reynoldswriting.com Blog

I just read an interesting article on Copyblogger that reminded me of the reasons business owners and marketing firms need copywriters. I’ve mentioned a few of them before. Maybe you don’t happen to have a talent for writing. Maybe creating your own marketing content takes up a huge amount of time that ought to go toward doing your day-to-day tasks that keep your business running. Maybe you do have the talent, but you hate, hate, hate using it. (Hey, some people just don’t enjoy writing.) Maybe the copywriter you’ve been using suddenly retires or goes on a sabbatical or gets too busy to take on additional jobs. These are all valid reasons to hire a copywriter, and in each case I’m happy to step in.

The article mentioned another good reason, though — the possibility that you may be “too close to the topic.”

Let’s face it, you know your business inside-out. You’re immersed in it on a daily basis. You work with other people who also know the industry, and you communicate with colleagues that speak the lingo as well as you do. You live in the world of your business. The problem is, your customer probably doesn’t.

You may find it impossible to see yourself objectively enough to put yourself in your reader’s shoes. Sometimes it’s hard to pretend you’re John Doe instead of Jane Manufacturing Incorporated long enough to really grasp what the reader wants to know, as opposed to what you want to tell him. Time to bring in an objective party — one who happens to write marketing content for a living. Your copywriter can see John’s perspective as well as Jane’s, creating a message informed by one and aimed at the other.

You may also find that your industry speaks a language the general public doesn’t understand. I recall the time I walked into an engineering company and the owner said, “Ah, so you’re the guy who’s going to rescue us!” The company’s leadership team had spent so many years talking engineer-speak to engineers that they’d lost a handle on how to translate their features and benefits into common English. Again, copywriter to the rescue!

Whatever your writing roadblock may be, don’t keep suffering from it. Offload that specialized work to a specialist, and welcome a new brain to your company’s think-tank.

You can check out the rest of the Copyblogger article here.

For more about my writing services and current package deals, check out my website at www.reynoldswriting.com.

“Freelancers are flakes.” How many times have you heard that warning from colleagues burned by a project that cost twice the anticipated amount, took a year instead of a week to complete or just ground to a halt mid-job?

People sometimes cut freelancers a weird amount of slack that they wouldn’t give their own employees, especially the ones who perform creative work: “Oh, those right-brain eccentric artists, they march to a different drum and we’re just lucky they come down to Earth once in a while to help us regular folks.” But freelancers aren’t flakes, or at least they don’t have to be. The successful ones take their freelancing seriously and run it as a business instead of a lark. Unfortunately, though, they still suffer from the behavior of the less-serious ones who give the profession an apparent case of terminal dandruff.

Watch out for these potential problems:

The unknown price tag. Beware the freelancer who refuses to give you a firm quote for a job before starting work. For many of us who tend to charge flat per-project rates, this issue never comes up. But even if your freelancer bills by the hour, you should still insist on a realistic estimate of what you’ll pay, even if that estimate falls into a range.

Excuses, excuses. There’s always a good reason not to get a project done on time, and some freelancers want to make sure you hear all of them. “Sorry this is a month late, but my dog came down with mange and my kid’s having attitude problems and I had to get my tires rotated and the recent spell of bad weather has deprived me of Vitamin D and….” Some of these excuses may even be legitimate. But even if there’s always a reason for the late or sub-par work, the end result is still late or sub-par work.

The disappearing act. “I had a freelancer working on this eight months ago, and then he went off somewhere and I haven’t been able to get ahold of him since.” Some freelancers go bust and return to the world of standard employment, while others only do it as “gap work” between day jobs. Even in these cases, though, a courteous professional would contact you to let you know, or at least answer your inquiries.

So what should you look for in a freelancer? A portfolio of strong samples, a solid track record, recommendations from satisfied clients and clear ground rules. Always ask about the freelancer’s billing and work processes, turnaround times and availability. Get hard numbers and set deadlines, and hold your freelancer to them. The good ones will make every possible effort to deliver as promised. As for the flakes — well, you don’t put up with dandruff, do you?

For more about my writing services and current package deals, check out my website at www.reynoldswriting.com.

So you’ve decided to take on the burden of writing your own marketing content. It might not be so bad — if you enjoy writing, marketing and communicating, you may even be looking forward to it. So why do you feel so uncomfortable when you actually sit down to do it, and what can you do to make it easier?

I’ve been at it for 14 years now, and even at this stage of my career some days are easier than others. What’s more, about half the time I have no clue as to why a given workday felt better or worse than usual. We all have our ups and downs, of course — health, stress, distractions, depressing weather and whatnot can all have an impact on our productivity from day to day. But there’s something special, or notorious, about writing. Nobody ever talks about “accountant’s block” or “construction worker’s block,” but the term “writer’s block” has entered the general vocabulary as a dreaded occupational hazard. Writing can be a lot of fun, or it can feel intensely uncomfortable.

