Why this blog? Because I'm your customer's advocate, reminding businesses that they must talk to customers, not at them, to get heard. This blog is my means of putting helpful advice, tips and reminders out into the world so your marketing will be more relevant, more targeted...and more likely to get noticed. Happy Marketing!

--Sharon Long Baerny

I’ve been thinking about communication and how you can keep saying the same thing over and over and not get heard. And the implications when you consider marketing is like dating.

 

Ever been in a relationship and had trouble communicating? Or understanding your partner? It happens. People have differing communication styles. The meaning of words, tone of voice, body language and even the topics of discussion can vary greatly between people. It’s not for lack of trying. We want to communicate. We are humans, after all, social beings. And that can lead to frustration when we feel like we’re not getting heard, or conversely, not understanding the other person.

 

Think of a time when you felt like the person you were dating just wasn’t listening. Argh! How frustrating is that?

 

Now remember a time when you met someone, or went on that first date, and you clicked. You could practically finish each other’s sentences, and delighted in the conversation because you were communicating so clearly.

 

How fun was that? You probably kept on dating that person, right?

 

That’s what you want your marketing to do: to click with that prospect, to make that instant connection that makes the prospect feel like she’s being heard.

 

Your marketing can do that when the message is relevant and timely…and when you recognize when it’s not working. Marketing is like dating.

 

Back to the analogy of the date with two people not communicating. If one of them could recognize what was happening and change their words or tone or topic to try and match how the other person seemed to be hearing them, they just might have a breakthrough and end up thoroughly enjoying their date (or relationship, if the dating has been going well!).

 

Same with your marketing. If it ain’t working, it is broken, and you gotta fix it! If your email marketing copywriting got poor results, change it. If your Web site copywriting isn’t converting, change it. If your direct mail copywriting bombed, change it.

 

You’ll save yourself frustration, and your prospect will appreciate being talked to, not at…and will maybe become someone you can continue to “date” with your marketing and ultimately a customer.

Stories are compelling. Stories are how people passed along knowledge, lore and culture for thousands of years before the written word. If you have children, you know how compelling stories can be: There are some stories kids can’t hear enough. (I used to know “The Little Engine that Could” by heart, I read it so many times to my son when he was little.) Even longer books keep kids engaged: “Wolf Story” is a chapter book I read dozens of times to Evan, then later to his sister.

 

Or think about a dinner party: Who’s the most entertaining guest? The story teller, the one who spins the yarns while everyone listens and laughs.

Whether you're marketing your small business, freelancing as a Website copywriter or SEO copywritier, or focused on blogs as marketing tools, you should be telling stories every chance you get.

 

It’s part of what I call Indirect Marketing. The soft sell. The nuance. The influence. You tell a story about, say, a customer, and other potential customers will relate to that customer’s story much more than they’ll relate to you talking about you.

 

Here’s an example from the University of Washington Foster School of Business Web site, telling a story about how one person is involved at the corporate level to get other C-level executives interested in getting involved with the school too. The story is about Bill Ayer, CEO of Alaska Airlines, and his personal and business involvement with the school. By telling his story, we’re encouraging other execs to picture themselves there too, playing a similar role and getting a similar benefit.

 

Stories happen all around you all the time. You just have to get your antenna tuned to notice them. Then, guess the best place for your stories? Your Web site definitely, maybe your email newsletter if you do one, but your blog is the best place for your stories. Your stories can start there, in your blog, where it’s easy to post them. Then they can morph into Web content, printed content, an article in your email newsletter, etc. But if you’re blogging and constantly scratching your head, while at the same time using blogs as marketing tools, start telling your stories!

 

And you’ll be a hit at the next dinner party too.

p.s. Yes, I wrote the  Bill Ayer story after interviewing him. Delightful person and the only person I've ever met who talks faster than I do!

Years ago Seth Godin wrote a book called “Free Prize Inside.” The idea of a free prize, that little something extra you get (as a customer) or give (as a business) has stayed with me ever since, and I notice free prizes and lack thereof on a regular basis.

