Marketing Is Like Dating

Everyone's inbox is full of emails, much of it poorly written email marketing. That's why I enjoy the emails I get from ServiceMagic. They have attention-getting subject lines, and copywriting that's fun to read but helpful too.

Their most recent email to me had the subject line "All parties end up in the kitchen somehow..." and then the header text when you open the email said "Unless your sink is smelling up the place." The rest of the email newsletter gives advice on getting rid of a stinky sink odor, then offers a link to look for home cleaning pros to help.

I'm a freelance copywriter. I read pretty much everything with a critical eye. And this email newsletter passes the test every time because it does what I encourage my copywriting clients to do:
 

• It provides useful information, without a catch.
• It builds trust.
• It has a call to action, so when the recipient is ready to look for a service, she can.
• It's fun.

I'm a professional copywriter. That means it's my job to know words and how to use them, for websites, email, SEO, print, ghost blogging, press releases, etc.

But I've also made it part of my job as a professional copywriter to know about the tools and means used for serving up the copywriting that is my craft. That means learning about online press rooms, for example, or keeping up with changes in search engine optimization (SEO) copywriting. And much, much more! (You'd be shocked how much I know that has nothing to do with being a professional copywriter!) 

My embarrassing ah ha moment happened when I realized blogs would make perfect press rooms. I happen to know a little something about online press rooms (again, not related to being a copywriter, but related to knowing how to present my work). We did a presentation andarticle on online press rooms few years ago.

But that was before I really understood blogs as online marketing tools.

Using a blog for your pressroom is brilliant because it's easy to upload your content, the search engines will find and index those press releases faster (because they prefer blog content over static website content), it's easily searched, you can add static pages with your contact information and company bio...I honestly can't think of a reason NOT to use a blog for your online press room! 

If you've been thinking, yeah, we really need an online press room, but you haven't wanted to put the time and money into it, try a blog. I bet you can be up and running with your press room in less than half an hour. For tips on what to include, definitely read our article at http://www.weknowblogs.com/blog/sharons-marketing-missive/0/0/you-dont-have-to-be-an-online-copywriter-to-market-your-business-online-use-press-releases.

As a freelance copywriter who helps out clients with small business marketing, I am constantly on the lookout for new information to pass along to copywriting clients, especially as social media takes center stage.

I'm already pushing blogs as marketing tools, but these days I'm looking out for nuggets on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, trying to wrap my head around how these tools can be put to use for small business marketing.

So this article of using Facebook for your small business caught my eye when someone retweeted it, but it's more of the same: talking about the how, but not the why, and definitely not about the "how to make money" part of the how.

I'm a copywriter, yes. Words are my business. Web writing is my business. Email copywriting is my business. But I also owe it to my copywriting clients to be up to speed on other marketing channels, so I can make sure my work as freelance copywriter fits with their other marketing efforts.

What small business folks lack more than anything are time and money. What they need more than anything is sound advice.

And that doesn't mean telling them how to set up a Facebook page, and to make sure they have lots of friends and family to get to follow them. That means telling them how to make money, how to market their business and convert prospects to customers using Facebook.

But sadly that means looking beneath the surface of the shiny new thing that is Facebook. And articles like this only encourage more small business folks to jump on the Facebook bandwagon, wasting precious time on a tool they don't know how to use let alone necessarily need.

Am I simply grumpy because I didn't get to ride my horse today? Or am I grumpy because I too am a small business owner and I wants facts, not Facebook.
 

Last night I watched "Seabiscuit" again. Thank you to my daughter for picking that out at the movie place! It was timely given we'd been showing my racehorse (pictured here) to potential buyers over the weekend.

But as a copywriter, not horse lover, that movie is a wonderful reminder of the power of stories. Seabiscuit came along when the people needed something to believe in, a success story of an underdog winning against all odds. It was the depression. It was a horrible, scary time. And here was this scrappy little horse who paddled out with one leg (like mine!) but whose heart was bigger than War Admiral's, the 18 hand powerhouse rival.

