Posts tagged: copywriter

The 15 Features Online Writers Desperately Need From a Word Processor (And Still Haven't Gotten)

May 13, 2010, by 7 comments

Social media, blogs, enewsletters, websites and other forms of online marketing are evolving faster than you can say “Tweet me.”

Evolving right alongside them are the tools developed to help online users get the most from the online space.

With one critical exception.

Where are the modern word processors for today’s online copywriters and marketers?

The simple, intuitive Bluefish editor interface.

Where is the text processor designed specifically to help today’s online copywriter craft web copy, blog posts, enewsletters, landing pages, tweets, online articles and other projects – and then get it where it needs to be with a minimum of fuss?

Where is the ultimate online text processor?

In case you’re wondering, that editor would include features like:

  • Speed
  • Toggled HTML markup (toggle between code and live views)
  • Toggled “cleanscreen” for fire-hose writing
  • Enough formatting to prettify documents for clients (including sample landing/Web pages with graphics represented)
  • File and project management (“projects” or “sessions” are a good start)
  • Live word/character counts
  • “Post to blog” feature (including category/keyword/SEO stuff)
  • “Post to social media” feature (Twitter, etc)
  • Killer window controls (cleanscreens, notes, split screens, synchronized scrolling, folding, tiled views, etc)
  • Note/URL management (organize research)
  • Integrated time tracking/management (admittedly optional)
  • Integrated submission tracking (nice, but optional)
  • Powerful text manipulation tools
  • Macros, snippets, word completion and all those other useful toys
  • Cross-platform capabilities (Mac, Windows & Linux versions)

I’m sure there have been a few others I’ve thought about and then promptly forgotten, so feel free to add your own ideas in the comments section.

What Are Writers Using Now?

I danced around this subject in a post touting the programmer’s text editor as the best writing tool for today’s online copywriter.

I suggested the programming editor’s lightning-fast response, simple HTML markup tools and the “session” feature – which opens and manages multiple files at the same time – offered online writers the best tool available.

It’s still true.

Which is really too bad.

We need something we can call our own.

Blog editors help make blogging easier, but fail everywhere else.

A programmer’s editor makes online writing easier (basic HTML tagging), but they’re not aimed primarily at writers, and it shows.

And full-blown word processors format your text nicely, but are essentially closed systems, and do a poor job of preparing copy for the web.

They insert all sorts of web-unfriendly formatting codes, and their reliance on a “paper” model doesn’t really meet the online reality.

In simple terms, they’re great writing tools – and they were perfect when I wrote copy and sent it to clients, who printed it and passed it around – but increasingly, they’re becoming relics of the paper era.

Which is not what this post is all about.

The ugly truth is this: Writers have yet to see a single “online writer’s editor” that offers everything really needed by today’s online copywriter.

It Almost Exists… Almost.

All the above bits and pieces already exist.

Just not in the same piece of software.

Komodo Edit by ActiveState

Komodo Edit is the closest I've come to a real online copywriter's editor

For example, Windows Live Writer is a good blog editor (despite a funky interface).

Yet it falls far short for most other tasks (like writing website copy).

Some word processors can act as virtual databases for the files, notes and links related to a single project (Scrivener on the Mac), though they seem better suited to longer works (like novels or white papers) than online copywriting.

Hosted processors (like Google Docs) offer some of the above, but I find them irritatingly logy at times, and lacking in the text-manipulation power features I’ve come to love.

And while programmer’s editors (I’m writing this in one) offer many of the target features, they’re often complex, offer features writers don’t need, and lack refinement (you can’t send a client a formatted .rtf document for review).

And I haven’t found one that simplifies posting directly to a blog or microblogging service.

In other words, we’re not there yet.

The Power of Projects For the Online Writer

Most programmer’s editors offer a “Project” or “Session” function, which allows you to define groups of files, opening them all at once.

That’s incredibly useful for today’s online projects, which are composed of many discrete bits of copy.

I recently worked on a product/web launch project, and as I wrote new copy for the project (or added notes from meetings), I’d add the new file to the project.

In the morning, I’d simply open that project, and voila – every file associated with the project opened in its own editor tab.

I didn’t have to dig for notes, or to see what I’d already written – a huge timesaver over the course of the project.

I could even keep multiple projects open in separate editor windows.

Is There a Future For the Online Writer’s Editor?

Of course, no writer thinks their word processor/editor/pen is ever exactly right, which is one of the neuroses that defines us as writers.

