Small Business Email Marketing

Repurpose Social Chatter, But Make Sure to Deliver Content--not Clutter

Monday, May 9, 2011 by Sharon Long

content marketing group choose content over clutter

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.

Pills Might Help Real-Life Headaches, but Words Soothe the Marketing Ones

Friday, May 6, 2011 by Sharon Long

Marketing is not about finding some magic pill that makes your website convert. It's about being specific in your content marketing and copywriting, talking about what your audience is buying, not what you're selling. Here's more proof...

Last month I helped an attorney with new copywriting for her website. She has an unusual niche: helping people in the healthcare profession defend their license when accused of wrongdoing. Yet she wasn't getting those kinds of clients. We redid the website copy to speak specifically to the concerns of that particular audience.

The result? This is the email I received from the attorney just now:

"Yesterday, I got my first professional license client just from the website. She told me that she had been frustrated that she could not find an attorney who helps nurses but her sister found my website and she was relieved. This is my ideal client and I wanted to thank everyone who helped me."

How did we help the website become a successful marketing tool? We didn't dip into a freelance copywriter bag of magic tricks. We didn't conjure up words known to miraculously get a website found and a client converted. We simply figured out what the target market cared about and wrote to those concerns.

Apparently it works. :-)

That's why I say we know words...and we know what to do with them. It's all about talking to your customers, not at them.

Pills might take care of your real-life headaches, but only the right words will get rid of your marketing ones.

Getting Words Right vs. Getting Words Wrong: A Compelling Contrast

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 by Sharon Long

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.

Choose GOOD Content Over "Any" Content...Even if Your Budget Is $150/Month

Tuesday, April 19, 2011 by Sharon Long

This morning I moderated a panel on SEO and organic search at the eMarketing conference in San Francisco. Content was the over-riding theme of our SEO panel. Which is music to my copywriter and content marketing services ears, right?

There was plenty of talk about Panda too, again, getting us to look at content. Here's the thing about content and content marketing: You can create all kinds of content, but it must be good content. As the panelists said, the content must educate, entertain and enlighten (the three Es).

After the panel, I checked my email and read the following (with specific company names removed to protect the sender).

"In thinking about blogging, content, link building etc.

"Blogging...awhile back you asked about a budget to get blogging and content going. Budgets are going to be real tight at least until I can start seeing results of some type. But I understand it is going to be a critical part of our success.

"With that said I have tried to go out and pull together some ideas of what is available and at what cost.

"Things I have found are mostly from my current partners or industry resources, organizations I belong to.

"Example 1 ABC case study. They will compile these for free with my complete input and approvals. However they get the rights to use them at any time for there own purposes. which obviously has some down sides but also gives me direct links to to some very authoritative folks.

"Example 2 Content site from XYZ. This is a content site; they will update monthly with new articles and the like. This is a pay for service for $150 per month. I get complete access to all content I can use as just a link on our site branded to our look or take content and incorporate directly into our site which is probably what I would do. By the way the new site will have a pretty easy to use CMS for just this type of thing.

"Down side it is not my original content. Will we be penalized by the gods of Google? Sounds like we might as this same content will be sold to others."

I smiled when I read this because of all the discussion about Panda that happened during the panel. Here's my reply to him:

"I would be a lot less worried about duplicating content and a lot more concerned about offering content of value! Plus you won't get SEO if you don't have keywords...

"If someone finds your blog because you've repurposed content from somewhere else, you've won only one part of the battle: You've been found in the search engine. If they click on the search result and end up at your blog, you've won the second part: They are at your site. But you're going to probably lose the third part: They aren't going to stay. If they go to your site and see content that's not yours, or that's crap, what are they going to learn about your company, your brand, your product, your service?

"Plus there's no guarantee your keywords will be used, so you're not really going to get any SEO benefit from doing so.

"For $150/month, original blog content can be created. We'll set you up with a writer for that. If you can pay that money towards blogging creation, plus commit 20 minutes of your day every day to blogging and get the free case studies, you will get better SEO results, and you will have happier site visitors. When they land at your blog, they are going to know that they have come across a real company and a real person...not a company regurgitating what someone else said.

