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November 3, 2020

5 ways your business can profit from hiring a freelance writer

hands with red nails at a keyboard on a white table, surrounded by coffee, yellow flowers, and black and white ad copy

As a small-business owner, you know that every detail matters to prospects, and you can’t be everywhere at once. Bringing a contract writer onto the team can help elevate your business voice to new levels. So what do freelance writers really bring to the buffet of business services? Here’s how your business can advance when you contract with a freelance writer.

Free up time

As a busy business owner, your time is valuable. You’re already thinking deep thoughts about your sales funnel, but the time investment seems daunting when you contemplate taking on content creation yourself.

You know when to outsource, when to hire a bookkeeper, when to find a handyman, or when to get an assistant. Working with a writer is no different. Outsourcing the content creation side of your business just makes good sense when you’re looking for new ways to free up more minutes in your day. And the more time you have to focus on growth, the more you can help your business achieve.

Save Money

You have to spend money to make money—it’s a cliché for a reason. It may seem counterintuitive, but when you make the investment in quality writing, you can save a lot of money in the long run. By doing it right the first time, you’re saving the time and hassle of rebranding or rewriting content later. And that’s before you even take into account the new business that a quality web presence can bring in.

Draw new customers

Amp up your content marketing game when you contract with a freelance writer. When prospective customers come to your site, what are they thinking? What do they wonder about your services or product, and what questions keep them from hitting “book” or “buy”? The content on your site—whether it’s a blog or your web copy—is the opportunity for your company to speak for itself, without being filtered through a booking agent, tourism board listing, or journalist.

This is your time to shine and speak to your customer base about why your offerings are the standout in the industry. It’s all about building trust, since you want to capture the authenticity of your business and what it stands for, offering it up in a way that resonates with the reader.

Polish your brand identity

Having an outside perspective on your branding can help you nail down your buyer personas, brand identity, and voice into a professional yet personal whole. That cohesive style between your social media, blog, web content and what your business stands for can all contribute to new prospects’ first impression of you. Getting that locked down puts your best segment forward, helping promote your brand identity and establish a rapport with your base.

Gain the benefit of niche experience

You’re not just saving the time it would take to write your own content. You’re also saving the time of the years of experience it takes to learn how to craft artful sentences, incorporate SEO best practices, and know where and when to use an Oxford comma. They also know the industry, just like you do, and can offer a different perspective on what other brands are doing, what’s working and what isn’t.

To get a customized look at how a freelance writer can help your business grow, set up a free consulting call.

October 25, 2020October 25, 2020

Which Social Media Platforms Are Best for Your Small Business

One of the biggest mistakes a small business can make is diving into the social media waters with abandon, signing up for profiles left and right that they’ll later abandon to become arid ghost towns, filled with irrelevant posts featuring pop culture references from 2017 and—worse—obsolete business hours and broken links. Don’t let the tumbleweeds obscure your marketing efforts. Here is where you should be focusing your social media marketing resources.

Facebook

Does your demographic skew female and sit in the nearing-retirement to golden-years age range? Then putting time into developing your Facebook presence could be a good business investment. But honestly, with the most users of any platform, according to the Smart Insights Global social media research summary August 2020, this is a good place to be if you want to engage with your audience.

I believe that most businesses can benefit from having at least a basic Facebook profile. In fact, some businesses find this more useful to reaching customers and answering questions than even a traditional website, and it can be a great resource if you’re just starting out and don’t have the money or know-how to put into a professionally-designed web presence yet.

Instagram

Do you have a millennial audience and a visual-friendly brand? A business in a photogenic location, or a product you can pimp out in beautiful spots? Worldwide, Instagram is one of the most popular social networks according to Sprout Social, so if your marketing efforts include an international segment, you want your brand to be on the platform.

Instagram can be a powerful tool to use as a compliment to a blog as well, since the 2,200 character limit lends itself well to lengthy wordsmithing. And the more compelling your caption, the more likely you are to increase engagement on the platform, which the algorithm rewards.

Google

We’re not talking defunct Google + here—this is about your Google Business listing. If you have a brick-and-mortar business that operates out of a specific location, a robust Google Business listing is a must. This is the first thing prospective customers see as they search for your business. I’ve worked with companies that have had customers mistake Google Business info for the company website, so you want to make sure this information is up-to-date and compelling.

Snapchat

You probably don’t need to be using Snapchat unless you’re looking to capture that Gen Z market. Sure, plenty of businesses have found success on Snapchat. But if you own a local business that caters to an adult crowd, and you have limited marketing resources, Snapchat probably isn’t going to be a helpful strategy to pursue as you get started.

Twitter

This is a place for timely posts, and many people use it to access breaking news. Brands have embraced the platform for customer service efforts, since it’s easy for customers to get in touch and engage publicly and privately. Unlike many other social media platforms, Twitter’s demo skews male, with only 35% of its users being female.

Travel dreaming, design inspo, and tasty recipes fit in well in this visual search engine. The platform has a heavier base in the high-income range, so luxury hotels and real estate agents with high-end clients may find success marketing here. This platform has a predominantly female user base, and younger adults (18-36) are its main demographic.