As so often happens, the timing was right for this story...which made it an even better story. But Seabiscuit had a storyteller too. And this is the tie in to copywriting. Charles Howard was a salesman and success. And he knew how to tell the story to the press, to work this situation to get the most out of it. If it wasn't for Howard seeing and seizing the opportunity, would Seabiscuit have had more newspaper column inches than FDR and Hitler? He did. Without Howard, he likely wouldn't have.

You have a story. Every business has a story. You need to discover your story, yes. But then you need to tell it. That's where your copywriter comes into play. Your story is told by your website, your brochure, your PowerPoint, your email marketing. These are your story tellers. Make sure your copywriter is telling your story in a compelling and powerful way, whether it's an in-house or freelance copywriter.

Seabiscuit's story could be told by facts and numbers. And how dry that would be. It's more fun to hear about the drama, the second chances, his rough start in life, the men who came together and overcame their own demons to give him the chance to win...that's the story. And Howard made sure it got told.

What is your story? Is it really great customer service? Or is it that time that your entire staff worked at 20-hour shift to get something done for a client? Is it that you've been around since 1950? Or that your family still owns and runs the business, despite wars and economic ups and downs? 

Is your copywriter telling your story? Are your salespeople? 

I like Vertical Response as a lower cost small business email marketing platform, and I usually like the CEO's blog, but my feathers got a little ruffled when I read the 2010 checklist of 10 things small businesses should do this year.

As a freelance copywriter, I do work for small businesses. And the two things practically every small business owner have in common are: lack of time, lack of marketing knowledge.

This checklist of 10 things made me squirm in my seat...and I work in marketing! 

I pity the small business owner who reads that, gulps, and throws his or her hands up in the air in despair. These folks are too busy running their businesses to implement even half of a list like this.

Years ago in my early days as a copywriter (yikes, that was 10 years ago!), I read this marketing advice: Do a few simple things. Do them well. Do them consistently.

For me as a freelance copywriter, I confess I started out with a three page marketing plan when I started my business. Hey, I'm in marketing! I should have a long, convoluted marketing plan, right? Over the years as I got busier (i.e. had less time) and smarter (i.e. had more experience), my marketing plan shrunk to less than a page.

Small business marketing has to be simple, easy and affordable. There's no one-size-fits-all plan for it. It might be small business email marketing. It might be blogs as marketing tools. It might be networking.

But it has to be a short list of simple things a busy guy or gal can do well and consistently. Not a list of 10 pie-in-the-sky ideas.

Last week as part of our 12 days of Christmas festivities, I took my daughter and her friend to the Washington State History Museum and then to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. We got to the restaurant early, before 5:00 even, but because it was the holiday break, there was already a wait for a table.

The hostess said 10 minutes but sat us in less than five. The two girls were both surprised and impressed! Plus we got a table in the trolley when the hostess had only replied “maybe” when we requested it.

That shows the power of under promising and over delivering. And the power of the experience. Our dining experience started out on a positive note, and even if things had gone wrong from that point forward, our attitude was bound to be good and our meal enjoyable.

The hostess could easily have said, “Oh, it will just be a couple of minutes.” But the restaurant gained an emotional advantage when she said 10.

The girls were still talking about this when we walked to the car after dinner. Their reaction made such an impression on me, I’ve been looking for a copywriting lesson to pull from this. This approach works in marketing and sales, but in copywriting?

As a freelance Seattle copywriter, I try to under promise and over deliver on projects, meaning I often over-estimate the amount of time I think a project will take (and therefore the amount of the final bill), then I happily get the project done in less time and delight my clients with a bill under budget. (This doesn’t happen every time! But I finally after 9 years of doing this learned it’s easier to over estimate and charge less than the opposite!)

But when it comes to the actual copywriter end product--the website, email, direct mail postcard, ghost blog, whitepaper or press release--how does a copywriter under promise and over deliver, and should I?

I do cringe when clients ask me for copywriting that promises the moon and I suspect they can’t deliver it.

Alternatively if someone can offer the moon but I as the copywriter don’t tell prospects that, we likely won’t get their attention in the first place, meaning what we deliver is irrelevant.

