Freelance Writing Blog

Writers Worth Month: Having What It Takes

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What’s on the iPod: Holy by Frightened Rabbit Welcome to the first day of the 6th Annual Writers Worth Month celebration! Started as just one day based on my rantings over fair pay, the event has grown to a month-long awareness campaign where we remind each other to realize the value our skills hold. When…

Monthly Assessment: April 2014

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What’s on the iPod: Life by The Avett Brothers Starting tomorrow: Writers Worth Month: Join us tomorrow and all month for the 6th Annual Writers Worth Month celebration! Read inspiring advice and posts by writers just like you. Plus, there’s still time to contribute your own thoughts. Get in touch via lwbean AT gmail and let’s…

Nostalgic Notes

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What’s on the iPod: Beautiful Day by U2 After a long week/weekend respite, I’m back to work today. Mom got on the train yesterday afternoon and headed home. It was a great visit, and we had a gorgeous day on Saturday for my daughter’s bridal shower. Her bridesmaids are fantastic–they spoiled her with a wonderful…

Free Advice Friday: 10 Steps to Your Freelance Writing Brand

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What’s on the iPod: How to Save a Life by The Fray I’m still away from the desk entertaining my mom. My daughter’s bridal shower (the first of two) is set for tomorrow, so there’s much to do in the meantime. I was talking recently with a friend about her client’s struggles with gaining name…

6 Ways to Work with Writing Clients

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What’s on the iPod: Nessun Dorma by Luciano Pavarotti COMING IN MAY: THE SIXTH ANNUAL WRITERS WORTH MONTH Have an idea for a post or want to guest post? Write to me at lwbean AT gmail and let’s talk! Beginners especially welcome to submit posts dicusssing challenges they face. This is an abbreviated week for…

Free Advice Friday: This Job, Not That Job

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What’s on the iPod: The Loneliness & The Scream by Frightened Rabbit I’m running a virtual marathon right now — two articles are done, one more to go, one other project to complete this morning, and a world of stuff waiting for me in May. I love it. Makes you feel alive. Since I’m busy…

10 Essential Freelance Writing Lessons

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What I’m reading: Fraud by Anita Brookner What’s on the iPod: What Happened by Corey Smith This has been the single most productive week I’ve had all year and it’s only Wednesday morning. I’ve finished one article, nearly finished another, have one more interview for a third, started on a fourth, and have interviews lined…

Organization Times Three

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What’s on the iPod: Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns ‘N Roses Weekends? Do people still have those? We are in full-blown wedding mode, and it’s about to get nuts. Saturday we were in Baltimore meeting one bride’s family. Sunday we were in Lancaster for another bride’s (my daughter’s) dress fitting. In two weeks we…

Free Advice Friday: The Organized Writer

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What’s on the iPod: Corazon Espinado by Santana I’ve had quite the busy week. I started out with four article assignments. Now there are six. Luckily, the articles are practically writing themselves. Still, one or two topics are proving hard to find commentary for. So I worked instead on those I knew I could get…

10 Avoidable Marketing Mistakes

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What’s on the iPod: Late March, Death March by Frightened Rabbit Piper welcoming us to the Tattoo What a weekend. It’s Tartan Week in New York City, and the festivities began Friday. We took part of the day off Friday and headed up for Saturday’s kirkin o’ the tartan and the parade, which we participate in…

8 responses to “10 Avoidable Marketing Mistakes”

Cathy Miller

April 8, 2014

I've been surprised at marketing that uses a negative image in reference to clients (or potential clients).

For example, one social media book's title refers to the marketing strategy in terms of boxing. Do you really want an image in potential clients' minds that we are taking body shots at them?

Or criticizing a client publicly – and using their name. I've seen it. Unbelievable.

And I was really blown away when I first started visiting LinkedIn Groups and saw what people put online – for all clients and targeted markets to see.
Lori Widmer

April 8, 2014

Cathy, I agree. I've seen the negative images, too. And one writer nearly cost me a gig when she openly criticized a company I'd referred her to. Not that she wasn't correct, but that she named names and warned people not to use their services.

Interesting how we think no one can see what we're typing, isn't it?
Paula

April 8, 2014

There's at least one particularly pesky self-proclaimed writing guru I'm aware of who commits several of the sins on your list. I quickly realized she was all-flash, no-substance, but am constantly amazed when people (usually newbies) praise her for the wisdom she's supposedly accumulated through the years. (She's also a relative newbie herself, compared to most of us who comment on Lori's blog.)

She clearly overstated her background by claiming to have written for a major market that I've been contributing to, regularly, for about 13 years.(Just turned something in yesterday, in fact.)

This particular market posts entire issues on its website, with archives dating back at least two decades. They byline everything, so if she had written anything for them during her brief tenure in the freelancing trenches her name would come up when searching the site. It doesn't. When I realized her name wasn't there, I knew she'd "overstated" at least one of her credits, which cast doubt on all of her other claims.
Eileen

April 9, 2014

As a direct response writer, I'd like to address the "really long sales pitch with bold fonts and exclamation points" phenomenon.

This is a direct response technique that works well in a B2C environment for SOME markets and SOME products. In those cases, it's extremely effective … if it's done well, by someone who really knows what they are doing.

It is not meant to be used in a B2B context, or if it is, it must be used very precisely and very carefully. (Actually the same goes for B2C.) The problem is that people see it works in one situation and assume it can be successfully adopted for another. It can't. In a B2B market, seldom is it the right tool for the job. In fact, as you imply, it's a turnoff.
Jennifer Mattern

April 9, 2014

Great examples Lori!

And what fun! It sounds like you had a great time in NY. I'm heading up to Brooklyn in a few weeks for a charity event, and I'm so disappointed we won't have time to hop a train into Manhattan this time around. There's always next time I suppose. 🙂
Lori Widmer

April 9, 2014

Paula, that's nuts! It's that kind of behavior that get people into trouble. It's just too easy to check these days — so if you don't lie, you don't have to remember anything but the truth.

Eileen, thanks for your insight on this. I'd wondered where the tactic had come from. Yes, in some cases, it works. But I've seen it overdone too, too often. I had a poll here once asking writers if the long sales pages worked. Not one person said they worked, nor did anyone say they liked the method. Wrong audience entirely for that kind of sales pitch.
Jennifer Mattern

April 9, 2014

Paula,

The sad part in those situations is that the person often thinks of what they're doing as good marketing precisely because they can suck in newbies while spouting all kinds of BS. Some take the approach of saying anything they think will earn them some interest. I've seen others take the coddling approach where they spend more time trying to make newbies feel better for not accomplishing things than they spend actually trying to help them succeed (which is often what they promise).

The upside is that the newbie crowd doesn't stay naive forever. Spew enough garbage in their direction and they eventually pick up on it. Once they do, they tend to talk. And eventually that marketing destroys the business. So let 'em have at it. It won't likely last in the long run.
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