Radio Copywriting page now on Buzzwords’ website

There’s a new Radio Copywriting page on Buzzwords’ website.  I’ve taken a novel approach by using a radio script for some of the page content. 

Radio advertising is an oft-maligned medium, but the proliferation of stations makes it an interesting avenue for a freelance copywriter, especially when a complete production and media package can be created alongside the copywriting input.   

It’s always good to see a script brought to life and – unlike TV – radio is the only broadcast medium where a copywriter still has a measurable creative contribution to make.

An SEO copywriter’s dream – Buzzwords’ new CMS website…

As an SEO copywriter, I’m having a morning of barely contained orgasms as I look at my new content managed (CMS) website!!! (see: buzzwords.ltd.uk)

 I was always sceptical about CMS from a search engine optimization (SEO copywriting) point of view until I noticed that a fellow copywriter was ranking very well with the search engines thank you very much. 

What I like about the new CMS site is being able to add new content as and when I want to.  No longer do I have to go to my website coding man and wait an age for him to upload my new content – and then send me a bill!

Now, I’m free to add new pages, photos and files of almost any description as and when I choose.  It’s an SEO copywriter’s dream!

Buzzwords Copywriting Manchester on Facebook

Buzzwords Limited is now on Facebook.

 

Buzzwords’ Copywriting Rates – It’s top of the blogs!

‘Copywriting Rates’  (Dec 8, 2007) is easily the most popular post on this blog!  It underlines the commercial significance of business copywriting and the hard-headed approach people take to what is an important, and often crucial, decision.

I should say, however, that quality should score over price every time.  There are plenty of so-called copywriters out there – especially on the Internet – who are charging five dollars an hour.  To me, that’s commercial suicide – unless you’re living in a third-world country of course.

As you would expect, Buzzwords charges much more than that (call me on 01565 654 023 to find out!).  That’s mainly because I have 20 years’ experience and know-how under my belt.  But also because I’m good at what I do! 

Different types of projects are charged out in different ways.  Standard copywriting for things like advertising and brochures are charged at a fully negotiable day-rate, pre-agreed as a fixed rice for each particular job.  Copywriting for websites is negotiable on a ‘per project’ basis, whilst anything that’s ongoing – such as PR, article marketing, link building and SEO – works best on a monthly retainer fee. 

Nothing is set in stone, however, and copywriting rates are always negotiable, especially for volume work or ongoing consultancy-type projects.  The best thing to do is give me a call the next time you feel a project coming on.  The copywriting rates may not surprise you, but the quality and commitment surely will!

Freelance copywriting and the client perspective

The dynamics of client relationships have always fascinated me.  Apart from the usual inter-personal and ‘personal chemistry’ aspects (which are part of life in general outside the business world!), for freelance copywriters – and anyone else who provides business services – this is overlaid with another all-important perspective.

The simplest way of putting it is to say that the work of clients involves many aspects of a single business.  For a copywriter (etc), their work is about a single aspect (providing copywriting/PR/etc) of many businesses. 

We then have a situation  where client and copywriter are calling up questions which basically focus on ‘respect’.  How many times have you heard the question (inferred or actual): ‘Does this guy really understand my business?’

And from the copywriting/supplier side, we hear: ‘These people don’t understand what’s involved in (preparing a brief/valuing my services/working out a sensible fee/etc)’. 

The best grounding for the best relationships is for both client and copywriter to have experience of working on the other side of the fence – although the likelihood of this happening isn’t great.  Some clients have worked in ad agencies or the marketing departments of other companies.  Likewise, some copywriters have worked in ‘proper’ jobs too!

Given that this blend of experience on either side is a rarity, it’s all down to understanding (and respecting) the scope of the other person’s skills and job demands.

It just so happens that before becoming a copywriter, I worked in several other fields outside of advertising and journalism.  Add to this a background in academic marketing and you have the ingredients for potentially harmonious client relationships. 

Clients who’ve always worked ‘client side’ will inevitably be sceptical about the business know-how of ad agency types who’ve never been exposed to market pricing, workforce issues or working within a departmental budget – to name just three elephant traps!

I raise these points because I feel there’s no magic wand that can solve client-copywriter-agency relationships.  It’s more a case of thinking out loud and counting to ten before criticising the other side.

Trying to understand the differing demands that exist on both sides of the fence is a good starting point.  The intellectual demands are probably similar in extent in that both clients and agency people have to juggle with numerous challenges – and, dare I say it, clients often need to bring as much problem-solving ‘creativity’ to the table as the self-designated creatives in the agency world.

