas and fingers itching to tap away on the keyboard? DIY may be the route to go. With this, you have complete control over: 

• Your messaging
• Opportunity to further develop your writing skills
• Cost savings potential
• Gaining a deeper understanding of your brand and customers 

On the flip side, there are several downsides to be aware of, including:

• A high learning curve
• Increased time commitment
• Consistency issues
• Limited external perspective

High Learning Curve

Writing words that work requires more than just running through a quick spelling and grammar check. It’s about understanding your audience, crafting a clear voice, knowing how to structure content for conversions, and aligning every word with your goals. Because of this, it takes time to master persuasive techniques, test what works, and write with both strategy and clarity.

Increased Time Commitment

Mastering the art of writing for your business takes preparation, strategy, and sheer brain power. On top of testing the words that work, you must also be able to commit to blocking off time in your schedule to get down to the writing part of it all.

Consistency Issues (Especially If You Don’t Have Systems)

Every finished piece of writing should come with clear next steps to ensure consistency across one or several platforms. Unless it’s documented and taught to your other team members, even your most valuable employee won’t know exactly what to do with your copy or how to track its progress. 

Additionally, you may find that certain messages are contradictory to your overall brand – ultimately leaving a bad taste in your target customer’s mouth. 

Limited External Perspective

Being the ultimate backbone of your business can sometimes leave your vision blurry when it comes to your messaging. This is often because business owners are too close to the details to sift through what actually matters to their customers. They focus more on how to position the brand, leaving conversions on the table.  And without the eyes of an expert to review your copy, you’re prone to making common copywriting mistakes, producing copy that:

• Is feature-focused without highlighting the benefits for your customers
• Uses assumed knowledge or jargon your audience simply won’t get
• Skips what matters by not answering key questions or addressing challenges
• Is written for you, not your ideal customers

Do you remember A&W’s Third-Pound Burger or the 1958 Ford Edsel? Neither do we. These offer launches both flopped because these companies were focused on developing a better product. But they didn’t take into account how their target audience would perceive the offer. Like many believed that a quarter-pound burger was actually bigger than a third-pound burger!

What you say matters, so take your copywriting as seriously as you do your business for the best results.

The Done-For-You Copywriting Solution

Are you a busy entrepreneur who either dislikes writing or doesn’t have the time to write? You may be a perfect candidate for done-for-you copywriting. 

With this, you access professional expertise, massive time savings, a fresh perspective on your brand, and proven techniques that you’d otherwise miss out on. To access this, there are several challenges, including:

• Higher upfront investment
• Finding the right copywriter (who has the right processes to capture your voice)
• Communication of brand voice
• Dependency concerns

To build a good partnership with a copywriter or copywriting, it’s important to communicate all your expectations – including those that you don’t think is pertinent to their work. Explore how we can support you as your copywriting partner. 

The Third Option: Systematic DIY Copywriting

Ideally, if you are going to go with the DIY option, you need to do it systematically. This third option is the “best of both worlds” approach because you’re not having to reinvent and create systems from scratch. When you implement and use copywriting systems, you cultivate more consistency in your messaging, build scalability in your potential, and grow long-term value. 

With this approach, we developed Copy Systems – a membership that contains all of the systems we’ve designed to help over 150+ clients with their copy. (Plus, there’s more in the works!)

Copywriting systems should contain…

• Brand messaging
• Brand voice
• Customer avatars
• Content pillars
• Copy frameworks

…At the very minimum. And Copy Systems not only helps you understand each of these but also how to use them throughout your marketing.

Finding Your Perfect Match

When considering writing for your business, are you also thinking about…?

• What your competitors are doing
• What’s trending
• How to use the latest technologies
• What your messaging has looked like in the past

Slow your roll because you’re likely overstressing, overthinking, and overcomplicating the entire process. Pull back from playing the constant game of comparison, and focus on yourself and where your business is currently at.

Looking at the table below, which one feels like your best fit?

	DIY Copywriting	Done-For-You Copywriting
Stage of Business	Start-up and early-stage businesses	Established businesses and businesses invested in their long-term success
Time	Time-intensive	Minimal time investment long-term
Budget	Typically affordable and low budget	Depending on who you hire and their experience, you’re looking at a higher budget
Team	Solo or young teams	Solo or teams who are don’t have copywriting expertise
Prioritization	Copywriting supports other efforts	Copywriting is central to marketing efforts
Growth Goals	Quick wins	Sustainable systems

Still unsure where you stand or how to get started? Thankfully, we have solutions ready for you – no matter where you land. 

Copy Systems: Your All-In-1 Wordsmith Studio

Copy Systems is a membership designed for business owners and marketers who want to build scalable and consistent messaging but struggle to do so. Like Canva for digital design and Hootsuite for social media marketing, Copy Systems for copywriting is jam-packed full of systems, tools, and resources to make copywriting for your business more effective and less time-consuming. Whether you are writing your copy yourself or relying on AI to help you write, this membership helps you achieve your goals – getting you there faster than staring at a blinking cursor on the page. 

Custom Messaging That Reflects Your Voice, Brand, & Business

Don’t want to do it yourself? We collaborate with you to craft the perfect message to reach your marketing goals. You can expect to share your heart for your business and customers, then let us do all the heavy lifting. 

We’ve worked with over 150+ clients in almost every industry, covering everything from blogs, scripts, brochures, email campaigns, and beyond. And our ability to write for them is based on the exact systems you’ll find in Copy Systems. Because in a world of AI-generated content, you deserve to have your business’s copy stand out, align with your brand, and, ultimately, make an impact on your specific goals.

Not sure where you land? Let’s pour over the details.