 

Staples had a great free prize going on recently. They called it a Career Stimulus Program and were giving away 20 resume copies and 40 business cards, for free! How sweet is that? How relevant to the mindset of their customers, either those who did get laid off or those who were worried about it? That’s a move that says “you’re more than a customer” and one that will build brand loyalty.

 

On the other hand, I will be paying $800 for new tires this week due to a lack of free prize. Now, admittedly, my tires wearing wrong and needing to be replaced just two years after I bought them is my fault. I didn’t get them aligned (and they were somehow aligned wrong??). But if the place I bought the tires from had an email marketing program that sent me a reminder every 6 to 12 months to go in for a rotation and alignment, I would love that company for the reminder, and I wouldn’t have been driving around on tires that were ready to blow at any minute! (Seriously, they are so bad, I had to sign a waiver before I was allowed to leave my mechanics. Thank goodness they noticed!)

 

Both of these take work: Giving away free copies and business cards takes labor and paper, of course. Setting up an email program to send out reminders takes labor and technology. But as Staples demonstrated, that effort can pay you back a hundred fold in brand loyalty.

 

It’s easy not to do enough. As they say, good enough is the enemy of great. But what’s the next step? What’s the free prize? What’s the little bit extra your company can do to win that brand loyalty? Yes, it takes short-term investment, but there is long-term gain. And it’s the long-term relationship you want with your customer.  

Or use the marketing is like dating analogy: What's a dating free prize, that little bit extra that shows you're thoughtful and in it for more than one night? Let her choose the restaurant. Show up with flowers. Play her radio station in the car. You get the idea.

Yesterday in a meeting someone commented that a site visitor “dates” a Web site. Brilliant! Wish I’d thought of it! That notion takes all my ideas about marketing is like dating and condenses it down to just a Web site.

It’s the same principles: There’s being in the right place at the right time to meet someone (the SEO that gets you found in the search engines). Then the first impression (your home page). Next step after meeting someone and making a good first impression is to start engaging them (getting them to click deeper into your site). You might buy them a drink (offer valuable information or a discount on your Web site). And you keep talking (more clicking through on your site). If things are going well and you want to stay in touch, you exchange phone numbers (the email signup). If things are going really well and you’re sure you want to see each other again, you set up a date (the sale).

 

Next time you’re working on your Web site, thinking about it as dating and see if that gives you a new perspective and insight into how to make your Web site more successful!

Also keep in mind things not to be when meeting or dating someone: boring, self-centered, narcissistic, pushy, etc. Those all apply to your Web site too!

When this Seattle copywriter gets busy, the blog gets neglected. I confess. So I love when something happens that makes me have to blog, like today.

Every day I get email requests for my marketing tips ebook. These email requests are usually straightforward, but often include nice praise too, like "love your Web site," "love to read your blog," etc.

This email request takes the cake as being the sweetest I ever received, so I just have to share...and wonder if they're buttering me up for something. Thanks, Lynn, for the kinds words to warm a copywriter's heart, and thanks also for letting me share your email in my blog:

I would like to request a copy of your e-marketing book.  I thoroughly enjoy your Web site...such great information. Each morning I look forward to reading new posts on your Blog, and if not a new post...a previous one.  We are in the process of redesigning our Web site and the information you provide has been very helpful. Yes...you “extremely bright, talented, informed and fun” women may indeed be the best copywriting agency on the West coast J

 

Lynn Mitchell

Woodland Scenics

Now, if you're paying attention, you'll see this is also a cool way to use blogs as marketing tools: I get a nice email or comment, I put it in my blog and at the same time give myself a third-party endorsement. So, hint, hint, look out for those opportunities! 

How many times has a prospect told this Seattle copywriter their site was optimized for search, and it wasn’t? Enough times that I could get rich off the “if I had a dollar every time…” way of thinking.

