The emails come almost weekly. And while they take different routes, the copywriters sending them all pretty much end up in the same place:
“How do I build a career as a copywriter?”
The answer is not what they expect.
Your ability to build a lasting career as a copywriter will not be based on your knowledge of “The Ten Headlines That Always Get The Sale” or a Super-Secret, Can’t Miss Sales System or knowing by heart the “Five Reasons Twitter Will Change The Universe Forever” blog post.
In fact, no post, article or book will prepare you for what’s to come.
And while businesses would like you to believe otherwise, the success of your copywriting career doesn’t rest on your choice of smartphone, Twitter client, or high-bandwidth wireless connection.
So exactly what is the key to long-term survival?
Simple. It’s your ability to adapt.
Marketing – Now With the Great Taste of Chaos
I just hung up the phone after a lengthy client conversation – but only after agreeing to teach several more online marketing classes.
Teaching was never a career goal.
In fact, I never considered it prior to the last couple years. Yet here I am, teaching classes. A lot of them.
It’s something I couldn’t do if I was close-minded about my career.
But then, when I typed my first paying copy jobs on an electric typewriter (I wasn’t man enough to go manual), I never imagined I’d write ads for high-end racing helmets, sell $10 million semiconductor manufacturing systems, eventually derive most of my income from consulting, or be successful enough to live on a beautiful property located on the flank of an inactive volcano.
In short, you may think you’ve got it all planned.
But history suggests your long-term plan is more fiction than reality.
Guess what?
For the smart, aware and adaptable copywriters reading this, that’s a good thing.
Really.
Adapt, Adapt, Adapt
If you’re building a copywriting career today, you’re facing a fast-changing marketplace, fickle customer base – and a marketing universe which will look very, very different when you wake up five years from now.
In prehistoric times (as little as ten years ago), you could handily pay the grocery bills writing corporate capability brochures. If you sprinkled in a handful of B2B direct response packages, life was pretty good.
Annual report gigs were the frosting that funded retirement accounts and new cars.
Today, two of those markets are largely toast. The other is a shadow of of its former self.
And the copywriters who specialized in the above – and didn’t see the fast-moving bus that was the Internet – became roadkill. (Ask veteran copywriter Copywriting Maven Roberta Rosenberg what happened to a couple of her print-only copywriting friends – who never made the transition to online marketing.)
The World Is Spinning Faster
If a decade seems too long ago to feel relevant, simply consider online marketing’s recent history.
Only a few years ago, every business “needed” a Second Life presence. Then a MySpace presence.
At one time, email was hot. Then it wasn’t. Now, it’s hot again (proof common sense sometimes prevails).
And let’s not forget the latest “hot” channels: Facebook and Twitter.
It’s tempting to say the old media channels are fading, but they’ll likely be back, albeit in different forms.
They’ll fight for survival alongside the new marketing channels, which are springing to life almost hourly.
Simply put – even within the narrow confines of the online marketing universe – much has changed in just 12 months.
And don’t doubt for a second that more change is on the horizon.
Has your business changed with it?
All The Little Fingers, Typing
Here’s an unpleasant reality: There have never been more sets of fingers willing to type for hire.
And many of the emerging copy markets are – how do I put it tastefully – sorta low rent (the product of a [hopefully] transient lack of taste on the part of search engines, which are still in their infancy too).
And while we’re toting up the bad news, copywriting’s customer base has never been so reluctant to pay a living wage for words.
Which means today’s novice copywriter faces:
A chaotic media landscape
A search-engine derived emphasis of quantity over quality
The accelerating obsolescence of existing media (which will soon include some of the current “hot” channels)
Free-falling fee structures
Intense competition
Media channels which encourage “do-it-yourself” client marketing
A guarantee of more of the same
What keeps a new copywriter fed and dry in a landscape like that?
Hint: It’s Not The Alphabet
Clearly, the basics of copywriting will never change; “what’s in it for me” will still be the first question asked by prospective buyers, and your ability to answer it will determine the health of your bank account.
Still, even the basics of marketing may be bending a little under the strain of the Internet.
When I first wrote corporate web sites, the word count on the average page was far higher than today’s sites.
Then we went through a spell when “clean” design was hot (I cynically named the trend “corporate sterile”), and the pages hardly said anything at all.
