VOLUME 22, ISSUE 12 – DECEMBER 2023
THIS MONTH’S MENU:
I. WHY NEWSLETTERS ARE STILL GREAT MARKETING TOOLS
Seasoned Niche Copywriter (& Newsletter Pro) Makes the Case
II. WHY UNDERSTANDING AI IS IMPORTANT
(Even if You Don’t Use it in Your Writing)
III. “SINCE …” IS BETTER THAN “OVER…”
No-Effort Tip for Ensuring “Ever-Current” Web-Site Dates
I. WHY NEWSLETTERS ARE STILL GREAT MARKETING TOOLS
Seasoned Niche Copywriter (& Newsletter Pro) Makes the Case
Atlanta financial-services copywriter, Don Sadler, has been working with newsletter publishers his entire professional career. As such, this solid primer (from HIS e-newsletter) is worth a read.
I couldn’t agree more: this newsletter (near 22 years old!) has been my single most profitable marketing vehicle for the book side of my practice—by far.
Below is a bulleted version of his longer, info-rich piece (read it here). While geared towards any business, his advice applies to both copywriters like us as well as our clients.
One of the best marketing tools for practically any business is still the good old-fashioned newsletter. Why?
- They keep your business top-of-mind. When they’re ready to buy what you sell, they’ll think of you first.
- They position you and your business as experts in your field. And people like doing business with knowledgeable experts.
- They’re cost-effective. Your only real costs are the content-creation and distribution, and they scale well: reaching 10,000 readers costs little more than 1,000.
- They’re easily trackable. Email marketing services like Constant Contact and Mailchimp provide detailed analytics.
- They generate content. Your newsletter can provide the foundation for a broad content marketing program (blogs, white papers, etc.)
Read the full article here! (including the Top 5 Tips for Creating Great Newsletters!)
II. WHY UNDERSTANDING AI IS IMPORTANT
(Even if You Don’t Use it in Your Writing)
Great advice from CT FLCW (and regular E-PUB contributor), Jennifer Mattern—PR writer and founder of the acclaimed All Freelance Writing site.
I’m reminded of the adage, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”*
Keeping tabs on AI allows you to better neutralize its impact, and Jenn astutely points out AI’s often-unforeseen ramifications. Thanks, Jenn!
(*Often erroneously attributed to military strategist Sun Tzu, but actually a quote from Michael Corleone in “Godfather II”!)
AI continues to feature prominently in freelance writing conversations. Maybe you’ve decided you want no part of it, and you’d rather tune it out.
Please don’t.
Even if you have no plans to use AI tools in your writing, it’s important to have some understanding of them and how they’re used. Why? Here’s one example:
If you write in highly-competitive niches or industries, you could see AI content flood those markets.
This can negatively impact things like your clients’ search rankings, traffic, conversions, and ad revenue.
When clients see diminished results from their usual content and copywriting efforts, they might see less value in it. That could lead to scaling back writing projects (and stop hiring you) to focus on other activities.
By understanding AI content, how it’s created, and where it falls short (sourcing, plagiarism risks, repetitiveness, etc.), you can better guide your clients through these changes.
You can help clients tweak content strategies and style to make their content stand out. You can help them outrank AI-generated drivel. You can make a better case for professionally-crafted commercial writing vs AI cost-cutting.
The result? You can make yourself indispensable.
III. “SINCE…” IS BETTER THAN “OVER…”
No-Effort Tip for Ensuring “Ever-Current” Web-Site Dates
I realized this neat little web-copy trick years ago, but when I saw it again as an Easy Web Tip from Web Optimization pro Katherine Andes, I needed to run it.
Subscribe to her “super short, sweet, and smart” EWTs here.
Many clients I’ve worked with have been in business many years. It was a cool to be able to say, “We’ve been in business more than 30 years,” in multiple places on the site.
Every five years or so, I realized we needed to update those pages, but inevitably, I’d miss a few: the home page would say “more than 35,” while an interior page read, “more than 30…”
Then, I had a brilliant idea. Why not just write “We’ve been in business since 1995.” Duh.
By using “since ____,” you never have to adjust your copy again!