VOLUME 20, ISSUE 12 – DECEMBER 2021
THIS MONTH’S MENU:
I. APPETIZER: GOT A “TOM BRADY” MINDSET?
What the Greatest Football Player Ever Can Teach Commercial Writers
II. “FIELD” GREENS: HONESTY AS A POWERFUL SALES STRATEGY
Proof that Effective Selling Is More About Informing than Pushing
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: 3 REASONS TO EMBRACE SEO
Understanding SEO Can Yield More Business & Boost Your Value to Clients
IV. DESSERT: COMBO SUCCESS STORY & TIP
FLCW Learns Going the Extra Quarter Mile Pays Off Handsomely
I. APPETIZER: GOT A “TOM BRADY” MINDSET?
What the Greatest Football Player Ever Can Teach Commercial Writers
I’m a huge Tom Brady fan. Though, given how not into sports many “creatives” are, I’m guessing many of you don’t know who he is, nor care even if you do. Humor me for a moment.
Brady is considered the greatest football player to ever play the game. At 44, he’s played for 22 years in a sport where the average career is four years. His list of records is otherworldly.
As I write this, he’s leading the league (of mostly 20-somethings) in touchdown passes. At 44. He’s played as long as many NFL’ers have been alive.
Forget the sports angle to all this. This is about studying a human being who’s performed at an extraordinarily high level, for a very, very long time.
In a sport where most quarterbacks don’t get to—much less win—even one Super Bowl, TB’s been to 10 in 21 years (words fail), and won seven. Heck, his Super Bowl ring tally is more than 18 NFL teams—combined.
In 2020, after 20 years as the marquee quarterback for the New England Patriots, he joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In that first COVID-circumscribed season, it was just hoped that he’d bring a little respectability to a longtime loser.
LOL. WAY too low a bar for TB.
Instead, he takes the Bucs to the Super Bowl, and wins his seventh ring—dominating a heavily favored opponent. You can’t make this stuff up.
Was his future greatness obvious in college? Hardly. In fact, he was the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL draft. Which segues nicely into why I’m talking about him. He had none of the hallmarks of a future star, and yet he’s dominated the sport like no one ever has.
Why? Because, according to his high school, college and professional coaches, he works harder than anybody else.
After games, while everybody else heads home, TB typically studies films of their next opponent. Or, if they just lost, he’ll study the winning team a little bit more so he’ll be better prepared the next time he faces them.
Maybe you’re not a born writer. So what? Doesn’t mean you can’t be very successful—especially in our field, where brilliant writing isn’t required.
Just be disciplined, work harder than others, and do all the “no-experience-required” stuff: turn in clean copy, be easy to work with, and be über reliable. Speaking of which….
For TB, mastering the little things, and “showing up” every day is baseline stuff—nothing to brag about. Is Swiss-watch reliability and sweating the details just “givens” for you as well, little more than the non-negotiable foundation on which excellence is built?
He’s always learning, never thinking he’s “done.” And while he’s confident, he’s humble, doesn’t buy his own press and never thinks he’s “all that.”
Are you humble with clients? Do you listen to them (vs. deciding upfront what they need), so you nail your first drafts?
If you’re seasoned, can you feel confident with your skills, while still believing you can learn more? Few of us will be Tom Bradys in our field, but he’s got lots to teach us. On that “success-leaves-clues” note, let’s eat!
II. “FIELD” GREENS: HONESTY AS A POWERFUL SALES STRATEGY
Proof that Effective Selling Is More About Informing than Pushing
So, a few months ago, after a grueling drive up north for much of the summer, on a whim, I thought I’d look into what’d it’d cost to ship my car the next time. I found a website that promised to provide quotes from drivers, filled out the form and got an onslaught of email responses.
Most were pushing to sign me up—just assuming I was ready to pull the trigger, when, in reality, I was “just looking,” had virtually no idea how any of this worked, and was overwhelmed. What were the potential pitfalls or unpleasant surprises? The original website didn’t tell me much.
But then, one company got my attention with this email:
This is _______ Auto Transport. You’re probably overwhelmed with emails and calls, but there are a couple of things you should know before choosing a shipping company:
(Smart move, recognizing exactly how I felt!)
1) Nobody can guarantee quotes! All quotes are based on approximate calculations and should be approved by a driver. The market works like an auction. The higher the price, the easier it is to get a driver. Carriers will accept higher-paying loads first.
I won’t include their entire email, but suffice to say, they went on to explain how all the companies reaching out to me were brokers, not drivers. How most care only about turnover, not customers, will “tell you what you want to hear,” quote you one price (bait), and charge you more on pickup day (switch), etc.
They strongly recommended checking online reviews, and finished with this:
We can offer: $____. Would that work for you? Please google “______reviews” to get a better idea about our company. Our quote might not be the lowest, but our service is 5-star and all drivers are licensed and insured. Please feel free to ask any questions.
