Why festivals matter

It’s a great way of reaching audiences and engaging with new people. You can find out more about what they want, what they like, and how they read and consume your content. You can raise your profile and become known. You might meet useful people. You can probably sell some books. Either way, you’ll have fun!

Be a festival supporter

If you want to appear and festivals, then go to them. You can learn a lot by watching and listening to others, and see what works and what doesn’t. Follow them on social media and engage with them in conversation.

Do your research

Before you start pitching you need to know what is out there. The simplest thing to do is google ‘literature festival UK’ and you’ll find lots of search results. There used to be websites and newsletters for it, but unfortunately, Covid-19 took a hit, and many are defunct. The Writers & Artists Yearbook does have a section, and you can register online for their listings for a fee. Go through and see which ones resonate with you. If you’re a crime writer you might look at Newcastle Noir or Harrogate Crime Festival, whereas if your niche is poetry, you’ll consider The European Poetry Festival.

As part of that research whittle down a shortlist of 8-10 that you’d love to appear at. Make a spreadsheet of the festival, website, contact details, dates (try not to apply for ones you can’t actually make, or that clash) – and then a space to hone your offer. Some festivals have details guidelines on the websites, so make sure to follow those.

One size doesn’t fit all

Because in doing your research you should have discovered that every festival is different – so your pitch needs to be. That doesn’t mean you need to reinvent the wheel every time. But you do need to show that you have thought about why your work is relevant to them and will help them position their festival as something different. Look at the kind of events they have run before – do you fit in. You don’t want to repeat last year’s offering, but it can help you see the kind of things they programme. Look at the language they use on the website – are they chatty and informal, or very bookish and studious? This helps you determine their audience. Look into the ethos of the festival, see who they’ve booked in the past and how your work and platform relates to them.

Show you’ve done your research and thought about them by suggesting content for a particular stage, or say ‘I know X last year sold out, so I think Y might suit your audience.’

Your event is not a hard sell for your book. Some of the best talks I’ve ever heard are not about the artist’s book at all, but about topics and issues that come up. It’s an opportunity to engage with an audience in a very immediate and exciting way.

What can you offer

You’re obviously getting a lot from being a speaker at a festival – what can you give back? It’s not enough to just have a book out – so does everyone else who is applying. What makes you stand out? Are there particular topics you cover in your book that you can speak knowledgeably on? Have you had to do research and are now an expert in a certain field? Do you have a unique perspective on the writer’s life? Stand back from your work to stand out from the crowd.

Do what they say

If they have a form, use the form. Or if they ask you to email, that. Probably don’t phone them.

Leave the bells and whistles at home

Don’t try suggesting the most elaborate set up – festivals are busy, the stages change acts constantly. There’s no time to set up your backdrop, custom lighting and props unless you’re headlining and they’re setting aside a venue for you.

Endorsements

If you can get recommendations from other festival promoters or people who have seen your work, that will go a long way towards selling you. The fact is that the festival organiser won’t have time to read every book of every author who contacts them, so they will be looking for other evidence that this is the person for them. And social proof sells. If you haven’t been on a festival stage before, have you got quotes from readers you can share?

Evidence

If you’ve got a short video of you speaking or performing, that’s great. That gives me reassurance that you can get up in front of people and deliver. Not every writer is a good public speaker. That’s ok. But know your talents, and showcase them where you can.

Make it easy

I’ve lost count of the number of authors who email me and say ‘I’m a writer and I have a book.’ Do you know what, I don’t have time to do the digging myself. Send me

• Who you are
• A short bio – 2-3 lines max
• Name of your book/work
• A short blurb – again 2-3 lines max
• Any subjects you feel confident speaking about
• What you want to offer – do you want to do a reading, be on a panel, do a workshop, a talk, a Q&A. This will help me work out where best to fit you in the line up.
• Headshots

Check and check again

My name isn’t Fran or Sandra, I don’t run Ramsgate Book Festival, and I’m not a fan of crime. When doing cut and paste jobs it’s very easy to forget to change the name, or address it to the wrong person. It’s an easy way to get someone’s back up, so do check.

Follow up

If you don’t hear back within a few weeks, chase again. But not within a few days. Many people run literature festivals for love, so they’re not on it full time and can’t be as responsive as you might like. But say 2-3 weeks – a gentle nudge to check they have your email is fine. Don’t phone someone on a Sunday afternoon – that’s really not cool.

