How to Become a Freelance Copywriter

Authenticity. You can't fake it. You can't beat it.

Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix gets huge kudos from this freelance copywriter for his blog post on the changes at his company.

Did they mess up? Yes. Did they fess up? Yes. And that makes for a lot of forgiveness among customers. That blog post has 22,000 likes.

One look at the comments indicates not everyone is happy with the splitting up of the company. But as far as how he (or his content writer?) worded the apology post I don't think anyone is complaining.

Authenticity works, whether apologizing or marketing.

After the amazing success of Content Marketing World last week, with over 600 people in attendance, I wonder if some marketers are heading back to their desks full of new ideas and energized to take their content marketing programs to a whole new level...but are still stymied by the content creation itself.

As a freelance copywriter, I have run into this situation with clients years before content marketing ever became a term, let alone a mainstream one. It would usually come up in conversation when I was encouraging clients to consider using e-newsletters for marketing. "But what would we write about?" I was repeatedly asked.

Then when blogging as marketing tools became an effective SEO strategy (remember, this is before we were talking about content marketing), I was repeatedly asked the same question: "But what would we write about?" 

Marketers had an easy time figuring out what they would say in a brochure or on a website. No problem creating content for those marketing pieces! Those would be produced once then maybe modified later. With the e-newsletters and blogging, I was suggesting they commit to creating content--new content, mind you--over and over and over again. Even when they knew they could use We Know Words to supply the copywriting and content, they would be fearful of running out of ideas, and fearful of their own in-house ability to write.

Well, the obvious answer to the first fear is to outsource content creation. :-) 

But the answer to the second fear is just as easy. And this is when I'm going to tell you how to make content creation a piece of cake. Seriously. In fact, it will be easier than baking a cake. Ready? 

Tell stories.

That is it. That is all I am suggesting you do. Tell stories.

When you go to a cocktail party, a networking event or a family gathering, people talk, right? And a lot of times, that talking is story telling. Stories about pets or kids or bosses or clients or vacations of the mechanic who tried to cheat you or the hairdresser who got your color just right...stories, stories, stories.

Do you have to sit around tapping your pencil on your desktop struggling to determine what you'll talk about when you get to that party, event or gathering? Of course not! You're just talking and telling stories and entertaining.

So tackle your content marketing the same way. It's a creative content marketing approach that will require only the effort of typing and spell checking. Tell a story about a new client, an old client, a favorite client, a troublesome client (and maybe make that one anonymous). Talk about how your business started or why. Tell a story about an employee or a company tradition or picnic. Talk about the industry, maybe how it used to be or what you see now.

If you were talking to me right now at a networking event, both of us holding a glass of wine and getting to know each other's businesses, what would we talk about? What stories would you tell me, the freelance copywriter, about your business so I'd know it better? 

Write those stories down. Don't worry about anything else except the story. Now spell check them. Now put them in blog posts and/or newsletter articles. Plug in your keywords as needed. Then publish these stories and share them via your social networks.

Now do it again. You, me, glasses of wine, you're talking and telling me stories...

There. Content creation without the agony, without wondering what you'll talk about.

Finessing your content marketing strategy can come later. For now, I only suggest you get the content creation part down.

Does it sound too simple? It's easier than baking a cake! 

It's enough to make you smile...

Every day I get a Google alert for "content marketing" and every day I am more and more convinced of one thing: content marketing is the coming of age of copywriting.

Lee Odden started an article on content marketing published today with these words: 

"Companies are jumping on the content marketing bandwagon in increasing numbers, investing in new content for articles, newsletters, whitepapers, blogs, and video to better attract and engage customers." (Emphasis mine.)

I've been heading up the copywriter firm We Know Words for 11 years now. During that decade plus, we have created more of this type of content described by Lee than any other (i.e. ads, brochures and other content not considered "content marketing"). We've written articles for national publication. We've written countless newsletters for everyone ranging from staid government organizations to go-getter dotcoms. We've written whitepapers ranging from extremely technical to almost pedestrian. We ghost blog for several companies sometimes for thought leadership and sometimes for SEO. And we've written scripts for video too.

Yes, the bulk of the work we have done all these years as freelance copywriters is now in the spotlight as content marketing.

That makes the heart of this content provider very, very happy and puts a big smile on my face! It's as if finally our work, our laboring, our writing is now finally something everyone sees the value in...not just the consumer but the client too. We've always argued for compelling, customer-centric content that engages by talking to customers, not at them. Now we can stop arguing for that approach. Now that approach is mainstream.

