Yes, it's good to know who you deal with...

After formal studies at ECU, my sights were on the dream job: oh yes, I had my eyes on Australia's ABC, SBS (or for that matter, any one of the other globally respected media outlets). But dreams are not plans and instead, I found myself working for public and corporate libraries. Back then, in the 80s, libraries were only just realising the potential of the internet to gather, collate and communicate information on a more significant scale. I was thrilled - confidently expecting that all of us, my readers and staff, would be the beneficiaries of this exciting new world. We waited, and waited, patiently hoping that someone, somewhere, would 'get it'. It was around this time that I learnt two important things: this cloistered world needed a hero. And lacking that: that it was time for a change...

WHAT A VIRGIN :)! Yes. It didn't take long to realise the pitfalls of going it alone...

"Freelance Copywriting? Someone around here can do that!"

And just between you and me, I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard that over the last 12 years (or variations on the theme).

The fact is, some of the time that 'someone' is the person I'm talking to: the same decision-maker who will spend hours at the keyboard instead of on the business. For a small to medium business owner, it probably feels like the safe way to go. It probably feels frugal, but it's not.

70 hour DIY weeks? I admit it, I've been there.
But if I've learnt anything it's this number one rule: DO WHAT YOU DO

A CASE IN POINT

In 2005, I met the directors of a small coaching business in Perth. Both were genuine, dedicated and very engaging people - but they weren't able to translate those qualities to what they wrote. In short, they were not connecting with their audience. In fact, they had become so fixated on their own philosophy and approach that who their clients were (and what they wanted) had become secondary. Clearly, one of the first things they needed was an honest and objective opinion...

Firstly, they were proofreading their own work. Too close to be objective, they were overlooking mistakes, their minds automatically filling in what ought to have been there. They couldn't see repetitions, inconsistencies, faulty logic and other problems. As a result, business proposals, advertising flyers, presentations... all of it, was so much wasted time and effort.

Since without clients there is no business, we conducted some basic pre-proposal intelligence gathering... short in-confidence phone interviews with key people. "What was the culture of their organisation? What did they want to achieve? What were the (perceived) obstacles?" The rewards for that were immense. At last, we knew our audience!

On the back of that, we revisited print mailouts, email marketing and website content - all of which was giving very little return on investment...

And so it went on. Together, we learnt that doing what you do, doing it well and leaving the rest in competent hands saves a lot of time, money and frustration. For this particular client (despite some inevitable GFC blips along the way), it has been a good year...

YOU'RE WELCOME!

"Thanks Chris, what a great piece - your writing is so bloody good! What I originally sent you morphed into a very persuasive rationale for our backers."
Director. Sunninghill Group
Business Proposal

"Hi John, I'm pleased you've decided to run with the latest narrative I wrote for you - I hope it goes well. I'll forward a first draft of the second in the series shortly so that the marketing team can look it over well before the deadline. Chris
Fantastic! You've absolutely understood the brief - I love reading these Chris."
Chairman. National Lifestyle Villages
Short Story Advertorials

"...many thanks for making yourself available at such very short notice and the time and effort that I know you put into it. We would never have made the deadline without you. Chris I'll be in touch again soon with another Submission - this time hopefully without the extreme deadlines!"
Director. Land4Sale
Development Submission

"We're spoilt for choice and absolutely delighted. So glad we found you (had a feeling you were going to be different). Big hug to you Chris!"
Directors. Prana Beauty
Web Content

"Thank you so much for my Resume. The Mining sector is awash with candidates right now but with your help my application was successful."
Andrew Clark McMurrich Resumé

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