Don’t take it personally

The fact is, you won’t win every pitch. That’s ok. Feel free to ask for feedback. They might just have a packed agenda, might not have the budget, or you might just not be the best fit. There’s plenty more out there, so get pitching.

And that’s it! If you’ve got any questions, please email me!

Nothing makes my heart sink more than a client asking me to ‘write for SEO.’ Because, often untrained in the principles as they are, what they mean is ‘stuff this copy full of keywords, even if it sounds unintelligible.’ As a copywriter and marketer, I always write for the audience. Because the goal of your copy is not just to get people to your page, but to engage, inspire, and convert them. And you can’t do that with bad copy.

Length matters

Google does reward pages with longer copy with better SEO rankings. But that doesn’t mean you should write 3000 words of drivel. The reason it rewards these pages is because people spend longer on them. How do you make sure they do so? Write something compelling that they want to read. Don’t add words just for the sake of it. If someone has come to your page for a quick answer and you give them reams of copy they will go elsewhere fast, increasing your bounce rate. Say what you need to say to get your message across, and no more.

Cut to the chase

You can tell a post written purely for SEO, or at least old school keyword stuffing SEO, as the first paragraph is stuffed with every possible permutation of the main phrase. By that point, you’ve lost your customer. You don’t have long to articulate your value proposition, some say ten seconds, so don’t waffle about it.

Keywords for key insights

People come at keywords in the wrong way. Rather than think of them as words and phrases you should stuff into your writing, they are actually inordinately helpful research into the kind of mindset your audience are in and where they are in the customer funnel. If the top result is ‘which cat food is healthier?’ you know you need to give them an answer. If it’s ‘where should I go on holiday?’ give options. ‘How do I treat an ingrown toenail?’ try facts. Doing research for keywords isn’t just about finding the words to add in, but learning more about your customer.

Get your goals right

The goal of someone who says ‘write just for SEO’ is to get someone to visit their website. But that’s not the right focus. You need to think about your customer’s goals, and how fulfilling the customer’s goals will get you to yours – more sales, more profit, more work.

Credibility counts

One of the main elements that search engines use to determine rankings is domain authority, influenced by the number of links pointing to that website. If your content is pointless, dull, or spammy, people won’t want to link to it, as it will undermine their own credibility. So just having filler keywords certainly isn’t the way to go.

SEO matters, of course. You can have the most beautiful prose or compelling copy, but if you can’t get an audience through the metaphorical door, there’s little point. But that shouldn’t be where the process ends. That’s one, very important, but certainly not the only, step through the sales funnel and customer journey. To get them to actually click a link, purchase a product, make an enquiry, you need to convince them that you are solving their problem.

And you do that through convincing and compelling copy that converts. And how do you get that? Well, you hire a copywriter of course…

Communicating effectively is about delivering compelling messages that will ultimately get you more engagement – and sales.

That’s why I’m running workshops to help you identify what your messages are, and how to share them.

In these practical sessions we will work on developing a messaging strategy for success.

We will –

• Identify your key audiences
• Decide on what will motivate them to act
• Develop a ‘messaging house’
• Consider how to integrate this into a wider communication strategy

The workshop will draw techniques I have used with everyone from Tesco to Virgin, Nesta to National Trust, as well as small businesses and entrepreneurs.

The 90 minute session will take place via Zoom, naturally, and costs just £60.

If you’re interested, email me on fbaker@live.co.uk and we can chat further.

This year has been a challenging one. I mean, I write and market great brands and businesses for a living, usually from my sofa. So it’s relative. I’m immensely lucky that my career allows me to do that. But marketing in 2020 has taken on a slightly different hue to usual. It has though, if not taught me things, reinforced a few truths that always ring true. Here are my (and my friends’) takeaways from marketing in a pandemic…

Think outcomes, not outputs

Programming and marketing a literature festival is always fun – but this year became a challenge. At Margate Bookie we didn’t manage the same number of events or to have people together in a room, but did transform lives through power of literature, which is what we’re here for. That purpose drove us to continue producing events and activity to support our community.

It’s all about the human story

Sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the whizzy features or technical details of something you’re promoting. A couple of months after I joined Heritage Open Days, Covid hit and we had to rethink things. It ended up being scaled back from 5500 events to 1800 – potentially a ‘bad’ news story. But it did see volunteers embracing digital for the first time, new and innovative ways of sharing history and heritage. That became the story.