(That’s just the way it is.)

And since I run my writing business on Ubuntu Linux (instead of Windows or Macintosh), my choices are limited compared to most.

I can’t guess at the size of the online writer’s market, though I have to believe there’s potential for some entrepreneur – or a truckload of good karma for some group of developers who go the open source route.

And the person that gets there first will enjoy an early adopter bonus.

Here’s What I Want

When I write a blog post (or email, or web copy, or landing page, or…), what I really want is something that stays largely out of the way – until I need some help.

In other words, I want to write the text quickly (maybe on a cleanscreen), massage it, quickly insert HTML tags where needed (including formatting, links and images), and get the text where it needs to be.

That copy could be cut and pasted into a web page, posted to a blog, or turned into a passably attractive pdf file for a client.

If it’s an article, then I want – with a click or two – to record the date it was submitted (maybe to a magazine, but possibly to a group blog).

Along the way, I’ll want to quickly check my notes and related files.

Perhaps use some of its more powerful features (macros, snippets, etc) to edit the text. Even add ideas I stumble on along the way to an idea “tickler” file.

And then record the time invested writing it.

The tool to do all that simply hasn’t been invented yet.

And I’m starting to wonder if it ever will be.

And in truth, I’d be satisfied with a text editor that toggled between HTML code/live views, made applying formatting easy, helped me manage project files, and then simply got out of the way.

A Few Programmer’s Editors

I’m writing this post on Cream – a friendlier version of the very-hard-to-use, steeper-than-Everest learning curve VIM text editor.

Cream does many things wonderfully, largely adheres to modern interface standards (like command keyboard shortcuts) and it’s fast.

It also can’t quite hide the powerful-yet-user-hostile VIM engine underneath the hood, so it’s not exactly user friendly.

Old school, but powerful: the Cream editor puts a friendlier face on VIM.

In fact, it’s decidedly old school in function and appearance – not a deal-breaker for old geezers, but a tougher sell with today’s crowd.

Others (Komodo Edit, Bluefish, Ultraedit, Kate, etc

Active State’s Komodo Edit: Komodo offers many of the bullets listed above, though at the expense of speed and footprint (it’s a little slower, but can be configured to do almost anything).

Komodo’s available on Mac, Windows & Linux, and like Cream, it’s free. (Gotta love open source.)

Bluefish (Linux/Windows HTML editor): A fast, easy-to-use html editor with a streamlined, intuitive interface, Bluefish might be the best choice for writing posts and web pages.

Kate Editor (Linux only): Writers using the KDE desktop in Linux might find exactly what they need on their desktop; the Kate editor is a sweetheart, but a powerful one.

I’ve also tested the low-cost UltraEdit (another cross platform programmer’s editor) and found it a good choice (lots of folks love it).

Some jokers will no doubt suggest the granddaddies of powerful text editors: the original VIM or EMACS editors. Admittedly powerful – and configurable enough to do almost anything – both offer what I’ll term “user-hostile” interfaces along with a learning curve you’ll appreciate the very first time you fire one up.

In other words, we’re still waiting.

Today’s online writers and copywriters desperately need something that’s keeping pace with our changing needs. When will we see that editor?

Keep writing, Tom Chandler

An “I Forgot” Update: Matthew Stibbe of Bad Language also touched on the editor vs Great Big Word Processor subject a while ago, and pointed to the blog of a noted sci-fi author who uses a programmer’s editor, went astray, but now finds himself back behind the wheel of Vim (the text editor running beneath the Cream editor mentioned above).

Storyboarding: The Modern Copywriter's Most-Overlooked Creative Tool?

April 22, 2010, by 2 comments

Storyboarding is an essential part of the creative copywriter’s process; every commercial I ever wrote first came to life as a storyboard.

But don’t think the storyboard’s utility is limited to video. Even if you don’t make movies, a storyboard can quickly become an essential tool when developing animated ads, web site sliders, podcasts, video and other “rich” media.

Storyboards - a Copywriter's Best Friend?

All require planning.

All involve movement, time, a sequence, and graphics, type or sound elements.

And all benefit from the application of a simple storyboard.

For example, on a recent Web project, I used a simple storyboard to plan the order & content of the site’s home-page sliders.

I was happy I did.

Originally, the concept in my head seemed lucid and logical. But getting it on paper made it clear my “lucid” idea was muddled and out of order.

