Writing about writing
You searched for:
I used to make computer games and back then we had a saying about project management: ‘you can have any two of fast, cheap or good.’ It’s a choice that most people don’t want to make.
Fast
Most clients have a schedule: a campaign deadline, a business plan commitment, a product launch. Usually this is immovable. [...]
{ 3 comments }
Quotations can make an article, press release or case study real or they can make them deathly dull. As a writer, it’s your choice. You have complete control over how you quote people and a few simple techniques can make all the difference.
Go to the top. One reason to include a quotation is to [...]
{ 7 comments }
Case studies can help companies win business. We’re in a demand-generation, deal-closing economy and good customer evidence is the laser-guided bomb of marketing.
As Writer-in-chief at Articulate Marketing, I write many case studies for different technology companies, including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and others. Here are ten tips that will help you write and use great [...]
{ 5 comments }
One of the hardest jobs I do is my own marketing. It’s always low priority compared to fee-paying work. Worse than that, it’s very hard. As my own client, there is no objectivity or creative dialogue. But, I’ve got you, dear reader!
I’ve written a marketing plan that covers the next year and I won’t [...]
{ 11 comments }
Marketing matters. Even for freelancers. Especially for freelancers. Here are the things that work for me:
Wake up! No marketing = no business. This realisation is the necessary starting point.
Brand you. For freelancers, Tom Peters’ book The Brand You 50: Reinventing Work is fundamental. You are selling yourself as much [...]
{ 28 comments }
I have worked on a couple of projects where my clients and I shared detailed conversations about the work and I wrote a detailed brief but when I delivered the final case study / white paper /whatever, it was not what they expected.
Why does this happen?
I think it is because the same word can [...]
{ 0 comments }
There are many voices calling for the death of the press release (e.g. Die Press Release Die or Amy Gahran who wants to put them out of their misery). What is needed is not execution but reform. Here are my tips and suggestions for doing it:
Preparation
Have something interesting to say. A press release implies something [...]
{ 21 comments }
FreelanceSwitch, a cool site for anyone who works for themselves, has a good post today about free marketing tactics for freelancers. (See also Meryl.net’s post on the same topic.) I wanted to add to the list with a few things that have worked for me.
The daily pitch. Marketing consists of building a relationship [...]
{ 10 comments }
When I do an interview I tend to write near-verbatim notes. This is an old habit from my days as a journalist. However, it gets me into some interesting problems when I do it for corporate clients. For example (and without naming any names!):
One client who, on hearing that I did this, tried to [...]
{ 15 comments }
Since I’m being mean to PR companies this week, I had to mention something that happened to me in April.
I was writing a supplement for The Independent about eBay. I had put out a request on ResponseSource to find companies who used eBay in their business and a certain PR firm got in touch to [...]
{ 3 comments }
Matthew Stibbe is Writer in chief at Articulate Marketing and editor of Golf Hotel Whiskey, the free online magazine for pilots. Follow me on Twitter.
Check out my new, free eBook, 30 Days to Better Business Writing, 116 pages of expert tips, advice and help to make you a better writer. Download a PDF or read online - free.