And you’re human too

Alex Zeilinger-Goode says that brands and businesses need to remember this. ‘Don’t be afraid to show your soft side. I’m from a hospitality marketing background and one of my biggest takeaways from this pandemic has been the number of previously ‘untouchable’ restaurant and hotel brands that have come out to say that they’re hurting, and that this has been a really difficult time for them. A lot of the language of the bigger, more high end brands has transformed this year to be much more open and honest, from putting their business leaders out there to do opinion pieces to tone of voice on social media. A little vulnerability goes a long way in an industry where, pre-pandemic, things were becoming very focused on flashy installations and experiences.’

Creativity counts

Without the ability to disseminate The Lord Mayor’s Appeal’s annual Impact Report, we created a bold new design that runs through the pdf report, website and social media, allowing us to share impact through all channels.

Community matters

Pippa Goulden is founder of Pr Set ‘I’ve seen the brands who have nurtured their community (whether its a small one or a big one, online or offline) have really managed to weather the storm of the last 10 months.  Being accessible, present and caring – and real – has helped them get through and helped to create customer loyalty.  I’d say this year more than ever before, people are championing other people – e.gs local high streets working together to attract customers, small brands collaborating to cross promote to each other’s audiences.’ One great example of this is how Burger King have opened up their Instagram pages to other restaurants, helping to boost the hospitality sector.

Tone of voice is key

Eppie Shepherd says that she has noted how ‘brand tone of voice has adapted – we need to be more empathetic, more cautious or even have more of a sense of humour!’ It’s really crucial to know who your audience is and what matters to them. Crafting tone of voice and brand guidelines is my favourite thing to do – but this shows how it’s really important to have flexibility built into it.

Tess Agnew says something similar. ‘Listen to, understand and communicate *with* your audience & community, not just broadcast to it. Their needs, priorities and pain points will have likely changed during the pandemic so it’s important to put yourself in their shoes to understand how your content can provide answers to their questions.’

Flexibility wins

In fact, flexibility is a key theme of the year, with those who are able to be adaptable winning out. Literally PR a literature marketing business, run by Helen Lewis. She says ‘My biggest learnings about marketing during a pandemic were around the need to not get too stuck on a plan – even if lots of work has gone into it – if the timing isn’t right. The word of the year for me in marketing has been PIVOT!’

If that all sounds a bit meta, I promise you it’s super practical and packed with ideas.

Join me, Francesca Baker, for a workshop focused on how to market your workshops. Whether you’re running writing workshops, poetry sessions, an expressive arts series or something entirely new and cool, this workshop will help you reach audiences and sell tickets.

We will cover

• Finding your target audience
• Writing engaging copy
• Using social media
• Growing your personal brand
• Potential partnerships

My skillset and experience are varied – covering copywriting, journalism, marketing, research and PR – but always centred around communication and creating a connection. Ultimately, I work with stories – and creating the right messages to resonate with an audience.

I’ve been working in marketing for over twelve years, with a particular passion for the arts. Clients include The National Lottery, The National Trust, Margate Bookie, Lapidus International, Moving Pieces, Fairtrade, Tesco, Mitsubishi, Carers Trust, Lord Mayor’s Appeal, Takeda, Diabetes UK, The Times, BBC, Metro, Stylist, Australia Times and more.

You can find out more at www.andsoshethinks.co.uk and follow me on all social media @andsoshethinks

Thursday 21 January 5pm-6pm

Saturday 23 January – 11am-12pm

Friday 5 February – 10am-11am

Cost is on a sliding scale.

• I’ll pay what I feel, thank you very much
• I’m nailing it this year, I’ll pay full whack – £15
• I know this is worth a lot, so I’ll pay a bit – £10
• Can’t quite stretch, so here’s a fiver – £5
• I’m a creative, I’m skint, but I’ll leave a review – free

Get your ticket here – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-workshop-on-marketing-your-workshop-for-creatives-tickets-132707773523

Apparently, I’m doing it all wrong. What you should do (warning: should is a dangerous word) is niche down. Find one thing you like doing, in one sector, and become known for that. Usually this advice comes from people who are writing 3000 word white papers in some niche financial tech sector, or something similar. They are also charging a fortune for it.

I get the logic. It’s best to be a big fish in a small pond. But gosh, it sounds awfully dull.

I set up my own business because I love variety. I’m one of those people always out exploring more, learning new things, discovering how the world works. That innate curiosity is something I bring to my work, and I think it makes me better at it.