Thankfully, that phase passed.
Today’s site is fast becoming a convergence point for an organization’s feeds and streams (“Feed and Stream” is likely the best unused social media magazine title ever).
Home pages can no longer be considered a site’s main landing page, and in fact, the readership of many business blogs far exceeds that of the rest of the site.
Those copywriters and marketers who can’t adapt to streams, or chunking, or insist on writing web sites the same old way because “they worked before and they’ll work now” (something I once embarrassingly said) – will see their business (especially the interesting stuff) wither away.
The Big Finish
It would be wonderful if I could boil down a foolproof survival tactic into three short bullet points.
That would be highly tweetable, but not very real.
Instead, I can offer you the following:
Challenge Your Assumptions
What’s true today could be tomorrow’s empty (and cashless) cliche. Conventional logic suggested Amazon.com was never going to turn a profit (neither was Facebook or Twitter).
Something changed, and those who recognized that change prospered as a result. I have my own ideas about the future of marketing as it concerns copywriters, but what are yours?
And more importantly, which of your assumptions (“the annual report will never go away“) are about to go down in flames?
Let me add one thought. Listening to everybody else – and accepting it as gospel – is simply a cheezy way to substitute their assumptions for theirs.
The Internet is full of parrots, con men and weak-minded fools, and like Carson Brackney said, it’s your job to avoid them.
Stay Aware Of Your Revenue Streams
This is manifestly not sexy, but it is critical. Small shifts in the kinds of projects you’re seeing – and in your own revenue sources – may herald a larger, long-term shift in your business.
Ideally, you’d stay ahead of those shifts, but that’s expecting a lot.
If clients start asking for the same kind of project, is that coincidence? Or a whole new (and largely untapped) revenue stream?
It’s truly marvelous when the world comes to you, but you don’t have to be a statistics whiz to know your chances of achieving happiness are a lot higher when you decide what happiness looks like instead of the next guy to call.
Have a Sense of Wonder
Admittedly, this concept hasn’t found a home in too many MBA programs. But it’s absolutely essential if you’re going to survive.
It’s my final piece of advice to my online marketing boot camp students, and one of the few things that can sustain you over the course of a long career.
There are few certainties in copywriting, though we can make pretty safe assumptions about two of them.
First, you will deal with rejection. Perhaps a lot of it. New clients won’t like your pitch. Existing customers won’t like your first draft (or your second). Your mother will urge you to find a real job.
Get used to it.
Don’t take it personally. And recognize that hiding in a totally safe, rejection-free world is akin to living in a padded room because it’s safer.
It might be safe, but you’ll eventually go crazy.
And – oh yes – you should regularly marvel at the idea that somebody pays you to write for a living.
Second, we can safely assume the copywriting universe is going to change.
A lot.
You either lead the change, ride along with it, or get run over.
If you see emerging technologies as interesting, wondrous things (maintaining the kind of skepticism it takes to survive in a hype-driven field), then you’ll last a whole lot longer than if you embraced a dark, sinister worldview.
I started the Copywriter Underground simply to see if blogging really was an effective lead-generation strategy – something I’d have to know if I was going to recommend it to my clients.
Four years later, my business has morphed to the point this blog has become a pointless artifact.
The time I invest here largely reflects that. Yet this is where it truly gets interesting.
I could look at the Underground and suggest it’s been a colossal waste of time. Or marvel that I could reach so many people just by typing a few ideas into a text editor every now and then.
How could anyone not have a sense of wonder about that?
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)
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 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.
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 EMACSeditors. 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 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.
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.
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.
It’s not video (exactly), but the “living art interactive motion spread” from Viv magazine (a digital zine) offers copywriters and marketers a glimpse of yet another potentially game-changing marketing technology.
Found on the Appleinsider were a pair of fascination videos about (which tied this technology to the iPad, though there’s zero reason it couldn’t find a home on any PC or smartphone)
The first video showcases the technology right in the digital magazine. While it’s running, imagine the selling potential. Even at the most banal level, highlighting basic product features could offer viewers something far more powerful than a picture with a bunch of callouts (still one of my favorite techniques).
The second video is a “making of” segment – worth watching to get a sense of the technology itself.
