by Inge Fuglestved
Is the new year looking a bit daunting?
Like everyone else, you’re probably looking at 2009 with some apprehension. How will you meet targets when you have less people and less budget to work with? The key has to be in working smarter.
One option is to hire professional freelance creatives and pay significantly less than you would through an agency. Copywriting, graphic design, event management, CRM — we have a collection of friends who are highly experienced in their respective fields and, like us, work from home.
$$ Note: working from home equals very low overheads…
In difficult times, it’s even more important to communicate effectively with your customers and your staff. To be creative and keep everyone motivated. We can help. We can make the difference between a project going ahead and it being canned due to budgetary constraints.
Maybe you’re happy with your current results and costs. But if you think you need a new or more cost effective approach, contact us. We’re happy to talk.
by Inge Fuglestved
After years of working as copywriters, we have noticed an interesting fact: many clients find it very difficult to produce a written brief.
Often, they are unsure of what information a copywriter needs or they shower us with too many documents, hoping we can identify the relevant information ourselves. That way lies high cost and poor results.
As with most things, briefing is a case of garbage in, garbage out. A copywriter needs succinct directions and relevant information to give you high quality work.
We have developed a simple briefing template for copywriting work which will help make it easier for you to provide the background material a copywriter needs. If you don’t already have your own, grab a copy of ours. Simply download it here – it’s free, no strings, with our compliments.
Free Download
Briefing template for copywriting work
We write for a living.
We put ideas, products and services into words to create understanding and action. I suppose you might say we’re transformational wordsmiths who can help you achieve this quarter’s objectives and sustainable growth.
Over the years we have worked with a range of clients in Australia, Asia and the USA – multinational corporations and industry leaders, as well as governments, NGOs and startups.
The process? Gain understanding, identify relevance and develop value propositions – that’s what we do.
What’s the upside of a downturn? Maybe a fresh look at an old problem.
at the beach productions pty ltd
Freelance Copywriting Services
Tel: (02) 9918-0055 :: Intl: +61 2 9918-0055
by Inge Fuglestved
Pain can be helpful. It certainly focuses the mind. If you’re in marketing, you’ve probably already faced budget cuts and maybe even lost some staff members. The business outlook might be less than rosy, so what to do?
Love your customers. Remember, they’re feeling the same pain. Look for areas where you can surprise them and be genuinely helpful. Practice empathy and connect proactively to help reduce their stress, because kindness creates trust and trust creates commitment and business.
Difficult times can create opportunities. Communicate with your customers. Find out what their needs are and how you can respond. Be creative and come up with services that help cement your relationships and differentiate you from your competitors.
There is only one important rule about direct mail: no duds.
Direct mail has no place unless it’s well targeted and relevant. Your company will quickly lose credibility and goodwill if you are not diligent about:
- your lists
- correct details and
- providing offers of interest to the recipient
Sample Email (text)
The future of your business
In critical times, it’s hard to focus on anything other than the present. But in order to ensure there is a successful future, you must plan for it now. And for that, you need sound information about trends and future challenges.
Sample eDM offer (html)
Forget the server pain
Have you got servers everywhere? Soaking up too much energy and management cost? Never enough power when you need it? Here it is, the way to get more power using less energy and better utilisation with simpler management: XX brings you The Server Painkiller to help you consolidate your hardware and reduce costs.
Get new ideas here
How are you handling increasing security concerns and changes to the regulatory framework affecting your industry? Are you comfortable with your current disaster recovery plans?
Feel like you’re drowning sometimes? Check out the resources below. We have practical, innovative answers.
Inge Fuglestved & John Holman, Freelance Copywriters
at the beach productions pty ltd
Sydney, Australia
Tel: (02) 9918-0055 :: Intl: +61 2 9918-0055
Write it like you mean it.
Make it honest and heartfelt with minimal corporate jargon. Try two-way communication, like blogs, to engage your staff and show the company appreciates their input, thoughts and ideas.
Sample Sales Memo
How would you feel about a pipeline full of carefully researched and filtered leads, large accounts in your target industry with spend potential and contact names, all at your fingertips, ready to use whenever you need them? Pretty happy, right?
Well, it’s here. The sales database is up and running, ready to use.
We did it – we met our very aggressive target and there is now $x.x billion worth of sales opportunity mapped into the database! What does that mean to you?
It means we have not only identified prospects all over the region for you, we have researched and qualified them and given you the tools to access all kinds of business information about them. You still need to apply your experience and industry knowledge, but we have given you the bull’s eye to aim all your skills at.
