Blowing Your Own Horn: How to Write About Yourself

I recently had a chat with a client in the transportation industry about dressing up his website, which had languished for many years as a do-it-yourself effort and was ripe for refurbishing. The client that he needed a more professional online presence, but getting him to talk about his accomplishments, or his company's advantages over its competitors, was like pulling some seriously impacted molars with a pair of eyebrow tweezers. I did finally manage to extract some good nuggets of information that would help me sell his services, but only after hearing him say several variations of, "We don't really like to go around bragging on ourselves."

Um, you don't? Because that's pretty much what marketing is all about.

If you're not going to tell the world about your company's virtues, who will? Word of mouth will only take you so far, partly because you have so little control over it. You can ask for testimonials right and left, but guess what -- you still have put those testimonials up for public view, and that means including them in your marketing materials. If you want your business to succeed, you can't be a shrinking violet; you have to talk it up. And if, like so many entrepreneurs and small business owners, you're the heart and soul of your enterprise, then you have to be willing to talk yourself up as well.

Granted, nobody wants to come across as an egotistical braggart, but like the old saying goes, "It ain't bragging if it's true." One of my clients is a business coach based here in Austin who works with sales teams both in person and via phones conferences. This means that he helps the occasional client in Canada and the UK. So does he market himself as an "internationally known business consultant?" Absolutely -- because that's exactly what he is! It's not pretentious or self-aggrandizing to state a compelling fact that demonstrates your experience, success and popularity. Even so, I know plenty of folks who would hesitate to use such a phrase in their own marketing: "Oh, that sounds like I'm blowing my own horn." Well, sure you are. If you've got the legitimate chops, then go, Satchmo, go!

Sometimes business owners don't actually understand just what makes them so special, so they simply neglect to broadcast it in their marketing. I worked with an industrial equipment client once, and once again the metaphor the frustrated dentist reared its ugly head as I tried desperately to obtain some juicy tidbits that might reveal the client's UVP (unique value proposition). The conversation just went on and on...

Me: What makes your products superior to your competitors' products?

Client: Oh, we all really use the same industry-standard stuff in this industry.

Me: Well, do you offer better or longer warranty protection?

Client: Not really. It's all the same.

Me: Are your prices more competitive?

Client: No, everybody charges about the same.

Me: Are you faster? Harder working? More skilled at installation?

Client: Well, there's only a few ways to install these things.

...and on. Finally I asked, "Look, is there anything that sets you apart from the other guys?" The client replied, "Well....we actually sort of invented this industry about 30 years ago. We were the first to introduce any of these products."

Self-promotion isn't bragging; it's selling. Do you want to sell? Then get out there and blow your own horn!

What's the Rush? How to Avoid Copywriting Rush Fees

You're looking at the calendar and sweating bullets. Tomorrow's deadline for uploading or publishing your company's latest article has creep up on you for whatever reason, and now you have 24 hours to commission and receive a completed draft from your writer. But when you get him on the phone (assuming he's available at all), he requests a humongous extra payment for the job. Yes, you're looking at a rush fee -- or a missed deadline. Pick your poison.

There's no set range for such fees in the copywriting world. Peter Bowerman has mentioned attaching a 20 percent rush fee to some of his jobs, while others may charge anything up to twice their usual rates. I used to charge 20 to 30 percent, based on how much of a scheduling inconvenience the job created. Because that's really what a rush fee is -- not an attempt to cash in on a client's obvious desperation, but a kind of inconvenience fee.

You see, busy freelancers typically juggle multiple jobs day by day, week after week, and in some cases we're booked weeks or even months in advance. While I try to build some flexibility into my work calendar, I've found that a couple of "I have to have it tomorrow!" requests can bring my planning down like a house of cards, which in turn jeopardizes my ability to produce for my other clients as promised. Reliability is everything (well, next to writing ability) for a copywriter. So the rush fee discourages clients from grabbing our labels and begging us to turn our schedules upside-down. In fact, these days I won't even accept a rush job. The extra money isn't worth the chaos. 

So how can you prevent the marketing equivalent of a four-alarm fire from breaking out? The same way you prevent real fires -- through foresight. While not every single nail-biter can be avoided, here are a couple of helpful tricks for making things run more smoothly:

• Keep an editorial calendar. If you run recurring blog posts, email blasts or newsletter articles, plan out the entire marketing year in advance if possible. If it isn't, then even a quarterly plan would be better than winging it from month to month. then share the plan with your writer, and start collecting whatever background information or other materials you want to send him.

