Exactly six years ago today, I put my head down on my desk and bawled. I wasn’t crying a long, snotty cry because I didn’t have any super-fun holiday plans (though it didn’t help). I cried because I had reached a breaking point. I felt stuck in a dead-end job that was making me miserable,… Continue Reading
The coronavirus pandemic has left more than 30 million Americans out of work and many more either furloughed or underemployed. Small businesses, including micro-small businesses of one (aka independent contractors), are either closing up shop or praying their Economic Injury Disaster Loan goes through. In California, we’ve been sheltering in place since March 17…. Continue Reading
I learned one of the most important rules of email etiquette the hard way—by screwing up. That important rule: don’t fire off a snotty email when you’re angry or irritated. Especially when the recipient is a new client. The situation: The new client, an advertising/marketing agency, asked me to write ongoing blog articles for a… Continue Reading
Business coach John Bulman shares tips on a networking strategy that leads to a meeting.
The heart of any content marketing campaign includes content: articles, eBooks, case studies, and so on. And because rising above all the other content out there is about as easy as finding your best friend in a packed football stadium, it better be good! If you’re writing direct mail, lead generation emails or web copy,… Continue Reading
A little more than a week has passed since Ann Handley and the MarketingProfs team came to San Francisco for its annual B2B Marketing Forum. This was my first year attending and I’m so glad I did! Over three days in November, more than 1,000 marketing leaders came together to learn, network and share marketing… Continue Reading
Writing for a business audience and writing to consumers require two different approaches. Copywriting generally emphasizes benefits over features: “Our car’s ergonomic seating, with built-in massage feature, works the stress out of your commute.” Businesses interested in investing in new products need to understand the features, as well. The following features might motivate an enterprise… Continue Reading
In the San Francisco and Houston Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and many other publications, you’ll see sponsored content mixed with reported articles. It’s hard to distinguish sponsored content from editorial. That’s the point. Sponsored content, aka native content, is intended to blend with editorial on the page. (Hence the word “native.”) The difference? Money… Continue Reading
Many content marketing writers (like me) don’t come from a marketing background. But when you’re part of a content marketing project, you’ll likely find yourself on calls and in email threads with experienced marketers. They speak a different language than you and me. Hubspot Academy’s excellent Inbound Certification helped me learn some of the lingo, but… Continue Reading
Beginning writers do it. Experienced writers do it—pack their sentences with unnecessary “filler words,” making a perfectly clear five-word sentence sound weak, dull and vague. With a discerning red pen (or delete key), eliminate filler words for more powerful copy. Here are 7 common filler words we use all the time and how to get… Continue Reading