How do you get back into your comfort zone? That’s up to you. Writers throughout history have found their own preferred methods of relaxing into the writing groove, which may explain the high rate of alcoholism among literary giants. But for many writers, getting “ready to write” may include such simple little details as wearing the right clothes or keeping a clean office. Some only feel relaxed writing in their PJs, while other insist on dressing up in business clothes so they can feel like professionals. Friedrich Schiller kept rotten apples in his office to spur him on (some of us suffer for our art). Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway used to sharpen every pencil in the house before settling down to write. Whatever works.

I suggest you experiment with the surroundings and practices that work best for you, then make a conscious effort to incorporate them into your daily routine. What sounds, sights, smells, or activities keep your inner editor quiet without distracting the parts of your brain needed for that first draft? What time of day offers the fewest interruptions or coincides with your peak productivity?

Once you find that comfortable “writer’s place” — within and without — you’ll boost your chances of producing good work without stressing over every word. Bad days can still happen, of course, but you’ll have more control over whether they lead to bad writing.

Or you can just stop stressing completely and hire a copywriter. Let me just get some pencils ready.

For more about my writing services and current package deals, check out my website at www.reynoldswriting.com.

Ah, Google — keeper of the sacred, secret formulae that determine whether your website link appears on Page One of the search results, above the “fold” so viewers don’t have to scroll down to see your listing, or at least higher up on the list than your competitors’ links.

Year in and year out, companies try to crack the Google-relevance “secret code,” throwing all sorts of strategies at the search giant’s algorithm to see which ones get results. If you’ve ever sat down with a web strategist, you’ve heard about how important it is to optimize your website so that Google rewards you with a higher ranking in search results. And it’s true. People don’t just search for products, services and information, after all — they “google” them. I should be so lucky: “I need to Reynolds my company’s marketing content.” Has a nice ring, doesn’t it?

Why, then, do even the most skilled and experienced web professionals find Google such a tough nut to crack? Because Google remains a moving target, that’s why. The company constantly tweaks its systems, with the result that yesterday’s great “Google buster” strategy becomes today’s disappointing search result. I recently wrote up the results of 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 once again, rendering all their hard work yesterday’s news before the study could even hit the news feeds.

What can you do to remain in the sights of this attention-impaired giant? Well, you certainly want to make sure your web provider stays on top of all the latest industry news and builds enough flexibility into your site to enable fast, easy updates. This flexibility enables another great, all weather-strategy for online success — a steady stream of fresh, useful, well-written content.

In fair weather or foul, regardless of what Google’s algorithm of the moment seems to favor, engaging and useful 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 it. They stick around. They might even contact you and buy stuff.

Now, that’s relevance!

For more about my writing services and current package deals, check out my website at www.reynoldswriting.com.

I have fielded phone calls from a few prospective clients that felt like job interviews: “Tell me why I should go with a professional copywriter instead of writing this stuff myself.”

I could, I guess. I could tell those people that a professional copywriter can produce more powerful and effective marketing content in a fraction of the time it would take them to stumble to the finish line. I could point out the cost-effectiveness of outsourcing such a job while the client stays productive doing what he does best. I might even suggest that he wouldn’t be calling me at all if he relished the thought of writing his own copy.

But I don’t do any of these things. Why? Because by and large, people either get it or they don’t. The ones that don’t will not become my clients no matter how I respond. The ones that do are only asking that question to hear a validation of what they already know.

A recent blog by copywriting guru Peter Bowerman makes this very point. Bowerman calls this phenomenon “The Salad Dressing Rule.” If you sell salad dressing, he says, you can make better use of your time selling to people who already eat salads than struggling to convert people into salad eaters so they can buy your product. With the time and effort you put into creating a new veggie lover, you could’ve sold umpteen bottles of dressing to the folks who load up their grocery carts with Romaine lettuce every time they shop.

I would even argue that some copywriting clients who think they get it actually don’t. If someone asks me to serve as little more than a transcriptionist, for instance, that client may not understand the full value of drawing on a creative professional’s experience and expertise. Or the client that enthusiastically hires a copywriter and then keeps trying to wheel and deal for a lower price or “special rate” — this person does not truly value the work as something worth paying good money for.

So I no longer plead my case on those initial inquiries. I’ll direct people to my online portfolio, submit additional samples if requested and send over my current rate sheet. The rest is up to them.

Hope they like salad.

For more about my writing services and current package deals, check out my website at www.reynoldswriting.com.