"That's my opinion. :-) Remember too that any content you create is potential blog content: press releases, case studies, emails to customers even."

Honestly, $150 per month spent on good content is going to do this small business more good than all the free repurposed content he's going to grab from other places. Because it's not just having the content. It's about having good content. Period.

Does Your Business Have a Sales or a Marketing Mentality? Please Say Marketing!

Friday, April 15, 2011 by Sharon Long

Does your business have a sales or a marketing mentality?

I’m asking because it’s heavy on my mind and, although I think I sensed there was a difference, it wasn’t until this week that I realized how different the two mentalities are. And don't think I'm going to say the sales one is better. I'm not.

This thinking was prompted by an eye-opening conversation with the marketing person for a company I’ve worked for in the past. I was their website copywriter for a much-needed website revamp. I was happy with what we accomplished, and I expected more online marketing to follow suit after this initial project.

But none did.

I kind of pushed them with occasional emails hinting at and asking about potential online content marketing they could be doing. Now when I say “pushed,” that’s a relative term. I’m not a pushy person. :-) So my suggestions to them were likely easy to ignore.

After leading a highly successful panel on content marketing at a Seattle marketing conference, I thought enough is enough. It’s time to get these folks doing some online content marketing. “It’s a perfect fit for them,” I thought. “Surely they’ll see the need for this and the ease of it.”

Alas, I had overlooked one critical factor, one that hadn’t even occurred to me before. This company has a sales mentality, not a marketing mentality. You might be asking, “So what? I mean, the point is sales, right? So what’s wrong with a sales mentality?”

It leaves out an entire potential market.

Here’s what it looks like: A company with a sales mentality has a sales staff, not a marketing staff. They zero in on certain companies and individuals. They wear blinders as they work to get the attention of these highly desirable prospects…who aren’t really prospects, meaning they haven’t expressed any interest. At all. A company with a sales mentality invests all their time, effort and therefore financial resources into the manual labor of pursuing these elite businesses they want to woo and convert to customers.

Here’s why this is a problem: While the company with the sales mentality has a laser focus on say the 100 ideal customers they’d love to win, another 100, nay 1,000, potential customers are actively seeking a solution to a problem…a problem this company could solve. But they don’t find out about this company. They use a search engine and get a page of results and this company isn’t one of them. So they spend their money with someone else, one of the someone elses that did show up in the search results.

And the company with the marketing mentality? They are making themselves known to everyone out there looking by using content marketing such as keyword-rich websites, blogs and other content they create and share online. When someone goes looking for a solution to their problem, this company shows up in the search results. And when the possible prospect clicks on the link and goes to this company’s website or blog, they find engaging, relevant content that says to them, “Yes, we can help you solve your problem.” The company with the marketing mentality invests time, effort and therefore financial resources in content that will continue working for them day after day after day. They create it once, and reap the benefits of it repeatedly. They expose themselves to a whole big audience of potential customers. And the sales staff? Their time is spent closing, not pursuing.

What kind of mentality does your company have?

Will Content Marketing Be Reduced to Formulas? I'm Just Sayin'...

Thursday, April 7, 2011 by Sharon Long

Today I read two blogs in total contrast to each other that really got me thinking.

One was on email copywriting, and thinking about writing emails as an author would think about a novel. It's a great reminder that the email copywriter has a responsibility to not only "sell" something but to use thoughtful, meaningful approaches to writing to do so. And my apologies to Mike May, the author, if my paraphrasing of his post is not quite what he intended!

The other was on a content marketing checklist, called "Creating Valuable Content: An Essential Checklist." For me, it presents a real contrast to the email copywriter blog. It represents something I fear about content marketing, that it will become formulaic. When our checklists are all about making sure we've used the right tags and included a call to action and a sharing link, well, where's the checklist that asks "Is the content authentic? Is it engaging? Is it real? Is it customer-centric?"

Like Mike May alluded to in his post, content must still be good content! You could use a checklist for an email too, and it wouldn't look all that different from this content marketing checklist. But both the email and any other kind of content you produce must have some substance and a reason for being beyond a place to put tags and sharing links.