So bring it on, marketers! Let's keep this content marketing train a chugging along! And these copywriters smiling! :-) 

Watching a project go live is often like waiting for the birth of a baby, especially because content is usually first. That means us freelance copywriters and content providers are done with a project and moved on to something new before our content is ever laid out in print or html. And then we're busy and forget to find out later how everything turned out!

So it's a treat when a client comes back and says, "Hey, check it out, it's done!" because it reminds me to go take a look and see our copywriting prowess in action.

Today's treat came from Graphic Solutions. Graphic Solutions is an integrated marketing company with a lot to say. We had a blast as the website copywriter helping them hone their message and making all of their integrated solutions make sense.

Still for us, it's just words, and we're not sure how much sense we've made until we see a website go live, start clicking through, and realize,  yes! We did a good job! :-) 

Take a look at their site. It's a great example of making a variety of services easy to access and understand.

And if you need a website copywriter, you know where to go!

I appreciate that this article is encouraging us to repurpose content, I really do. It's something I push as a freelance copywriter and content consultant. I encourage our copywriting and content marketing clients to think in terms of rite once, use in multiple places. I'm also a huge proponent of sharing content across media, like blogging on your email newsletter or using testimonials posted to your Facebook wall as blog content. The possibilities for repurposing content are endless.

However, our goal must always be the same: Be customer centric. Whether you're hiring a ghost blogger or a content marketing group, make sure your content is customer centric. It has to be about them, not you. Talk to your customers, not at them. 

That's why I take issue with this MarketingProfs.com article on using social chatter in email. The author is saying repurpose what people say about you in social networks by making it your email marketing content. I'm fine with repurposing the content! Go for it!

However, I have a problem with the reason for doing so and the approach the author recommends. His reason for using social chatter as email marketing content is simply to show your audience that you have a social presence. As a consumer, not copywriter, I say, "So what?" And the approach he recommends? Just stick it to them. OK, not in those words. But he's only saying to include it in your email marketing. I say, give it some context and, more importantly, vet it. Don't stick every Yelp or Facebook comment into an email willy nilly, and I don't mean use only the nice comments. Only use content that's relevant, useful and/or engaging. Only use customer-centric content.

If republishing that content into your email marketing isn't in some way helpful to your email recipients, don't do it. People already get far too much email and they're easily turned off by email marketing that's self serving. 

Repurpose yes, but make sure you're delivering content, not clutter. 

I have a love/hate relationship with the long drive to Seattle. When I make the trek for meetings, I dread the length of the drive. That's the hate. On the other hand, it's a chance to see all kinds of do's and don'ts in action all within a two-hour time span.

During this week's drive, I witnessed a great contrast that illustrates the importance of talking to, not at, your customer. It doesn't matter if you're a freelance copywriter or you're providing content marketing services. If you're in the business of words, your words must be customer-centric. 

Driving north in the morning, I passed an electrician's van branded with Mister Sparky, America's On-Time Electrician. The tagline below the logo guaranteed they'd be on time. This is brilliant.

Talk to anyone about their frustrations with service providers like electricians, plumbers, the cable guy and others, and you'll hear the same thing: You have to wait. And wait. You're given a window of 4 to 8 hours and you have to stay home and wait for that person to show up to make the necessary repair. That's a pain point, one this electrician services company is addressing with the company name and tagline. They are addressing it and talking to the customer. Their company name says, "Hey, we know you don't want to sit around and wait. So we're going to be the electrician you don't have to wait for." Kudos!! 

On the way south that afternoon, I saw a billboard advertising a home builder. Their slogan was "the fastest growing home builder." I thought long and hard while driving and couldn't come up with a single pain point around that. Who wants to know their home builder is the fastest growing? Do people sit around wishing they could find the fastest growing home builder, really? For me, that's not only talking at me, not to me, as a potential customer, but it's a little scary too. If you're so focused on growth, I wonder, what are you sacrificing in quality? 

This home builder must have some idea of their customers' pain points, wishes and concerns. Maybe it's quality. Or price. Maybe it's a certain style of home, or a certain size or layout. But the fastest growing builder? I doubt it. Maybe they are so busy building, they're not listening to their customers!

The electrician is talking to customers. They are talking about the customer's concerns. 

The home builder is talking at customers. They are talking about themselves. 

One is doing words right. The other is doing words wrong. 