Now that the holiday season has arrived, many of us will find ourselves reading roadside billboards and other signage to stave off the boredom of the road. We will view countless holiday ads online and in print, and if we own a business we may even create some ourselves. If we’re in a hurry to beat a deadline, we may rush the copy to the printer after a quick pass through a spell checker. Bad idea.

Proofreading matters, if only because the errors you pump out will live forever on the Internet. Even if you’re producing a sign or advertisement in a language most of your viewing public doesn’t understand, somebody out there has devoted a humorous website to you.

Yes, your spell checker catches lots of errors, but what about that misused word it doesn’t recognize or that proper name it doesn’t have in its database? That’s why you must always give your marketing content a once-over with your own eyeballs. If your eyeballs are tired, put the content away and proofread it later. But proofread it.

Of course, you can dot every I and cross every T and still end up with a ludicrous misstatement. Somewhere along U.S. Highway 83 (I forget where) stands a roadside sign for a combination gas station and restaurant. The sign proclaims proudly — and quite seriously — “EAT HERE! GET GAS!”

You may encounter entire concepts that needed one more pass through the marketing department. How about that billboard that always seems to pop up near small towns — the one for the BBQ place that depicts a cute cartoon pig squealing in terror as he runs from a guy with a butcher knife? Sure, it’s amusing if you’re into that sort of thing, but does it really pull people off the highway with their stomachs growling? “Hey, you know that funny pig you were slashing to death? I’d like me some of that with a side of slaw.”

So consider this post a public service announcement. Don’t just run your marketing content through a spell checker and call it done. Use human eyes. And don’t just check it yourself — have someone else look at it for that extra opinion. If you really want quality assurance, you can even have a professional writer proofread and edit it. But I digress. Happy Thanksgiving!

For more about my writing services and current package deals, check out my website at www.reynoldswriting.com.

I pride myself on being a relatively “high-bandwidth” copywriter who can produce quality content while juggling multiple clients and jobs. Once in a while, though, if the pipeline becomes too clogged I have to refer a client to another writer. (I try to maintain good relationships with other writers, and I’m happy to send work their way when the opportunity presents itself.) The client will either nod and agree that it’s time to bring a second writer on board, or his eyes will bug and he’ll say, “Why don’t you want to work with me?” because he thinks I’m trying to dump him.

I don’t want to dump anybody. I’m happy to keep writing as much as I can for that client. But when the workload (his or mine) becomes overwhelming, I can’t continue as the only horse pulling that increasingly heavy cart. It’s time to hitch up the rest of the team.

Hey, when that day comes, congratulate yourself. If you have an ongoing need for marketing content, then your company is moving and shaking and promoting itself — or if you’re a marketing agency, then you’re building your business and gaining clients. Well done. But now you have to think about covering all your bases. A football team doesn’t consist of the bare minimum of people needed to take the field; there’s the first string, and then a second string and a third string standing by to replace a fallen player. Well, your marketing department needs depth too.

How do you maintain brand unity when you have multiple writers? Your marketing director acts as Editor-in-Chief and Head Branding Honcho, coordinating the writers’ assignments and making sure everyone’s work conforms to the company’s overall tone and message. You gain extra creative brainpower as well as the luxury of casting from strength — instead of putting all the burden on one generalist, you might have one writer who focuses on blogs, another who excels at brochures, and so on.

Best of all, the use of multiple writers allows your marketing agency or department to grow as big and as fast as you want it to. Once you have a team, and a plan for managing the team, the sky’s the limit. And if they’re all freelancers you can just assign them as you need them, growing at your own pace without having to add to your permanent staff.

In the meantime, if you only need one writer, you know where to find me.

For more about me, my writing services and current package deals, check out my website at www.reynoldswriting.com.

“I have a great idea for a play.”

I’d seen many such examples of greatness as a script reader in the literary management office of the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey — greatness piled from floor to ceiling along all four walls, massive stacks of greatness that would take years to slog through.

But the actor persisted. “It’s my grandfather, you see. My grandfather has lived this amazing life….” He then proceeded to describe a lengthy succession of Munchausen-esque events that did indeed describe an amazing life. I don’t remember the details now, but I imagine that they included sailing on the Titanic, battling headhunters in the Amazon, scoring eight touchdowns in one game, discovering a fortune in diamonds, curing the pox — you get the idea.

I was impressed. “It’s an amazing life, you’re right,” I said. “But what’s the story?”

A story is more than a laundry list of events. It uses events to illustrate a continuous, shapely progression toward a destination. We’re clearly heading toward something, and at the climax we finally get there. All the pieces make sense in relationship to each other, allowing the author to build toward a culminating point. Otherwise you have what amounts to a six-year-old recounting his dream: “And then we got chased by a bear and made friends with dinosaurs and Santa Claus came to visit and we all ate cake and then the sun blew up….”

