Difficulty Getting Copy Approval From Management

"I'm working with a copywriter, I think their work is good, just can't get it past management. How can I show it to management so it gets approved?"

Unfortunately I've seen companies waste more money getting a marketing campaign approved than actually creating any results with it. They would be better off just keeping what they have than doing the copy approve exercise, but there is hope.

Ron Brauner writes in "Are You Giving Your Copywriter Multiple Personality Disorder?" about what usually happens in business-to-business copy approval. The copywriter and your marketing team is ran through the approval gauntlet, spending hours, even days just to get started with a campaign.

The bigger the business it seems the more departments; legal, finance, executives, channel management, intellectual property, directors, sales management, and even the proverbial guy on the warehouse floor. Sometimes marketing copy is shown to prospective customers, focus groups, and other evaluation boards.

In business-to-business marketing results is really the only measure of copy success. That's why I advocate writing copy guidelines, intellectual property usage, and quick checks. Then, put together a campaign with a brief check for legal accuracy then send out a small batch for testing.

That's right, get the copy in front of real prospective buyers and see if they bite. Most people who go fishing don't talk about what bait to use, they just get out there an cast.

Introduce to your manager the angle stating, "We'll never really know what works until we try it" then suggest a small limited test. Often it's cheaper to pay for the draft copy, test it, and then clean up later. What does live testing work?

This approach works because it is more valid than an isolated opinion. Your manager is looking at this copy in the context of HIS job, not your customers desires. Turn the piece loose on customers in-draft, see if anyone bites, then try something else if it doesn't work.

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Justin Hitt crafts business-to-business marketing copy that sells now or generates leads. Discover industrial copy results at http://HittPublishingDirect.com/