 

If you want a quick and easy way to know if your website—or your competitor's—is optimized for search, go to the website and look in the very upper left-hand corner. That white text in the blue bar along the top is the Title (created in the html using a Title tag). If it says simply Home, or About Us, or the company name, that website is not optimized for search. I don’t care how many keywords might be plugged into the body copy, that Title tag matters for SEO. (It also mattes when people are searching for you as it is THE text that shows up in the search results! But that's another copywriting topic for another day.)

 

I’m happy to say Old Friend Footwear finally got their long awaited site launched, and it’s a great example of SEO copywriting! Go to www.oldfriendslipper.com and check out the Title tags on that site. Plus they were willing to work with me to have lots of pages of content (oh, guess I should clarify: I was the SEO copywriter for this project! J), and more content means more opportunities for SEO.

 

They were also great to work with because they let me do my SEO copywriting without any “vanity” keywords, i.e. those keywords the client wants to win but has no chance at without a lot of money and effort. We have a lot of great long tail keywords, meaning keywords made up of three or more words. And we have a plan for adding content over time. The perfect Website copywriter client!

 

On top of all that, Old Friend Footwear believes in blogs as marketing tools. Now that the site is live, we’ll start blogging for SEO, using relevant keywords, winning searches, and driving traffic to the site. I look forward to reporting on their small business blogging success!  

Are you true to your customer? Are you true to your brand? Or are you tempted by the successes of another and want to copy them, diluting your own message and brand?

 

Last week at Market to the Max, this Seattle copywriter's favorite panel was the airline one: Porter Gale of Virgin America and Steve Jarvis of Alaska Airlines both presented information about the marketing strategies of their companies and the reasoning behind. To me, the most interesting part of the presentation wasn’t the actual nuts and bolts of each airline’s approach, but the fact that these airlines:

 

·         Know their customer

·         Know themselves

·         Stay true to both

 

For a copywriter who believes in telling stories to market, you might think I’d tend towards fiction and being untrue to your brand, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Every business has stories to tell that are real. The trick is to tell the stories that are true to your brand and message, to learn what your customers want and like about you, and to figure out how to consistently offer that to them.

 

Virgin is hip. Everything they do is hip. Their customers love hip. That’s why they have such strong brand loyalty. Alaska is not hip, Alaska is “genuine and caring.” These two airlines have remarkably similar demographics as far as age, income, education level, etc. But what appeals to the Virgin customer differs dramatically from what appeals to the Alaska customer. So Virgin adheres to what works for them and doesn’t try to copy Alaska to woo those customers away. And Alaska adheres to what works for them and doesn’t try to copy Virgin to woo those customers away. If either one did, they’d be inauthentic, customers would end up dissatisfied and feeling like they’d been tricked, and the game would soon be up. They might have short-term gains, but they’d suffer long-term consequences.

 

Whether you're in small busienss marketing or big, next time you’re copywriting or hiring a freelance copywriter, remember to:

 

·         Know thy customer

·         Know thyself

·         Stay true to both

Confused about how and why to use blogs as marketing tools? Here’s a little help…

 

Last week this Seattle copywriter spent a day at Market to the Max, making sure I’m up to speed on the latest and greatest in marketing techniques and trends. I looked forward to the panel on blogging in particular, for two reasons: One, I’m a firm believer in blogs as marketing tools, and two, my friend Chris Baggott was on the panel, and I’m always intrigued by what he has to say.

 

The panel was a borderline disappointment, however, because Chris’ view, the only one that makes sense for the majority of businesses, was the minor one. (It was also a disappointment because of the moderator’s inappropriate behavior, but that’s irrelevant to my blogging point.)

 

Chris’ view on blogs as marketing tools is that businesses, including small business marketing, use blogging to get found online. It’s blogging to win in the search engines. What do search engines love? Fresh, keyword-rich content. What do blogs provide? Fresh, keyword-rich content. (OK, now I’m starting to sound like Chris, better be careful!)

