VOLUME 15, ISSUE 10 – OCTOBER 2016
THIS MONTH’S MENU:
I. APPETIZER: IS “CONTENT” THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN?
Creative Pro Thinks So, But I’m Nowhere Near Convinced…
II. “FIELD” GREENS: ARE YOU TALKING “ABOUT” ALL THE WRONG THINGS?
Marketing Guru: “About” Pages Should Talk TO Clients, Not ABOUT You.
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: “PENCIL ME IN”—A NON-DEADLINE-DAY EXERCISE
CA FLCW Serves Up the How-to on Creativity-Boosting “Writing Prompts”
IV. DESSERT: SWEET SUCCESS STORIES & TIPS
Ex-Magazine Editor Leverages Contacts, Forges New Career as a Copywriter
TIP: Great Ideas for Using Your EM Signature to Market Your Service—Free!
I. APPETIZER: IS “CONTENT” THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN?
Creative Pro Thinks So, But I’m Nowhere Near Convinced…
A few weeks back, I got this email:
Hey, Peter! As a career copywriter/creative director, I think the biggest problem facing our profession is that the kind of award-winning work I used to do is not in much demand these days. Instead, the Internet has taught clients that what they need is “content” and lots of it. It doesn’t have to be great or even good, just cheap and preferably also fast.
Clearly, that’s her experience, but it’s by no means all I’m seeing. No question, content is big—driven by an evolution not only in how people buy things (i.e., through research and educating themselves— not being sold), but in search engines as well.
I agree the fruits of the traditional advertising world are definitely in less demand than they once were, but I’m still getting plenty of work doing website messaging, brochures of all stripes (companies still do plenty of trade shows and need “leave-behinds”), ads, postcard direct mail, email marketing, landing pages, and plenty more.
Simply put, business does not live by “content” alone.
And let’s look at the content needs: case studies, white papers, blog posts, and the like. As I address in my latest blog post here, there is a trend toward companies hiring cheap writers for their content needs. But, for a little perspective, let’s look at the development of web copy 15-20 years ago.
Back then, no one thought much about the quality of writing on their web sites. You just needed some there. But, in time, of course, companies realized writing DID matter.
And when your competition invested in more creative, strategically written and “SEO’d” copy (that said, writing with good SEO but crappily written wasn’t enough)—and ended up selling more than your lousy writing, you needed to step up. No newsflash there.
Same thing will happen here. Competition will have companies investing in better “content” writers, and just because it’s SEO’d well, if it doesn’t read well or is boring, the market will dictate better writing (no offense to those lower-priced writers who do deliver good “content,” but I say you’re not the norm).
So, sure, things change and evolve, and we evolve as well. And as I point out in the blog post above, while there are lots more writers in the market now (thanks to the implosion of journalism in the past few decades), solid marketing-copywriting skills are NOT in abundance in their ranks. And the need for those skills will never go away. On that “we’re-more-relevant-than-ever” note, let’s eat!
II. “FIELD” GREENS: ARE YOU TALKING “ABOUT” ALL THE WRONG THINGS?
Marketing Guru: “About” Pages Should Talk TO Clients, Not ABOUT You.
I love marketing guru Marcia Yudkin’s weekly “Marketing Minutes.” Always useful, and yes, they truly only take a minute to get through —which is why it’s one of the few I read regularly.
This one, from 8/10/16, underscores one of my pet peeves: “About Me” pages that include the unnecessary while omitting the relevant.
If you make the lion’s share of your income from commercial freelancing, your clients only care about your life’s personal details if it helps them decide to hire you. If it doesn’t, don’t include it; save them (call it the “pastimes/poetry/pets” stuff) for your “lighter” writing sites.
Recently I’ve run into a number of people who wrote up their “About” page without mentioning degrees, certifications, years of experience or work with well-regarded organizations.
Instead, they wrote fluffy, feel-good paragraphs about what’s important to them and turning points in their professional lives.
It was as if they were auditioning to be chosen as a friend by clients, not a skilled, well-informed advisor who knows the difference between hot air and savvy decisions.
“Only once have I ever been asked about my qualifications (even though I have a lot),” one of these people told me, explaining why she omitted the facts that normally go in a bio. “Clients want results, want to know I care and understand their unique needs.”
Unfortunately, those who don’t ask already went elsewhere, and they could include not just potential clients but also people organizing a conference, referral sources and media folks.
Certain people click to your “About” page to answer the question, “Can I trust you?” If you have credentials, a track record, real-world achievements and reputable organizations that can vouch for you, always include them.
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: “PENCIL ME IN”—A NON-DEADLINE-DAY EXERCISE
CA FLCW Serves Up the How-to on Creativity-Boosting “Writing Prompts”
Cool piece from Watsonville, CA FLCW (amongst other things) Tom Bentley, about a creativity-sparking exercise that’ll help in any kind of writing (and certainly our kind). It strikes me as sort of a “wax-on-wax-off” thing (Google it if you’re too young to remember!): The practice you do one day builds the creative muscles you use on another. Enjoy!