I know the creator of the content marketing checklist knows this. I just get a little nervous about the direction of this kind of thinking, away from the quality of the content itself and toward the technical, formulaic details.

I'm just sayin'.

Be Careful to Be Timely When Re-Using Content for Content Marketing

Friday, April 1, 2011 by Sharon Long

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.)

Yep, the Blodder for Your Online Content Marketing Is There! Tap Into It!

Saturday, March 26, 2011 by Sharon Long

In response to an earlier content marketing blog post on what I call "blodder," and trying to capture what employees say in their emails as blog fodder for your online content marketing, I got the following comment:

"This is so true - if I could get my hands on the emails that one of my company's employees writes on a daily basis, I would have so much blodder to work with, I would hardly have time to plan."

I'm sure your work situation is at least somewhat similar, with your employees writing thoughtful, detailed responses to customers or prospects. They are creating content for your content marketing program without even meaning to!

But how do you capture that content? Compendium just added a very cool email to post feature, where an email can be sent directly into a blog post. That's one way. But I think you also have to change mindsets. We've thought of these one-to-one communications as just that: me writing to you. That might be a big shift in thinking to start thinking of the emails one writes throughout the course of the day as resources for online content marketing!

I'm working on that right now with a long time client of our content marketing agency. My question to them is, how do we tap into the emails your employees are writing? Or the experiences they're having? Compendium CEO Chris Baggott advises people to start a blog post with "I just got off the phone with..." and simply write about that conversation.

Content marketing doesn't have to mean generating lots and lots and lots of content (although that kind of need makes content marketing agencies like mine very happy!). Plenty of content exists or is generating each and every day at your company.

You just need to get people thinking that way so you can tap into it. We can help.

You Don't Have to Look Too Far to Find the Content for Your Content Marketing!

Friday, March 25, 2011 by Sharon Long

I have a friend. Well, he's a client, really. OK, he's an employee of a client company of ours. But he has become a dear friend, and he's a super smart guy who is constantly talking circles around me any time I need to interview him for a project for this client company. And he's top of mind as I write this blog post intended to get you thinking how easy content can be to come by when you're implementing a content marketing program.

You see, this friend, Michael, he writes these amazing emails that are full--and I mean full--of content that is perfect for the blog we write for the company. In fact, he and I coined a new term because of his emails: blodder. It started out blog fodder but we condensed it to blodder.

He doesn't agonize over these emails or research them or anything else. He simply types what he knows. And he knows a lot! He writes detail rich, expert emails in response to client questions and he writes emails to prospects and I swear, if I had access to his email account, I could probably post 2 or 3 blog posts per week for their company based only on those emails.

And Michael's not unusual in this. You probably have employees creating content all throughout your company every single day but don't realize it. And that content can become blog posts or newsletter articles, or maybe it's the start of a beginner's guide or ebook.

The point is, content exists! It exists in your employees' minds, their email accounts and their phone conversations. And employees are only one resource for you to consider.

As I think on this idea of all the content you have easy access to for your online content marketing program, all kinds of ideas pop into my head. So look for more easy content sources in this content marketing blog in the coming days.

What Are Content Marketing Services Anyway?

Thursday, March 24, 2011 by Sharon Long

I was updating the We Know Words website and realized we didn't have a clear explanation of our content marketing services. I remedied that just now on the website and below!

When it comes to content marketing services, we offer everything from the plan to putting it into practice.

Content Marketing Plan
We assess what you’re currently doing, get clear on your goals, learn about your audience and their goals, then develop a plan just for you that includes the steps to create, implement and track your Content Marketing Plan. Once you have the plan, you can run with it, or stick with We Know Words for help implementing it.

Content Marketing Plan Implementation Ala Carte
After your Content Marketing Plan has been developed, we can help you implement it to whatever degree you want. We Know Words can manage any—or all—of the following tasks for you:

• Setting up a blog as the hub of your Content Marketing
• Keyword research for search engine optimization
• Facebook and Twitter integration
• Email messaging for soliciting content
• Setting up systems for tracking results
• Staff training on writing and sharing content
• Ongoing coaching
• Creating professional content such as whitepapers or articles
• Editing content your team creates
• Analyzing results and suggesting improvements
• Newsletter or press release template development
• Anything else that helps you make the most effective use of content to market your business!