Score one for storyboarding.

Storyboards: Care & Feeding

Storyboarding doesn’t require a lot of instruction; it’s about as intuitive as it gets.

You simply use the solid-line boxes to represent the visual elements, and add directions in the box below.

Those directions can include:

  • Copy
  • Transitions (like “fade to black”)
  • Voiceover directions
  • Music
  • Visual ideas
  • Actor’s direction
  • Whatever the heck you want

A Few Helpful Hints

Don’t overthink the details on your first pass.

Getting your concept down on paper – in broad strokes – is more important than sewing up every detail.

And you’ll be amazed at the number of times you realize – after storyboarding your drop-dead solid idea – that you’ve gotten it all wrong.

Also, some folks – who feel they can’t draw – won’t attempt a storyboard.

Which is a huge mistake.

A storyboard’s screen is not the place for a detailed drawing (unless you’re making a movie).

Use an oval to represent a face. A square to represent a book. In other words, use symbols.

You need a visual representation of any graphic element, but mostly to offer a reality check on size, movement, etc.

In other words, if you’re using a human face to convey an emotion, that face better be big enough to “read.”

In the same vein, storyboarding an animated 125 x 125 banner ad could make it clear you’ve got too much happening in too little space.

Finally, don’t be hemmed in by your storyboard. It’s a rare concept that can’t be improved by more thought, so don’t narrow your vision simply because you’re working within little square boundaries.

In other words, live a little (creatively speaking).

Templates? Did Someone Say Template?

In the past, I used a storyboard I created in a graphics program – complete with rounded corners on the screen – but found it too specialized for today’s online work.

And happily, I stumbled across one I like better. (Visit this site for other storyboard options.)

A simple storyboard template

(click to visit the download site)

It’s nothing fancy – it represents the storyboard stripped to its bare essentials – but it’s the perfect all-around storyboard for the all-around copywriter.

A Word of Warning

You might be tempted to storyboard on your computer.

Don’t do it.

At least not on your first draft.

You’ll find yourself contaminating your “big think” time with details.

Get the concept roughed out using broad strokes, refine it – and only then move to a computer storyboard.

I’ve used computer generated storyboards in the past, but in the client pitch stage, where the time invested finding photographs or drawings (and the readability of computer-set type) really pay off.

An Old Tool For New Media

Given the “rich” nature of today’s media channels, a storyboard could easily become one of the modern copywriter’s most useful tools.

Download it, save it, print it and use it whenever you’re working on a sequential, moving project.

It will help you get your head into the game. And your concept in order.

Keep storyboarding, Tom Chandler.

Eight Great Reasons I'm Still a Freelance Copywriter

April 15, 2009, by 6 comments

I used to spontaneously craft lists just for fun, and today seems like the perfect day to revive the practice.

And rather than beat around the bush, let’s just call this list the “Eight Gratifying Moments in the Life of Any Freelance Copywriter or Consultant:”

  • Reading a short, pithy, “The copy’s perfect” email from a client
  • Shipping solid draft copy, and checking it off the list
  • Getting a check
  • Getting a check before it’s due
  • Getting a big check
  • Finding a signed work order – for a prestige project initiated by your lumpy mailer – nestled in your inbox
  • Discovering the blog/email program you recommended is working exactly as you said it would
  • Explaining modern Internet marketing to a class of entrepreneurs, and realizing they get it

I’ve experienced all the above in the last 1.5 weeks, and while I’m not threatening to burst into song (Tonight on the Underground: Copywriter Karaoke!), I’m reminded that even after 23+ years in this business, good stuff happens with gratifying regularity.

Keep writing & consulting, Tom Chandler.

The Coming Writer's Bailout (or, Too Many Words to Fail)

December 10, 2008, by 12 comments

A New York Times Book Review essay latches onto Bailoutmania with a humor piece focused on a mythical writer’s bailout, and like most humor, brushes up against a few bruised areas along the way. Still, it’s a humor piece, so we’ll start with writer Paul Greenberg’s lead joke:

A little while back my daughter told me the following depressing joke:

Woman: What do you do?

Man: Me? Oh, I write books.

Woman: How interesting! Have you sold anything recently?

Man: Why, yes. My couch, my car and my flat-screen television.

A snarkier writer-father might have added, “and I sold those things to pay for your private school tuition!” But instead it got me thinking that there was a real problem here. Not just a small problem involving issues of respect between one writer and one teenager, but rather a national problem of respect where being a writer has become so widely associated with being a loser that we have become the stuff of common jokes.