Embedding video in digital magazines – many of which still utilize a page-turning metaphor parroting the print mags they’re replacing – is a no brainer.
Advertisers, long trained to believe their two-page print ad spreads were wildly effective, can now run those same “brand” ads, yet enhance them with embedded video and other rich media.
The result? Big, pretty ads which make clients happy – and engagement and response levels which should put a smile on the face of the marketing and sales departments.
Motion Technology a Hybrid
“Motion” technology is not video (exactly), nor is it still photography, but seems to be something of a hybrid.
Whether it truly gains a foothold against video remains to be seen, but even if it doesn’t, it’s offers an interesting look at a potential use for short video segments in ads and other digital marketing efforts.
Which means copywriters – even those focusing purely on textual selling – had better brush up on their video scriptwriting and conceptual skills.
Those that don’t may suffer the same fate as those copywriters whoh never made the jump to online media (hint: it wasn’t a good fate).
I’m behind. Way behind. I’ve been sick almost continuously the last month – the result of my adorable daughter bringing home every bug in the county. I’m recovering, but several iterations of the flu (and a cold, and a wave of power outages) clearly don’t respect a deadline.
In simple terms, I’m well and truly behind the 8-ball. Deadlines loom, and clients are waiting.
It’s an uncomfortable place for any freelance copywriter – especially given that my marketing consultant business continues to grow.
What’s a freelance copywriter to do when circumstances put you way, way behind the curve?
#1: Pare Down
This is the blatantly obvious – yet wholly painful – step where you stop investing energy in the things that can wait (the personal or vanity projects, speculative ventures, test sites, new technology, etc).
Instead, you focus on keeping your paying clients happy.
It sounds simple, but frankly, it’s not.
Because I’m trying to meet my clients’ needs, I’m in the embarrassing position of finishing my third project for my “marketing” company – yet my marketing Web site is only half completed.
And it will stay that way – at least until I catch up on my other commitments.
Painful? You bet.
Necessary? I think so.
#2: Stay In Touch With Your Clients!
I rarely sprinkle exclamation points in my copy, but made an exception for #2.
Sadly, I have to admit I’m not always great at keeping my clients in the loop when I’m struggling – usually the result of delusional, “I’ll pull a couple all-nighters and get caught up” thinking.
Or worse, I’ll embrace what I call embarrassing thinking like: “For several days – despite being sick and tired – I’ll be just as productive as I was when I wrote that entire ad campaign in two hours.”
Never mind your most productive day ever occurred over ten years ago, and you’ve not come close since.
As writers, we tend to remember the high points more readily than the daily slogs, and sometimes, fate doesn’t tap you on the shoulder and hand you a project after ten minutes work.
Sometimes you can pull all-nighters and catch up – your client none the wiser – but as I approach the half-century mark and now raise a little daughter, those all-nighters hurt a lot more.
And truthfully, are you really doing the best work you can for a client when you’re exhausted from working all night?
The moral? Tell your clients about your problem. See if you can’t buy a little more time (you do this by uncovering their real deadlines, or if there’s wriggle room left in the schedule).
If you don’t keep in touch, you run the risk of blindsiding your clients, which is where the real trouble begins – both now, and in the future.
#3: Don’t Make Things Worse
In the midst of my second brush with the flu, my Web host – which had been experiencing increasing problems with a server, but hadn’t addressed them – crashed spectacularly, losing several days worth of data for me and my clients.
When the dust settled (after a couple of long nights), I decided to switch to a new host. Immediately.
Good decision, but bad timing.
The move cost me several more all-nighters, a week’s worth of hassle, and yes – I got sicker in a hurry.
Simply put, I should have waited until I was better, and my deadlines weren’t so pressing.
If you’re sick, working on three hours sleep promises to make you sicker, creating a cascade which will put you even farther behind.
Don’t do it.
Other Strategies?
I outlined three critical strategies, but life’s never really simple enough to boil down to three bullet points. That’s why (absolutely free of charge) I’m including a few other useful strategies:
Hire help (Find another writer who can help you out of the jungle.)
Telescope existing projects (Find out which project bits must be finished now, and what can wait until later.)
Look for productivity gains (Grinding along on a ten year-old laptop? Maybe it’s time to upgrade. Write long, detailed emails? Time to shorten them.)