 

But two of the panelists were too focused on using blogs to establish oneself as a thought leader. That’s all well and good and legitimate, but Mychal at Kona Kai doesn’t need to be a thought leader in the coffee business to make his small business successful. He needs to get people into Kona Kai for food, drink and fun (and free WiFi). His blog needs to attract people in Kent, Washington, not New York or Boston or …

 

Using blogs as marketing tools in the way the other panelists presented isn’t misdirected, it just wasn’t very helpful information for a room full of people charged with marketing their organizations.

 

Thinking about blogging? Start with a goal. Do you want to be a noteworthy leader in your industry with thousands of people subscribing to your blog? Go that route. Or do you want to sell more products and services and make more money? Then use your blog as a marketing tool and win the search wars.

 

Earlier this week, this freelance copywriter spent the day on the Seattle waterfront at Market to the Max. As always happens at these marketing conferences, my brain went into overdrive with blogging topics! Here’s the first…

 

During a (disappointing) panel on getting results from social media, I heard one insightful statement: Large companies can use social media to have small conversations. (Social media meaning blogging, social networking like Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

 

And that’s one more advantage small business marketing has that too few small business owners take advantage of. If you’re small business blogging, you’re already having small conversations. And you’re uniquely positioned to do so. The CEO of a major corporation might blog (or seem to blog using a ghost blogger), but you’re not going to walk into his factory and meet him in person.

 

But if it’s Michael at Kona Kai or Harpreet at Punjab Sweets, guess what? You are going to meet them in person when you walk into their place of business.

 

Part of the appeal of spending your money with a small business is knowing the owner and/or staff. There’s a real relationship there, one that can grow and be nurtured via small business blogging.

 

Small business blogging also enables you to tell stories that engage, to keep people up-to-date on your business and events, to even turn customers into evangelists when they can share your content.

 

I’m not sold on other social media tools for small business marketing. But I’m definitely sold on small business blogging.

 

Another (also disappointing) panel on blogging made me aware of how much confusion there is about why to use blogs as marketing tools, especially for small business blogging. More on that in this copywriter’s next blog…

Why the *&^%$ aren’t more businesses blogging? And even more frustrating, why don’t I see more small business blogging?

 

I’m a firm believer in blogs as marketing tools. An advocate, even. And I’m continually amazed at how many businesses still don’t use blogs as such. Whether you’re striving for search engine optimization or thought leadership or both, you should be blogging. Period.

 

I’m such an advocate for blogs as marketing tools, I work as a ghost blogger for some clients. Some people have an issue with that, they think blogs should be written by the CEO or whomever. But they’re missing the point of blogs as marketing tools. That’s great if your CEO can write intelligently about topics people want to hear about, using the keywords that matter most to you in the search wars. But it ain’t gonna fly if that CEO lacks the time and/or ability. Especially if your reason for blogging is getting found online. And for most businesses, especially small businesses, that should be your number one reason for using blogs as marketing tools.

 

So some of my copywriting clients have me ghost write their blogs, and I work hard to make sure the content is compelling and useful, and the keywords are used the way they need to be. One client’s blog has been very successful, getting noticed and subscribed to by experts in the industry, even though our primary reason for blogging is SEO. (And we’re doing well there two. Last time I checked, we are on the first SERP in Google for our two top keywords, and on the second page for another keyword.)

 

If this client relied on the CEO or someone else at the company to blog, it would rarely happen, the content wouldn’t be as rich, and the SEO results wouldn’t be as good. I as the ghost blogger make sure I write three posts a week for them, so the frequency is there. I work hard to learn about the issues and provide useful content in a well-written way. And I am able to use keywords, because I’m an SEO copywriter. The result? The client scores big time with me as the ghost blogger, without ever having to worry about whether it’s getting done or not.

 

Small business blogging is particularly cost-effective marketing and SEO, especially as more and more people go online to find local businesses. If someone’s searching for a coffee shop with free WiFi in Kent, Washington, or a tavern in Burlington, Washington, that coffee shop owner or tavern owner will do well to blog and win those local searches. Search engines favor blogs over static Websites, meaning small business blogging can even take the place of a Website for some small businesses.