When we're in the business of words, we must be customer-centric. Content marketing is nothing if it's not engaging and customer-centric. Then it's only empty words, a bunch of filler on a page or a screen. People might claim there's a difference between what a copywriter does and what content marketing services provide. I disagree. The only difference is in the types of content produced. Both have to be focused on the customer's concerns. Both have to be engaging and meaningful. I don't care if you're writing an ad (copywriting) or a whitepaper (content marketing). Your content lives and dies by your choice of words. 

Make yours about the customer and your words will work. 

Don't believe words really matter all that much? Well, if your content marketing agency can't convince you, your copywriter can't convince you, and even your mother can't convince you, watch this moving video by online content provider Purple Feather. 

A blind man begging for coins on a busy city sidewalk hears many more coins dropping onto his cardboard mat after a woman changes the words on his sign. The woman is no doubt a copywriter! She changes his straightforward message to one with an emotional appeal...and the people react. 

The pen is mightier than the sword...and the keyboard mightier still. If you're using any kind of creative content marketing to promote your business, or working with a freelance copywriter, never, ever estimate the real power of words. Let your content marketing services provider or copywriter take you that one extra step toward the authentic, the real, the emotional. Be willing to be different, to stand out. Change your straightforward message to one with an emotional appeal. 

And you might hear more coins dropping in front of you too. 

I've always been a huge proponent of repurposing and re-using content as a freelance copywriter, long before the dawn of content marketing. But I just saw an "oops" that prompted this content marketing blog on being careful to be timely. 

I opened an email newsletter from a company I trust, and scrolled down to see a headline I thought I'd better click on. It was on a topic that was hot back in the fall and one I need to stay on top of as the copywriting and content marketing coordinator for one of We Know Words' clients. "What is this new information?" I wondered. "I'd better read this article right now!" 

So I clicked...and then clucked...my tongue, that is. In disgust. 

The article wasn't new information. It was an article from last September when these industry changes were new. In fact, I probably read that very same article back then when researching the then timely topic. 

I think I know why the company repurposed the article: as part of their content marketing program. And I don't have a problem with that except they didn't alter the article in any way to make it timely. In my opinion, the intro should have been changed to something like, "We reported on these industry changes when they first came to light back in September 2010 when this article was published. Because we are still finding out clients don't yet understand these changes and the ramifications, we are re-publishing the article."  

One reason I'm so happy that such a thing as content marketing exists is because many pundits call for authentic content, something I've wanted to see become widespread for a decade. But simply linking to a six-month-old article in your newest newsletter isn't authentic if you don't give it context and make the reader aware that it is six months old. 

It would have taken all of five minutes to do so. And that would have been better content marketing. 

I'm just sayin'. 

(Need a little help making sure your own re-use of content is up to snuff with the new rules of content marketing? Start here: We Know Words.) 

When one blogs as a means to market onself and/or one's business, one should not blog:

a) After 9:00 at night.
b) After drinking.
c) When in a pissy mood because it has been raining nonstop since who knows when and one is sick of the rain, mud and wet.

Please realize that you are reading a blog written under condition "c." Yes, I am violating my own, self-imposed rule. But I have been a freelance copywriter for over 10 years and I am tired of seeing the following mindset be so pervasive among marketers. CEOs, yes. Sales teams, sure. But marketers need to know better! 

What prompted my pissy reaction? I just responded to a question on a message board. The question was about what types of content to produce to market to a B2B audience. Fair enough. But the poster said the goal is to "provide thought leadership on key issues affecting business leaders by helping them understand the role that our technology and services can provide." (Emphasis mine.)

This, my marketing friends (and fellow pissy mood people, if you're in western Washington), is what is wrong with marketing today. Still. This is why I talk about marketing is like dating. The problem for this company isn't the kinds of content they are producing. The problem is they are focused on what they are selling, not on what the customer is buying.

They shouldn't be trying to help business leaders understand the role of "our" technology and services. They should be addressing the problems of the B2B audience they are trying to reach!! (Excuse the exclamation points. The more it rains, the more I punctuate.) 

If marketing is like dating, this is akin to the guy going out to a bar to meet women...and only talking about himself. Which plenty of guys do.

One reason I love content marketing is because I am so hopeful that it will finally make marketers switch their mindsets from talking at customers to talking to them. You talk to someone when you make it about them, when you relate and listen. Do you know how many dates I've been on where the guy told his stories, talked incessantly about himself and/or talked the whole time period? Plenty. Those are the worst dates to be on. And that's your typical marketer, folks. As the post I just responded to implies.