Freelance long enough, and you’ll find yourself the victim of circumstance – whether through sickness, accident, natural disaster or other calamity.
Some things can’t be avoided, but your response to those moments is always in your hands.
What will it be?
Keep writing (despite disease, power outage, etc), Tom Chandler.
Color me an email marketing partisan; while social media gets the hype, email continues to generate real ROI – which is why I recommend it to so many of my consulting clients.
And why I recommend it to copywriters looking for financial stability.
Why?
Random Choice: The Latest eMail in My Inbox
As reader engagement metrics grow more sophisticated, the opportunity – and the need – for copywriters can only grow.
A more engaged audience (one byproduct of superior content) not only adds happy zeros to the bottom line, but it now seems better engagement metrics may improve email deliverability – the holy grail of email marketers.
In the past, email marketers feared “This is spam” complaints from readers, knowing that too many complaints would dry up email deliverability.
In fact, email service providers (like Underground Fave MailChimp and small-biz leader Constant Contact) go to great lengths to police their own customers.
If they don’t, those vendors lose their critical “whitelist” status.
Now, it appears AOL has gone beyond simple negative measures to using engagement metrics (clicks, opens, etc) to determine if readers find emails useful.
High “engagement” scores could land your email marketing clients on AOL’s enhanced whitelist – a powerful incentive to deliver useful, engaging (and anticipated) email programs (the kind of emails a professional copywriter might write).
As the torrent of content on the Internet grows, this kind of measure will become increasingly common (and that’s not exactly a bold prediction).
Which provides fertile ground for the copywriter looking for upscale projects.
And while the existing email profit motive provides a good foundation for any client pitch, tacking on this little bit of engagement marketing news can only help.
And I’m only getting started.
A Plea For Integration
In my marketing boot camp classes, I take a hard look at the success – and the ROI – of email programs.
In fact, you can see the surprise on the faces of my business students – who often feel email is an “outdated” marketing channel – when I relate my compelling email success stories.
In simple terms, it’s a rare business that doesn’t see a revenue spike when an email drops.
At times, it seems as if many young copywriters are focusing on blogging for dollars or getting paid to write “articles” – when they might consider offering integrated content packages to selected businesses.
In other words, why write weekly blog posts for a few bucks when you can pitch the same client a package containing integrated blog, social media and email content?
The Copywriter’s Growing Role
Given the ability to integrate blog entries with email programs – and the ease with which you can funnel the same content into social media – an integrated approach should be a no-brainer for even small businesses.
In fact, the integration bit is the part of my boot camp that most surprises (and excites) my students.
After all, they’ve spent the last few years growing increasingly confused (and yes, frightened) by the increasing number of communications channels.
And there I am, suggesting they – with proper integration – can stuff all those channels (blogs, email, social media) for the price of one piece of content.
In fact, technology is improving so quickly that content is now the primary barrier to online marketing success.
Which, my savvy copywriters, is where you step into the picture.
It’s no secret; I like the concept of the value-added copywriter. In this case, the value you add is integration – a turnkey ability to neatly gift-wrap a big chunk of a company’s online marketing in one nice, neat package.
You’re not writing blog posts. You’re delivering a blog, revenue-enhancing email, and a steady presence on Twitter and Facebook.
And you’re doing it turnkey.
Which means you’re delivering more than results; you’re offering peace of mind (don’t undervalue that in today’s madhouse marketing universe).
And yes, it’s retainer money, and as Underground Fave Seasoned Veteran Copywriter Roberta often says, freelancers ignore regular paychecks at their own peril.
One more thing; offering integrated packages is yet another tactic that sets you aside from those bidding themselves into starvation on the freelance sites.
Keep writing (and integrating, and pitching, and…), Tom Chandler
It’s every writer’s “gotcha” moment. You’re in a hurry, yet you’ve written a comment/review/post so brilliant, it’s likely you’ll win the Pulitzer – assuming you’re not made absolute ruler of the planet first.
Except you edited it like you were on crack, mucked it up, and didn’t notice until after you hit “post.”
Damn.
Now it sits for all eternity – an embarrassing piece of text with the name of a supposedly professional writer attached to it.
There is, however, hope.