If anything, any lack of understanding probably rests with creatives.  Clients have the the multiple demands of focusing not simply on marketing issues, but also on how they fit in with every other department in a company.  This calls for skills which go way beyond the inter-personal.

Offline copywriting- it never went away!

Copywriters like Michel Fortin are predicting the comeback of offline marketing in 2008 but, in reality, it never went away. Of course, there was a time not so long ago when I was writing press ads like there was no tomorrow.  All that time spent on ‘creative concepts’ now seems like a lost world.

Display ads are still with us, as are in-your-face news releases in the trade press and crude mailshots by banks trying to persuade us to do all things financial.  So offline never went away.  It just kind of got lost in the online maelstrom. 

Economic conditions notwithstanding, it now seems like there are opportunities to make a killing with astute offline marketing.  You could say a gap exists in the market.  I would say it’s more a question of carefully combining online with offline. 

Markets and media have fragmented that’s for sure.  Whichever way you cut it, this is a permanent feature in a new marketing landscape which should be seen as an opportunity to which we can all easily adapt.  Online marketing merely adds to the options available.  We overlook ‘offline’ at our peril.

Freelance Copywriting Offline – Business Sectors

It’s amazing how many people call me with the question: ‘Have you ever worked in… beta blockers/timeshares/materials handling’ – or some other highly specific industry. Any half-way decent copywriter can turn his hand to almost any subject.  That’s simply because it’s experience of copywriting techniques that matters – not the subject matter being written about.  (That can always be researched.)  Just for the record, I’ve worked on some very obscure topics.  Here’s a few of the more ‘mainstream’ sectors:

Travel Copywriting – Upmarket or down dale.  UK hotels or jet-set hideaways.  Brochures, ads and direct mail.  Nothing fazes me with travel copywriting – although it has to be said that this is a more difficult writing genre than many imagine.

Industrial Copywriting – This is a catch-all label for what covers a multitude. If you want to find out about the diversity of UK industry, become a copywriter!  (I did – but not for that reason.)

Financial Copywriting - Banks, building societies, insurance companies, financial advisers, brokers and accountants – Ive written for them all.  Quite a mix, with some pretty impressive names too. 

Property Copywriting – Scene-setting and then getting to grips with the selling points of everything from a one-bed flat to a major mansion house – property writing has its own unique demands.  Brochures, news releases, ads – whatever your weapon, I’ve used it.

Advertising & Design Agencies – I know about agencies.  It’s where I started my advertising career, and I’ve written for hundreds of them since.  I know what agencies want – their target markets, the tone of voice needed.  If you have an agency and you’re reading this, I can probably help you get over the ‘cringe factor’ that comes from writing your own publicity!

Freelance Copywriting Offline – Buzzwords’ Skills

Offline copywriting skills are alive and well at Buzzwords!  There are two ways of looking at your needs for this type of copywriting: by specific skill or by business sector.  In this blog posting, we’ll look at ’skills’:

SPECIFIC SKILLS

I’m sometimes surprised just how many offline skill-sets I have floating around in my head.  Maybe I should call them ’skull-sets’?  And when it’s said that ’yesterday is another country’, I’m beginning to think that ‘copywriting yesterdays’ are more like another planet.

Brochures – These are still going strong, and probably always will be.  Most popular right now: ‘corporate’ brochures with a wallet at the back for half-a-dozen leaflets or data sheets.

Advertising – Used to be a mainstay – but no longer so.  The marketing dollars have moved on.  Most of them online – or into PR.

PR – News release writing  is a specific strength of Buzzwords.  Crafting a good release is quite an art.  Try me and see! (Mike Beeson MCIPR – Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.)

Newsletters – Harking back to my five years as a freelance writer with the Manchester Evening News, newsletters are an interesting exercise in news gathering, organisation and journalistic licence.

Sales Letters – I love writing sales letters.  Not the American ‘killer copy’ types.  Nor even the four-page Readers Digest model. I CAN actually write long sales letters, but my approach tends to be to make the letter as long (or short) as it needs to be – and cut the crap and convention that strangles a letter with underlinings, red ink, capitals and PSs (pee-esses!).

Catalogues – Having worked for all the UK’s largest catalogue companies (Grattan, Empire, GUS etc), I know about volume writing, at speed and with a certain economy of words.  If you need a hired hand (or three) for mega catalogue projects, call me, Mike Beeson, on 01565 654023.