The rest of the wittily written piece similarly amuses, though like most humor, the knife cuts close to home, including in this graph about “overcapacity” in the writing universe – a real (if little talked about) issue, even in copywriting:

Overcapacity has been something generally acknowledged across the writing industry for at least 10 years. In a 2002 essay in The New York Times, the onetime best-selling novelist and story writer Ann Beattie mourned the situation of the modern writer, living in a world where people are more interested in “being a writer” than in writing itself. “There are too many of us, and M.F.A. programs graduate more every year, causing publishers to suffer snow-blindness, which has resulted in everyone getting lost,” she lamented. That Ann Beattie must now compete on Amazon with a self-published author named Ann Rothrock Beattie is proof of how enormous the blizzard has become.

It’s not true that everyone who can type claims writerhood, but a quick survey of the many writer’s forums, sites and blogs suggests significant growth in the writer population, and not always among those capable of adding to the craft.

In many ways, the copywriter’s recession began years ago if downward trends in fees paid for lower-end projects are any indication.

While Greenburg’s essay is generally hilarious – his farm-billish plan to subsidize half the working writers to not write is golden – he taps into a larger populist resentment about the financial and car company bailouts, where greed and failure are simultaneously reviled and rewarded by the same congress.

We’re at the tail end of a period where no corporate subsidy seemed too big or too outrageous – and find ourselves in the midst of a financial meltdown where “too big to fail” leaves individual workers clutching an empty bag and a large debt about to come due. Populist resentment isn’t just to be expected, it’s probably demanded (at least that’s my understanding of democracy).

Still, this is humor, and Greenburg finishes on a properly literate note, wrapping his words around a Graham Greene quote (an Underground fav):

The economy slips deeper and deeper into its trench, and yet the workspace for writers seems to get more crowded by the day as refugees from other professions take cover behind what they hope will be the respectability of the writing life. The other day, as I looked down on the field of cubicles from the “resting area” on the balcony, I felt an urge to read aloud from a Graham Greene story I had disregarded in my 20s: “Are you prepared for the years of effort, ‘the long defeat of doing nothing well’? As the years pass writing will not become any easier, the daily effort will grow harder to endure, those ‘powers of observation’ will become enfeebled; you will be judged, when you reach your 40s, by performance and not by promise.” Harsh stuff. But don’t take Greene’s word for it, or mine. I’m a writer. Maybe I’m just trying to clear a little more room for myself at the workspace.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

The Modern Online Copywriter: Why a Programmer's Editor Might Be In Your Future

October 31, 2008, by 18 comments

Sometimes the world shifts imperceptibly underneath you, and though you notice something has changed, the difficult part is figuring out what to do about it.

For years, almost every commercial project I wrote was typed into in a heavy-duty word processor. But today finds me writing more blogs, landing pages, emails, and other “live” Web content.

And all the formatting applied in those word processors – and the sizable overhead needed for all the features I don’t need – get in the way of a good workflow.

And yes, after my switch from Vista to the more streamlined Linux OS (Ubuntu), I took a hard look at my workflow.

In the past, I typically wrote a few large projects simultaneously. Today, I’m more likely to juggle a lot of small projects.

Then there’s my list of blog article ideas for the multiple blogs I write. How do I keep track of those?

Simple. Steal From Programmers.

The simple text editor is a thing of wonder; little comes between you and your words, and the software pops up almost eagerly.

Still, after playing with several editors, I realized I needed more than a text editor – and turned a programmer’s editor into my online copy word processor.

Bluefish text editor in Ubuntu Linux
My Trout Underground blog project – the tabs at the bottom represent four of the 14+ files in the project.

“A programmer’s tool,” you say? It’s perfect (almost).

Programmer’s editors are fast and streamlined. They’re simple text editors on steroids – my two candidates also offer word count, spell checkers, very advanced search, and HTML cheat sheets – though many of the programmer’s features simply don’t apply to your average copywriter.

The key feature? It’s the – the “project” or “session” function.

Save Time With Projects

Different editors call it different things, but a “project” function allows you to save multiple files in a single project, so opening that project opens all those files.

For the blog/article/engagement marketing part of my business, that’s a godsend.

I created separate projects in my editor for each of my blog/engagement marketing projects (one for the Trout Underground, one for the Copywriter Underground, one for… you get the picture).