After The Deadline is a Firefox plug-in that offers “Spell, Grammar, and Style Check” right in your browser.
After the Deadline Firefox plugin
According to the site, it offers a more powerful spell checker than Firefox, and flags misused words, grammar issues, etc. (Remember when browsers didn’t even offer spell checkers? Oy.)
It’s a given that everything that flows from my fingertips is perfect just as it is, yet I installed AfterTheDeadline for testing (everybody has an off day).
It’s too early to rave, but I figure it’s never too early to stop making embarrassing mistakes.
In an earlier (and popular) Underground post I profiled niche writer Tom Gaylord – the writer who turned his lifelong passion for target air guns into a fulltime career.
Two years later, Gaylord’s writing gig has mushroomed into several lucrative new areas, and it seems the time is ripe for an update.
Those who read the original post will recall Gaylord’s advice: write about a subject you love so much, you can’t wait to get out of bed and get to work.
Not only is it a prescription for job satisfaction, but it’s not a bad route to getting paid.
In the last two years, Gaylord’s turned his domination of the adult target airgun niche into several lucrative new projects – including a co-host spot on a TV show and several lucrative product development deals.
In fact, with his American Airgunner TV show recently signed for a second season, Gaylord is now in the enviable position of refusing even high-paying jobs.
His dance card’s just too full.
Write to Your Passion, But Get Paid For It
“I’m exactly where I want to be” said the plain-talking Gaylord at the start of the interview.
“I’ve reached my work limit, I don’t “audition” for any kind of work any more, I’m getting paid for my time, and I’m doing something I want to keep doing as long as my heart is beating.”
Produce a 2x monthly podcast (he taught himself the technology)
Write paid articles for several sites & magazines
Co-host a new TV show
He signed a pair of lucrative product development deals
How has he arrived at this place?
Simple.
He knows this stuff, and he loves writing about it.
If that’s not exactly the four-point formula for success you were hoping for, consider this: For several years, Gaylord has posted new blog articles five days a week (without fail).
Gaylord’s audience continues to grow, and and just so you know he’s hardly phoning it in, his blog posts regularly generate upwards of several hundred comments – an astonishing number given the tiny airgun market.
In addition to all the writing projects outlined in my prior article, the past year has seen him signing several paid product development deals – and moving from the online world into a TV host spot.
In other words, he’s still doing exactly what he wants.
And yes, he’s making more money at it then ever.
Television
While it’s common for successful bloggers to steer themselves into other channels, Gaylord wasn’t necessarily looking for the television show which has transformed his working life.
And while the TV show has been well received in its first season (the Sportsmen’s Channel just signed for a second season), Gaylord notes the ride hasn’t been wholly smooth.
“Between the travel and the workload, I discovered what my limits were. Now I have to make sure I don’t make myself sick again.”
Still, the TV exposure promises to raise Gaylord’s profile even higher among not just the airgunning world, but the larger sporting markets. In terms of building a personal brand, a TV show is not a bad route – and the affable Gaylord comes across as so likable and passionate, you can’t help but see a big future in video (whether broadcast or online).
Product Development
In what Gaylord calls “another lobe” of his work are his new product development deals.
He recently signed two deals which see him helping a pair of industry leaders fine-tune – and even revolutionize – their product lines.
While modesty – and a pair of NDAs – limit what Gaylord’s willing to reveal, it’s largely true to suggest Gaylord was at the foundation of one American airgun company’s recent introduction of three world-beating products.
They’re revolutionizing a market, and because nothing succeeds like success, Gaylord’s stock has risen to the point where several other manufacturers are willing to pay him to talk turkey.
I don’t care what market you play in; that’s an enviable position.
OK, So How Does He Do It?
Rather than repeat everything Gaylord said in my earlier profile, let me reprint a quote from the earlier article summarizing Gaylord’s approach, and then I’ll get down to the nitty gritty:
Still, it’s not hard to see what matters to him — the first words out of Gaylord’s mouth were: “Most important is to write about the things you love doing.”
Gaylord’s writing style is conversational, and not intimidating or pedantic.
“I see my role as more an educator than salesman” he said, and his straightforward style of writing reflects it. He’s been writing about airguns for almost two decades, and expects to “continue doing so until I drop.”
