about preparedmind australia
'once upon a time...'
After media studies at ECU in the early 80's I made my way into public and
private libraries, where it became obvious to me that few of us in the
profession actually saw the broader applications. Librarians are
actually very talented people, and with the internet in its infancy [as it was
then in Australia], the potential for our research and literacy skills to
impact the marketplace was evident. Sadly, the connection between expertise
and opportunity was never made, particularly at Federal, State or Local level.
Naughty naughty! Because as any Google employee will tell you, 'Information is
King' - thus they and other more entrepreneurial individuals filled the gap,
migrating to the online world and providing a variety of commercially based
information services.
I created pma as a business in 1998, initially providing research services to
businesses large and small. As time went on, the internet refined and
re-defined itself and today, the information it holds [while sometimes of
dubious provenance], is easily accessible to everyone. So I too refined and
re-defined... moving away from research [though occasionally I am asked to
return to my first love] and into copywriting.
'copywriting? someone around here can do that...'
Frankly, I wish I had a dollar for every 'someone around here who can do that' [or variations on that theme]. Sometimes, 'someone around here' can do it. It all depends. I say give them a go by all means - after all, you may have hidden talent in your employ, someone with a firm grip on the three golden rules of writing: ENGAGE, INFORM, INFLUENCE. If so, you have all you need!
I
like the word 'indolence'. It makes my laziness seem classy
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 'what they did' 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 that
(and more) was off-target.
Since without clients there is no business, we set to some basic pre-proposal intelligence gathering... conducting 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?"
NEXT, we revisited their print mailouts, email marketing and
website content; all of which were giving very little return on their investment of time, money and effort.
I'm pleased to report that for this particular business, times have changed.
Not every client wants or needs a complete makeover, but most of the time, a suitably qualified 'outsider' sees problem areas with a fresh eye.
pma is located in Perth Western Australia. Wherever you are, click here to
have me call or email you