And the fact that you’re writing a website or brochure instead of the Great American Screenplay doesn’t get you off the hook — you still have to tell a story. I see many, many marketing pieces that just slap endless lists of features and benefits together randomly like darts thrown at a board during Happy Hour. You have to present your core theme, connect your supporting statements so that they keep your reader floating along in the right direction and at the right speed, and increase the interest and excitement levels until the reader lands at the climax — your call to action — and responds appropriately.

That’s when you’ve got a hit on your hands.

For more about me, my writing services and current package deals, check out my website at www.reynoldswriting.com.

As you might suspect from its title, Tim Burton’s 1996 film Mars Attacks! does not quite present the world as we know it. This nod to 1950s monster movies lives in its own special reality — a reality in which creepy Martians blast humans into skeletal husks with ray guns, the voice of Slim Whitman can turn said Martians’ heads into goo, and the President of the United States looks and sounds uncannily like Jack Nicholson. Weirdness reigns supreme as an all-star cast struggles to save Earth from a Martian invasion.

Yet even a fun-house mirror reflects a kind of truth. A prime example in this film is a scene that shows the Martians gunning people down in the streets right and left while broadcasting over a loudspeaker, “Don’t run! We are your friends!”

Ludicrous, yes. But people do it all the time, don’t they? I’m not talking about gunning each other down in the streets, though there seems to be plenty of that as well. I’m talking about mixed messages.

We do it all the time, often subconsciously. Our words say one thing, while our actions say something else. That guy giving the speech smiles serenely, but his hands are shaking. The lady testifying in court sounds absolutely sincere, but her eyes are darting nervously around the room. We do it in our everyday body language — and we do it in our marketing.

You might want to take a careful look at the various forms of messaging you employ on the Web or in your print marketing. Is the message congruent? For instance, does your website content scream excitement while the surrounding graphic design presents all the pizazz of Grandma’s faded wallpaper? Do you describe yourself as a sophisticated, upscale consultant while using whiz-bang terms better suited to a kid’s cereal box? Do you brand yourself as the friendly, caring choice in a tone that could refrigerate a side of beef?

An inconsistent message is no message at all. Conflicting statements cancel each other out to produce white noise, while statements that complement a single message amplify that message’s power. Want to make a specific impression? Align all the components of your marketing message into one unified clarion call. Otherwise you simply won’t hold people’s attention — with or without a ray gun.

Okay, maybe with a ray gun.

For more about me, my writing services and current package deals, check out my website at www.reynoldswriting.com.

Peter Bowerman is one of the most visible and successful copywriters in the U.S., perhaps best known in the mainstream as the author of the Well-Fed Writer books on how to build a freelance copywriting career. One of his recent blog posts addresses a concern that all writers…I mean, all creative artists…I mean, all human beings have to face. And that’s a lack of confidence.

Bowerman notes that no how-to copywriting book can truly prepare a fledgling freelance copywriter for taking the big leap and and really doing it for a living. It’s like standing at the base of Mount Everest, climbing gear in hand, and looking up at the cloud-covered peak as a ticker-tape of uncomfortable questions runs through your mind. Can I do this? What if I take the wrong step? What if the wind picks up? What if I get stuck at the halfway point?

Heck, I still have the occasional Everest Day myself, even after 14 years in the business. You never grow fully immune to them. But you do learn to trust your skills and instincts — and that’s enough to keep your feet moving up that mountain slope.

If we learn by doing, then we learn confidence by doing many times. For instance, what’s the most common fear out there? It’s public speaking. (Or maybe it’s death; I get those two confused a lot.) Most people dread public speaking, and some have an absolute terror of facing an audience.

What do these people do cure their phobia? They face audiences, and they talk. Groups like Toastmasters provide a safe, supportive environment for people to practice their public speaking skills, giving speech after speech until they know they’ve got what it takes. They may never love it — but they know they can do it.

Writing is like that. When we start out, we’re terrified of the blank page because it offers no safety net, no guidelines. What if we write badly? What if we write nothing? What if we miss the deadline? What if what if what if?

Ray Bradbury suggested that writers start their careers by churning out thousands of words a day, just to shake out the bugs of inexperience as mercifully quickly as possible. In his Zen in the Art of Writing he says: “There is no failure unless one stops. Not to work is to cease, tighten up, become nervous, and therefore destructive of the creative process.”

So there’s only one way to gain confidence as a writer. Write. A lot. Write until it becomes second nature. Most importantly, finish what you start. Complete enough writing jobs and over time those nagging doubts will lose some of their power over you. You’ve done it before. You’ll do it this time.

Hey, it’s just a big hill with snow on it, right?

For more about me, my writing services and current package deals, check out my website at www.reynoldswriting.com.