VOLUME 22, ISSUE 6 – JUNE 2023
THIS MONTH’S MENU:
I. APPETIZER: WHO’S MOST LIKELY TO HIRE US?
Writer’s Question Makes False Assumption (BUT Has an Answer)
II. “FIELD” GREENS: FAILURE TO LAUNCH?
How to Deal with Projects that Never Start
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: 6 WAYS TO HOOK THE ‘SCANNING EYE’
Atlanta Copywriter: Tips for Maximizing Website Visitors’ Attention & Action
IV. DESSERT: COMBO SUCCESS STORY & TIP
Got Rewriting? Yours Truly Lands Rewriting Job from Initial Client Work
I. APPETIZER: WHO’S MOST LIKELY TO HIRE US?
Writer’s Question Makes False Assumption (BUT Has an Answer)
Heard recently from a budding commercial freelancer with a common, but misguided question:
What types of companies and organizations are most likely to outsource copywriting? Lately, I’ve been hearing more and more: “We just use staff writers.”
That’s called a “shortcut-hunting” question. Not picking on the questioner when I say that; it’s only human to want to figure out the shortest distance between two points.
In fact, there is an answer, but it’s more about company size than type.
Wishful Thinking, Not Logic
This is one of those false perceptions many copywriters starting out seem to have: that some companies/industries are more likely to hire copywriters than others. Again, the question is driven more by wishful thinking than logic.
Fact is, within any given industry, some companies hire out writing, and plenty of others don’t. And the “why” of either often is a function of whether they’ve discovered resources like us.
If they don’t know we exist, they obviously won’t be hiring us; they’ll either try to do it in-house or hire an agency.
If they have found people like us, what was their experience? If it’s bad (and sadly, often it is), they’ll be disinclined to repeat it.
If it was good—the case with my clients (and no doubt, plenty of yours as well)—then they’ll be “the kind of company that hires freelancers.”
“Who” Is Less Important than “How Big”
A more important determining factor, however is their size (though the good/bad experience dynamic above still applies here). The “sweet spot” for folks like us are small-medium-sized companies: 50-200+ employees.
Why? Because they have the money to hire people like us, but typically don’t have those types of resources in-house.
Larger Fortune 500 companies are more likely to have in-house writers, though you’d also be surprised at how many of those hire out their writing as well.
Then, there’s the writer’s final comment: Lately, I’ve been hearing more and more: “We just use staff writers.”
Remember the hard truth of prospecting: 80% of companies you contact won’t be interested, and for various reasons, including, yes, the “staff-writer” one.
On that “bark-up-the-right-(small-to-medium-sized)-trees” note, let’s eat!
II. “FIELD” GREENS: FAILURE TO LAUNCH?
How to Deal with Projects that Never Start
Got this great piece from a FLCW who prefers to remain anonymous. We’ve all been here, and it’s no fun. One thing I’d add to this solid advice: delays almost never have anything to do with the writer.
Remember that humbling—& liberating—truism: It’s not always about you!
As freelancers, we’re terrified of a dry spell with no new clients in sight. Even worse is getting close to that juicy dream project, but like an oasis in the desert, it never materializes. Here’s how I’ve gotten through this frustrating problem.
Realize you’re on the client’s schedule: Yes, you and your bank account badly want this project, but you can’t let that desire spill over into your client interactions.
Nothing scares them away like desperation (in insurance sales, we called it “commission breath”). Stay calm and realize you can’t force them.
Stay professionally persistent: What you can do is ease them along with reminders. Follow up when asked to, send check-in emails, and share ideas about the project as they come to you.
You’ll come across as a pro, which could motivate them to get moving sooner.
Keep looking for other clients: Stop checking your email every 10 minutes for the green light, and do more marketing instead. Landing other business puts you in a stronger bargaining position when the sluggish client is finally ready to talk numbers.
Accept some projects will never launch: During my first cold-calling campaign, a few hundred calls yielded no work.
Then, I met a prospect who sounded perfect: If you can deliver, we’ll have more work than you can handle (does this promise ever come through?).
Feeling confident, I slacked off on marketing. They hired me for a few small posts and loved them, but just faded away. It was a hard lesson: you can’t pay bills with promises of work.
Celebrate the ones that land: Some long-delayed clients do come through. I had one last year where everything that could go wrong, did: they lost paperwork, they had to rewrite the contract, and HR dragged their feet.
Lean months went by, but I didn’t pressure them. It took six months longer than it should have to launch, but today, they’re one of my best monthly “regulars.”
