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Snippet of sample conversation between The Hired Pens and a potential client:
Potential Client: What? You can't write our annual report for $150?
The Hired Pens: Sorry, but that would take us about 85 hours. That only comes to … $1.76 an hour!
Potential Client: (Harrumph.) Well, we're taking our business elsewhere. (Aside to assistant: Can we offshore this to China?)
At The Hired Pens, the "product" we offer is our creative effort. And though we're fast, the creative process still takes time — kind of like acquiring a taste for opera.
Here's a look at what goes into a typical project.
Research
First, we scour your website and collateral to learn about your organization's brand, products/services, key players, history and competition.
Interviews
Next we give you the Barbara Walters treatment:
- What are the communication goals of this piece?
- Who's the target audience?
- What features and benefits should we stress?
- What's the call to action?
- If you were a tree, what kind of a tree would you be?
And so on. Once we're done, you're a withering shell of your former self. But we've gotten what we need.
Creative Brief
Before we start writing, we complete a creative brief. This document summarizes all the key points we learned during our research and interviews, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
Writing
Now we crawl back into the hole whence we came and get to work. This is where it can get ugly. Hours of brainstorming. More hours yet of writing, editing and rewriting. Rolled-up pieces of paper angrily tossed aside. Until finally … a first draft worthy of your consideration.
Feedback
This is your chance to play editor. You tell us what you think, and we incorporate your thoughts into the next draft. Usually we need no more than three drafts to make our clients happy.
Aftermath
We send you an invoice. You send us a check, satisfied that the work we delivered was worth well more than $150.
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