On the other hand, I’m relentless at times, hounding clients to give me a moon to promise. I recently worked as a Web site copywriter for a client with a wonderful story to tell…and they reined me back in copywriting wise again and again and again.

I don’t have the answer. I know I don’t like to get less than I expect when I spend my money. And I often do! I’m delighted when I get more than I expect, which happens on occasion. But the sad thing is, I’m delighted when I get just what I expect because I’m so used to the over promise, under deliver that seems prevalent today.

Does that mean my clients must promise the moon…and then deliver even more than that? That would certainly wow the new customers and turn them into lifelong fans. But is it possible?

I don’t have the answer. Only a fond memory of two young ladies learning the power of the under promise, over deliver approach.

Because I detest updating my Web site, being a copywriter, not an html guru, I don't put recent copywriting samples up on it. I told myself I would start blogging on projects as I completed them instead, so at least somewhere online, this copywriter would be showing off her prowess with samples.

It's December 28 as I type this copwriter blog, and I think I maybe blogged on recent copywriting projects um...twice?? This year I resolve to do better! And not only because potential clients need to be able to see my work and the types of companies I work for, but because they might learn from seeing these samples too. Or not. Maybe blogging on my copywriter projects is purely self serving! 

This project took a while to go live when my Website copywriter role was over, so I was delighted to see it finally. In those cases, I often have forgotten what I wrote by the time I see the finished product, so it's a pleasant treat to see the Website copywriting with fresh eyes and think, "hey, that's pretty good!"

The Website is www.maxsampartners.com and the challenges were unique. I didn't have to worry about keywords and SEO, but I had a very restrictive template to work within, which dictated not only the word count for each section and page, but the character counts even! Seriously, headings, captions, text, bulleted lists...every section had a set character count to work with.

It was a totally different Website copywriter experience for me as a result, and fun! Fun trying to make sure I was getting the core marketing messages across while still being compelling and interesting and all within a tight space.

And as much as I love being an SEO copywriter, it was nice to take a break from keywords and thinking on all that stuff.

Yes, I admit it. I’m weird. I’m a copywriter who loves writing whitepapers. Is it because I spend too much time alone and my mind is warped? Is it the wet Seattle weather? Or maybe my hours spent as an SEO copywriter has damaged my perspective?

Nah. It’s none of those things. I enjoy working on whitepapers because they are such great sales tools, and because they give me as a copywriter the chance to really delve into the customer’s mindset.

I just got off the phone with one of my favorite copywriting clients. We are about to do three whitepapers around a new product launch, so this morning’s call was to get me ramped up. But we don’t spend all our time talking about how the product can do A, B and C. No, I as the copywriter want to know what to say based not on the product’s capabilities (what it can do) but rather based on the customer’s worldview (what do they want).

I get to learn about, and write to, their pain points, desires, daily frustrations and wish lists in a way I can’t do when a copywriter for ads or direct mail pieces.

The benefit for you as the marketer is the appeal of the whitepaper because it’s customer centric. The potential customer who downloads your whitepaper is pretty sure he or she is going to get mostly factual, useful information, not a 5-page sales pitch. That’s a feel good in your favor as the company they might buy from!

And crazy as I might sound, I think whitepapers are easy to write! They are straightforward and objective. They don’t require clever turns of phrase or picturesque verbosity. They are what they are.

I’ve also written enough whitepapers, and studied information about writing whitepapers, to have a structure I use pretty much every time. That’s how straightforward it is.

Plus they can be about a variety of topics. I started out writing whitepapers for high tech only, but over the years We Know Words copywriters have even written whitepapers for the corporate travel industry, and we wrote a series of banner ads and landing pages for a whitepaper written for the HR industry.

Whitepapers. They rock. For the copywriter and the customer both. Are you using them as part of your marketing mix?

To see a bit more about whitepapers written by We Know Words copywriters, go to http://weknowwords.com/whitepapers.htm.

Hmmm… I love them so much, my next blog topic might just be on how whitepapers help you date your prospects and customers!

I have been using BlackBerry phones for about five years now, ever since I worked as a Seattle copywriter for T-Mobile writing brochures about the BlackBerry. I figured I’d better know what I was talking about so I got one, and fell head over heels in love with it.

