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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 [...]
Set your marketing communications writers up to give you perfect content. Have them write about what they love (that you sell). With Valentine’s Day still on our minds, it’s a good time to think about love, as in loving what you write about. Tom Chandler of the Copywriter Underground posted recently on Tom Gaylord, an [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
When you hire a marketing communications writer, do you ever ask for a little commitment along with the content? Sure, this is all work for hire, and a freelance writer won’t have the dedication to your company that a full-time employee will, but what’s wrong with asking for a little commitment? The Marketing Writer’s Commitment [...]
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? [...]
Have you ever had a writer say that to you? How did you respond? More to the point: How can you be ruthless in your feedback on a draft? I consider the line a good ice breaker. I’ve used it with marketing managers and engineers who appear uneasy about the process of judging my writing. [...]
We’ve been breathing our own exhaust/drinking our own KoolAid/eating our own dog food all this time. Our new writer hasn’t. Actually, that’s a good thing. Funny how several of us are quick to reject the writer’s tainted perspective on our products and specialties just because ‘taint ours.
Do you have any white paper projects in your files that didn’t go well? Mine fall into two categories, and I’ll post on the first one now. Don’t Go Well but Result in a Good White Paper These are like the basketball games in which you make mistakes, bad passes and poor shots, but you [...]
When you hire a writer to write a white paper, and the project goes well, what does that look like? Here’s how I describe it, based on the last time I did this. Beginning Andrew was confident. Not brash – just confident. It came across in his phone manner, in the e-mail we exchanged before [...]