Oh, please, content marketing gods, let the dawn of content marketing truly result in engaging, useful content and no more ego-centric "all about me" copy! 

And please, content marketing gods, can you make it stop raining too? 

On page 7 of the popular content marketing book "Content Rules" by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman, a sidebar attempts to clarify the difference between copywriting and content marketing. It essentially says copywriting is ads and the like and content marketing is everything else.

What's funny about that to me, as someone who has spent the last 11 years as a freelance copywriter, is that most of those 11 years have been spent writing the very things the people now say are content marketing. But I thought I was a copywriter...

As much as I love the book "Content Rules," and as much as I admire Ann Handley as the chief content queen at MarketingProfs (and have for years), I confess to being a little confused by the statement. I can count on two hands (and maybe the toes of one foot) the number of ads We Know Words has written for clients in the past decade. And we've been the brochure copywriter for some printed projects and done some direct mail, yes.

But really since the year 2000--11 years now--our bread and better has been content marketing services, it turns out: case studies, whitepapers, ghost blogging, website writing, SEO work, articles, video scripts, newsletters, press releases written as part of what was meant to be a content strategy.

I didn't know it was called anything but copywriting.

And I do see a huge difference between what people call content marketing today and what We Know Words has been doing for the past decade: strategy. That was not part of the content marketing services we offered. The clients would come to us with a content or copywriting need and we would fill it.

I'm delighted to know that copywriting as I know it has now come of age, it's now considered something much more honorable and it's more strategic! Let's face it. Walk into a crowded room and start introducing yourself as a freelance copywriter and you're not going to impress anyone. (Never mind the confusion some people have with the word "copyright" and the trying lunch-time conversation I had with a former state governor trying to explain copywriting vs. copyrighting.)

But now I get to walk into a room and say I offer content marketing services...and that's a lot more important sounding! And a whole lot more important.

Now there's really a strategy, or should be. I have long wanted clients to make better use--and re-use--of the content we've created. I've long talked about repurposing and re-using. And now that can happen. I can turn to the experts and authors like Ann and C.C. and Joe Pulizzi of Junta42 or Russell Sparkman of Fusion Sparkmedia and I can cite them...and get heard.

I think it will enable us to create the kinds of engaging, real, authentic copy I've been trying to talk clients into for a very long time, as well. Now we are backed up by the experts! No more generic copy!

From copywriter to content marketing? I'm all in. I just never realized I was out. And I'm not quite sure I ever was. :-) 

Why blog? Because blogging is forever. OK, forever is relative in this day and age. But a blog post is going to be around a lot longer than other social media marketing.

A wall post on a Facebook page has a very short life span. A tweet even shorter. But a blog will be around always. It will be indexed by the search engines and served up when someone goes looking for what you're offering...even if it's two, three or even five years later. That's a lot longer than a lot of boyfriends! And that won't happen with any other kind of popular social media like Facebook and Twitter!

As a freelance copywriter and now as a provider of content marketing services, I have been pushing for blogs as marketing tools for a few years now. With the advent of content marketing as a strategic way to create and use content, maybe blogs will be taken more seriously.

Although I don't know. I still run up against the initial reaction of a) thinking a blog is just a place to spout off or b) the "there's no way we could keep up with one."

It's funny because people--even savvy marketers who should know better--seem to see the blog as something extraneous and extra. And a lot of work with no payoff.

It's none of those things.

It can be the hub of your online content marketing strategy. Dare I say it should be the hub of your online content marketing strategy? And blog content is easy to come by when you're focused on online content marketing. You simply need a strategy.

And isn't that what content marketing is all about? Being strategic with your creation and use of content? 

To talk strategy with a content marketing agency that's been around the content block for a while now, reach out to We Know Words.

I'm in love with the whole idea of content marketing because the premise is something I've pushed for for years. As a freelance copywriter, I have pushed people to be real and tell stories. I have pushed clients to get testimonials and find out their customers' stories. I have pushed for repurposing (now called reimagining) of content.

And why didn't clients listen to me before this whole notion of content marketing came along? I don't know. Maybe I'm simply not pushy enough. Maybe I wasn't secure enough because no one else was saying it so maybe my ideas weren't so great after all (or so said the little voice inside my copywriter head). Maybe I didn't explain it very well!

