The next most valuable thing after time is attention. No attention = no sale. No attention means every word you wrote fails (not necessarily because of the words, just that no one read them).

So it has nothing to do with the copy, and everything to do with the wrong audience. They weren't ready to buy. They were quite happy with what they'd already got. They weren't interested in what you had. They failed to notice you have anything anyway.

It's the biggest mistake any copywriter (or person hiring a copywriter can make) – audience identification.

So you can make the most outlandish claim on the planet and it will still fail because no one who saw it was bothered.

Which brings us to the problem of marketing vs copywriting. If you've been hired by a firm with a marketing department, their brief should be stacked full of demographic audience stats.

They should already know who they're targeting – because there's no way on this planet that their R&D department would have produced a product that a) no one wanted, or b) there was no demand, right?

But unfortunately, it happens all the time. And you're going to get the blame for it when your sales copy fails.

So you owe it to yourself (and your clients) to spell out the expectations of any copy. And that in a nutshell is to let them know that ALL copy is an experiment. That until you get data back from trials, no is going to be any the wiser.

That if it fails the first time, that's good, because it rules out at least one set of things that were wrong before you came on the scene.

And it also means that you're going to need an agreement in place that it's going to take time to get the pitch right for the audience, and then to tweak it into making a decent return on their investment.

And finally, that if they don't agree to that, then there's no way you'll be working for them.

Do that, and I guarantee you'll be taken seriously (or thrown out, which, if that happens, will be a good thing).

This is part of what positioning means. Unless you're willing to position yourself as the Master and Expert you know you are, you will be taken advantage of, blamed, and dumped (and who can blame them?).

Of course, if you're only just starting out as a copywriter, it may be hard to find the confidence to take the stand you need to take, but one thing's for sure, it will happen at some point, so just think about it as you grow your copywriting business. It will help you (and your clients) keep stress levels under control. And that's a good thing.

For more information on copywriting, join my Science of Copywriting group on Facebook over HERE.