Inge Fuglestved & John Holman, Freelance Copywriters
at the beach productions pty ltd
Sydney, Australia
Tel: (02) 9918-0055 :: Intl: +61 2 9918-0055
The point of case studies or testimonials is to show prospective clients how your products and services have been successfully employed by other customers.
They should generate trust in your company and give your prospects ideas on how they could implement similar solutions to the same effect. The key is to provide a succinct outline with focus on the business issues that were resolved. The best case studies are to the point and, most importantly, interesting.
Related
Time to give case studies top billing
Sample case study copy
Finding the right solution
Today, when a XX executive travels or an employee moves offi ce, their phone number and profi les follow them. All they need do is log in and the network knows where to fi nd them. Voicemails are recorded as WAV fi les and sent as attachments to their email account and, if their handset or laptop is video enabled, they can videoconference instantly with any other person on the XX network.
After fire, disaster recovery plan keeps
XX in business as usual
When fire broke out at XX’s premises, it hit at the heart of the company: its laboratory and IT centre. A manufacturer of agricultural chemicals, the company distributes its products through 2,500 outlets around Australia and is dependent on the computer system for day-to-day operations – it needed to be up and running as soon as possible.
While work continued on recovering data and rebuilding the system, the company contacted their software vendors to arrange for licence keys to run their applications on YY’s hardware.
The smoke damaged computer from XX’s offi ces was retrieved, cleaned and powered up. “We couldn’t believe it – there was no loss of data at all. And just over a day later, it was business as usual, I don’t think our customers would have realised anything had happened.”
One of the problems with brochures is that many of them lack impact.
To be brutally honest, most brochures are plain boring. They lack energy and often contain hyperbole that invite cynicism and even disbelief. But there are some wonderful and exciting brochures out there that work very well for their brands and their offerings. We’d bet they were all created by teams who understood positioning and how to address customer needs.
Sample brochure copy
Working together
Our primary objectives while you are with us are your wellbeing and speedy recovery. That is why we encourage you to maintain a positive attitude and participate actively in your treatment. There are often several steps in the process of getting well and the more you know about your upcoming treatment, the better prepared you will be. Everyone on your care team is there to help you and we also recommend you talk to your doctor about what to expect from your stay in hospital and any subsequent treatment.
Isn’t outsourcing only relevant for large companies?
The short answer is “not at all”. Outsourcing is not a question of size, but of achieving cost savings, access to specific skills and improved efficiency. Outsourcing is simply a practical way of looking at your company and your resources: Do you have the experience internally to get the best value from your IT investment? Would your own resources be better focused on your core business and driving revenue growth?
It’s a pretty straight forward proposition. By outsourcing your IT needs, you’ll be taking advantage of specialist skills to help you manage costs and become a more effective company.
Preventing loss of healthy years
One of the biggest health issues facing the world is “the invisible epidemic” – heart disease. Well entrenched in the developed world, this alarming situation is now also spreading to developing countries. Urgent and effective action is needed to reverse this trend, to stop millions of deaths and the ever escalating health costs associated with disease and disability.
Inge Fuglestved & John Holman, Freelance Copywriters
at the beach productions pty ltd
Sydney, Australia
Tel: (02) 9918-0055 :: Intl: +61 2 9918-0055
Here’s what we think about when writing your website:
- Compelling headlines compel me to read on
- The only good copy is relevant copy
- Short sentences make it easier to read on screen
- gr8 copy speaks the language of the audience
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Content is king, so make your content great
Twitter Business and Copywriting
Sample web copy
We know you want the best return on your account.
We will give you 3.75% p.a. interest. Most other banks offer only 0.1% on a standard savings account. To your advantage, we also calculate interest daily and pay it monthly.
Nobody likes paying fees, so we have kept ours to a minimum.
You get free EFTPOS and XXXX ATM access within Australia, as often as you like. The same goes for internet transactions. You can even use other banks’ ATMs free for fi ve transactions a month and only pay $1.50 per transaction after that.
Inge Fuglestved & John Holman, Freelance Copywriters
at the beach productions pty ltd
Sydney, Australia
Tel: (02) 9918-0055 :: Intl: +61 2 9918-0055
Amanda Hampson has worked in corporate events as a producer/writer for more than 20 years with companies like Apple, Compaq, Lotus, Adobe, Unilever and MLC.
She does theme development, event collateral, creative pitch documents, keynote addresses and presentations plus all sorts of corporate theatre and training video scripts.
Amanda can be contacted through us:
at the beach productions pty ltd
Freelance Copywriting Services
Tel: (02) 9918-0055 :: Intl: +61 2 9918-0055