TikTok

Do you have the trend-following know-how to capture what the kids are into, and a strong Gen Z demo? Then you’re probably not reading this article, you’re already slaying (does anyone say that anymore?) on TikTok.

YouTube

If you have the budget for video production, a good intuition for current trends, or staff with the know-how to produce quality content, YouTube can be a great place to put some content marketing efforts. According to YouTube’s published stats, the website has over 2 billion users, and viewers watch more than a billion hours of video daily, making it the most widely used social network out there.

This can be a perfect spot for hotels to host room walkthroughs, real estate agents to give a visual compliment to their listings, or personal finance gurus to dole out valuable information. But if you don’t have the resources for high-quality production, you’re probably better off dabbling in Instagram Reels or IGTV instead, where viewers better tolerate a shorter format and slightly lower production value.

Is your business focused on B2B, with a corporate voice and professional brand messaging? Are you actively recruiting professionals to fill vacancies? LinkedIn is a great place for B2B marketing efforts, but B2C can probably steer clear if you don’t have the resources right now.

Though blogs may reside on your own website, these technically land on the social media side, especially since informative posts can be great fodder for your feed. This is your brand’s way to tell its story authentically on a platform that you own (your website) while creating posts that can draw new customers to you via content marketing.

tl;dr

If you have limited resources, you at least want to have your Google Business listing sorted and a Facebook page fleshed out with your business info, with Instagram as a powerful tool for collaboration and visual impact.

Blogs and YouTube channels are great outlets for your content marketing efforts if you have the resources.

Younger audiences are at home on TikTok, SnapChat and Instagram, but you’ll find your older demographics (and much of the world) on Facebook.

It’s far better to focus on a few platforms and do them well, posting regularly and keeping information up to date, than to spread your resources too thin. Find the social networks that best fit your target audience, and hone in on what you can accomplish there. To get started on a social media plan tailored to your business, get in touch for a free 30-minute consulting call.

October 18, 2020

Why content mills aren’t worth the money for businesses

I’ll be honest: I’ve written for content mills in the past. A lot of great writers have. For freelancers, they can be a way to get started on a portfolio or pay the bills in lean times. But finding those quality writers can be less like finding a needle in a haystack, and more like swimming through a sea of stinging jellyfish when what you really wanted was a jelly donut. Ultimately, this model doesn’t make sense for businesses or creatives, and here’s where the breakdown happens.

What are content mills?

Content mills are businesses or sites that contract with writers to produce content for clients at a very low cost (and a low rate for writers and other creatives). These sites sometimes position themselves as creative agencies, but they often are just a churning word machine of low-quality work, contracting with dissatisfied writers and going for quantity over quality. Plus, they take a sizable chunk of the payment as commission.

You get what you pay for

Content mills are notorious for low rates on both the client’s and the freelancer’s end. But think about it: if you have a $200 budget for a blog post, and the middleman is taking 20-50% before paying out the writer, you’re getting a writer who’s willing to do the work for $100, while the $200-level pros are walking right on by.

Your money would be much better spent if you find the $200 writer and pay them what they’re worth right from the start. Or if all you’re looking for is a $100 writer, find them and pay them within your budget.

Communication can suck

Most of the time with content mills, the business commissioning the work has zero communication with the actual writers, working only with the mill as a go-between. That means that your business needs can get lost in the shuffle, and sometimes you wind up spending much more time on the back-and-forth than if you had the ability to just work directly with the content creator.

Even with sites like Fivrr and Upwork, where clients do brief the freelancers, communication over the app instead of email and phone can be tricky. And if you find a contractor you love and want to work with them again, you’re bound by terms and conditions that make it impossible to take your working relationship off the site, since they don’t want to lose that commission percentage they take.

It seems quick and easy, but often isn’t

I’ve worked with agency clients that came to me after working with a content mill, where they had attempted to outsource writing work. I heard horror stories about copy filled with errors, a stilted voice and style that didn’t match the brand at all, and sentences that made no sense, sounding like they were freshly garbled by Google Translate. It took the agency more time to edit the piece to be legible than it would have for them to just write it themselves in the first place.

You’re missing out on long-term relationships

A long-term relationship with a professional contractor is money in the bank for your business. You get the benefit of working with a top-quality professional, without the cost of having them on the payroll full time, and you foster a relationship you can trust. You also have the ability to find a specialist in your field, or your region, who can help your business grow.

With content mills, you’re cutting off that potential for an enduring working relationship, and you’re setting yourself up for disappointing work that might not fit your needs. There are countless benefits to working directly with writing professionals, and there is no reason to throw your money away by going through content mills.

How can you find a freelance writer you’ll love working with? *Raises hand* Find out if we’d be a good fit in a free 30-minute consulting call.

August 22, 2020

Why your small business needs a blog

typewriter typing sentence "to blog...or not to blog"

Why bother blogging? You have a million things on your plate when you run a business or organization. Why should you spend more of your valuable time on something like blogging for your business? Creating a blog can help position yourself in your industry, attract new customers or donors, and expand the reach of your business. Here are a few of the ways including a blog on your website will help your business grow.

