Award-winning journalist and freelance copywriter, Susanna K. Hutcheson, presents news, thoughts and ideas on the world of business, marketing, copywriting and much more.

How Much Should You Charge? The Answer To the Copywriter's Biggest Problem.

                        

Susanna on 05.03.08 @ 07:39 PM CDT [link]

What You Can Learn From Your Daily Stats.

People search for all sorts of things and somehow end up on my site. Here's an example:

copy writing for my song i wrought

Then she sends me this short email:

im in a worship band i have written 3 songs and people thought my songs were from the fish and i need to get them copy writed thank you (name left off by me.)

Susanna on 04.08.08 @ 05:57 PM CDT [link]

How To Attract the "Smart" Marketers and Eliminate the Rest.

I've been told we're having a recession. I've heard that people are not spending money, that many people are cutting back on their advertising and marketing --- some actually cutting it out. Fortunately, my clients are the smart ones. Why do I say that?

Read what a recent edition of Advertising Age has to say:

Gut-wrenching news, layoffs and budget cuts aside, history shows recessions have been some of the best times for media and marketing innovation. For marketers who kept their wits, economic valleys -- the deeper the better, in fact -- became foundations of empires.

Two years into the Great Depression in 1931, a Procter & Gamble Co. executive named Neil McElroy wrote the memo that ushered in the brand-management system. It eventually helped propel him to the presidency of P&G. It wasn't a cure-all. During the first three years of the Great Depression, P&G's sales fell by more than half, from $192 million to $94 million, and earnings fell 50%, to $11 million. (Deflation accounted for some of that decline.)

But P&G didn't lay off anyone during the Depression. And it charged ahead with innovation. In 1933 it launched the first radio soap opera nationally and its first synthetic detergent brand, Dreft.

Around to cover such events were Advertising Age, launched seemingly inopportunely in 1930, and BusinessWeek, launched at the outset of the Depression, in 1929.

I might add that Fortune Magazine was launched February 1930. In case you don't know it, that was the start of The Great Depression. I keep a copy in front of me at the computer to remind me that smart people get going when times are the very worst. I'm at my best when times are the worst. And you can be too.

The thing is, most people will cut back. That leaves room for the smart people to make money and have all the marketing to themselves. They get all the good air time, all the good print space, Internet space, everything.

Charles Schwab founded his discount brokerage during a recession in 1974. Great people get going in bad times. They do great things. And they spend lots of money. They do not know fear.

According to Advertising Age, "Marketers should draw lessons from such examples of charging ahead despite recession, said Ed Rensi, former CEO of McDonald's USA through the early 1990s recession; he's now a motivational speaker, Nascar team owner and director of several companies.

Unfortunately, he said, companies usually do just the opposite. They cut staff, which he said leaves those left behind overworked and risk-averse. And they cut marketing, which props up profits short term but erodes market share down the road."

Smart people find opportunity in everything. Downturns are indeed opportunities for the smart marketers. Now, if you're a copywriter or marketing consultant, you don't want to be bothered with the people working on shoestrings and wanting to get your work for nothing. Turn them away fast. They'll waste your time. Lots of people don't have gonads. They fold at the slightest sign of trouble. They're losers. They're scared to spend money in order to make it. And they're scared to pay you what you're worth. They don't seem to understand that you're using your valuable time and skills to make them money and to grow their business.

You have to stand your ground. Charge what you're worth. If a loser won't pay that, have him look for a junior copywriter. That's all his business is worth to him so that's all it's worth to you.

The bright business people know that now is the very best time to spend the most money and get the best brains in the biz. Yes, it takes a strong stomach and lots of guts. But your smart marketers --- and you --- will come out the other end richer and more successful. The timid and scared will be seen in tents on the side of the road, begging for crumbs.

Happy recession!
Susanna on 04.08.08 @ 10:52 AM CDT [link]

You Gotta Spend It To Make It --- the Secret To Making Big Money In Hard Times.

The people who get rich spend lots of money to get that way. Pinching pennies just gets you pennies. Let me explain.

A wealthy coin dealer by the name of B. Max Mehl of Fort Worth, TX was, at one time, the best known and richest coin dealer perhaps in the world. Allow me to take an extensive quote from "Illegal Tender" to illustrate my point.