If you have any questions at all about Content Marketing or how We Know Words can help, call 206.459.8225 or email info@weknowwords.com. But do it soon! Your competitors are marketing with content. Are you?

Stop Worrying About Content, Marketers: Outsource It Instead!

Monday, March 21, 2011 by Sharon Long

outsourcing content marketing takes away worries about content creation

According to a recent MarketingProfs article on B2B email marketing, these marketers are primarily concerned with improving the relevancy of the content in their emails.

In fact, it's so important to them, 66% of B2B marketers surveyed cited improving content as a goal for the next 12 months. The next highest goal was list hygiene at only 42%.

In the interest of being self serving, may I point out that it's interesting that content is such a huge concern at the time when content marketing is coming into its own as a marketing strategy and tactic?

And if two-thirds of B2B marketers want to make their content more relevant, then copywriting and content marketing services providers like We Know Words should plan to get really busy. Because the best content, the most relevant content these marketers will create will come from tapping into a customer-centric approach to content creation, the intellectual property known as their employees, the seasoned and skilled input of professional writers and editors, and a content coordination approach that ties it all together.

Which is a really long-winded way of saying the answer lies in outsourcing content marketing to a reputable, experienced content marketing agency...like We Know Words.

Really, why is this a concern for so many B2B marketers when there are companies like We Know Words who can make it all happen?

Outsource the content marketing, marketers, and move to the next item: list hygiene.

I can't help you there. But I sure can help you with the content!

Content Marketing Will Make Waves for Seafood Company

Friday, March 11, 2011 by Sharon Long

Content Marketing Will Make Waves for Seafood Company Below is an email I sent to a seafood company looking to build a new B2C website as well as a Facebook presence. During my talk with the web designer, several things came up, so I emailed these thoughts to the client. They were so well received by him, I thought I'd share them here...

"They are for the most part what is now called Content Marketing, which means a more strategic use of the content you create or capture.

"And content is golden. Content is how you get found online by search engines. Content is what people share. Content is how you engage and build relationships. Content is a valuable commodity. The more good content you have, the better off you are.

"With a B2C company that is selling food—something consumers can really get into—you have some great opportunities to get your customers creating content for you. A possible scenario is this: You have a website, a blog, and a Facebook page, and maybe you’re doing email marketing too. Your blog content can come from anywhere. It’s not like you need some English major hidden away cranking out content about your seafood. Your blog content can be written by a freelancer or two, and/or by employees, and/or by customers. Every time you get a testimonial, that’s a blog post. A recipe is a blog post. A new product is a blog post. An employee talking about quality control and another talking about types of seafood and things to know…blog content. Talking about what’s going on elsewhere, like maybe on Chopped they had frozen shrimp as one of their ingredients…proper storing advice, party advice, side dish advice, busy family dinners advice… the possibilities for blog content are literally endless.

"Then it’s really easy to share blog posts with Facebook and Twitter. You simply click on a link and voila, it’s shared. So you’ve taken the same content, but made that many more people aware of it and given them a chance to comment on it, like it or share it.

"It goes the other way too. I just heard about a company that makes gluten-free baked goods posted a request for favorite gluten-free Thanksgiving recipes on their Facebook page and got over 200 recipes. If the company puts all those recipes into blog posts, guess what? That’s over 200 blog posts…that are naturally keyword rich. Plus they will be permanent content, unlike Facebook content that has a very short lifespan.

"Which is the other side of this: All online content has the potential for helping your search rankings. And organic search is still the way to go. Just this morning, I read eMarketer’s article on how organic search still trounces paid search. People trust the organic results. And if you can “organically” create that kind of keyword-rich content…and have people sharing it and spreading the word for you, you’ll get a lot more bang for your marketing buck. Or should I say Content Marketing buck?

"You can add in email marketing, with links to pages on your Facebook page…and those email messages can be repurposed as blog posts. You also can have recipe contests or even a food photo contest. If you wanted, you could pull together recipes and make an ebook…promote it by email, in the blog on Facebook…I hope I’m painting a picture here for you."