Open hours in my schedule today—what to do? Though the devil on my shoulder always advocates mindless Internet cruising, spiced with salsa and chips, the better angels of my nature whisper poems of productivity. So, instead of mindless mousing, what about hunkering down inside with a writing exercise?
Whether you are working on an ad, a brochure, a headline—or even the character of a character in a short story—“writing prompts” loosen the creativity muscles. A 10-minute exercise with a prompt can open the window to all those bright metaphors and word winds that seem dark and silent when you’re struggling with them directly.
Simple is best for a writing prompt: Let’s consider describing an everyday object from several angles, whether metaphorical or metaphysical. Enter the pencil.
Pencils in the Real World
It’s notable how plungingly deep you can go when you start to describe an object, particularly one you’d never bothered to focus attention on. With a prompt, you just let your mind and fingers fly, and don’t get out any red pencil to edit.
Thus, a physical pencil is:
- A slender wooden wand capped with a metal ferrule topped with a rubber eraser
- A short cylindrical spear with a soft end and a pointy tip
- A soft, breakable wooden shaft
- A balanced, effective, reliable writing instrument
- A cat toy
- A vehicle for advertising
Pencil as Metaphor
- An insecure pencil won’t write polysyllabic words for fear of misspelling them
- A heroic pencil has broad, defined shoulders just below the eraser
- A husband pencil never takes out the shavings
Pencil Sensuality
- The light but friendly heft of a pencil in your hand
- The agreeable noise a pencil makes when scribbling words on paper
- The sweet cedar smells when sharpening a pencil
Pencils in Irregular Use
- Staving off boredom by flinging them up to stick in those soft-tile corporate ceilings when the boss isn’t around
- Pencil as ear cleaner
- Pencil as stand-in for conductor’s baton
Pencil as Pun
That’ll put lead in your pencil (ahh, my adolescence, it will never truly end)
Pencil as Iconic Object
Often seen behind the ears of old-school reporters, circa The Front Page era
Pencil as Ironic Object
Gigantic pencils occasionally seen in sculpture gardens
Pencil as Shakespearean Character
Think of a pencil separated from its twin, cross-dressing (alternating wearing manly tights with bosom-exposing dresses), caught in heart-pounding court intrigue, strumming a lyre whenever possible, and finally getting married amidst much fanfare, resonant huzzahs and beer.
Well, I won’t burden you with leaden prose any longer. But I think writers have an ability to look at the most common of things, and see a story there, whether for content marketing or your latest haiku. So next time you look at your saltshaker, remember that from a different vantage you might think of it as your pet, your boyfriend, your accountant. Even your muse.
Enough of that—I’m going to take my pencil for a walk.
Tom Bentley is a business copywriter and editor, fiction writer and editor, travel writer and essayist, and curling Olympian (well, no, but just checking to see if you’re reading.) He’s the author of Think Like a Writer: How to Write the Stories You See. His singing has been known to frighten the horses.
IV. DESSERT: SWEET SUCCESS STORIES & TIPS
Ex-Magazine Editor Leverages Contacts, Forges New Career as a Copywriter
TIP: Great Ideas for Using Your EM Signature to Market Your Service—Free!
Great success story from St. Cloud, MN FLCW Natalie Rotunda, about adapting to her rapidly changing professional circumstances, and proactively pursuing work.
After that, NC FLCW J.M. Lacey serves up a great tip about new and more profitable uses for your email signature.
When the magazine for which I was managing publisher, editor and columnist/writer abruptly closed shop last fall, thud, there went my income. I’d been a copywriter in training, but the time to don my Serious Copywriter hat was now.
I’d completed several small projects to show prospects, but were they good enough to land a bigger gig? An email exchange a few weeks later answered my question.
The ad agency for one of the magazine’s advertisers wondered when she should submit copy for the next issue. I gave her the sorry news, politely added “thanks for advertising with us” before asking if she used freelance copywriters.
“Occasionally,” she answered. Then, “Send me your portfolio.”
That done, to my bold question, “Mind if I stay in touch periodically?” she replied, “Please do.” And I did. Monthly.
In month four of 2016, I sent this perky email, “Anything on your desk I can help you with?” I kept a lid on my excitement (while bursting with runaway excitement on my insides) when I read, “Yes, I do have a small project for you.”
We set a time to talk that day. She asked my hourly rate (a firm “no” to a project rate), I asked good questions (she said), asked for the due date, and told her my payment process (50% upfront before I begin work, the balance at project completion). That 50% check arrived in my mailbox the next day. I was pumped and ready to roll.
The project was a 10-page web copy rewrite. A bigger gig! I submitted it on time, and got this feedback. “Very well pleased. Very impressed,”
It all started with the closing of a magazine and a chance question to an agency owner.
We often use our email signatures for contact information, such as our name, number, website and mailing address. But it’s also a prime place to market your copywriting business.
Were you mentioned in a news article or did you have an article published? Do you have a service your clients rave about? Just get a great client testimonial? Finish a website for a client?
Add links to your signature that take your readers directly to the appropriate web pages and voila! You’ve piqued the recipient’s interest and he/she is checking you out. Change the links every week and use different fonts and colors if you can to appease your readers and draw attention to your next “need-to-know” link.