I’m good at asking questions, and getting under the skin of a new client. It doesn’t matter where they are from, or what they do, the skill of being able to draw out a story is key. My journalism training probably helps me here.

I also think that working on varied projects makes me more creative. I can have a great idea for one, and see how that approach can help me with another. I can learn something with one client, and see how that idea could be applied to another.

But as I said, apparently I’m doing it all wrong. I don’t know.  I have a lively roster of clients and business seems to be doing well.

I set out to see what others thought of countering the perceived wisdom and not niching down – and found I wasn’t alone.

Georgie Darling agrees. She started out as a travel writer and now (mostly due to the current climate) broadened her services into copywriting, scriptwriting, social media content creation, basic graphic design and Pinterest pin design! She also went from working mostly with travel companies to working with coaches, makeup brands, agencies and more. ‘It’s been great for learning more skills, boosting my confidence and widening my portfolio as a freelancer,’ she says.

Bryony Bishop also says how Covid-19 has highlighted how important it is to not have all your eggs in one basket. ‘Covid-19 has shown that being adaptable, flexible and having a range of skills enables greater resilience. It also makes for varied and enriching work, in my experience. I definitely agree that finding clients that align with your values and where you can be an extension of their team, adapting to their needs, is vital.’

Carolyn Hughes is  a PR consultant and chooses clients based on cultural and personality fit, rather than business sector. ‘I work with clients who I basically get on with really well. I want to be an extension of their team so it’s all about whether we align in personality, ways of working and objectives. My skills are totally transferable so the industry matters less.’ She also points out that focusing on one industry can limit you, as many clients wouldn’t want her to work with a direct competitor.

Jess Dunbar was a broadcast journalist for 10 years before happily falling into copywriting when she had her children. Like me, the bit she loves most about the job is the variety. ‘The job demands I can capture the essence of a business in a short time and accurately represent it. What could be more inspiring than the constantly changing variety of work? Plus the challenge of tackling industries I know nothing about.’ Having a fresh pair of eyes and an objective approach is useful for clients, as you can put yourself in the customer and client shoes without bias or opinion. She says that ‘I love not having a specialism and passionately believe it helps me give my customers an edge.’

That’s not to say don’t ever focus. When marketing yourself it is key to highlight what is relevant to that client or audience. Gemma Pettman is a communications specialist with 21 years of experience. ‘I would say I have a couple of specialisms but that doesn’t prevent me working in other spaces. I think this partly comes down to how you market yourself. When I talk to charities I talk about my non-profit experience, when I talk to policing organisations I focus on that.’

It’s important to do business in the way that works for you, says Hira Sahmed. ‘I think it is more about embracing the whole of us in our businesses and our lives! If we focus our energy of niching down it might feel like it not *you* And I am a big believer of doing our businesses our way, more in tune with who we are with all the quirks and strengths + in alignment with our values. So to put that in perspective- one of my value is curiosity and I love learning new things so I make space for new projects (mostly multi-disciplinary ones) in my creative work.’

We are all multifaceted beings. And our work can reflect that. ‘Society puts so much emphasis on committing to ONE interest. Heck, we’re even expected to pick a favourite colour!’ says Karli Drew, copywriter and disabled activist. ‘But letting go of niche pressure is a one-stop shop to career freedom. Instead, I choose clients based on brand values. It improves my performance and everyone leaves a winner.’

And that’s what clients want – to win. And that’s our job – to enable them to do so. Every client wants to feel special, so as long as you bring your skills and expertise to doing a damn good job for them, it really doesn’t matter if you work in one industry or ten, on one kind of work or multiple. It’s your business, You can do work that energises you and makes your clients happy. That’s the sweet spot we’re all searching for.

Here are a few tips:

1. Marketing isn’t a dirty word. Chances are that if you’ve written something, you want people to read it or hear it. It doesn’t have to be about making money. Marketing should be a fundamental part of your plan to develop your writing carer.
2. Have a website. It’s the first place people will come to find out about you. Make it clear who you are, what you do, the work you’ve done, and how people can get in touch. Have extracts of your work, links to buy your books, videos of your performances, and reviews or endorsements.
3. Get active on social media – but don’t try to do everything. Commit to a couple of platforms and post consistently and regularly. Make sure it’s not all promotional – connect with others, join conversations, and share posts. Aim for 70% engagement and 30% promotion.
4. Write for other blogs or magazines about things that are tangentially related to your work. Written historical fiction – position yourself as an expert on that period of history? Overcome adversity? Maybe people want to read about that. Not everything has to be overtly about pushing your book.
5. Think about building a writer brand, and see your work and performances as part of that. Don’t just pop up when you’ve got a book to plug, but see individual activities as part of the bigger campaign.