Search engine optimization

As a freelance writer, it’s common for me to see the term SEO tossed into job postings that are seeking entry-level writers to work for pennies. The problem is, Search Engine Optimization is something everyone wants, but not many people have the knowledge and training to implement successfully.

Not incorporating an SEO strategy into your website can have far-reaching negative effects. For one site I worked to build as a side project for myself (nounconformist.com), the site’s name didn’t even pop up in a google search when I entered it. By posting regularly on the blog and including the site name in each post’s title, on top of some other strategies, I was able to at least rank on the first page of google searches when I typed in my own site’s name. But of course, the dream is to rank not just for direct searches for your business, but also for searches looking for the services you provide. Imagine what you can accomplish with a more comprehensive SEO strategy in place.

Help your ideal customers find you

The more content you put out there that aligns with your business persona and objectives, the more opportunities you have to tell interested customers why—or why not—you’d be a good fit to work with.

Take the example of an eco-friendly homebuilder. A blog would give potential clients the opportunity to learn about their processes and services, seeing how they fit into their personal ethic. It’s a way to attract prospects who aren’t quite ready to commit to purchasing just yet, while still getting them acquainted with your brand to potentially return with open wallets in the future.

Help prepare customers for an experience

In experience-based businesses, it can often be challenging to convey all the ins and outs of what to expect before your customers arrive on site. What do they need to wear, where do they need to meet, what type of experience is right for their ability level? All of that info has its own place on a dedicated page of your website.

But breaking it down in a new way in a blog post, like sharing a visitor’s write-up of their trip or an interview with a guide, can help customers get a different view to be more prepared. That lets you better serve your customers, improving the experience for them and for your staff.

Embrace inbound marketing

In an ideal world, you wouldn’t have to go out and search for customers. They would find you. And that’s the beauty of inbound marketing. That’s exactly how it works. According to HubSpot, “Inbound marketing is a business methodology that attracts customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them.” You’re providing value, serving your customers, and establishing trust and strong relationships right from the start with inbound marketing through your blog.

The reality is, you may not have time to do it yourself. But there are plenty of ways to make a blog happen for your business. Get in touch to see how I can help craft the blog content that will drive revenue to your business.

August 6, 2020August 6, 2020

6 Marketing Tips for Hotels and Restaurants during COVID-19

Image displays a yellow illustrated arm against a blue background. The arm has the word strategy across it and is holding a wrench

There’s one thing we can all agree on: COVID-19 sucks. We still don’t know the full extent of economic impacts from coronavirus, but the effects have already been devastating for the tourism industry. How can you stay positive and keep moving forward with your tourism-oriented business?

When you need to take a break from the stress and uncertainty, take the opportunity to knock out a few of those marketing projects you haven’t been able to fit into your schedule. Here are a few tricks to try to continue marketing your business through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clean up your online info

From social media profiles to pages with online travel agents like Tripadvisor and Booking.com, and even your Google business page, make a complete inventory of your online presence. Store logins and business descriptions, hours and offerings are all key to keep track of when you’re making updates.

Be a little like St. Nick, and make a list and check it twice for all of your platforms. Update with current closures and opportunities for customers to continue supporting you, and keep a record of any business hours or services you change so you don’t forget to change them back later. There’s nothing worse than having a popular site say you’re closed, when you’re actually open for business.

Develop a community-focused social media campaign

In order to get through this crisis, we need to come together as a community. And when you rally your community around you, it’s possible to achieve things you never could have imagined. You may even open up new avenues for your business that never would have occurred to you a year ago.

Your posts should help you stay front-of-mind for your audience so that when travel restrictions are just a bad memory in the rearview mirror, they remember you and want to come visit. Craft a creative hashtag where people can post original content from past stays, and let them enjoy this window into the place they’re probably missing right now.

Start a blog for your business

Travel may still be limited for the foreseeable future, but as restrictions continue to lift, you will already have a killer resource out there to help draw in new customers

This can be a great opportunity to check out free education resources from sources like Hubspot to help you up your inbound marketing game. Or contract with a consultant to lay the ground work for you.

Update your website

If you have the means and the need, this could be the time for a total website redesign. If not, you can still look over pages, update content, and polish everything up. You may even want to invest in a professional edit to help you clean up copy and increase your SEO.

Reach out to your email list

Utilizing your email list can be another solid way to inspire your community and foster connection between your following and your business, even when they aren’t all able to visit. Infuse your email newsletters with personality, and give your subscribers real insight into your business, behind the scenes.

Sending out an email promotion can help drive business later, like offering a deal on gift cards to new email subscribers when they sign up. Once they’ve opted in to your email list, you can keep them up to date on new business procedures and how offerings change as the COVID-19 situation evolves in your area.

Transition your services online

Does your hotel have a gift shop that you can put up on Shopify? Does your raft company sell swag that people would want to buy to help support you right now? Do the carriage rides you offer have gift certificates available that people could be purchasing with a few keystrokes?

Now is the time to get creative with your business offerings. Even as communities open up again, the future is uncertain. But with a solid marketing plan in place, you can stay relevant and in the eye of your customer base to weather this wild storm.