 

Are you small business blogging? If so, tell me about it! If not, tell me why not?

Every page of your Website is a potential “home” page. That’s because any one of your Website pages could be the one that shows up in the search engine results page (SERP) when someone is searching online.

 

For example, type Seattle copywriter into Google and it’s not the We Know Words home page that shows up on page one of the SERPs, it’s a page within my site.

 

When working with your Website copywriter (or me), remember that each page must be able to stand alone. When a visitor lands at any page on your Website, they should still get a sense for where they are, what they’ll find, and what to do next.

 

With or without your copywriter, review each page of your Website and make sure it stands alone, and it includes at least one call to action to do something or to click to another page on your Website.

 

And along those lines, regarding a call to action, make sure every page is selling. As a freelance Website copywriter, I like to figure out one key action we’d like visitors to take, and to call that out on every page. See for example www.agrmarketingsolutions.com. Our primary goal is to get people to schedule a discovery call. So every single page of the Website includes that call to action in the sidebar.

 

Whether you’re focused on small business marketing or a huge ecommerce production, search engine optimization or blogs as marketing tools, you can easily make sure every page is a landing page, and every page is selling.

And if you want an objective eye reviewing your Website, ping this Website copywriter at sharon@weknowwords.com. I'll do a Website assessment to determine how well each of your pages is doing its job. Because in this competitive economy, you can't afford wasted space, even in cyber space. Every Web page has to do its job. And that job is to help you sell.

This Website copywriter's blog topics are often prompted by current copywriting projects. Right now I’m working on a small business Website copywriting project that’s requiring a lot of education…and all we’ve worked on so far is the home page.

 

People get confused about the real job of a Website’s home page. It’s not going to sell or convert. But it should get visitors deeper into your Website…and that’s the home page’s job. It should be short and concise and direct enough to tell someone at a glance what you’re offering, and compelling enough to get someone to click on a link to dig deeper.

 

As a Website copywriter, I think of home pages as doorways. A visitor knocks on your door when they land at your home page. You want to invite them in and have them accept the invitation. Then you can start leading them down the path to conversion, whether that conversion is to buy, to register, to subscribe, etc.

 

That means your home page has to be very targeted, another area where clients have trouble understanding how Website copywriting works.

 

If you have one main audience, one ideal type of customer, you’re better off speaking to that specific group with your home page rather than watering down your message trying to be all things to all people in just 150 words.

 

I once read words of wisdom that will stick with me always: Would you rather have one client who pays you what you’re worth or two clients who don’t? (I think it’s from a book called “Your money or your life.”) Every single time I’ve asked a small business client that question—and I do when they want to confuse, clutter and water down their message—they always, always answer “one client who pays me what I’m worth.”

 

If you try and make your home page work for a bunch of potential clients, you’re speaking to the masses and you’re less likely to get that one client. If you speak directly to that one client, you’re more likely to get him/her/it.

 

You also lose credibility when you try to be all things to all people on your home page.

 

So next time you sit down with your Website copywriter (or if you choose to work with me on your Website), remember these things about your home page:

 

·         It’s a doorway into your Website

·         It should tell your ideal audience what you offer at a glance

·         It should be the right balance between concise and compelling

 

And now this Website copywriter must stop preaching, er, I mean blogging and get back to copywriting!

 

On March 11, the Seattle Direct Marketing Association hosts Market to the Max, a full day of top notch speakers and panelists presenting on topics from paid search to email marketing to blogging and more.

 

This Seattle copywriter will be there to make sure I’m up to speed on all the latest and greatest marketing trends. If you’re a marketer in the Northwest, anywhere from Seattle to Portland to BC, you’d better be there too! My plan is to soak up all I can on blogs as marketing tools and email marketing and search engine optimization, so I can do a better job on email copywriting and ghost blogging and SEO copywriting. I also look forward to spending the day hanging out with a bunch of smart marketers! And the end of the day networking is always a blast as everyone winds down and relaxes with a drink.

