Posts tagged: design

Journalism Jobs Outsourced to India? (This Posted From the USA… For Now)

May 15, 2007, by 12 comments

I’m not interested in pushing any panic buttons on the copywriting front, but it’s interesting to see offshoring creeping its way up the writing-for-hire food chain.

At first, technical work went overseas. Then SEO and article-writing gigs. Now we’re seeing reporting jobs moved offshore:

The world may be flat, as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has written, but I always liked to think I was standing on a hill. Now comes the news that pasadenanow.com, a local news site, is recruiting reporters in India. The website’s editor points out that he can get two Indian reporters for a mere $20,800 a year – and no, they won’t be commuting from New Delhi. Since Pasadena’s city council meetings can be observed on the web, the Indian reporters will be able to cover local politics from half the planet away. And if they ever feel a need to see the potholes of Pasadena, there’s always Google Earth.

The above was posted on HuffingtonPost.com by Barbara Ehrenreich, a journalist and writer. She goes on to say:

Still, writing was believed to be safe – the last stronghold of Western creativity. Explaining the outsourcing of almost every newspaper function, including copy-editing, the billionaire CEO of a consortium of Irish newspapers wrote: ”With the exception of the magic of writing and editing news … almost every other function, except printing, is location-indifferent.” But the magic has clearly been fading, starting two years ago when Reuters started outsourcing its Wall Street coverage to Bangalore. Is there nothing an actual, on-site, American can’t do better than anyone else?

Copywriting is about translating great ideas into print, and it’s difficult to imagine my job being outsourced, but then, the same anthemic cry of denial no doubt erupted from the call center operators, graphic artists, software engineers and (now) journalists who went before me.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

[tags]writing, copywriting, pasadeannow.com, offshoring, journalism[/tags]

Copyblogger Unveils $10K Landing Page Contest

May 14, 2007, by 4 comments

It’s never a bad day when somebody fires up a contest.

Brian Clark of Copyblogger unveiled the copywriting competition he’s been threatening to run for months.

Still, the white paper/case study/ad specialists shouldn’t get too overheated; it’s a landing page contest, and the $5K first prize comes in the form of SquidOffer Advertising — a Squidoo-based ad network the contest is designed to promote.

You submit character-limited ad copy and a landing page URL, and the judges take it from there.

Given my workload and the extremely high quality of springtime fly fishing on the nearby Upper Sacramento River, I think I’ll pass on this one, but maybe you won’t.

If you decide to play, let the rest of the Undergrounders know how you did.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

[tags]contest, copyblogger, squidoo[/tags]

The Commodization of Copywriting: Coming to a Client Near You?

May 13, 2007, by 26 comments

Copywriters have never been immune from market pricing pressures. To avoid competitive pressure on fees, I preach the gospel of the “value-added copywriter,” believing that adding value insulates us from the worst of them.

Recently, I spent a little time poking around Craigslist, job listing boards and even the bid boards (where copywriters underbid each other for jobs). All seem intent on dropping the money-making bottom out of the barely-living-wage copywriting world.

I don’t think bid boards are a great place to make a living or grow a copywriting career. But I was pretty sure I wouldn’t see online bidding boards popping at the upper levels of marketing.

Today, maybe I did.

Commoditizing Marketing

I just got off the phone with a good friend from the S.F. Bay Area; a talented copywriter who specializes largely in case studies.

He sometimes writes for a marketing firm, who recently received some bad news from a big client (one of the biggest manufacturers of high-tech equipment). We’ll call them GigantCo.

GigantCo recently told the marketing firm that life was about to change. If they wanted to work with the GigantCo, they had to meet a long list of terms and conditions (including errors and omission insurance costing nearly $1K a month).

Tough for a small company. But not not unprecedented. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there.

Meeting the terms and conditions only qualified the marketer to bid for work in an online setting against other marketing firms.

Simply put, the jobs would go to the lowest bidders.

Ouch.

Quality of the work? Who cares?

Aptitude for the project? Experience? Prior Results? Apparently they’re not a big part of the equation.

Cheaper Isn’t Better

I’ve largely given up railing against the unfairness of the world (well, not really). But I have to wonder at the intelligence of awarding projects with little regard for the ability to do the best job.

