Generalists see the big picture

Yes you could hire a copywriter to sit in their shed and write 3000 words of copy. But what good is that if it doesn’t fit into your wider communications plan? Generalists understand the strategic importance of your marketing for business objectives and how it all fits in to the bigger picture. They know what they do impacts the rest of the business and ensure that impact is a brilliant one.

Generalists can be flexible

If you want to hire a freelancer for a long term relationship it can be beneficial to choose a generalist. They can remain adaptable and flexible to serving your business as needs develop and change, delivering the right service at any one time, in an agile way. Without the need for you to onboard someone new to your business.

Generalists bring a different perspective

If generalists work in different sectors they can often bring ideas from one to another. This boosts creativity and can bring a fresh perspective to your field. You want your business to be uniue and innovative, and that outside in approach can help you do just that. Full-stack employees are prized by companies like Google because they believe “innovation is found at the boundaries between disciplines.”

Generalists are great at leading teams

Because generalists can apply their skills to a range of issues, they tend to have a good understanding of the different roles that people in a team can play. They’ve been there. This makes them great at leading teams and building strategies for success. They have a variety of experiences and each one of them shapes their approach and understanding of what makes people tick.

What do you think? Generalist vs specialist? I’ve written about why you don’t need a niche here. Let me know!

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

Here they are…

Social media

• Quality over quantity with social media. It’s better to do a few posts that get great engagement than spam people.
• Make sure you’re doing regular analysis to see what’s working and what isn’t – I know this can be a struggle for small charities, but it’s so important to make sure limited resources are being used effectively.
• Use scheduling tools to plan out your content at the start of the week/month. But also dip in and regularly check and respond to comments and posts.
• Engage with people and join the conversation. Don’t just push stuff out, but be part of a community. People will remember you!

Twitter

• Respond to people and engage, rather than just pushing out adverts.
• Use Twitter lists. Basically these are a great way to keep up to date on topics and themes that are of interest to you.

Instagram

• Follow hashtags as well as people, so you can see relevant content.
• Don’t just post adverts – think about the human angle of what you do. Share photos of you out on a walk, or eating breakfast.
• The best posts tell a story.

Facebook

• Set up events so people see them in their feed. People will be more likely to spot them than if they have to come to your website.
• Consider small paid ads that are targeted towards people with similar ads.
• Post in groups such as Theatre Practitioners in London, Dramatherapy, London Arts in Health Forum etc.

Videos

• Video is a powerful tool for communication, enabling people to see, hear, read, and engage in a way that goes beyond written text.
• Keep it short – under two minutes is ideal.
• Plan out your script before.
• But don’t look down at it during filming. Keep eye contact with the camera, in a natural way.
• Use horizontal/landscape orientation.
• Sitting slightly off centre tends to look best.
• Steady your phone on a tripod or flat surface.
• Don’t zoom in or the image will be pixelated.
• Face toward a window for great natural light – don’t have the window behind you or you will be a silhouette.
• Make sure to have the video quality set to the highest resolution.
• Charge your phone up to 100% – filming will be draining on your battery life so don’t risk running out halfway through.
• Make sure you have enough memory space as video will fill it up very quickly.

Newsletter

• No more than once a week.
• Consider doing newsletter swaps with other organisations – see if you can feature their events in exchange for them featuring yours.
• Replicate the template in Mailchimp – it saves so much time!

PR

• Think about magazines and websites that have related content, and offer to write for them.
• Offer free spaces to journalists so that they can experience what you do. It’s not guaranteed coverage, but a good way to build relationships.
• Follow #journorequests and respond to call outs. It’s important to remember that when they ask for sources they will be inundated, so be friendly and respond efficiently to any requests.
• Another great resource is AskCharity, where journalist post requests for case studies and stories.

Blogs

• Adding content to the website boosts it in search engine rankings, so it should be regularly updated.
• You can hook content around what you’re doing, relevant themes in the sector, as well as Awareness Days.

Design

• Apply for Canva for charities to easily make fab assets.

Content

• Write regular blog posts that include relevant words to the kinds of thing that your audience might be looking for. This is the bedrock of SEO. Answer The Public is really helpful here.

Resources

• Check out Google Non profits for resources, included $10,000 ad grant.

It’s crucial to create a community. Getting active on social media is really important. There are lots of great Facebook groups you can join where advice and support is often free flowing, and you can investigate Twitter chats. Eppie Shepherd is a copywriter and marketer, and recommends that you follow experts in your field on social media, engage with their content and save their tips for future reference. But at the same time don’t compare yourself to others who have been in the industry longer than you. Sara Joelle says that you can use these connections to your advantage, and ‘take all the help you can get without letting it hurt your pride.’

Now is the best time to get started. If you’re searching for a job, start blogging marketing insights and connecting with others on social media. ‘You’re improving your skills and connections, and making yourself more marketable at the same time, says Natalie Tate.

