A good marketing communications writer is versatile, but don’t push it. Everybody’s talent stops somewhere.
How thin can you spread your marcomm writer?
Can she do a good job on everything you need, like:
white papers
Web content
technology overviews
case studies
press releases
corporate backgrounders
annual reports
blog posts
SEO copywriting (isn’t that redundant nowadays?)
Or, do you find you need multiple writers for the different [...]
Your marketing communications play a big role in earning your customers’ trust. Writers can help with this, but it’s not easy to get them to do so.
With its 2010 Trust Barometer, the public relations firm Edelman reports that 83% of U.S. consumers value
transparent and honest practices, and a company being a “company I can [...]
Marketing managers are often looking to hire new writers, but they don’t like being assailed by them in networking situations. A few words to the wise marketing communications writer.
I’m pleased to be attending a networking mixer for the San Diego chapter of the American Marketing Association this evening, which will combine a presentation by [...]
People won’t read all the way through your 250-word press release, but they will read your 1000-word story. Can your marketing communications writer deliver a story for you?
Susan Straight, professor of creative writing at University of California at Riverside, posted an editorial in the Los Angeles Times:
Over the years, some people have said to me [...]
While most job-seekers rely on a résumé to describe who they are and where they’ve been, professional marketing communications writers often prefer a marketing piece more akin to a brochure.
Do you ever ask for a freelance writer’s résumé? What for?
Most freelance writers don’t deal in résumés. In some large companies, the function of hiring a [...]
When you hire a marketing communications writer, you’ll need to put some paperwork in place. Professional writers have these items ready and are prepared to send them promptly.
“Send me a contract,” you tell the marketing communications writer, once you’ve decided you like the cut of his jib.
It should be a bit more granular than that. [...]
When you meet marketing communications writers in networking situations, here are 5 useful questions for qualifying them.
Believe it or not, freelance marketing writers do get out in the wild from time to time, where, if you’re shopping for writers, you can hire them.
You may encounter them at chamber of commerce meetings, industry get-togethers and networking [...]
Goldmine:
thinks about your content and sends you a bag of suggestions
gives you freebies
does what she says she’ll do
asks to be on your newsletter distribution lists
Landmine:
goes talking to people in your organization when he shouldn’t
overwrites or ignores your changes
never really seems to understand your industry or technology
How do you make sure that you hire the first [...]
What are the five most annoying things your writer can do to you?
Here’s a shortlist, happily unencumbered by research but underpinned by years of dealing with writers.
Go dark. How about those writers who “run silent, run deep,” don’t return your calls or e-mail, and pop back onto radar when you least expect it? Are you [...]
One reader writes that a CPA hired him to write a white paper.
Why would a CPA need a white paper? Isn’t that like writing an annual report for a hot dog vendor?
Here’s the story:
I did a feature story on my CPA for a neighborhood paper a couple of years ago and he still keeps it [...]