Today listening to a webinar on content marketing starring Chris Baggott, Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman...three of the biggest names in content marketing...I had a thought. What if it was fear?

I admit, it has been a battle at times to get the We Know Words copywriter clients to be real, to tell stories. "But what we do is proprietary." "But we need to sound like everyone else." "But we need to tell people about our widgets and gadgets." "But we can't sound that different." Those are the kinds of excuses I heard when clients wanted their freelance copywriter to create what I call "me too" copy rather than anything compelling and unique.

(And there was the time the landscaping firm had paid the PR firm tens of thousands of dollars and by golly, that was the messaging  they were going to use, no matter how irrelevant it was to their target market!)

As We Know Words morphs from copywriting agency to content marketing agency (which, of course, includes copywriting as a core offering), I sense I will still run into the same kinds of "buts" as before. And this idea of fear makes it all make sense.

Ever since the publication of Seth Godin's "Purple Cow," we've been called upon to be different, to stand out. As Seth said in his book, the risk isn't in being different, it's in being the same. And yet, maybe 20% of We Know Words clients over the past 10 years have embraced that concept.

It's scary to be real! It's scary to be different! It's scary to stand out! Not just for me and you as individuals, but for companies too. What if you're wrong? What if you fail? What if no one likes you? 

That's why we all dress pretty much the same and wear our hear pretty much the same and all that. And that's what most companies and brands do as well.

So as we move into thinking of what we do as content marketing, and we are called about to create, coordinate and distribute content that is real and engaging, as we work to convince those clients who hire us for content marketing services that yes, they do need customers telling stories and employees blogging, I suspect we will run into that same fear factor and bunch of "buts" that I've come up against before.

My job as the woman offering the content marketing services? Be more convincing.

It's a good thing I know words...

As the marketing world moves forward into Content Marketing, finally giving content its due, I guess not everyone is following suit.

In 2011, we can have our customers talking about us and marketing for us like never before. We can be more real, more authentic. We can let our brands have personality and engage with our audiences in completely new ways.

Or we can just throw more money at marketing the old-school way. That's apparently what Kraft is going to do.

Kraft is going to going the old route of more money, more ads. Some agencies are going to make a lot of money.

But will TV commercials build brand in the age of social media? Not the way content marketing would, says this freelance copywriter.

I like the Miracle Whip commercial, I confess. I think it's bold to have people saying they don't like your product. But I'd rather see Kraft spend their money on hearing from real people, not celebrities. Let's see money go towards viral social media campaigns, not expensive TV ads.

Oh well, what do I know. I'm just a freelance copywriter on cloud 9 because the popularity of content marketing is finally making people aware of principles I've been advocating for 10 years. (Be engaging. Be real. Be authentic. Have a personality. Repurpose content. Use indirect marketing.)

It seems like Kraft doesn't even know content marketing exists...

Good thing I don't like Miracle Whip! I suspect the price will go up so Kraft can afford the high cost of old-school marketing!

I'm reading "The 5 Love Languages" by Gary Chapman, and even though I'm barely past the introduction, my freelance copywriter brain is already going, "Oh! This applies to marketing too!"

I don't have to know about the five love languages to get the concept: Speak in a way the other person will hear.

At We Know Words, our mantra is talk to your customers, not at them. Another favorite: Your words have to sell what people are buying.

That means you're selling a good night's sleep, not a mattress. You're selling SEO, not  blogging software. You're selling a mom's peace of mind, not organic apples. And sometimes you're selling a story, not a handcrafted cheese.

Kind of the same thing as the love languages, isn't it? If we don't speak in a language our audience understands--whether that audience is a target market or a lover--how can we expect to be heard? If we're not talking about the problem in the way they view the problem, we might as well not be talking at all!

As I plug away at my "Marketing Is Like Dating" book, I'm drawn to any connection between marketing and dating, relationships and marriage. 

Now I'm thinking maybe after I finish this book, I'll write "The 5 Languages of Marketing." After all, if your marketing is like dating, you're wooing your customers...and talking their language.

It takes copywriting to a whole new level...

Twice in the last couple of weeks, I have had copywriting clients comment on how much they like my style.

They're not talking about my clothes, trust me. They are talking about my approach to their content as a freelance copywriter. And I find that funny, because I don't think I have a style. As a freelance copywriter, I mean. I know I have a style as a writer, and I love to entertain my family and friends with my writing when it's personal. But I think of myself as a professional copywriter who shouldn't have a style because I should simply be adapting to the client's voice and brand.

