Notes from Minnesota
Woo hoo! Spring has sprung
and I'm sooooo excited.
I spent the last two weeks
criss crossing Minnesota and I'm more than a little fatigued. I love to travel, but the down side is trying to
catch up with everything once you get back to the office.
Wow... things pile up
fast! :)
I've got Peder (my
beautiful son and trusty summer assistant) working his tush off counting inventory and getting all my messy files
re-organized. It's almost embarrassing listening to him tsk tsk all morning. :(
Oh well.
Rudie my little Doxie
Cross pup traveled with me and is more than exhausted. Sadly, Jake the Min Pin won't leave her alone. Guess he
missed her.
I hope this little update
finds you well, happy... and writing!
Best,
Beth
P.P.S. Be sure to check
out our best sellers.
A Mindset Moment
Hey
Freelancer,
I know life can get
overwhelming at times. You've got to make a living. Writing assignments don't always flow the way you expect.
Sometimes you just get tired.
It's in these moments that
you must slow down long enough to realize you have all of heaven and earth supporting you in your writing
goals.
The universe possesses
infinite resources to charge your battery, ignite your creativity, and help you feel fulfilled.
Take care of yourself this
week.
Grab a book. Take a walk.
Pet your dog. Whine. Laugh. Cry.
Live.
(Mindset
Moment)
Beth's Hot Pick of the
Week
Without a
doubt, one of my favorite freelancers is Bob Bly. In many ways, I've modeled my freelance career after his. His
writing style, his marketing techniques, his tenacity despite so-called economic conditions have always been an
inspiration to me.
“Bob Bly's Guide to Freelance Writing Success” is
just one of his dozens of titles available today (all highly recommended, by the way) that I consider an essential
part of my freelance plan as well as my marketing strategy.
I'd suggest
you pick up your own copy today.
Easy Market... Little To No Rejection Part Deux :)
Beth Ann Erickson
Last time, I talked about
using your writing skills to write for small businesses. This time, I'm going into a little more detail on
how to target your prospective clients.
I use a very scientific
process to do this: I dig
through the local yellow pages and…
-
Target an industry
I find interesting.
-
Choose all the
businesses within that category that have large ads.
-
I then choose
businesses without a big ad that may interest me anyway.
It’s really that simple.
(And not very “scientific,” eh?)
If I’m particularly
daring, I’ll select a few businesses as I read the morning newspaper and shoot a letter to them as
well.
I most certainly tweak
each letter to reflect each business I’m contacting. I personalize the salutation and add any pertinent information
that may apply.
I’ve had fantastic luck
using this process, despite the fact that I live in a very rural area.
You may enjoy working for
local clients as well. I’d suggest you give it a shot.
However, if you want to
really ratchet up your income, the time eventually comes to stretch into larger markets.
You can shoot for regional
clients, then state-wide, national, then eventually world-wide. The Internet makes all this
possible.
First things first: You
need a website.
Never fear, I don’t know
of any writers who have enjoyed writing their own website. But you still have to do it.
Non-negotiable.
I may get into the
nitty-gritty mechanics of writing a great sales piece some day. But for now I want to talk about your site a
bit:
Before you write word one,
you’ve got to get into the mind of your prospective customer.
What do they
want?
What do they think about
their current marketing plan?
How can you help them
achieve their boldest goal?
What’s on their mind? How
can you properly address what they’re thinking about?
It’s not a complex process
if you simply take some time to slip into the skin of you potential reader and find their hot buttons. Address
these concerns in a compelling way and you’ve got a sale.
So… you know who your
ideal customer is. What next?
You start writing, right?
Nope. You research.
While still channeling
your ideal reader, read you need to thoroughly research the product you’re selling. Start with everything your
client gives you; every piece of documentation, specs, the product itself… everything. Then study the competition’s
marketing efforts.
Print everything and
highlight every interesting tidbit of info you find.
After this, you should dig
through your swipe file (hopefully you do have one of these) and find marketing pieces that could possibly serve as
a jumping off point in your writing.
Read what your potential
client reads. Surf to the same sites.
Dig
deep.
If you don’t do this, you
run the risk of not connecting with your audience. And if you don’t connect, you definitely won’t make the sale.
It’s really as simple as that.
OK. You’ve researched your
audience. You’ve got a few swipes to glean information from. You’ve read so much about your audience that you can
actually transfer their speech patterns onto the written page. (This means you’ve mastered communicating to your
audience using their language… not some high-brow literary style that will bore them to tears… unless they’re of an
academic bent and actually speak in that manner. But I digress.)
Fabulous! Now you can
start writing!
Not so fast,
Grasshopper.
Now it’s time to
re-read.
If you’re a smart reader,
you’ve made notes, highlighted, and basically chewed through your papers. Now’s the time to
organize.
Pull out some note cards
and start transferring all your nuggets of gold onto the cards.
As you do this, form
bullets in your mind. Perhaps a few subheads. Maybe a few headlines’ll pop out at you.
It’s amazing how the
letter basically writes itself when you’ve got a ton of information to work with.
Just keep making notes and
tossing them into various piles. I use one for potential bullets, one for headlines, subheads, interesting tidbits,
crucial information… you get the drift.
So, if you’ve done
everything I’ve suggested up to this point, you’re ready to start the easy part. Writing.
I know. This process
sounds like a lot of work.
But your other option is
to pull your information out of thin air, cross your fingers and hope for the best.
I never said copywriting
was easy. Nor did I say it was for the faint of heart.
However, if you truly want
to make all your marketing efforts worthwhile, there simply are not any shortcuts.
This is why many
copywriters find it lucrative to specialize in a particular niche. Writing to the same, or similar, audiences day
in and day out really cuts the learning curve.
But no matter what you
write, you most certainly need to research, understand your audience, and speak their language.
This is best illustrated
by this: supposed a client called upon you to write copy for an e-book.
Client one: advice to
senior citizens on burial plots. Client two: vacation hot spots for spring break.
I’m sure you can imagine
that your use of language would be very different for each project.
I’m also sure that any
research you perform for client number one will not transfer to client number two.
I’m also very positive
that the mindset of these two audiences will be quite different.
As you work on each sales
letter, everything you write will completely and totally reflect your audience, their values, their language style…
everything and I mean EVERYTHING is written to and about your reader.
You never sell a product
or service. You sell a solution to your reader’s problem.
You never “talk” about
your company, you always talk about your reader and how your company can help them.
Big
difference.
In fact, miss this point
and (again) you’ll lose readers. And when you lose readers, you lose the sale.
~~~
Beth Ann Erickson is the “Queen Bee” of Filbert
Publishing. She’s also the author of numerous titles including “101 No Cost and Low Cost Secrets To Turbo Charge
Your Freelance Income.” Pick up your copy today at http://filbertpublishing.com/101.html She’s also a busy copywriter, speaker, and publisher of
Writing Etc., the free e-mag for writers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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featuring tips, tricks and ideas for selling what you write. Receive the FREE ebook, 83 WAYS TO MAKE MONEY WRITING
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