Soon a bunch of my friends were yakking away on BlackBerry phones too. The thing was perfect for viral marketing. All they had to do was see my using it to get interested.

Alas this love story lacks a fairy tale ending. Maybe it simply went much the same way that so many love stories do: down the tubes.

You see, I wore that first BlackBerry out somehow. A small but critical piece stopped working. I could hear people talking, but no one could hear me. If only I could have taken it to the nearest cell phone repair shop, but nothing like that exists. The only solution was a new BlackBerry, which I faithfully purchased.

That little scene repeated itself with every successive BlackBerry. I’ve been through six phones in as many years, because the quirkiness of the quality. Every phone had something go wrong, or, in the case of the Pearl, it just sucked.

Still, I bought a new BlackBerry, not another brand, every time I needed to replace my phone. That is brand loyalty. And as a copywriter, I'm very familiar with brand loyalty!

Today I am taking it in the shorts because of my blind faith in the brand. I am using the newest and worst BlackBerry yet. My brand loyalty has been abused. Rather than make ever better products to continually delight the customer, RIM has only made crappier and crappier products, until now I’m stuck with a barely usable BlackBerry Smartphone. Not only does it suck as a phone, but think about how hard it is for a copywrter to have a phone she can't use for texting and email! I'm a copywriter for a reason, I do better with the written word than the spoken one!

As a copywriter, I know marketing. But I also know that the actual thing you sell someone has to live up to the promise of your copywriting and marketing.

This latest, heaviest, barely usable piece of metal and plastic sitting next to my laptop is the equivalent of a snubbing. RIM didn’t care to keep delighting me, only to keep selling to me.

If that’s your marketing, it’s a short-term solution.

Trust me, this copywriter has bought her last BlackBerry. As soon as this one wears out, and I know that will be soon, I’m switching brands.

Please excuse me while I gush while enthusiastically endorsing a product. I can’t help myself. Homestead.com rocks, pure and simple.

I’m a freelance copywriter and, unlike some other copywriters who like to wear designer hats as well, I stick to what I know: copywriting. That makes me better at what I do because that’s all I do! But it also means I work in the worlds of marketing and website copywriting, and that makes my friends think I can design and build websites.

I can’t.

But thanks to Homestead, I did! I just built an already successful website for a friend! When you see the site, it’s obvious I’m not a designer, but hey, this Seattle copywriter built a website! And with much more ease than I would have using FrontPage or Publisher or any of the other novice website building tools out there.

The site didn’t need to be complicated, but it did need to be clean and easy to use and a site that would rank well in search engines. It is all of those things thanks to Homestead. It’s already showing up on page one of Google for a specific search term, and page two for a very generic one. Amazing! (Yes, partly that's due to my skills as an SEO copywriter, but still, I don't usually get websites to rank that quickly!)

It’s easy to move things around, insert photos, format text, change colors, link, use alt text, include meta tags, change navigation and more. It even lets you add an email signup, then manage that email list.

Not only that, it is cheap! For only $20 per month, we got the domain name, up to five email accounts, and monthly hosting. Plus use of the software to build the site. I pay that much just in hosting my We Know Words copywriting website!

Then today I got into the site stats. So easy to access, use and understand! Much easier than with my own copywriting website, much!

You can make it an ecommerce site too, for a higher monthly cost, but even that’s only about $50 a month, far cheaper than setting up an ecommerce site on your own.

If you’re looking to build a website, and don’t want to pay a designer $1500 or more to do it, take a look at Homestead.com. If you have some design skills, you’ll be able to make it look good, but if not, you can still create a functional website for hardly any cost at all.

OK, done gushing. But what fun to get the chance to gush! It’s not very often something impresses me to this degree. And it’s nice to know some companies are still out there making products and services that really work, not just that make them money.

P.S. This friend admittedly got some kickass freelance copywriter services too, so that has helped with his search engine rankings. But hiring a freelance copywriter is much cheaper than hiring a website designer, so if you have to choose, maybe put the money into the copywriter, use Homestead to build your site, and save yourself a bundle!