Wow. Talk about effective. This is a variation on the marketing device I discuss in TWFW (p. 201 of the 2021 edition): “10 Questions You Should Ask…” They positioned themselves as the honest, credible good guy willing to “tell all” about the industry, so you can make an informed decision.
AND, when you do, you’ll be inclined to pick them.
Also… Oftentimes, it’s not the “sales” copy that gets us to make a decision, but, rather, the “here’s-how-this-works” copy (including, in many cases, what we didn’t know we didn’t know).
Fact is, better informed prospects are far closer to buying than ill-informed ones. Keep the above lessons in mind when writing copy for your clients.
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: 3 REASONS TO EMBRACE SEO
Understanding SEO Can Yield More Business & Boost Your Value to Clients
You don’t have to become an SEO guru to thrive as a FLCW, but getting your arms around the basics is a smart move. That’s the takeaway (and I agree!) from this great piece from PA FLCW (and regular EPUB contributor), Jennifer Mattern—PR writer and founder of the acclaimed All Freelance Writing site.
SEO, or search-engine optimization, has earned a bit of a bad rep in parts of the freelance writing community. But we’ve come a long way from poorly-written, keyword-stuffed “SEO content.”
It’s not a matter of writing for readers OR writing for search engines. Great online content today should do both, without sacrificing the former.
SEO isn’t about gaming the system for traffic. It’s about reaching the people you want your words to reach. It’s also about figuring out what your target readers want so you can provide it.
There are three reasons you should embrace SEO as a freelance writer, both for your own benefit and that of clients.
- SEO Attracts Warm Leads: When the copy on your professional website is optimized for search rankings, you’ll attract warm leads. And it doesn’t require many warm leads to keep a freelancer flush with projects.
How does SEO do this? Think about how search engines work. Your prospects use a search engine to find something, or someone, specific. If they search for a freelance copywriter specializing in a particular industry or project type, and they find you as a result, they’ve come to you already open to hiring.
This can be ideal if cold pitches aren’t your thing or if you’re simply looking to supplement your existing marketing strategy.
- SEO Knowledge is a Value-Add for Your Clients: Embracing search-engine optimization isn’t just about your own business. It also increases the value of the writing services you provide whenever you write online content or copy for clients. Why?
When you deliver well-optimized copy, you offer the added benefit of built-in, natural promotion by helping clients attract their desired readers via improved search results. This isn’t just a bonus anymore. Clients often expect this now. It’s a part of knowing how to write for online audiences.
As an added benefit, SEO experience can put you in a position to push back against bad SEO advice clients get elsewhere, helping clients in the long run while keeping your work from being associated with unethical tactics.
- Understanding SEO Helps You Craft an Effective Content Strategy: Any marketing or PR efforts you pursue for your commercial-writing business will require some level of content strategy.
This includes your blog-post schedule, email newsletters, social-media updates, and more. SEO isn’t only about how you write. It’s about the research you put into understanding reader intent.
Keyword research (using tools like the Google Ads Keyword Planner) helps you learn what your prospects are searching for so you can make sure your writing answers their questions or shows them you (or your clients) are the solution to their problems. You could even turn these SEO research skills into add-on content strategy services.
Another tool to research what your target readers are looking for is
Answer the Public. Enter a topic or keyword to see questions you can build a content strategy around.
Search engine optimization isn’t something you can afford to ignore if you write for the web. When you embrace SEO in effective and ethical ways, you’ll find the benefits far outweigh any old school misconceptions.
If you want to learn more about how SEO can benefit your freelance writing business, and how to get started with SEO basics, check out my post at Lori Widmer’s Words on the Page blog, SEO 101 for Freelance Writers.
PB: Jenn gave me and the new edition of TWFW a nice shout-out on her site a few weeks back – thanks much, Jenn!
IV. DESSERT: COMBO SUCCESS STORY & TIP
FLCW Learns Going the Extra Quarter Mile Pays Off Handsomely
Got the following from a FLCW who’d prefer to remain anonymous. Such great advice. It’s amazing how little things (i.e., that take an insignificant investment of time) can pay such rich dividends. Why? In part, no doubt, because such actions stand out as so rare. And “rare” gets noticed.
I work with several agencies and publications that have large teams. There’s usually a key editor or manager who’s the main point of contact, as well as the person deciding who gets projects. I’m always super respectful and responsive with them, as I imagine every other freelancer they work with would be.
Through these projects, I’m also in contact with other staff like fact-checkers and copyeditors who aren’t at the level of assigning work. Yet, the thing is, while we’re building our businesses, they’re building their careers too.
I aim to be just as professional and responsive to these other team members when they ask. Things like going the extra mile on a fact-check request or answering some quick technical questions, even for a piece I’m not working on.
The work only takes a few minutes, and I could probably skip it without damaging the actual client relationship.
I’ve found putting in this time has paid off handsomely. I’ve had contacts get promoted in-house, where I ended being their first freelance hire. Others moved onto management positions at other companies and they made sure to bring me onto their new writing team.
Keep that in mind as you interact with people. You never know who your next client will be.