One wonders if the corporate attitude towards “savings at all costs” would change if executive positions were filled in the same manner.

Years ago, I did some work for GigantCo, cleaning up after a consultant who charged $50K for a direct mail project that never produced a single mailer. I honestly can’t remember what the mailing program ultimately looked like, but I do remember that I got something out the door — and for far less than $50 grand.

So, OK, GigantCo’s record on marketing achievement isn’t sterling to begin with. And over the long term, I firmly believe a focus on bargain-basement pricing will lead to root-cellar results.

Still, this is one trend I’d rather not see repeated. Is anyone else experiencing downward pressure on their copywriting fees?

[tags]marketing, freelancing, freelance copywriting, freelance marketing, value-added copywriter[/tags]

Freelancer Tools: Are WebApps the Answer?

May 12, 2007, by 9 comments

Codswallop just published a list of the “100 Web Apps for Everything You Will Possibly Need.”

It’s intriguing. And I found a few I’d never heard of.

Web Apps from Codswallop

But I’m curious; are Web Apps really the answer for freelancers?

They typically offer low-cost (or no-cost) functionality. And let’s face it; low cost is good. Low cost is our friend.

Yet for core applications, I’m not convinced. I sometimes use Google Docs when writing on my laptop, and while it’s handy, I can’t imagine writing with it fulltime. The back-and-forth lag is noticeable.

Still, Web Apps make collaboration among multiple people very easy. Data resides in a single repository (not multiple locations). And because they’re hosted, updates, bug fixes, improvements are all handled on the backend.

In some situations, they make a whole lot of sense. Outside of WordPress, is anyone making extensive use of Web Apps for core writing and business functions?

Keep writing, Tom Chandler

[tags]webapps, freelancing, writing, copywriting[/tags]

Vacation's Over: Back to Writing

May 10, 2007, by 6 comments

Vacations are good. Vacations are our friends.

My just-concluded ten-day fly fishing vacation to Tennessee included a four-day backpacking trip into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park backcountry.

Great Smoky Mountains Park backcountry

It’s gorgeous territory and vibrantly green this time of the year.

It’s also pretty unstable on the weather front, so when it started raining hard one morning — blowing out the river and making fishing impossible — I suddenly had two choices.

I could sit in the rain and try to groove on the concept of the water cycle. Instead, I hid out in my coffin-sized backpacking tent.

And wrote.

Moleskine notebook
Eleven hours in a coffin-sized tent leaves plenty of time for words

It’s something I haven’t done for a while. Just scribble stuff. No product to sell. No blog to populate. No pitch to make. Just words.

I’d love to report finishing the first two chapters of next year’s best seller, but it was just thinking. Lots of words. Lots of ideas.

When is the last time you sat and thought about anything for hours on end?

Some would say the rain that day was annoying. At the time, I’d have agreed. Now I’d say the opposite.

Vacation in your plans? A rainy day?

If not, why not?

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

[tags]writing, vacation, freelancing[/tags]

 

Freelancing and the Black Hole: The Absence of Feedback

April 25, 2007, by 17 comments

One of the drawbacks of freelancing is the “black hole” effect.

That’s where you write copy, ship it to your clients, and outside of a “this looks great” e-mail, you never hear of it again.

No response rates. No kudos for your witty subhead. No criticism for an obtuse reference. No feedback from sales about the quality of the leads.

Just a check.

In traditional non-response media (brochures, branding ads, static Web sites) that’s always been part of the game. Sadly, it evolved a whole generation of copywriters who were a lot better at making clients happy than selling product.

Still, in today’s data-rich marketing environment, my clients often know immediately what’s working and what isn’t, yet – because of the black hole effect – feedback is still pretty rare.

It’s a crippling problem.

Without response data, it’s impossible to evolve your work. Given how focused today’s marketing has become, it’s critical to know what’s flying – and what’s going down in flames.

I’m writing all this because of yesterday’s conversation with a client.

She sent an instant message ten minutes after a broadcast e-mail I’d written dropped on the Internet (she was seeded). In a high-end, competitive market – where a single good lead can make a campaign profitable (not that I’m willing to settle), we received 30 leads in the first five minutes.