That was the bulk of the email I sent the client. I hope that gets your brain churning the way it did mine...and the client's!

Proof That Strategic Content Marketing Gets You the SEO That Gets You Noticed

Thursday, March 10, 2011 by Sharon Long

Experts have been saying for some time that people tend to disregard paid search results because they are much more trusting of the organic search results. Yesterday's eMarketer article on search behavior tells us this is still true. I quote: "research indicates that most search users overlook search ads almost entirely."

And you know what marketers overlook almost entirely? How easy it is to compete for organic search results.

Yesterday at MarketMix in Seattle, I moderated a panel on Content Marketing with two highly respected experts as my brainy and bold panelists: Chris Baggott of Compendium and Russell Sparkman of FusionSpark Media. If you were to attend that panel and read the eMarketer article, a lightbulb should go off in your head: content can be easy to create, it will be effective when used effectively, and it can be used to get you found in search engines...which is a better way to get found than by search ads...if you want to get noticed.

And you win searches by having more content to be found by the search engines. If it's quality, relevant content, it's going to have the kinds of long tail keywords people are searching on, so you won't have to spend time plugging in keywords.

Using content marketing for SEO is not hard, it's easy. Here are three examples of ways to do it that are easy, easy, easy:

1) Publish an email newsletter monthly, archive each issue on your website, and then summarize it in your blog and link to the archive. SEO benefit? More organic content to be crawled and indexed. You've gone from one email to two pieces of web content.

2) Write a whitepaper or tip sheet or something else relevant and useful to your audience. Summarize it online. Write an article about it in your email newsletter. And wash, rinse, repeat...or in other words, do the steps in number 1 above again.

3) Get your employees blogging. They will write about what they care about, and they will naturally use keywords relevant to the searcher.

Organic search is going to continue to be the preferred way to find results if you're a consumer searching online. Content marketing can help you be there on those first search results pages.

And maybe you'll save enough time and money doing your online content marketing that you'll have time and money left over for paid search! :-)

If you need or want some help coming up with simple content marketing strategy, email info@weknowwords.com.

You Can Love Design But It's the Words That Win in Content Marketing

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 by Sharon Long

Love your design but words win says freelance copywriter

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:

"We spend far too much energy on revitalizing creative. Don't get me wrong, good creative does pull, but does the effort involved warrant the output? Depending on your business, I believe most could compress creative costs 25% with rational approaches and better content management."

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. :-)

Grip Rite Semi Shows Freelance Copywriters the Right Approach

Wednesday, February 2, 2011 by Sharon Long

Grip Rite shows freelance copywriter how it's done

Whoever designed the advertising for the side of the Grip Rite semi I just saw is a savvy marketer. Instead of pictures of products, the whole side of the truck trailer was plastered with photos of the products being used with captions that said what the product was being used for. Rather than a Grip Rite doohickey pictured on the side of the truck, with claims of faster, stronger, better, cheaper...or whatever claims Grip Rite might make, the photos were captioned with things like "Fencing" and "Molding and Trim." And the photos showed the product being used.

They are showing the solution!! They are showing customers the problems they solve! Now I don't know anything about Grip Rite, but I'm assuming people don't sit around thinking "I need a faster, stronger, cheaper fastener." They probably think "I need a good way to get this molding up."

And Grip Rite is showing them!

This is what freelance copywriters must do. It can be hard for clients, I know, trust me I know! They want to talk all about product. They live, eat, think, breathe, sleep product. But the best copywriter is going to be the one who can get the client thinking about problems and solutions like their customers do!

Then the freelance copywriter must translate that messaging into the copy.

Grip Rite's truck is simple in appearance yet perfect as a marketing tool. Freelance copywriters must emulate those trucks!

Copywriter vs. Content Marketing: What's the Difference?

Monday, January 31, 2011 by Sharon Long

This whole Content Marketing thing has admittedly caught me a little off guard. As a freelance copywriter, I work with words every single day. Marketing through content is what I do. It's my passion, my livelihood.