It’s natural to want to do everything right – but no one can. You will make mistakes, and that’s fine, because it means that you’re doing something. As Ruthie Bowles explains, ‘Be okay with making mistakes. Don’t let fear of failure prevent you from taking some kind of action, any action. We can learn from mistakes, but it’s a lot harder to learn from nothing. This goes from finding clients if you’re a marketing consultant or testing new marketing channels and tactics if you’re an in-house marketer.’

Advice differs on whether you should find a niche or be a generalist, but I agree with TinaMarie Gulley that you should learn about different disciplines in the early days and not specialise too much. One way to learn is by having regular mentoring sessions and one to ones with people in the industry.

Remember that marketing is about the audience. You might have a cool product or a swanky event to promote, but you need to think about what’s in it for the customer. Allison Schroeder explains what this means. ‘Always walk in their shoes. At the end of the day marketing is understanding the consumer and how to get their attention and turn them into a customer. Be them. Think like them. Pay attention to your own consumer habits and what drives you to buy.’

And remember, that you need to be willing to learn and grow. Like Patty Godbold said ‘this field is ever-changing and if you aren’t willing to grow with it, you won’t be an effective marketer.’

Wise advice indeed!

How can I make Facebook advertising work?

Although it might not be cool to admit it, the majority of people in the UK are on Facebook, and spend a lot of time on it. For your advertising to work you need to be very specific with your targeting. Think about who your ideal customer is and target them. Whilst it can be tempting to just share your advert to all adults aged 18-60, that is too wide and will see you just wasting money. Also have a very clear call to action – if you want people to share your post, buy a ticket, or click a link, let them know.

How can I get more visitors to my website?

You’ve heard of SEO right? That’s search engine optimisation. It’s not the be all and end all, unlike what some people might make you think, but it is important. Basically it involves thinking of the kind of terms that someone looking for your business might search for, and adding them into your website copy and content (that’s the words!). So if you’re a carpenter in Kent, think ‘wooden furniture’ ‘carpenter Kent’ etc. What you really shouldn’t do though is stuff your content full of words so much that it feels stilted and unreadable. Because also what is key is keeping people on your website and getting them to take the actions you want them to. Google will also boost up the rankings websites that have a long dwell time, so don’t just think about getting people there, but also keeping them there.

How much personality should I add to my business?

I got told by a well known business coach that I needed to be more dry and corporate and have less personality, if I wanted to attract dry and corporate clients. Thing is, I don’t. Think about what your audience or client are like. If they’re chatty and laidback, try that approach. If they are more formal, adopt that tone. People like to work with and buy from people like them, so I think the best advice is to mirror them. That’s not to say you should reveal everything about yourself. Keep it professional. But you’re allowed to smile as well.

If you want me to help you with your marketing, do get in touch. I’d love to chat.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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.

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? How can exercises usually reserved for fiction and poetry help our business writing? In more ways than you think.

Write a haiku

How often do you receive some communications from a company, and find that it’s drowning in jargon, technical language, figures and extended sentences – only discovering the thing that you actually want to know right at the end of the letter or information? Great fiction hits you from the off. The first chapter, even the first page, has to be compelling enough to make you keep on reading. When crafting your business copy try distilling down what you need to say in a haiku. With only 17 syllables to play with there’s no room to be vague.

Be active, not passive

‘We are trying…’ ‘You may find that…’ ‘We hope this will be…’ Passive verbs and soft language don’t really instil a customer with confidence. You don’t want to buy a product that the manufacturers have only tried to make work, or attend an event that may or may not be fun. Consumers need active assurance that the company have confidence and authority in what they are doing. When creating content it’s always wise to go through your text and remove all qualifiers (probably, may, expect etc) – don’t say what you might do, say what you will do. Make you or your brand the active subject – e.g. rather than ‘your digital marketing could become easier’ say ‘our software makes your marketing great.’ You want to action to take place as a result of your content, so you have to make it active.

Start with the character

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. It’s also where the emotion is found. People connect with other people. As great as a company might think their product is, or as much as an agency may believe people are passionate about electricity, as loyal as a shop might think people are, the truth is that it’s about the person. So when writing a press release about why the new brand of bleach is a must have addition to the shopping basket, think of the benefits to the customer, the person. The new formula matters because it keeps the kitchen clean and protects their children. The fast acting ingredients free up their time to go out. Novelists say you should know everything about your character, even that which seems irrelevant to the writing at hand. Do the same for your reader. What is their name? What is in their bag? Do they wake up early or late? What do they like to read? Have they ever told a lie? What do they do on a Sunday afternoon? Do they prefer cryptic crosswords or su doku? Only when you know your reader and customer do you know what matters to them, and so how you can connect with them.

Connect

That’s the goal of any business. Ultimately relationships in all forms are about connection. When someone likes you or thinks you have something to offer, they will be prepared to invest their time – or money – in you. Customer can’t connect with inanimate objects, so you need to have some personality. What is your brand? What makes you different to everyone else out there? How do you speak and act? Bring this personality to all your writing. Don’t try to be professional at the expense of being emotional. People buy from people, so bring your personality to work.

First published on Start Ups Geek.

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.