I start each day by opening each project in its own tabbed window (each file is a tab). When a new article idea rears its head, I simply open a new tab, type the headline, add any thoughts or links, and then “save” the project.

Next time I open the project, all my article ideas for that project pop up.

Throughout the day, all my projects windows are open, so I can steal a few minutes and work on an article – with little time lost to overhead.

Of course, that’s a blessing and a curse; I’m also confronted by my half-finished articles, unstarted articles, and the articles-with-promise-but-require-too-much-research. The universe, it seems, is yin and yang.

I Name Names

In the Linux world, I’ve settled on the Bluefish editor (actually a Web development editor). Gedit is the Gnome editor that does largely the same thing once you add a couple plugins (it’s a little slower adding HTML code, but a little better actually writing).

In truth, a lot of programming editors will do the job.

On Windows, I believe Notepad++ is free, fast, and does everything needed. I’m less familiar with Mac editors, but BBedit and TextMate are likely characters.

I can’t say I’ve fully entered Valhalla – Bluefish would be better if it offered inline spell checking and a running word/character count instead of modal versions of the same thing – but fewer ideas are being lost to a busy workday, and I’m managing a lot of small projects far better.

What’s Next for Writers?

The trend towards online copy is obviously not going away, but few tools have developed in response to that change.

Blog editors help make blogging easier, and a programmer’s editor makes simply online writing easier, but we have yet to see a single “online writer’s editor” that offers everything today’s largely online copywriter needs.

That includes things like speed, toggled HTML markup, file and project management, running word/character counts, the ability to post to blogs (including all the category/keyword/SEO stuff) — and all with enough formatting to send prettified documents to clients (including sample landing/Web pages with graphics represented).

Some word processors do act as virtual databases for the files, notes and links related to a single project, though they seem better suited to longer works (like novels or white papers) than short online articles.

Of course, no writer thinks their word processor/editor/pen is ever exactly right, which is part of the fun of this whole odd career.

The “online word worker” is a relatively new category, and I expect we’ll see the tools we like tailored to the job.

Keep writing (in whatever software suits you), Tom Chandler.

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Writing White Papers Posts Top Ten Writer's Blog Finalists: We're Still In the Running

September 15, 2008, by 6 comments

Business travel is one of those activities that sounds a bit better than it typically is, and though I’ve been on the road for a couple days (and I’m facing a couple more), I wanted to thank everyone who nominated the Copywriter Underground for Michael Stelzner’s s 3rd Annual Top 10 Blogs for Writers Contest.

The Undergrounders spoke, and I made the list of finalists – a nice, gift-wrapped warm fuzzy in a contest that saw the number of nominations double from the prior year (144 to 300).

Thanks again to my readers – who stick around despite my absences and generally grumpy ways. You guys rock.

Here is the list of finalists; all are worthwhile blogs, and reflect a healthy sampling of different approaches to the craft of writing:

I’ll be back in my office on Wednesday. Until then, keep writing, Tom Chandler.

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Cold Calling or Lumpy Mailer? Two Ways to Reach and Win New Clients

August 11, 2008, by 7 comments

For some freelancers, acquiring new clients is a hit-or-miss process, and many wait for work to come to them.

In the past, I’ve detailed my tried-and-true Six Point Lumpy Mailer Plan designed to put you in touch with high-value contacts at the companies you want to write for.

This Freelance Switch post details a cold calling plan that eschews the lumpy mailer step, focusing instead on calling 300-500 prospects.

The article goes into a lot of detail (scripts, etc) that I didn’t. You might find Martha’s plan more to your liking than mine.

After I left my second agency job, I made a lot of cold calls, and yes – collected new clients. Success is in the details, and Martha does a good job of outlining the steps. (Build a client profile, write a script, follow up, etc.)

I prefer my system because it’s more selective and lumpy mailers are fun, but either method will find you on the phone with your target companies.

Cold calls? Lumpy mailer?

You decide. Just don’t decide to do nothing.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler

The Ultimate Freelancer's Tool: The Excuse Ball

August 5, 2008, by 7 comments

For copywriters who are bad a lieingIf you’re one of the few freelance writers that isn’t already a pathological liar when it comes to deadlines, then consider this handy, non-hosted tool: The “Instant Excuse Ball.”

Modeled on the famous “shake-and-answer” Eight Ball, the Excuse Ball contains 20 different excuses, so if you’re writing a “dog ate my Web copy” email to a client – and you’re a poor liar – this is surely a worthwhile investment.