• Stockpile. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- stockpile those articles! Not only will always have something ready to post or publish, but you'll also have more options as to how you'd like to fill that next chunk of blank space. Maybe the September article would work better for October, for instance. If you have both of them well in hand, simply swap them out. This strategy works well with your editorial calendar because you can pre-purchase several month's worth of material far enough in advance to avoid any rush fees or sudden unavailability from your writer.

In short, the easiest strategy for not paying rush fees is not to rush. Work with your freelance copywriter to iron out any scheduling questions well in advance, and both your marketing budget and your blood pressure will benefit!

Out of Blog Ideas? Try These Topic Triggers

It happens to every blogger, website owner, or social media manager at some point. You know you have to keep up that regularly-scheduled stream of blog posts to keep your target market engaged -- and you know that it has to be original relevant content, not just whatever you can scrape off of someone else's website. But you can do nothing but stare at your computer monitor or smartphone screen, emitting flop sweat instead of ideas. At times like these, it's easy to freeze up in panic or despair that you've completely run out of blog content for the indefinite future. But keep a cool head, because help is on the way. Here are some ideas and suggestions to spur your imagination and trigger a fresh flood of blog content.

Think in Categories

How many different kinds of blog articles are there to choose from, really? Blog content tends to fall into different categories, and you can use those categories as a starting point to determine what kind of post you want to write. For example, what about:

A success story - Can you recall a recent situation in which you helped one of your clients out of a jam? If so, you have the basis for a success story that might convert readers into customers.

Breaking news - Has some major innovation, cultural shift or financial upheaval affected your readers and/or your industry? It's time to add your two cents to the online discussion.

A call for input - What do your readers think about a specific subject? What's on their minds, and how you can provide some much-appreciated assistance? Ask them to submit topics that you can address on your blog.

A guest blogger - Who says that you have to write every word of your own blog content? If you have access to valued vendor partners or industry pundits, why not invite them to contribute occasional posts as guest bloggers? You can then return the favor by making guest appearances on their blogs, making you visible to a whole new audience.

An employee spotlight - Do you have a new employee or established "superstar" you'd like to introduce to your readers? A blog article can provide the perfect opportunity to call attention to the quality of your team members (and, by extension, your company).

A product or service spotlight - Do you have a new product or service that you want to promote, or a regular feature that could benefit from some additional focus? Blog about it -- and invite your readers to learn more by contacting you directly.

Think in Questions

Another useful technique for triggering blog topics is self-questioning. Asking yourself certain compelling questions can lead your mind down the path toward fresh ideas. For instance, you might ask yourself:

• What's the most important thing I've learned in the past 12 months?
• What are the [X number of] things my readers can do about a specific problem -- and how can we help?
• What are some of the most common myths or misconceptions our target audience might have about some aspect of what we do?
• What burning issue or danger does our audience really need to know about?
• How does the current season or upcoming holiday affect our readers' need for our products and services?
• What kind of special offer or event can I announce in the context of a blog article?

Try these triggers on for size and see whether they open up new vistas for your blog content. If you need even more help, bring a second brain on board by hiring a freelance copywriter!

Should You Hire a Freelance Copywriter or Engage a Marketing Agency?

Not too long ago, I took a phone call from a business owner inquiring about press releases. Which is fine; I've written plenty of press releases over the years. But it soon became apparent that he didn't just need help writing the articles -- he also needed someone to provide him with high-level PR distribution and marketing strategies. So I referred him to a marketing strategist that I knew at a local print/digital agency. At around the same time, I spoke with a Florida real estate agent who needed, not just writing help, but also professional SEO assistance. I agreed to perform the writing portion of the job, but I referred the SEO tasks to a marketing agency in Dallas.

When does it make sense to hire a freelance copywriter in San Antonio, Austin, or wherever, as opposed to engaging a turnkey marketing agency that offers a full suite of marketing services? It's a worthy question, and one that benefits from a little understanding of how both freelance copywriters and marketing agencies actually work.

Money Matters

For businesses with a tight marketing budget, it obviously makes sense to buy only the services you need. If you already have access to professional-quality web design, graphic design, SEO etc., and you're firmly in control of your brand voice and marketing agenda, you might need nothing more than a writer to generate the content you already envision as part of your master plan. One nice thing about this approach is how easy it is to hire writers on an ad hoc basis. Need a single press release, or a month's worth of blog articles, or a quick update to your home page? Simply call your writer and place that order. Current copywriter not working out? Just hire a different one the next time you need some content. Need more content than one writer can handle? Keep two or three of them in your Rolodex, and engage them as needed. Since copywriters base their rates on their particular experience levels, reputations and skill sets, you can always obtain your ideal compromise between affordability and expertise.