As a freelance copywriter, at first I thought, "Well, content marketing is what I already do." But as the articles keep popping up in the email newsletters I read, and eMarketer, and other places, I am trying to sort this out. And here's what I think...

Yes, as a freelance copywriter, content marketing is what I do. But in a way it's also what I've always wanted to do, and that is to be involved in the strategic planning of the content. I tried making a list of what I would consider copywriting vs. what I would consider content marketing...as a way to sort things out on the We Know Words website. But having two lists was disingenuous. From web content to banner ads to SEO to ghost blogging to writing articles, it's all copywriting.

But maybe what's happening here is an evolution. For two years now, I have been the freelance copywriter for a Bay Area company, integrating the ghost blogging, email newsletters and other content. I have from the start tried to tie all together, repurpose content, and link between different channels. And you know what that is? Content marketing.

I can see some distinctions, that I'm working to address at our We Know Words copywriter agency as I type this. If you need to generate 100 blog posts per month for online content marketing, you're not going to pay a typical freelance copywriter rate for that kind of volume. That's where I stop thinking of it as copywriting and start thinking of it as content generation.

Ditto if you want to generate weekly articles as web content, or weekly press releases.

Working on that here in our Seattle copywriter office...stay tuned.

How to Start a Copywriting Business: Leave the Ego at the Door, PLEASE!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 by Sharon Long

I've had an interesting email dialog this week with a freelance copywriter who started his own freelance copywriting business a couple of years ago, but would like me to send overflow work his way because he doesn't have enough work. He's only about the 20th freelance copywriter to ask that of me in the 10 years I've had We Know Words, so it wasn't a new request.

What was new was my response. I finally, after years of trying to figure out how to work with other freelance copywriters in a way that made sense but didn't make me a freelance babysitter, have come up with a way for copywriters to work for We Know Words that easy for all of us...and doesn't require any babysitting on my part.

I told this freelance copywriter about the new business model and he balked. Big time. But what about his brand (meaning his name), he asked. What about his website? Um, if you're that busy, if your name and website are working so well for you, why are you asking me to send work your way?

And I got to thinking, this is soooooo typical of freelance copywriters! Do you realize how many of them have their name as their business and their website URL? Why is that? It's seems to ego-driven on the one hand, and so short-sighted on the other. How can you grow your business if you are just John Doe, will always be John Doe? How can you serve every copywriting need of a client if it's just you? You can't be good a good script copywriter and a good SEO blogger both. And if you are, well, are you any good as a whitepaper copywriter? You can only grow your business if you're more than you. You can only serve every copywriting need of a client if you're more than you.

When I started We Know Words as my copywriting business 10 years ago, it never even occured to me to call my business Sharon Long. (Or Sharon Baerny, my name in 2000.) I went through a huge long list of potential company names to get to We Know Words...and not one of my choices had my name in it.

What other business is as short-sighted as that of the freelance copywriter? Even my accountant has his business set up as Roland and Associates. Plus you totally lose on the SEO front when your name is your business and URL. (If I were to do it all over again, I would have named my business something SEO friendly...but I didn't know anything about SEO 10 years ago!)

So my number one advice to anyone asking how to start a copywriting business is this: Leave your ego at the door. Please. No one cares if you are John Doe or Mary Schmoe. They care if you know marketing and words. They care if your rates are fair. They care if you meet your deadlines. But they do not care about your name or your ego. And they never will.

And there's another point to this: You are dooming yourself to isolation, and you'll never be able to work with others together. If I'm building a brand for Sharon Long, and you're building a brand for Mary Schmoe, then we are missing out on the opportunity to work together to build a brand for freelance copywriters.

OK, that's what I have to say on the subject. Are you about to start a copywriting business? What do you think?

Blogging Is Like Online Dating for Your Business: Get Out There to Get Found!

Monday, May 10, 2010 by Sharon Long

Imagine trying to find someone to date without ever leaving your house or going online. How would you meet anyone? You wouldn’t. You have to put yourself out there in order to meet potential dates and mates.

Same with marketing. If you don’t put yourself out there, you won’t be found by potential customers.

Blogging is one of the best ways to put yourself out there online…if you’re doing it right, meaning with enough of the right keywords and frequently enough.