At the Copywriter Underground, we never stop looking for ways to make your life better.

Keep making excuses writing, Tom Chandler.

Instead of Flipping Houses, Try Flipping Web Sites For Fun and Profit

August 5, 2008, by 3 comments

The New York Times fired up a story about online entrepreneurs mimicking real estate speculators: they’re buying under-performing Web sites, fixing them up, and then flipping them for a profit:

Dave Hermansen did not own a bird or a cage when he bought bird-cage.com, an online store, for $1,800 three years ago. He simply saw a Web site that was “very, very poorly done,” and begged the owners to sell it to him. He then redesigned the site, added advertising and drove up traffic. Last December, he sold it for $173,000.

Color me impressed. I simply hadn’t considered flipping in the online arena. And yes, I’ve got enough projects going that I don’t need another, but it could be a solid idea for copywriters with a little time on their hands – and something to prove.

Take over an underperforming site, increase traffic by an order of magnitude, sell it for a profit, and you just built a powerful, self-generated case study (assuming you don’t start flipping sites fulltime).

In many ways, a fixer-upper Web site could be the ideal project for the modern, “value-added” copywriter – who’d better know more about their job than simply where to put the little period thingees.

As always, Undergrounders, the floor is yours. Is online flipping a great idea, or speculative (and time-wasting) nightmare?

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

The Ups and Downs of Freelance Copywriting: The Perils of Proposals

July 18, 2008, by 13 comments

I’m beat.

My wife and I both worked a very, very long work week. And when it lands hard on both of us at once, neither can pick up the slack.

It’s not true, but the last few days, I feel like I’ve eaten nothing but cereal.

The Copywriter's messy desk, including Linux Ubuntu
Does it look like I’ve been sleeping here? (It feels like it.)

Still, the worst is over. Yet I’ve only got time for a short update.

In a prior post, I urged my readers to pursue their dream clients (and dream projects) instead of sitting and waiting for clients to choose them.

I even outlined a process, and employed it myself to win a meeting, where I pitched a sizable membership project. I left the meeting feeling pretty good.

And I’d love to report on my success (as in “I’m writing this from the French Riviera, where my English butler is doing the typing for me“) but in truth, the reality isn’t that rosy. Still, you get the bad with the good here on the Underground, and the project that seemed so promising is now on… hold.

Why?

After all, I invested several hours educating the marketing person.

Who just left the organization.

Damn.

But you know, stuff happens. And if you’re deterred by every setback, you should consider a different line of work (no crybabies on the Underground).

The good news?

The higher ups now know my name. They liked the original proposal. And because of the visibility gained, I’ve been given a shot at a different project (my proposal’s on several desks as we speak).

In fact, I’ve got three separate proposals circulating at two different organizations, and I’m talking to the industry leader about some very, very intriguing engagement marketing stuff (and yes, I’m getting sick of spreadsheets).

Best of all, each is the kind of project I want to do — the kind of work that fires my imagination.

Starting tomorrow, I’m spending a week in Maine, where I’ll have limited connectivity (they have web servers in Maine, but apparently they’re wood fired).

I’ll leave you with this thought. When you sit down at the keyboard in the morning, what kind of project would it excite you to write?

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

Corporations Still Struggling With Corporatespeak In Blogs

July 12, 2008, by 4 comments

Business blogs are failing because they don't say anything

Business blogs aren’t exactly booming — at least according to Ken Magill in a Direct Magazine post, where he cites a Forrester report documenting rapid decline in business blog growth:

Business-to-business blogging took a nosedive this year, mainly because returns on corporate blogs haven’t matched investment, according to a recent report by Forrester Research.

…the number of new corporate blogs has dropped sharply in the last year and a half, according to the report, with 36 companies launching them in 2006, 19 in 2007, and just three in the first quarter of 2008, according to Forrester.

The problem? Corporations repeatedly fall victim to their inability to escape boring, meaningless “corporatespeak.” In fact, Forester’s report speaks to the traits required to successfully engage customers:

Successful corporate blogs “talk openly with an authentic voice,” and are “humble and honest,” two traits that run counter to many corporate egos, said Forrester’s report.

Ouch.

For corporations – who often see blogs as yet another pipeline for corporatespeak (or showcases for preening executives), the ugly truth is this: customers and prospects want useful information or thought leadership, and they’re not getting it. (And yes, they need it coherently written.)