Don't think this is just for big companies. There's lots that applies to small business marketing and small business blogging!

And don't think I'm going just because I was the copywriter for the core messaging either, although that was fun. MRM Seattle did such an awesome job on the concept! A game board, with real playing pieces! What a great agency to work with!

 

Speakers will be from industry leaders like Google, Microsoft, Alaska Airlines and Virgin Airlines. For a complete agenda, go to http://www.markettothemax.com/agenda.htm.

 

Hope to see you there!!

 Don’t believe customers are narcissists? Today doing keyword research for a Website copywriter client, I typed “restaurant” into the SEO Book tool http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/. I had to laugh when I saw an estimated 175 searches per day in Google for the phrase “restaurants near me.” Not restaurants in Seattle, or restaurants near a certain ZIP code, just “near me.”

 

Keep this in mind when copywriting your Web site, or overseeing your Website copywriter. People are narcissists. It’s not anything bad I’m saying about consumers, it’s true of all of us (although admittedly some more than others!). But we all are the center of our own universes, as my friend Lisa once said. As marketers and copywriters, we gotta get our heads out of our %$#@s and put the customer first, not ourselves.

 

This is particular true online where marketing tends to be self serve. Whether you’re revamping, evaluating or starting from scratch, make sure you’re building and copywriting your Web site to:

 

• Meet your customer’s needs first, yours second
• Have your copywriter use words that will resonate with your customers
• Use keywords your customers actually use, not the ones you assume they’ll use
• Delight your customers by being appropriate, relevant and easy…this includes navigation, the words used for buttons and links, the ease of your forms, and more

 

Still not a customer-centric Web site after all that? Your Web site is your online sales person, or should be. Maybe you could watch your sales people in action to see how they put the customer first. Then apply those principles to your Web site?

 

One of my favorite services I offer as a copywriter is Web site assessments. That means I review an existing Web site to assess how well it’s meeting the business’ goals and the customer’s goals. In all the years I’ve been doing these Web site assessments, I’ve yet to review a Web site that didn’t have room for improvement to serve the customer better.

 

Want this freelance Website copywriter and marketing maven to take a look at your Web site? Just say the word: sharon@weknowwords.com.

This freelance copywriter is technically still on vacation today, but catching up on email and blogging now that I’m back home. Travelling seems to always give me plenty of blog ideas, but, being on the road and busy with my kids, I don’t get them jotted down and forget them. But this past week’s trip to Phoenix brought to mind two biggies in my humble marketing maven opinion…and both fit my marketing is like dating analogy.

 

Monday morning, we took a very short Horizon flight from Seattle to Portland, to catch a connecting flight. This was a smallish plane, only four seats across, nothing fancy. But there’s “nothing fancy” and there’s shameful. In this case, three rows up from our seats, the plastic panel that houses the fan, light and call button was duct taped in place. Ouch.

 

Marketing happens at every single touch point with your customer. And marketing is like dating. If a man shows up for a date and his glasses are duct taped together, or his pants are hemmed with duct tape, or any other obvious and in poor taste use of duct tape, the woman is going to raise her eyebrows and feel like she doesn’t really matter to this guy after all. Even if he impressed her on the phone, even if he takes her to a nice place for dinner, even if he shows up with a token gift, she’s going to wonder about the duct tape…and the lack of effort and caring the man shows by blatantly displaying it. If he (and Horizon) is so cavalier about that, what else is he cavalier about? His hygiene maybe?

 

The duct tape was not a confidence builder, rather a confidence shaker.