I was flying.

Then she dropped the bomb. An e-newsletter sponsorship I’d written two weeks ago for the same product launch had bombed.

Two responses.

She wasn’t upset – simply said the offer had probably gone stale. But I was left to wonder.

I wondered why she hadn’t mentioned the e-newsletter mess earlier. In light of the low response, I would have adjusted my copy.

But if I had, we might not have scored with yesterday’s e-mail (responses was excellent, conversions were good, and the lead quality looks excellent).

In this case, ignorance really was bliss. It’s the kind of thing that makes me wonder about the dangers of ignoring hard-earned intuition in favor of one set of numbers — numbers that might be skewing to unknown, unseen forces.

In any case, I’m doing something I haven’t done in years. I’m making tickler notes in my contact software reminding me to contact clients a couple weeks after the job is done to ask about the results.

Most won’t have data available. But some will, and what I learn will go right into the data bank.

Speaking of banks, I’m drawing heavily on my “energy bank” to finish up an agonizingly long list of projects before heading off on a ten-day vacation (starting Monday), which includes four Internet-free days backpacking around the lesser-traveled bits of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Feedback’s good, but recharging my brain is even better. Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

[tags]copy, copywriter, freelance, freelancer, freelance copywriter[/tags]

BoDo Launches "Working With Writers Series"

April 21, 2007, by 1 comment

Cat at the cool new BoDo blog (Business of Design Online) is running a series of posts aimed at making it easier for designers (and clients) to work with writers.

BoDo: Business of Design Online

The result of online interviews with a group of writers (including yours truly), the series includes thoughtful little gems like Choosing a Writer, the Writer’s Process, How Writers Charge and even Problem Areas.

You can see the whole list of working with writer’s posts here.

Though the posts are aimed at designers, there’s plenty here for clients, agencies and other writers. (Yes, BoDo occupies a slot on my just-reduced-to-a-manageable-level set of RSS feeds.)

[tags]bodo, working with writers, writer, writing, design, designer[/tags]

Need More Freelance Work? Schedule a Vacation…

April 20, 2007, by 6 comments

If I’ve learned one thing over the years, it’s that your best new-business technique isn’t advertising, or networking, or picking up the phone.

It’s scheduling a badly needed vacation.


In 1.5 weeks, I’ll be somewhere in the vicinity of this boulder.

Need work? Plan a trip.

Once you’ve actually purchased the non-refundable plane ticket, clients new and old start pouring out of the woodwork. It happens every time.

The response is inversely proportional to your state of mind; the more you need the rest and relaxation, the more clients call.

I leave April 29 for a long-awaited fishing trip, and I’ll be typing pretty much non-stop until then.

Of course, one of the reasons I’m taking the trip is because I need the rest, creating a delightful (and stressful) paradox whereby the pressure builds on you at the time when you’re least able to handle it.

In truth, I’ve been remiss posting my last couple Friday Fifteen Minute Pitch Posts because I haven’t sought any new work.

No freelancer is ever unhappy to see a fully booked schedule, and I count my blessings when that’s the case, but I wanted to share this unorthodox (and cruelly effective) new business tip with my readers right away.

Keep writing (I know I will), Tom Chandler.

[tags]freelancing, copywriter, copywriting[/tags]

Cashing In On Tragedy: How Not To Write A Press Release

April 19, 2007, by 8 comments

I stumbled across this nightmarish press release on The Bad Pitch blog. I wish I could say I was surprised. It’s a U.S. Netcom Corp release that leverages the Virginia Tech shootings… to hawk a product.

I’d like to congratulate U.S. Netcom Corp for being the first company (that I know of) to crawl over the bodies of the slain in order to make a buck.

If you’ve got the stomach for it, here are highlights of the Press Release via the PR Newswire:

James Piatt, a student at Virginia Tech, expressed a sentiment that
continues to be repeated: “I’m outraged,” said Piatt. “And I’ll say on the
record I’m outraged that someone died in a shooting in a dorm at 7 in the
morning and the first e-mail about it came two hours later. No mention of
locking down campus, no mention of canceled classes, they just mention
they’re investigating a shooting a few hours later at 9:26am. Meanwhile,
while they were sending out that e-mail, 21 more people got killed.”