Some organizations have shown excellent returns from blogging (like Patagonia’s Cleanest Line), and the benefits of engaging with customers (binding them to the brand via shared passions and values) are significant.

If I were Absolute Ruler, I’d immediately recruit a good writer, slap a new job title on them (like Corporate Content Writer, though if it were me, I’d negotiate for “Content Czar”), and point them at the Internet.

Imagine the ROI of a good writer – working for a tech company — who was engaging with customers, prospects and media via blog, twitter, social networks, flick’r, YouTube, IM, eNewsletter, etc.

You don’t have to imagine it, of course. Look at what Scoble did for Microsoft.

One of the hidden truths of Web 2.0 is this: the need for copywriters who can communicate in a personable, engaging fashion is far greater than the supply.

Sadly, corporate America hasn’t realized it yet.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

Could The Feelance Writer's Most Important Tool Be The Lowly Spreadsheet?

June 3, 2008, by 3 comments

I just finished a conversation with a client who wanted to send me money. Sadly, they expect me to perform a written act of marketing before sending a check, and they wanted a project estimate.

Long ago, I made a rule to never give off-the-cuff estimates on complex projects.

Perhaps I do it badly (perhaps everyone does), but I grew tired of burning myself — typically the result of forgetting a time-intensive aspect of a project.

projectworksheet

So I did what I always do; fired up my project checklist/estimate spreadsheet, and started moving through the list.

Money, after all, matters, which leads me to wonder; could the spreadsheet be the successful freelance writer’s most important piece of software?

Words Matter, But So Do Numbers.

Writers have long fought wars (with a religious zeal) over word processors, and for good reason.

When you sit down at the keyboard and open up that vein, the interface between you and your now-manifesting neurosis should be a smooth one.

Still, in all the glitz, angst and fervor heaped by writers on word processors, I think writers don’t give the humble, non-flashy spreadsheet its due.

I use OpenOffice — the Open Source (free) equivalent to Microsoft’s Office suite. While I never use the included spreadsheet software at anywhere near its full potential, I use it often:

  • Invoices
  • Estimates
  • Job tracking
  • Job planning/project schedules
  • Checklists
  • Analysis

On complex jobs, I often put together a spreadsheet-based timeline accompanied by a checklist.

Estimating projects on a spreadsheet allows you to run a bazillion different pricing scenarios.

Where spreadsheets really shine is in analysis — both project/response data and when conducting “what if” scenarios.

Do higher offers really result in better response rates (not always, and without a spreadsheet, how do you know what the optimal offer is)? What can we spend on trade show promotion? What’s the lifetime value of our average customer?

In fact, learn to use pivot tables, and I guarantee that no question will ever go unanswered again*.

spreaddetail

Years ago, my most-reliable, client-butt-saving direct mail tool was the breakeven spreadsheet, where — rather than try to predict a response rate — I figured out what response was needed for a program to break even.

If that rate was too high, the program was in trouble before it started — and the client received a warning before it was too late. They weren’t always happy, but they weren’t poorer either.

A spreadsheet also taught me the value of incremental improvements when dealing with large mailing lists, and once saved me from making a very, very bad royalty deal (I was assuming most of the risk and getting little of the reward).

When I was writing and submitting articles to trade magazines for a client, I used (you guessed it) a spreadsheet to track submissions. It even reminded me when it was time to follow up.

How could I not like something that’s meant so much to my business?

Easy to Use. And Easy to Get.

Microsoft Excel sits atop the heap of spreadsheets, though if you don’t own MS Office, don’t despair; OpenOffice offers a spreadsheet that’s largely compatible with Excel, and you can download it (for Linux, Mac & Windows) free.

There are other choices available, but if you must look beyond powerful & expensive (Excel) and power & free (OpenOffice), feel free to do so.

For example, Google Docs and Zoho both offer an online spreadsheet, though I’m not overkeen on the sometimes sluggish response.

zohosheet

Whatever tool you chose, you might struggle with a piece of software that’s a bit more linear than most writers are used to.

Given the flood of data washing over most marketers, a spreadsheet is a powerful tool against (what I call) data blindness; the inability to see the forest for all the burning trees.

Give a spreadsheet a little time – and download a few of the bazillion templates available on the Internet – and you’ll have a lifelong friend (and revenue-enhancing business partner).

Keep writing, Tom Chandler

(*Not a guarantee)

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