 

On the other side of the coin, Sam’s Café in Phoenix offers a great “free prize inside,” (And yes, I’m borrowing “free prize inside” from Seth Godin’s book of the same name.) The restaurant is marketed as a southwestern grill. The food was good, the service okay, but the free prize was a piece of white chocolate with almonds wrapped in a corn husk delivered to everyone at our table at the end of the meal. It was a free prize both as an unexpected treat, and in presentation. As a marketing is like dating analogy, this is akin to showing up for a date with a rose. Or choosing a particularly nice restaurant. Or some other sweet but simple surprise. It’s the extra touch that a customer—or date—remembers.

 

OK, last day of vacation so I’m off to ride my horse while the sun is still shining! Back to regular copywriting blogs next week, as I continue my commitment to blogs as marketing tools in 2009!

When I posted my small business blogging guide, I got some nice feedback. But best of all is the comment from a small business owner who has now started a blog! Hurray! Good for you, Galina, for committing to blogs as marketing tools! Here's her comment, and kudos to her, because yes, readers will enjoy hearing about her travels! It makes her an expert and probably gives her plenty of relevant keywords to blog with:

"Hello Sharon, I received so many tips to follow to build my blog, thank you. I started my blog today http://beachvacationpackage.wordpress.com and I'm in traveling business. I think my readers would enjoy the info that I visited more then 40 countries, and how my hobbie became my point to
enjoy my business now. Thank you, Galina"

And here's a link to the small business blogging guide blog post: http://www.weknowblogs.com/blog/sharons-marketing-missive/0/0/small-business-blogging-basics--a-guide.

Also note that I and my copywriter buddy Mavis will be offering small business blogging clinics starting this spring in the Seattle area. Small business owners will leave that day with their blog up and running, their first couple of blog posts written, keywords to use, and a list of topics and a schedule to keep them on track. If you want to know more, email me at sharon@weknowwords.com! 

This is just a quick note because I've been on vacation with my kids, but I'll be back at it tomorrow, traveling always gives this freelance copywriter great blog fodder!

I post my copywriting blogs on Facebook too, and it’s funny, I tend to get more comments in that space than in my actual blog. Yesterday I was asked an interesting question via a Facebook comment, one I thought best addressed in a blog. So here goes…

 

Chris, a small business owner asked: “When I seek out a marketing agent/SEO agent, what do I need to be prepared with for my first meeting with you? What would you like to see from your clients? What are your ideal clients? What can we, as business owners, expect from you and how can we best utilize you and not waste both of our times?”

 

Even though I’m a copywriter who knows words, truly responding to these questions would take more than one blog post. J But I’ll do the best I can.

 

For me, as a Web site copywriter and SEO copywriter, my questions in that initial meeting are: Who goes to your Web site? Why? How do they get there, via search engine or your other marketing or word of mouth or some other way? What do they want to do when they get there? What problem are they trying to solve?

 

Knowing the problem they are trying to solve is critical, because that will determine what keywords they are searching with. For example, I was recently the Web site copywriter for a footwear company. You’d think your keywords would be about footwear, right? But these slippers and shoes help people with foot pain, so really the best keywords are the ones that have to do with the problem the consumer is trying to solve, not the solution (i.e. the shoes).

 

With SEO as with other copywriting, in my opinion at least, the customer is first. You have to be focused on the customer: what are their pain points, how do they think about the problem, are they even aware they have a problem, what words do they use, etc.

 

For a really easy to use keyword research tool, go to SEO Tools at http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/. There you type in the keyword you want to research, and it also gives you variations on that keyword.

 

To answer Chris’ questions more directly: For the first meeting, know your customer and what they are buying, not what you are selling. The more you know about your customer, the better the job your Web site copywriter will do for you. Ideal clients pay attention to the customer’s world view than their own. As copywriting clients, you can expect, from me at least, input not just on SEO and keywords and Web site copywriting, but also site navigation, types of content to include, a plan for keeping content fresh, and of course a very strong recommendation that you use blogs as marketing tools and for SEO to drive traffic to your Web site.

 

If your Web site copywriter only writes copy and plugs in a few keywords, but doesn’t have any input into the other aspects of your Web site, I’d be nervous.

