Client List, A Fake Mom, Portal Sites, The FBI & Santa
by Colin | December 19, 2008
by Colin | December 19, 2008
We’re going back to REALITYcopywriting roots, here, John and I. Starting this week, you’ll see REAL-life day-to-day experiences of what REAL copywriters deal with…
As you see here, I’ll write about five key aspects of the copywriting life week-in, week-out. Let me know your thoughts at the end of the column in the comment box…
Promoting My Copywriting Services…
Been putting off building a prospective client list for a self-promo ad campaign a few weeks now… (one of the key exercises in Shaune Clarke’s Copywriting Client Marketing System.)
Regardless of what marketing system you use, it seems freelance copywriters can’t escape building a prospect list… which requires tedium no matter how you spin it. Ugh.
I have to suck it up and keep slogging through this exercise. (So tempting to check e-mail or read marketing books instead)
The other action items on the plate… set up a website, an auto-responder series and write a free report to print out physically.
This might not happen until the New Year. I’ll get you posted.
Writing for Copy Clients…
Finished building an “ideal prospect profile” with a client early Sunday morning – a revealing exercise. (Or clients I should say… as they are two info-prenuers in the parenting market.)
We developed “Melissa” from scratch (a middle aged mother with a 3 year old and a newborn). We had a lot of fun telling mini-stories of Melissa’s day-to-day struggles as a stay-at-home mom. Storytelling zones in on emotional tidbits you can use in your sales copy that resonates with your prospects.
You can’t make these stories up though. We composed Melissa from my clients’ favorite customers. The key point of this exercise is to identify your “ideal prospect’s” core values, emotions and beliefs.
I suppose you could use your imagination… but the stories you tell in your head won’t feel as “real.”
The exercise also hit a few nerves for me… as an overwhelmed parent myself. Several times I had to stop the exercise and tell my clients, “My spine’s tingling.” It felt like they “knew” me and what I go through raising Cedrik.
My brain buzzed with a huge sense of accomplishment afterward. Real work done here.
I can’t wait to get my hands dirty and start writing sales copy to Melissa, now that I “know her” so well.
Shaune Clarke’s Copywriting Coaching Experience…
One thing no longer nagging me after Saturday’s teleconference…
How to broach the subject of redesigning the front page of client websites. Most business owners believe they need a thousand links there so that their customers can “navigate” the site better.
Wrong. It just confuses people and stops them from buying.
I hate banking websites the most. Why do I need to burrow into your site just to get some loan rates?
Anyway. Shaune says, “Don’t worry about it right now.”
Get your client to agree to a single “one-product-one-decision” sales page first (use a sub-domain.)
If your sales copy clears their shelves of that one product, they’ll bound to ask you to “turn up” the direct response on their website.
This makes my life so much easier. I tend to lean towards big-picture thinking… I want to redesign and re-strategize all my clients ad campaigns.
I should get my foot in the door first, however… well, maybe more than a foot. They might slam on it and break it.
Copywriting Income & Expenses…
I bought this used for $136 USD on eBay this week…
What is it, you ask?
Well, short answer, it lets me record telephone conversations. It goes between the land-line and the telephone with a 3.5mm output jack you can feed into your soundcard or recording device.
The question you should really be asking… Does Colin work for the FBI?
No. However, Shaune’s copywriting program swears by interviewing as the fastest, most effective way of getting copywriting research done. He also encourages you to listen to your interviewee 110% during the process instead of taking notes… hence the recording.
Why visualize what your prospects may be feeling in your imagination… when you can call them up and ask?
Now, you don’t need as expensive a product as the one I got here. That said, I also want to create audio info-products in the near future. The pristine sound quality I get from this little device makes it worth the price I paid.
I want to get a VXI Passport 20 headset next… my dinky Panasonic 2.5mm jack headset bites. Both Terri and John keep telling me they can’t hear me on that piece of junk.
(Again, totally unnecessary expense – I could just shut out the top of my lungs — but ultra-cool.)
Balancing the Copywriting Life…
I missed seeing Cedrik’s very first meeting with Santa this Saturday. The coaching call went longer than usual and the grandparents swept him away.
Queenie got mad, obviously. I felt immensely guilty and questioned my qualifications as a father.
I clearly made this choice, for better or for worse.
That aside, I worry that if enough negative associations build up around this copywriting venture… I might sabotage the launching period.
Anyone who tells you that copywriting is easy is a liar and should be shot for making such a claim on their sales letter.
A lot of anger in that statement, I know… but nobody talks about the unglamorous side of leaping into a freelance career like we do here at REALITYcopywriting.com. They rather talk about the big pay cheques, royalties and writing in your pajamas.
Most of us have families, a full-time job, debts to pay off and investments gone zilch in this economy.
Few of us have the guts to sacrifice what little free-time we have to pursue a higher-paying-career… or business really, at the end of the day.
I’m sorry. That rant went on a bit. Some days are harder than others…
At least I know if I persevere down this path –five years down the line– I’ll be attending Cedrik’s Christmas school play without worrying about waking up at six in the morning to go to a job.
In the unedited version of this ecolumn, John commented on how maybe I’m moving too fast… he’s probably right. I’m an overachiever at my core. What can I say?
Talk soon,
Colin Y.J. Chung | REALITYcopywriting.com
P.S. What do you think of this new format? Please leave it in the comment box below…
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