Waiting for projects to happen is never be fun. But, if you keep cool, keep in touch, keep marketing, and keep reality in mind, you’ll get through.
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: 6 WAYS TO HOOK THE ‘SCANNING EYE’
Atlanta Copywriter: Tips for Maximizing Website Visitors’ Attention & Action
Got this exceptionally useful piece from Atlanta copywriter and web-content writer, Tom Tortorici, who, in his own words, “helps companies make a genuine connection with their audience.”
As information-overload only gets worse, it’s increasingly more difficult to attract and keep the rapidly-shrinking attention of website visitors.
While this piece was originally written for clients, it has plenty of lessons for folks like us when writing web content for our clients. Thanks, Tom!
When you visit a website, do you read every word on every page?
Of course not. Nobody does.
If you pay attention to your attention online, you’ll find you start out by visually ‘skimming’ the page. What your eye takes in during this initial scan determines whether you’ll dig any deeper.
If nothing really grabs you, you have a Back Button, and know how to use it.
Unfortunately, website designers are sometimes too focused on aesthetic considerations to inspect their creations from the perspective of real-world buyers with limited time, patience and attention spans.
Here’s a few ways to hook the scanning eye, and make people curious enough to want to know more. Because if you don’t, it’s unlikely any money is going to be changing hands today.
- Turn key selling points into headlines.
The scanning eye is drawn to prominent headlines, so exploit that opportunity by conveying your most important competitive advantages here. Be as specific as you can, and focus on customer benefits, not just product attributes.
- Keep written content bite-size.
That means breaking down your content into topic sections. One effective formula consists of a brief, bold header, followed by two sentences of text. And the text should be oversize, to make it more ‘accessible’ to the eye.
- For bulleted copy points, don’t use bullets.
Instead, bold the first word or two of each line, and add a bit of vertical spacing between lines of text. If you compare this technique with traditional bullets, you’ll see which is better at grabbing the eye.
- Employ carefully-crafted subheads.
After a big, brief headline, add a slightly longer subhead in a medium size font. People are more likely to read these than jump into small paragraph text. Subheads also act as a visual ‘bridge’ between the headline and the text.
- Ask buyers a strategic question.
A headline in the form of a question might be more engaging and impactful than any statement you could make. For example: “Wouldn’t you feel safer with your cloud backups in four places instead of one?”
- Take a fresh approach.
Want to stand out? Read through competitors’ websites to see what to avoid. Common sales cliches, after a while, just become background noise. To push through to the foreground of people’s awareness, stand for something unique.
Remember, a company creating a website isn’t that site’s intended audience.
Every day, a company owner approves a new website design because “it looks good to me.” But now, you have a template for assessing things from the point-of-view of the people who, in the end, will determine your success.
IV. DESSERT: COMBO SUCCESS STORY & TIP
Got Rewriting? Yours Truly Lands Rewriting Job from Initial Client Work
Recently, I met a prospect through networking—the CEO of a healthcare entity she was getting ready to sell following a several-decade run of success.
We got to talking, and turns out, she was struggling with creating the “company story” portion of the proposal.
I suggested that that was something I could certainly help with. We discussed parameters, agreed on a fee, and I got to work.
She loved what I came up with, and a funny happened along the way. Part of the source material I was given to help with the project was a case study showcasing one of their big “wins.”
While it had a lot of good information, it was way too copy-heavy—easily twice as long as necessary to tell the story. It repeated many points, and the real reader takeaways were buried in these huge, eye-glazing copy blocks.
I suggested to her that I could improve it if she was willing, and she was.
As I saw it, this case study, given the marquee hospital involved, was a real feather in their cap, and was a solid “brick in the wall” of the case to be made for valuing the business high.
But only if it was read! And in its current state, that was unlikely.
She loved my rework, saw how much more compelling and readable it now was, and in the process, becoming a potent illustration of the company’s strengths.
When working with clients, if you encounter existing materials you feel you could improve—whether while poking around their site, or, in my case, as part of the source material for another project—why not suggest you rework it?
Given that rewriting something is less expensive than crafting the project from scratch, clients will love the idea of the lower cost.
And, if you end up substantively improving the quality of the “customer-facing” materials, don’t be surprised if they’re motivated to bring all their stuff up to the new standard.
NOTE: The above project is featured in my new module to Well-Fed Craft, my popular self-paced, video-based course on how to actually write the most commonly encountered commercial-writing projects.
The new module, The Before & After Collection, can be purchased alone ($20!), and earns you a $60-Off discount on the larger WFC program. Go here for all the details.