It doesn’t have to be this way. All communication should evoke some kind of reaction, be it educative, informative, entertainment or emotion. This can’t happen unless there’s a bit of passion behind the words. A bit of creativity. Some life. It can be so easy to stick to the same formulas and language, yet this not only doesn’t benefit the client in the long run, it makes your working life a little bit dull.

What can we learn from creative writing for business writing? I ran a workshop at Petit Miracles to share some exercises usually reserved for fiction and poetry with budding entrepreneurs, all with the aim of improving their business writing.

The most crucial element of any story is the character. Who they are, how they act, and what happens to them is how plot develops. People connect with other people. Novelists say you should know everything about your character, even the things that seem irrelevant to the story. It’s not enough to know that your target customers are women aged 20-40. Be specific. The Petit Miracles team know their customer’s names, when they last laughed, what book they are reading, what’s in their handbag.

How often do you receive some communications from a company, and find that it’s drowning in jargon and long sentences – only discovering the thing that you actually want to know right at the end of the letter or information? We tried distilling down what the business and brand was about to a haiku. With only 17 syllables to play with there’s no room to be vague. Making the pitch poetry was a fun way to play.

There are over 90,000 products in the largest supermarkets, and we’re exposed to over 800 ads per day. How can you stand out? The best brands know that the heart leads, not the head. Decisions are made emotionally rather than rationally. Rather than focusing on what the product is, the entrepreneurs at Petit Miracles thought about how they wanted the product to make their customer feel. It’s not about clothes, it’s about feeling powerful. People don’t buy soap, they buy relaxation and time.

By the end of the workshop not only had we laughed a lot, but all the participants said that they had a better idea of who their customer is and how they want to speak to them. Confidence in writing and marketing improved, and there was a real energy in the room, with everyone motivated to take their business to the next level and ready to tell their brand story.

Part of the nationwide Undivided platform, which seeks to help young people have their voices heard in a post referendum Europe. We were keen that the event wasn’t seen as either pro or anti Europe – just acknowledging that things are changing, and we have an opportunity to be involved in that. And a fun way to do so would be through art and creativity. Hosted at the Bauhaus Café, a venue and project run by Betsy, who really lives out her passions and belief in creating change through connection and creation, it was a day of celebration.

Those who attended really embraced the concept, speaking out to explore positive ways to improve their experience of Ashford and life. Everyone was encouraged to say and share what would make their town better, be that health, art, employment, environmental issues, accessibility, infrastructure, education – and all of these and more came up!

Chris Buckett from Kent Urban Sketchers sat down with a group to draw their ideal streets, an activity that showed just how important the idea of community space, green areas and lively streets are for people. Natasha Boardman-Steer, as self defined urban innovator, asked people where they wanted to explore in Europe and why, demonstrating a continued connection with the continent, helped people make badges to show what they are proud of about Ashford, and captured it all on video.

Postcards from the ideal Ashford of the future were a great way to imagine how the town could look, and cut up and black out poetry ideal ways to recycle words to make statements of positivity. Slogans on t-shirts have always been important for activism, and designer and bespoke dressmaker Caroline Bruce worked with us to upcycle old material and wear our message with pride, whilst also sparking conversations about sustainability and the environment.

The Boss(y) Girls Project ran a workshop on gender and relationships between men and women, which saw people of both sexes fired up about inequality, and Kent Refugee Action Network and Ashford BME Association were on hand to speak to attendees.

We were thrilled that MP Damian Green came along for a discussion about his role as MP for Ashford in all of this and what politicians can do for us. In an energetic conversation amongst young and old, right and left, those who grew up in Ashford and those who moved here, we discussed the importance of being part of your community, thinking critically about politics, taking part in discussions about issues facing you and your area, and being a doer and not just a complainer.

We hoped that people would leave feeling excited and empowered, regardless of political affiliation, creative confidence or experience, and that new friendships and partnerships would be formed as a result. More than 150 ideas were generated and sent to Undivided, who will now put those forward to Parliament. As the evening closed and faces left as bright as the canvases and crafts across the room, there was definitely a sense of hope that in this community change could happen – and people could make it.

https://www.facebook.com/AshUnCCC/videos/282235732191316/