What I’m listening to: Sometimes It Snows in April by Prince
On May 1st, we start Writers Worth Month 2016! For one month, this blog space will be dedicated to helping writers at all career stages realize their value and learn to charge what they’re worth. Make sure to subscribe to the blog email list so you don’t miss a single day of advice and stories from some of today’s top freelancers!
Welcome to
a new feature on the blog: Mid-Friday Marketing. This post, happening at noon ET instead of the usual 7 am, is brought to you by a woman who got to bed too late after a full day of work and non-work things. Between a musical genius dying and a presidential candidate in town, I was, quite literally, not sure whether to cry uncontrollably or leap for joy. I did a little of both.
That much emotion in one day was just too much. So this post is now coming to you at noon. If you like it, we’ll continue the habit.
Today’s mid-Friday marketing strategy is a simple one:
Think like your clients.
Today, try looking at your own services (or products, if you have any) as though you were in the market to buy. How are you presenting yourself? What is your marketing saying about what you offer? Is what you’re selling and how you’re selling it appealing to customers and not just to you?
Take your name out of each piece (literally — open that document and take your name out right now). Pretend it’s come from another company. Make up a name to put in there if it helps.
Now read it as though you’ve just received the message. Ask yourself these questions?
- Is
it eye-catching enough? - Do the words used make me want to buy from this
company? - Does it speak to a need I have? (and here you should pretend you’re hiring a writer)
- What would make me buy?
other companies. These don’t have to be other writers — any company that’s appealed to you through marketing will do. Ask yourself this about what you see:
- How does my marketing look in comparison?
- What can I do to make
my pieces sharper? - How am I differentiating?