First of all, apologies for the lack of an imaginative headline in going with ‘Black Friday’ as my blog title, but I figured that this is all that people are going to be searching for online today anyway.

Let’s journey back to Black Friday 2016….

Rebel that I am, instead of promoting discounts, offers and price slashes here at agoodwriteup, I put my prices up to mark the special occasion. Why? Partly because I just wanted to buck the trend, stir things up, make a point etc, but mainly because it seemed like as good a time as any to think about my pricing in terms of what and how I charge in my business as a freelance copywriter.

I always bang on about the difference between price and value for money, and will always assertively nod along with the often made points about ‘getting what you pay for’, and ‘buy cheap, pay twice’ etc, even though I know we still live in a world where these things are nearly always ignored in the quest for a bargain. However, up until this time two years ago, my prices didn’t just show exceptional value for money and measurable return on investment for my clients’ businesses, but also showed that I was treating my own business like the sideline it started out as several years earlier, when I typed documents standing up in the kitchen whilst cooking my tea after a long day at my ‘real’ job.  During those early days, I charged low rates just for the sake of making a bit of extra cash from my talent in writing, and saw agoodwriteup as a bonus, not a business.

In working hard to build a client base, portfolio and reputation over the years, I was indeed appearing to be doing all the right things required to build a proper business, and the fact that I was taking on bigger projects and in vaster quantities was the reason I was able to go ‘full time’.  Having said that, the rates I was still charging were doing me some potential damage in how seriously my work was being taken – and some clients even pointed that out to me.  That point was cemented when I joined ProCopywriters – the Alliance for Professional Writers – and I realised that not only was I doing myself a dis-service in what value I was placing on my time and talent, but that I was undervaluing my profession as a whole in setting that bar so low for pricing.  At that time though, I was still in the mindset of, “Yeah but it’s okay, it’s extra cash I wouldn’t otherwise have”.  That’s not what running a business is though, and despite the analogies people in my position often make for effect, it’s not even what running a charity is!  It’s not about being ‘okay’.  As a professional copywriter, I’m providing a service that’s certainly needed for other professionals to even make their mark, as well as their point.  It deserves to be valued.

I may be starting to veer away from my own point here, so let’s get back to black.

Black Friday 2018.  What price cuts, heavy discounts and one time only offers do I have for my clients now that the blessed day is here?  Absolutely none.  Instead, I look forward to offering the same exceptional value for money and return on investment for my clients as I do on every other single day of the working year.

And, if you’re not a fan of the prices that good copywriters charge for simply throwing a few words together in order to make your business and your brand look pretty damn good, here’s my very basic, yet topical, justification: Seeing as we’ve stolen the concept from our American cousins, who go all-in for Black Friday as the natural follow-up from their celebrations of Thanksgiving, then consider the value I place on my work as a way I give thanks to myself for being a fairly good copywriter, and for providing value for my clients long after the pieces are published and the money has cleared in the bank.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what I did on Black Friday last year, I had a two month old baby to look after.  I have no idea what I was doing, but if you ask my mother, I probably wasn’t doing it as well than if I’d have stayed in a career with maternity pay…