But then I realized, I can and do adapt when necessary. But clients like these, who just complimented my style, fit with my natural writing style. They probably like me as their freelance copywriter because I write naturally in a way that meshes with their brand. I am free to write like me when I write for them.

And I think style is something we're going to want a lot more of as Content Marketing becomes the norm! As we're creating more content, more whitepapers, more web writing, more blogs as marketing tools, we're also setting ourselves up to get lost in the whirl of words that will be swirling all around our prospects as they attempt to navigate all this "stuff" we're putting out there and online.

Just like the woman who walks into the bar dressed with style will shine compared to any plain Jane counterparts, so will the content with style outshine the drab and dull.

Style, huh? Well, yay for that! This freelance copywriter is going to consider that a plus to be exploited, not a minus to be escaped!

Reading David Baker's email marketing blog, I just had an "ah ha" copywriter moment.

He makes the point that we spend so much time, effort and money on creative, and maybe we should spend less on creative and more on content: 

Is this music to the ears of a freelance copywriter? You bet it is, but not new music, rather classical. Good content, engaging content, customer-centric content...this is what We Know Words copywriters have been crafting for 10 years. That is what content marketing is all about.

And we have often as the freelance copywriter taken a back seat to the creative. Many times we've been called in as the website copywriter only to find the design and navigation are set...and aren't appropriate to the message.

Many times have we as the freelance copywriter been tasked with writing brochure copy or other sales collateral with very specific word counts...we couldn't write the right amount to get the message across, rather we had to write long or short enough to fit the already determined space...because the creative was foremost.

Now that we've entered the age of content marketing, and more and more emails are read on smartphones, words will matter more than ever. Content has always been king...but a bit of a tepid ruler, hidden behind a mighty council of designers.

But you know what? The right color doesn't get you found in Google. The right words do. The right logo doesn't get someone to click on your call to action in your email marketing. The right words do. And the design of your whitepaper is irrelevant if you haven't hired a whitepaper copywriter who builds a compelling case for your product...with words.

Thank you, David! I know this wasn't the direction you meant for your comment to go, but I appreciated taking it there just the same. :-)

Yesterday on NPR's Marketplace, I heard a piece on the return of the thank you note as a sign of the recession. Apparently companies are wising up that they need to appreciate their customers...and to express that appreciation!

Yes, said this freelance copywriter! Why? Because I'm about one-third of the way through my "marketing is like dating" book and this is a fabulous example! 

I might be "just" a freelance copywriter, but I'm also a marketing junkie who pays attention, and I'm a jaded consumer, and I'm a single woman.

Add all that up and you get an approach to marketing that suggests you think of marketing as dating, meaning you woo, court, date and ultimately marry your customers.

The thank you note is like the phone call after the date. It's your way of showing you care, you appreciate. Trust me, there's not near enough appreciation in the world these days! Whether a jaded divorcee or a jaded consumer, a sign of appreciation like a thank you note is going to go a long way in making that one-time buy into a long-term relationship!

Why am I sharing this paper on the top 5 misconceptions about corporate blogging? Because I wrote it. OK, I transcribed it, wordsmithed it, edited it and formatted it, using the conversation between Debbie Weil and Chris Baggott as the source. But it's share worthy for two reasons:

1) It shows how a freelance copywriter can help you repurpose content for content marketing. This was a webinar. Now it's a whitepaper too. How cool is that?

2) There's great information in here about blogging and social media marketing and how it all ties together. If you're making blogging part of your content marketing program (and if you're not, why not??), read this.

I just re-read an older article on content marketing with fresh eyes, and just about spit out my coffee.

The article says content used in content marketing should be unique, useful, well executed and fun. Excluding "fun" which I have several times in my 10 years as a freelance copywriter had clients say "no" to, the other three qualities that content should have are also three qualities that copywriting should have.

This is not new information...or at least it shouldn't be. As freelance copywriters, if our content is not unique, useful and well executed, we should hang up our copywriting caps and go wait tables instead.

Maybe content marketing is simply the evolution of copywriting? Because it's definitely not a re-volution.

Or maybe the silver lining here is better educated clients who will give the copywriting work submitted a more thorough evaluation. I like that thought! Then we'd have the best copywriter for a job chosen based on skills and marketing savvy, not on price. :-)

What makes good content marketing? The same thing that makes good copywriting!!