Marketing agencies tend to require a steadier, more consistent agreement and a higher level of commitment from their clients. It's true that many of the smaller ones -- the "boutiques" -- can be amazingly flexible in the tiers and terms of service they offer. But it's a little harder to flit from one agency to another at the drop of a hat. Expect to sign on for a flat monthly rate at the very least. In short, it's a more elaborate situation to get into, and to get out of.

Range of Services 

Some copywriters dabble in other marketing services above and beyond writing; the rest of us prefer to focus on the thing we do best. If you know that you need multiple, integrated marketing services, overseen by a professional marketing strategy team, hiring a turnkey marketing agency makes all the sense in the world. But it isn't necessarily your only option.

Remember my opening anecdotes, in which I directed those prospective clients to a marketing strategist and an SEO firm respectively? I was still the designated writer on those jobs -- I simply reached out to my professional network of trusted colleagues. If your copywriter has built up such a network over many years of experience, then you've pretty much got all the pieces of a full-blown marketing agency at your command. Some of these providers may be agencies in their own right; others may be independent contractors and experts in their respective fields. You can mix and match until you have a team that suits both your budget and your marketing needs.

Here's another little insight for your consideration: Many smaller marketing agencies don't maintain their own in-house writing crew anyway. They outsource those services to -- guess who? -- freelancers like me. So you may end up working with a freelance copywriter whether you realize it or not. The big difference in this scenario is that you're not one choosing the copywriter. You may not even be communicating with the writer directly. If that's something that matters to you, you might be better off bringing your own freelance copywriter to the project.

As you can see, there's no clear-cut right or wrong way to proceed. If you're still unsure of your copywriting and marketing needs, feel free to contact me for some honest, straightforward advice!

Beyond Google: Relevant Content Is the Key

Ah, Google, keeper of the sacred, secret formulae that determine whether your website link appears on Page One of search results -- preferably above the fold, or at least higher up on the search results than your competitors' links. Year in and year out, companies try to crack the Google "secret code," throwing all sorts of strategies at the search engine's current algorithm to see which ones stick. If you've ever sat down with a web or SEO strategist, you've heard about the importance of optimizing your web presence so that Google will reward you with higher search result rankings. Sure, there are other search engines out there worth pleasing, but after all, people don't just search for products, services or information; they "google" them. 

Even the most skilled, experienced web professionals can find Google a tough nut to crack. That's partly because the competition for Google's attention is so vicious, and partly because Google remains a moving target. The company regularly changes its methodologies, which means that yesterday's great online marketing tactic becomes today's disappointing search result. A few years back, I wrote a white paper about an exciting, cutting-edge study performed by a web optimization company, only to watch the owners go pale as Google suddenly changed the way it did things (again), rendering all their hard work obsolete before the study could even hit the news feeds.

What can you do to stay in the sights of this attention-impaired giant? Well, you definitely want to make sure that your digital marketing provider stays on top of all the latest industry news, while building enough flexibility into your site to enable fast, easy updates. This flexibility lets you employ a great, all-weather strategy for online marketing success: production of a steady stream of fresh, useful, high-quality written content -- the kind of material that will always matter to your target market. The good news is that Google currently places quite a lot of emphasis on relevant content. But even if it didn't, such content would still help you generate the kind of responses you're looking for. I've always said that good marketing content tends to optimize itself, and I've yet to see any evidence to the contrary.

Through fair weather and foul, regardless of what Google's algorithm-of-the-moment seems to favor, engaging written content will always make your web presence more, well, present. You'll find that visitors don't just land on your page; they actually read them. They stick around. They check out your products or services. They might even buy stuff or contact you. That's the kind of relevance any business can benefit from, so get the professional copywriting help you need to make it happen!

Networking and Content Marketing: A Profitable Combination

If you're reading this post, then you already have some understanding of content marketing, whether you realize it or not. The creation of regular content relevant to your audience's interests has become a major element in any modern marketing plan. But old-fashioned person-to-person networking isn't going away by any means. Nearly 100 percent of study participants still regard face-to-face meetings as critical to business relationship development, with some 90 percent of them preferring small groups for their hobnobbing efforts. Even in the age of digital social media, platforms such as Meetup.com have created a mashup of online and offline interaction for business and personal relationship building. What's the essential bridge between these two forms of marketing? You guessed it -- it's the intelligent use of high-quality copywriting. Let's look at some of the ways your written content serves your networking efforts and vice-versa.