Why are so many small businesses so slow to start blogging? Why aren’t small business marketing consultants encouraging them to do so? This morning I’m reviewing a prospect’s marketing plan in order to come up with a copywriting estimate for her. I recognize the name of the marketing consultant who created the marketing plan. And I’m disappointed to see she suggested this small business do the same old, same old kind of marketing…especially given that this small business wants to be found in search engines.

 

Getting found in search engines takes more than an SEO copywriter (i.e. me). It takes more than targeted keywords, keyword rich content and great title tags. I won’t go into SEO 101 here, but using blogs as marketing tools is a fantastic way to win searches and drive traffic to your Web site.

 

This plan also suggested the small business owner get positioned as an expert in the field, again without any mention of blogging. The plan recommends writing articles, doing an email newsletter, etc. All the usual stuff. OK, I don’t mind repeating myself, using blogs as marketing tools is a fantastic way to position yourself as an expert too!

 

Maybe small business marketing is slow to catch on to using blogs as marketing tools because marketing consultants are slow to recommend them. In my job as a copywriter, I consider myself not just the one who helps craft the messaging, but the one who also knows how to deliver it, from email newsletters to wikis to Web sites to blogging, etc. For years people have asked me why I don’t call myself a marketing consultant since I know so much about marketing. I say because I stick to what I know: I know copywriting. But I’m a copywriter giving my clients more value because I keep up with what’s going on in the world of marketing.

 

Marketing consultants must do the same thing. It’s 2009. If I were a small business owner, I’d be extremely wary of any marketing plan that left out blogging. You can’t use 2005 techniques in a 2009 world, especially with a tough economy!

 

Small business blogging is one of the most cost-effective ways a small business can both be found in search engines and be positioned as experts. If marketing consultants don’t know this and aren’t going to recommend it, they shouldn’t be handing out any advice.

 

If this small business had invested in a ghost blogger instead of a marketing consultant, they’d be way ahead of the marketing game.

 

In an earlier blog, I offered a bunch of small business blogging basics. See it here: http://www.weknowblogs.com/blog/sharons-marketing-missive/0/0/small-business-blogging-basics--a-guide

I hate The Ram. When Kent Station opened a couple of years ago, people were so excited to get a chain restaurant in downtown Kent. Meaning they were happy to get The Ram. My first experience there was awful, and after three more tries, I finally gave up on the place. Besides I like the food and the bar at Zephyrs better, it’s more my style, and now I have a martini bar as an option too.

 

But the other night a friend wanted to go to The Ram, because it would be new to him, and I’d drug him to Zephyrs and Shindig Martini Bar a few times already. Now he knows why I was reluctant to go there. The service was atrocious, the food awful and the prices high.

 

Hang on, hang on, this isn’t copywriter PMS. This ties into my copywriter theory that marketing is like dating: the customer expecting one thing and getting another.

 

When you are marketing to potential customers, you are wooing them, trying to get them to date you. You woo them with promises in your copywriting: good beer, good food, friendly service. But if you don’t follow through on your promise, your marketing and copywriting are for naught. Your marketing is a lie and trickery meant to get them in the door to spend their money. And then your marketing goes after the next prospect, just like a serial dater who seems intent only on getting someone to say “yes” to a date so he can start on his next potential date, to win her over.

 

Great marketing isn’t just great copywriting, killer taglines, awesome email copywriting, fabulous Web sites, kickass direct mail, etc. Great marketing is the whole enchilada. It means a business promises something to me as a customer, then delivers on it. That’s how you win a repeat customer.

 

If your company is a serial dater, then keep plowing away at marketing that gets them in the door but disappoints. Because you’re only aiming for the next customer anyway, not aiming to keep the one you just got. But if you’re company wants to be in a committed relationship, follow through on the promises your marketing makes. If you can’t, hold off on your marketing until you can, or make your marketing fit what you can really deliver.

 

And if you go to The Ram and order the calamari? Don’t be hungry or picky. So sayeth one disappointed freelance copywriter!