As a freelance copywriter and now a Copy Coach, I’ve been promoting blogs as marketing tools for a long time now. But this report from Hubspot should convince you. If it doesn’t, I’ll think you want to “stay single” meaning you don’t want to find new customers!

According to Hubspot, companies that blog enjoy:

55% more visitors
97% more inbound links
434% more indexed pages

Still not convinced? Read the article on small business blogging.

Ready to get your blog up and running? Or want help making your blog make more business? Drop me a line!

Does Your Website Suck? What You Can Do About It, for Cheap!

Monday, May 3, 2010 by Sharon Long

Is business slow? Maybe now is the time to figure out where your website needs improvement…and do it, before the economy picks up and you get busy again.

Websites prove the age-old adage, “Out of sight, out of mind.” That’s why horrid sites stay that way—we don’t see them, we don’t do anything about them.

Bad sites don’t sell. Bad sites don’t do anything but make you look bad. Can you live with that?

Now, when business is slow, is the time to take a good, hard look at your website and figure out how to make it better…so it makes you money.

Very few websites are the best they can be, or even close to being decent. I’ve been a website copywriter for 13 years. I’ve seen some pretty bad websites.

And I’ve developed a low-cost method for assessing websites and recommending simple changes that can add up to big improvement. I call them website assessments. Not a glamorous name, yet a fitting one, because the report I give clients is straightforward and easy to act upon.

If you’d like to take advantage of this downtime to improve your website, hire me for a website assessment. I’ll review your website. Then I’ll give you a written report and roadmap for improving it as your time and budget allow. Implement all of the suggestions or only a few. Change it yourself or hire someone else to. As long as you do something.

Most of these changes will be basic because people go online to find information, not to be impressed with fancy graphics. There also basic because my experience is that of a website copywriter, not designer. I’ll also give you suggestions for ranking better in the search engines, so people find your site.

When you hire this website copywriter to review your site, here’s what I’ll do:

I’ll interview you to figure out your target audience and their perceived problems.
I’ll figure out why they go to your site, how they get there, and what they want to do when they get there.
I’ll listen as you tell me what you want them to do there.
I’ll assess your website based on all this information to see how well your website is doing its job.
I’ll present you with a detailed report outlining recommendations for improving your site to make it a better information and sales tool.

A website assessment costs just $500 for up to seven web pages. A measly $500 for a detailed reporting that spells out what you can do to improve your website as a marketing tool. Best of all, with your assessment in hand, you can make the changes whenever you want, as your time and budget allow.

The recession will end. The economy will pick up. And customers will be back. Be ready to be busy by making your website better now while you have time.

Take it from this website copywriter: Your website has to be good, otherwise you’re missing out on opportunities…especially if you’re not even getting found on the Internet in the first place!

And when the economy does pick up again, the better your website works, the faster you’ll recover from this recession!

To see other assessment I’ve done, to ask questions, or to get started, call 206.459.8225 or email Sharon@weknowwords.com.

Even on Facebook, Content Is King, So Hire a Professional Copywriter to Set You up Right

Saturday, April 24, 2010 by Sharon Long

Reading a SilverPop whitepaper on social media, I as the professional copywriter was drawn to section 4, called Create Content That Connects. It starts off:

"The foundation of effective marketing remains the same: content is king. For example, a company with 50,000 social media followers disseminating highly relevant, engaging content that users feel motivated to share can be more effective than a competitor with content that is not deemed valuable and is rarely shared by its fan base of 100,000." (Emphasis mine.)

Again, I see my role switching from Copy Writer to Copy Coach. In the social media marketing age, yes, customers will create content, as they use wikis, comment on blogs, post on your wall...or blog or tweet about you! But, you will set the stage for that content. Or you'd better, anyway, by getting a professional content copywriter in there to set it for you. If you don't set the stage, you won't have any say over the direction it goes.

I believe this so strongly, I'm now officially acting as a sometimes Copy Coach, helping small businesses and big companies figure out how to harness social media through great content...after figuring out if it even makes sense to do so.

Want a Copy Coach to guide your business onto the right path for social media marketing? Email me at sharon@weknowwords.com.