Marketing "Leave-Behinds" That Keep You From Getting Left Behind

Networking encounters are notorious for making minimal impact unless they're properly cultivated. You might come from from any given event with a stack of business cards that made sense at the time you collected them -- but not a few days later, when they all go into the circular file. Rest assured (?) that most of the cards you handed out await a similar fate. Even in a one-to-one meeting, the wealth of information you obtain from a new connection may fade from your brain more quickly than you would expect. But what if you're holding an eye-catching onesheet or brochure chock full of exciting content? Now you have a quick, handy, compelling reminder of that connection's value. Make sure your own printed "leave-behinds" make this kind of impression.

A Ready-for Prime-Time Web Presence

How do you handle that questions inevitably asked at networking events: "Do you have a website?" If you don't, you've got some explaining to do. If you do, you may feel more like apologizing for it than sending people to it. Is your web content up to date? Does it represent your current brand image, values and vision? Are your most important products and services given the proper promotion? Seriously, don't even put that next big networking event on your calendar until you've gotten these very big ducks in a row. Interested connections will most likely check out your site before they follow up with you -- not only to learn more about what you've told them, but also to get a sense of your legitimacy and professionalism. Don't let your virtual storefront let them down.

Keeping in Touch Through Content Marketing

If you've been in sales for any length of time (and let's face it, we're all in sales), then you know that it takes a minimum of seven "touches" to take a connection from initial awareness to an actual purchase. This degree of thoroughness can wear you out if you try to accomplish it entirely through old-fashioned calls -- but modern content marketing practices make it a breeze. You can create a drip email campaign, for instance, that sends out specific marketing mini-articles, special offers, and other enticements based on your connections' current positions in you sales funnel. You can also keep populating your blog (and therefore your website) with fresh, useful news, tips, and trending information as a means of turning your first-time visitors into regular guests.

Make no mistake, networking does work -- but only if you support it with effective content marketing strategies. Hire a freelance copywriter to help you generate that content, and you'll find that your getting greater value out of every in-person connection you make!

How to Get What You Want From a Freelance Copywriter

So you've decided to hire a professional writer to help you with your marketing content. It's a no-brainer, right? Assuming you've taken the right steps to make sure you've got the right person, you're guaranteed to get whiz-bang copy that makes exactly the statement you wanted to make in exactly the way you wanted to make it. From this point forward, you can set yourself on cruise control and let the writer write. Right?

Well, not quite. No matter how much of the creative burden you offload to the writer, you still have an important task -- communicating what you need and want to your creative team. If your writer (or graphic artist, or web designer, et cetera) receives wrong or incomplete information about your mission statement, corporate values, target market or other things that make your business tick, you'll get marketing content that misses the mark. Effective communication with your writer will help ensure strong, effective copy just as effective communication with an architect helps ensure that your home ends up with the right number of bathrooms. "Hey, the house looks great now that it's built. By the way, did I mention we're a family of twelve?" Oops.

Some items you want to make sure you discuss with your writer include:

Priorities. Writers love background information, so by all means, pile it on. But at some point before the writing starts, make sure you've highlighted the talking points nearest and dearest to you. (A competent writer should ask you this right off the bat, but feel free to volunteer it.) What are the most important things your audience needs to come away with after viewing your marketing content? What must they do? How must they feel? What things about your business set you apart from your competitors? Once you've discussed these things with your writer, you can then throw an avalanche of white papers, web links or other data on his/her shoulders while resting assured that the big points will get the most "ink" in the final product.

Creative scope. Putting your writer on too long or short a creative leash will put a noose around your chances for getting the right final product. If you tell the writer, "You're the creative guy. Just come up with something," be prepared not to like what happens. The writing you get may sparkle and represent a high professional standard, but it may also cover the wrong topic or emphasize the wrong message. On the other hand, if you're mapping out every little point and sub-point down to individual phrases, you're really writing the piece yourself and using the writer as an editor. That's okay if it's the arrangement that you and the writer agreed on. But if you're paying somebody to create content and then spoon-feeding every word to them, then you're wasting time and money.

Direction. Many business owners and marketing directors bring on a new writer when they intend to make a drastic change in the direction of their marketing -- but what if you just want to continue what you've already started? That's great too. Like a session musician sitting in for a regular band member, a skilled writer can mimic a wide range of tones and styles, even while the presence of a new player adds a little jolt of fresh energy to the proceedings. Just make it very clear to the writer that it ain't broke so you don't want it fixed. Not a problem. 

Talk to your freelance writer, and you'll get writing that speaks to your customers. And that's the most important communication of all.