Virginia Tech President Charles Steger indicated that it would’ve been
difficult to warn every student because most were off campus at the time.

The fact is, Mr. Steger is wrong. Automated mass emergency notification
could have been used to save more than 20 lives that morning. Mass
notification should have been in place that would have given students more
than two hours warning of the events unfolding on campus, including
notification to students with cell phones who were attending classes.

Like the late-night ads say — wait, there’s more:

For $1 per student per year, services such as AllCall Notification
(http://www.usnetcomcorp.com) could have provided VT with a method of
crisis control capable of reaching every student far faster than email. It
should have been in place as part of the school’s emergency preparedness
plan.

There is a tragic lesson for every educator of every school-age
student: AllCall or other notification services can save lives. If it had
been in place at Virginia Tech, the situation could have been, and probably
would have been, much different.

I’m not wholly against discussions about what could have been done to save lives, but this is a clumsy, ham-fisted attempt to insert a product name into the discussion (before it’s even truly clear what happened).

It’s not about the tragedy or the students. It’s about the product.

That’s why sentences like “Automated mass emergency notification could have been used to save more than 20 lives” are so galling. And so damaging. I’m tempted to say this is a textbook study in marketing opportunism at its worst, but that’s a little sanitized.

It’s shameless. It’s bad marketing, and it’s shameless.

Which is exactly what I told US Netcom at the e-mail address at the bottom of their press release: jeff.warhol@usnetcomcorp.com

[tags]virginia tech[/tags]

Thinking of Virginia Tech

April 18, 2007, by 2 comments

The shootings at Virginia Tech dominate the news cycle, and it’s not exactly the kind of atmosphere that lends itself to a zany blog post.

Of course, people die every day — a state of affairs we accept because we know that nobody gets out alive to begin with.

Still, we’re shocked by the random and inexplicable, and this certainly qualifies.

Adding to the load in this case are the ages of the victims. Nothing defines a young life more than hope, possibility and promise, and to see those things stolen from us all affects me on an elemental level.

Best wishes to all affected by this this tragedy, and the only solace I can find is the belief that the sun never sets on one part of the globe without rising on another.

fini.

[tags]virginia tech, va tech, shooting[/tags]

From FreelanceSwitch: 101 Essential Freelancing Resources

April 15, 2007, by 7 comments

I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t know FreelanceSwitch existed — until I stumbled across this “101 Essential Freelancing Resources” post.

A guide to resources like software, image libraries, business resources, tools, sample legal documents and the ever-popular “miscellaneous” category.

Much of the list was familiar, but the items I didn’t know about were more than ample compensation for the minute I invested.

[tags]freelance, freelancer, freelanceswitch[/tags]

Calling All Ad Agencies: Things Really Have Changed

April 13, 2007, by 2 comments

This tidbit from the Black Star Rising blog (the very cool blog of the Black Star photo agency) suggests ad agencies are lagging more than a little bit in the online department:

Consider this little story told by Jan Leth, executive creative director of OgilvyInteractive North America. The agency was assigned by Six Flags to do a promotion for the amusement park’s 45th anniversary. “They wanted to give away 45,000 tickets for opening day to drive traffic. So we got a brief to do whatever: ads, microsite, whatever.” While the creative people were trying to plan the project, the creative director went off and posted the ticket giveaway on Craigslist.

“Five hours later, 45,000 tickets were spoken for,” Leth said. “No photo shoot. No after-shoot drinks at Shutters,” and with some irony he continued, “Now, the trick is, how do we get paid?”

The last line is central to the problem: “How do we get paid?”

It’s one thing to charge a bazillion dollars for a sexy broadcast campaign. And yet another to get paid for simple online tasks — even those offering significant ROI.

How much can an agency charge for an activity the marketing director’s 12 year-old son could do?

And for that matter, how much can I charge a client for a handful of short blog entries — that could have a bigger impact on revenues than a $10,000 trade ad?

Marketing’s being turned upside down, and those who aren’t fast on their feet will end up standing on their heads.

[tags]black star, advertising[/tags]