"Born in Lithuania in 1884 and settled in Texas with his family at age eleven, Mehl was the first coin dealer to recognize the value of spending money to make money. Though a dull, runtish man with slicked-down hair, he became a P.T. Barnum-like character. His eyes darting suspiciously behind rimless glasses, he always started (sic) straight past the camera, tight-lipped, unsmiling, seemingly bereft of humor - except in print."


Mehl was a shameless self-promoter --- not unlike many here on the Web. He advertised coin collecting and himself to the public in grandiose terms as no one before him or since him. By 1919, he was spending $5,000 a year in advertising. By 1924 he was spending ten times that. THROUGHOUT THE DEPRESSION YEARS HE WAS SPENDING A SENSATIONAL $100,000 A YEAR ON ADVERTISING! That was about $15,04921.04 in 2007 dollars.

The result? He made millions. His clients included people like King Farouk, who spent millions with him. He got over a quarter of a million inquiries per year from his advertising. And, remember, this was during the Depression.

So here's my point. You can pinch pennies and have lots of pennies or you can spend big money and have much bigger money.

The decision is yours.

Susanna on 02.24.08 @ 07:17 AM CDT [link]

Important AP Stylebook Update Regarding Company Names

Dec. 6, 2007 - This is an update we just received from The Associated Press.

An AP Stylebook entry has been updated:

Editor's Note: An update in AP Style to clarify the full use of company names in stories.

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company names

For a company's formal name, consult the national stock exchanges: New York Stock Exchange, www.nyse.com; Nasdaq, www.nasdaq.com; or the American Stock Exchange, www.amex.com. AP staffers may also reference an alphabetical list of all company names, with stock ticker abbreviations, at http://biz.ap.org.

Do not use a comma before Inc. or Ltd., even if it is included in the formal name.

The formal name need not be used on first reference -- for example, Wal-Mart is acceptable for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. -- but it should be contained in the body of any story in which the subject matter could affect a company's business. For example, include the corporate name in a story on an earnings report, or in a story on a plane crash that could affect the airline's stock price. However, the corporate name might be irrelevant in a story about a political candidate's appearance at a local retail outlet.

When the full corporate name is NOT in the story, it should be included in a self-contained paragraph separated from the bottom of the story by a dash: American Airlines is a unit of AMR Corp., or Disney's full corporate name is The Walt Disney Co. If more than one company is listed, each should be in a self-contained paragraph below the dash.

Generally, follow the spelling and capitalization preferred by the company: eBay. But capitalize the first letter if it begins a sentence.

Do not use all capital letter names unless the letters are individually pronounced: BMW. Others should be uppercase and lowercase. Ikea not IKEA; USA Today, not USA TODAY.

Do not use symbols such as exclamation points, plus signs or asterisks that form contrived spellings that might distract or confuse a reader. Use Yahoo, not Yahoo!; Toys R Us, not Toys "R" Us; E-Trade, not E*Trade.

Use an ampersand only if it is part of the company's formal name, but not otherwise in place of "and."

Use "the" lowercase unless it is part of the company's formal name.

See organizations and institutions.
Susanna on 12.06.07 @ 10:56 AM CDT [link]

AP Stylebook Update Regarding Headlines

An AP Stylebook entry has been updated:

Editor's Note: AP Stylebook entries on headlines have been changed. A change in AP style that periods are not needed in US and UN in headlines.

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headlines

Only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.
Follow story style in spelling, but use numerals for all numbers and single quotes for quotation marks. Exception: use US and UN (no periods) in all headlines.
Online: For online subscribers so desiring, AP systems convert headlines to a version with all words capitalized.

Note from Susanna: I wonder how this affects online style? This is a major change in headlines. I'll try and find out for you and will let you know.

Susanna on 12.05.07 @ 02:16 PM CDT [link]

AP Stylebook Update Regarding Use of Allah

A new entry has been added to the AP Stylebook:

Allah

The Muslim name for God. The word God should be used, unless the Arabic name is used in a quote written or spoken in English.

Susanna on 12.05.07 @ 11:13 AM CDT [link]

Online Sales Booming --- Better Than Expected.

Sales online are robust. It looks as if those who have good products and services online are in for a great season! Is your Web site ready?

