Founded more than a half-century ago, “Agency A” (name withheld for confidentiality) has offices on both coasts and more than 200 employees.
The full-service creative and media agency picked up a slew of new business in recent years, and their client list includes one of the top U.S. restaurant chains, one of the world’s largest hotel chains, and one of the best-selling apparel brands in the United States.
The Problem
Agency A knew that a copy editing and proofreading process was critical to their success.
After all, research shows that 80% of readers notice grammatical errors and that poor spelling/grammar is the top way to damage consumers’ view of a brand.
However, the first problem was that Agency A was spending too much money on their in-house copy editor. The salary, the benefits, dealing with vacation schedules … it all added up.
Typical costs of hiring an in-house copy editor at an ad agency:
- $60,000 (base salary)
- $18,000 (benefits)
- $4,000 (hiring/training costs)
That’s a total of about $82,000 per year, or $6,800 per month.
The second problem for Agency A was that their copy editor’s workload was unpredictable:
- There was a lot of downtime, which meant the copy editor often sat around waiting for materials to proofread—while Agency A paid for all those wasted hours.
- Yet there were also busy times, when a lot of materials needed proofreading all at once as a wall of deadlines approached. Their one copy editor was overwhelmed in these situations—which meant sloppy mistakes might start falling through the cracks, making the agency look bad to important clients.
Our Solution
Agency A approached Super Copy Editors in 2021. We had worked with them on occasional projects in the past, but now they were exploring big-picture options to save money and improve their QA processes.
Following a strategy call via Zoom to gain an understanding of Agency A’s goals and challenges, we helped them craft a solution that would not only save them money but also provide a superior level of quality assurance going forward.
They parted ways with their in-house copy editor (an amicable severance, we’re happy to say), and Super Copy Editors took the reins of the agency’s copy editing and proofreading process.
With an average spend of $2,500 per month with Super Copy Editors, the agency now enjoys an estimated cost savings of $4,300 per month versus the in-house model.
Here are some of the materials we review for Agency A:
- Print and online ad copy
- PowerPoint presentations
- Social media planning calendars
- Website analytics reports
- Website copy and blog posts
- And more
Our experienced copy editing team is able to handle large volumes of text at a moment’s notice.
After all, nobody is paying us to sit around—we charge only for the time we spend actually reviewing text. There are no retainer fees, monthly minimums, termination fees, or hidden charges.
We saved Agency A both time and money and blended in seamlessly with their team and processes with minimal ramp-up time.
The Impressive Results
As mentioned, Agency A is saving an estimated $4,300 per month by outsourcing to Super Copy Editors versus staying in-house.
That’s an average savings of nearly $52,000 per year.
We are able to provide the agency with a higher level of service because, unlike one in-house copy editor, we operate with flexibility and can scale up right away as needed.
That’s because we’re not just a single person, but a whole professional team of editors at your service.
We Want to Help You, Too
When you hire Super Copy Editors for your agency, you get all the benefits of:
- A freelance team: flexibility and cost-effectiveness
- An in-house staff: expertise, consistency, and attention to deadlines
… all at a fraction of the cost and none of the headaches.
If you’re looking for a proven team of ad agency copy editors to ensure the highest-quality materials possible, look no further. We’re confident we can meet your agency’s needs.
Contact the Super Copy Editors team for more details and a customized quote.
