by Pamela | Oct 6, 2014 | Small Business Marketing
Good advice for business networking from the folks at Entrepreneur.com…
2. Be clean and connect. A recent study published by Harvard Business Review analyzed workers in North America and Europe, asking them: Would you rather work with a lovable fool or a competent jerk? Nearly every person preferred to work with a lovable fool.
“A little extra likability goes a longer way than a little extra competence in making someone desirable to work with,” wrote the authors. Walk into a room as an open, friendly human being without an agenda. This is how I naturally live my life. What I have noticed is people respond unconsciously and relate automatically.
It seems so obvious, but it’s a good reminder to relax and just be yourself.
by Pamela | Oct 4, 2014 | Website Content
Last year, I switched from Windows to Mac and immediately faced a huge dilemma: Microsoft Word or Apple Pages? Having used Word for decades, I knew it inside and out. I also knew the Mac version would be just different enough to mess me up. Pages looked okay, but I found it frustrating. As I searched for the perfect word processor for my writing business, I stumbled on Scrivener.
What the Heck is Scrivener?
Photo courtesy of Joe in DC(CC No Derivatives)
I like to call Scrivener a beast of a word processor because it is. It’s intimidating with all of its panes, toolbars, and hidden features. It’s not super pretty, either. In fact, it’s kind of ugly. The learning curve is steep. The more you use it, the more beastly it becomes.
That said, Scrivener is beastly in a good way. It’s a shape-shifter, transforming into whatever you need it to be. For example, if you want a clutter-free writing environment, Scrivener has a “composition mode” which transforms the beast into a thing of beauty.
Many writers use Scrivener for their manuscripts and screenplays, and I can see why. Me? I use it for all of my website content writing projects.
How I Use Scrivener for My Clients’ Website Content Writing Projects
Each client gets their own Scrivener file. This allows me to keep everything related to a single client in one place including:
- Current website content writing assignments
- Proposals
- Special instructions
- Notes
- Research
- Bibliographies
- Content style guides
- Marketing personas
- Templates
- Completed assignments
- And more…
For agency clients, I create individual folders and subfolders for each of their projects and/or clients. This keeps everything neat and organized, yet all of their project work is located within a single file.
How I Use Scrivener for My Own Website Content Writing Projects
Whether writing a blog post like this one for my own website or creating a marketing plan for my business, if it involves words, it involves Scrivener! My marketing plan is in Scrivener, my ebooks are in Scrivener, assignments for courses I’m taking in are in — you guessed it — Scrivener.
One of my favorite features is the ability to change each folder’s icons. I used to use the status field to mark projects as either to do or complete (and I still do). Now I change the icon to either a checkmark (complete) or the information alert (to do) so that I can see at a glance what needs my attention.
I also love the word count target feature. For example, right now I can tell I’m getting close to my target. I set a word count target for everything I write in Scrivener and monitor it regularly.
These are just a few of the dozens of features I love. Scrivener is a beast, but it’s also a beauty. I will never go back to a regular word processor.
by Pamela | Oct 2, 2014 | Content Marketing
Millennials trust user-generated content more than they do professionally-written web content
I just read an interesting article about millennials and trust on the GetSpokal blog.
According to the blog post:
This is a fantastic discussion about how millennials perceive professional web content. They don’t trust it because they know marketers have something to gain from it. It makes sense. The author suggests several ways to build trust including: open communication, transparency, interaction via blog posts and social networks, creating quality web content, and even being environmentally conscious.
Here’s a key takeaway about quality content: it’s not about how wonderful your company, product, or service is; it’s about what’s in it for the reader. We’re all a bit selfish that way, millennials, gen-Xers, and baby boomers alike: we all want to know “What’s in it for me?”
Re-framing Features into Benefits
So, while you’re thinking about how wonderful your company, product, or service is (in other words, all of your great features), re-frame those thoughts into benefits to your customers. How can they benefit from your awesomeness?
For example, if you sell designer shoes, you could write web content that discusses the features of those shoes: brand name, pretty buckles, high tech materials, and so forth. But, what do all those features really mean to the customer? Does the brand reflect the customer’s values? Will they feel proud to be associated with that brand? How will they feel when wearing those shoes? How do the high tech materials make the shoes more comfortable or durable?
Incorporating User-Generated Content
From there, you could incorporate user-generated content such as online reviews, testimonials, or comments. Give your customers a voice and then be available to respond. Incorporating user-generated web content can contribute to your trust building efforts as well as serve as social proof that you’re delivering.
Millennials will likely approach your web content warily. They don’t trust you yet. How will you earn that trust? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
www.getspokal.com
by Pamela | Sep 28, 2014 | Content Marketing, Website Content
Whether you’re doing your own website content writing or have hired a freelance web content writer to do it for you, it’s important to include benefits. Your website visitors are greedy in a way. They’re less concerned about how wonderful your company is and more concerned with their problems and needs. They want to know, “What’s in it for me?”
The Difference Between Features-Focused and Benefits-Focused Website Content Writing
First, let’s look at the difference between features and benefits. Many people confuse the two or use them interchangeably. A feature is something that your product or service has. For example, in a car, a moonroof is a feature as is a satellite radio, a well-placed cup holder, leather seats, or USB port. Features may or may not be desirable. They’re usually tangible, and they tend to get the most attention. You can imagine a car salesman pointing out the moonroof and all those cup holders, right? However, have you ever bought a new car because it has amazing cup holders? Think about it. You might have been impressed by the cup holders because they can accommodate your extra large coffee mug which will mean no more spilled coffee when you slam on the brakes. Satellite radio might interest you not because it has three rows of preset buttons, but because your kids will quit bickering on trips thanks to an endless stream of commercial-free Disney programming. What’s in it for you? Benefits.
Like the car salesman who points out features, website content writers tend to do the same. After all, if you’re selling a widget online, you need to let potential customers know what’s unique about that widget. Oftentimes, that means describing its features. Benefits-focused website content writing goes beyond features and explains the benefits.
So, What Exactly is a Benefit?
According to BusinessDictionary.com, a benefit is an actual or perceived factor that satisfies what a customer needs or wants. For example, actual factors might be cost effectiveness or performance whereas a perceived factor might be image or popularity. If your widget has a feature that automatically shuts the unit off if it overheats, that feature delivers a benefit: peace of mind that a malfunction won’t cause a fire.
Incorporating Benefits-Focused Website Content into Your Writing
Once you understand the difference between a feature and a benefit, benefits-focused website content writing becomes much easier. Go through your text and identify features and benefits. Ask yourself if you’ve answered the reader’s burning question: What’s in it for me?
Source:
BusinessDictionary.com,. (2014). What is product benefit? definition and meaning. Retrieved 28 September 2014, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/product-benefit.html
by Pamela | Sep 6, 2014 | Content Marketing
Top Rank Blog has already published its digital marketing predictions for 2015.
August is barely over, yet it’s getting to be that time: prediction-making time. I just stumbled across this list of digital marketing predictions for 205 by Top Rank Blog. I’m all for the human-speak trend predicted by DJ Waldow… Which is your favorite prediction?
DJ Waldow @djwaldow – Digital Marketing Evangelist, Marketo
2015 will be the year of HUMAN for digital marketers. Gone are the days of corporate-speak messaging and dull, boring campaigns. Instead, we’ll begin to see more marketers incorporate human-speak into their messaging – videos, pictures, humor, and human!