Full story here.
Susanna on 11.27.07 @ 03:20 PM CDT [link]

AP Stylebook Update

We were notified of a new and important update to the AP Stylebook today. Following is the exact notification.

An AP Stylebook entry has been updated:

Editor's Note: A change in AP style that figures should be used for inanimate objects as well.

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ages

Always use figures for people, animals and inanimate objects: The girl is 15 years old; the law is 8 years old; the 101-year-old house. When the context does not require years or years old, the figure is presumed to be years.

Use hyphens for ages expressed as adjectives before a noun or as substitutes for a noun.

Examples: A 5-year-old boy, but the boy is 5 years old. The boy, 7, has a sister, 10. The woman, 26, has a daughter 2 months old. The race is for 3-year-olds. The woman is in her 30s (no apostrophe).

See also boy; girl; infant; youth and numerals.

See comma in punctuation guidelines.
Susanna on 11.27.07 @ 04:45 AM CDT [link]

The Secret To Great Copywriting

Do you know who your prospect is? Do you write to a group or an audience? If so, let me tell you a secret. You can write the greatest sales copy in the world. But if it's aimed at the wrong target, it will fall flat --- every time.

The secret to great copywriting is to know your prospect. I'm not talking about a group of people. Not at all. Get that group out of your mind. You have one prospect.

After years of being a copywriter, I know who my main client is. I know who I work best with. I know who needs the type of writing I do and who appreciates it the most.

I know that one person who will buy my services.

One day I took out a yellow legal pad. These are what I call my "thinking pads." I made a list of what makes up my client. This is the person who most often uses my services and the person I most like to work with. Here's what I came up with.

My prospective client is:

1. A man
2. Age 30 to 55
3. Has a good education
4. An entrepreneur
5. Successful
6. an alpha personality
7. a person who can and does make fast decisions
8. Prefers to make initial contact by telephone
9. a workaholic
10. Equally divided between married and single with a bias to being single or divorced.
11. a person with money
12. a Starbucks customer
13. Willing to pay a high price if he believes he'll get a good return for his money.
14. a guy who thinks he is a good writer but he knows he can't sell in print. He also secretly knows he's not the writer he likes to think he is.
15. is smart enough to know he needs to hire a professional if he is going to be as successful as he wants to be.
16. an avid reader - spends lots of time on Amazon

Now I can see my prospective client. He becomes real. He takes a shape. I can begin jotting down hot buttons. I can come up with ideas just for him. I know the words and ideas that will make him respond to me.

I read what he reads. I take GQ and Esquire. (The letter carrier probably wonders about me.) I keep up with what interests this man. I know what he reads and wears, where he shops and what his hobbies are. I'm a Top 1000 book reviewer on Amazon. That's where he spends lots of time. I "care" about these things because he is the person who makes up the majority of my income.

With that in mind, I write my sales copy. I write it to one person --- the person above. I write to him as if I'm sitting across a table or desk from him. It's just him and me.

Remember when you were in college and you wrote a letter home? Well, now I guess you email home. I used a fountain pen and did it the old fashioned way.

I wrote to grandma often. As I wrote, I saw grandma in my mind. I could smell her scent and feel the room she was sitting in. I wrote to that person. I wrote to her feelings. Or, you might say, to her hot buttons.

If I needed money (which was often) I knew just exactly how to get granny to send me money. Oh, it wouldn't have worked with mother or dad. But I knew the hot buttons of each family member. I knew what I could say and couldn't say. I knew what would interest them and what would bore them.

When you write your copy --- whether it's for yourself or a client --- the first thing you should do is to picture the real prospect in your mind. Write down all you can think of about that person. Describe that person down to the clothes he or she wears and the car she drives.

This takes experience. It also takes a lot of research. But it's well worth it.

If you're writing copy for a client, you must get your client to dig deep and help you find this prospect. Because your copy should be written directly to this one person.

When you direct your sales copy to one person, it's much easier to write. But, more importantly, it's sales copy that's going to hit the mark. You'll get more calls. You'll get more sales.

Your prospect is not a group. It's one person. Write to that one person. Then you'll soon see his name on a check made out to you!

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Susanna on 11.26.07 @ 04:11 AM CDT [link]