How does he generate so much copy for so many venues?
“You should write about the things you love so much that you can’t wait to write the next post or article.”
With that in mind, Gaylord’s approach to growing his online presence beyond the online world involves nothing particularly high tech or glamorous.
Instead, Gaylord makes it a point to know everything there is to know about his industry (see blockquote above), and then pitches his ideas to those in a position to make a difference.
When one company invited several airgun writers to a show & tell, Gaylord went armed with a specific product pitch, including marketing information he’d picked up at an industry breakfast a couple years prior.
Simply put, it worked. And it lead to one of his product development deals.
It’s a recurring tactic for Gaylord, who only founded his extremely popular (and paid) blog because he pitched the idea a top online retailer – a pitch that came complete with costs and revenue potential.
“Don’t Be Afraid to Fail.”
Diving headfirst into new areas is a recurring theme for Gaylord, who used to publish a printed airgun “newsletter” that ultimately failed when the Internet picked up steam.
“Sure, you sometimes make bad decision, but don’t be afraid to fail” he said.
“You need to fail to learn, and if you’re one of those people who has to ask three other people what they should do, you’re simply going to prolong the learning process.”
And while his stock is definitely on the rise, Gaylord’s not afraid to admit he made mistakes even in the midst of his most-successful year.
The TV show – which required frequent travel to New York (Gaylord lives in Texas) – was a new situation for him, and he didn’t strike a deal that served him particularly well.
That’s been rectified for the upcoming season, but Gaylord – in opposition to a lot of what you hear spouted on the Internet about writers giving away the farm – is very clear on the idea of giving too much away.
“You’ve got to be very careful not to give too much away,” Gaylord said.
“As a writer in a particular market, over time you develop an experience base that should make you valuable. There’s a tendency to give that knowledge away in order to get in the game.”
“Don’t do that.”
Where Are You Going?
While Tom Gaylord’s niche is small and unusual, the product and television deals have put him in a place so ideal, he can’t imagine anything better.
“At 62, I’m finally in the place I wish I was at when I was 40″ he said.
“I’m turning down work, I don’t audition for anything, and I’ll happily keep doing this work as long as my heart keeps beating.”
Keep writing (and pitching, and thinking, and failing…), Tom Chandler.
It’s gotten so I don’t even try to disguise my love of all things typographic. And yes, coming out of the font closet means I’m free of the secret shame I’d experience lusting over a particularly telling use of Futura, or a nifty graphic treatment of Garamond Condensed.
Now, College Humor has produced Font Fight – the hilarious, perfect-for Friday video that every font geek (and yes, I mean you ) will want to play over and over.
Click the image, watch the video, shoot Comic Sans out your nose...
After all, what fontophile would willingly miss the long-awaited meeting of Helvetica and Arial – the latter of which stole the former’s identity so many years ago? (The hairs on my neck are standing up.)
I can’t embed it, but it’s worth the short trip to the College Humor site, where you can embrace your inner font geek.
You have to wonder what demographic Oscar Mayer’s aiming at with this new “Blogworthy” ad (scanned from Newsweek), though the real question is this: Is the mainstream really ready for Web 2.0-driven ad concepts?
Scanned from Newsweek, but aimed at GenX (and younger)?
And we’ve gotta ask: Will Oscar Mayer’s target market truly understand Blogworthy?
Me? I vote thumbs up. The concept mixes a little edge and some fun with an ever-so-slight amount of self-deprecating humor. And yes, Oscar Mayer is clearly more interested in the “connected” generation than they are the old geezers (like the one writing this blog post).
Critique?
I might have shoehorned another benefit into the copy (we get “under 350 calories” and “microwave minute” which isn’t bad)
Oscar Mayer supports a blog of their own and some fun online goodies on their site (Oscar Mayer Pong) – why not reference it in this ad?
The Hotdogger.com blog follows the Weinermobile’s location on Google.
In an era when new media channels are coming online almost hourly, large organizations often struggle to achieve true integration across all marketing channels. Sometimes that’s due to departmental turf wars, but often it’s simply the result of tunnel vision.
And yes, the smart freelance writer will spot integration issues for a client, and offer to fix them (after all, nothing’s more endearing than being useful).
What’s your hit – fun ad, or total marketing baloney?
