Organized Chaos: Setting Up a Functional Content Marketing Workflow
Creative minds tend towards, well, creative ways of organizing. But when you’re working on content marketing, blog posts or other time-sensitive writing, having things in an order that makes sense to you can do a lot to keep you in the flow of productive writing. Organizing Schedules Are you a morning person or a night owl? […]
3 Things Your SMB’s Content Writers Want from Santa
If the bloody Black Friday reports of Wal-Mart commercialized cannibalism haven’t broken your gift giving spirit, take this time to consider what you can give to expert writers this holiday season. A paid sabbatical to write a holiday novel about elves who go Mission Impossible style to take down the retail industry might appeal to […]
Don’t “Die of Exposure”: Translate Promotion Into Profit
If you’re a small business owner seeking freelance writers for hire, you’re probably interested in increasing your company’s overall “exposure.” In other words, you want to boost recognition of your brand, logo, company name, products, or, ideally, all of the above. While this is a decent goal for a small business just starting out in […]
How to Put Together a Newsletter
A large percentage of big companies regularly produce newsletters for one reason—they’re effective. Company newsletters might be effective because they’re a cost-effective way of communicating with employees, current and prospective customers, and the public. They also might be effective because they indirectly boost employee productivity by improving employee morale or indirectly boost business by conveying […]
Get Out of This Locker Room: Protesting Post-Game Locker Room Interviews Since Farts
Boston Herald sportswriter Lisa Olson was sexually harassed so badly in the New England Patriots’ locker room by several players in 1990 that the National Football League hired a Watergate prosecutor to investigate and issued a 108-page report on its findings. What happened afterward was even worse. So many football fans sided with the players […]
It Takes a Village: Why a Team of Writers Might be the Answer to Your Content Problems
When Hillary Clinton famously said, “It takes a village,” she was, of course, referring to the collaborative community effort needed to usher a child safely into adulthood. The phrase works, however, just as well in the world of web content. If you’ve got a business website that needs pages, or a blog that needs posts, […]
Surf’s Up! Ride It and Be More Prolific
In the film Barton Fink (1991), one of the seminal works of independent film icons Joel and Ethan Coen, a screenwriter routinely sits at a desk in a dark, dungy hotel room, staring back and forth between the blank page before him and a bright, breezy painting on the wall. In the painting, a beach-clad […]
Memes, Kittens and Bacon: Marketing to the Facebook Generation
Generation Y, or the millennial generation, is the first generation that grew up with the internet. Those from this generation do not know what it is like to NOT have information at their fingertips. While marketing has changed in general, marketing to this group is especially challenging. One-way communication is no longer the norm. When […]
Getting the Click: The Eight Elements of Persuasive Writing
If potential customers don’t go to your website, you can’t sell them anything. Search engine optimization (SEO) techniques can get your site listed first on a results page, but people still have to click on your link. Likewise, your e-mail campaign is useless if it doesn’t entice anyone to click through to your site. What’s […]
Frogs: The Breakfast of Successful Businesspeople
If Wheaties is the breakfast choice of champions, then frogs are the secret to the success of business men and women. Packed with protein and Omega-3s, they sure pack the nutritional punch that busy entrepreneurs need to get in a full day’s worth of work. Now, before you close out your browser in disgust, let […]
I’m a Doctor, Not a Blogger, Jim!
Running a small to medium sized business means wearing multiple hats. Sometimes a whole milliner’s worth of hats. Accountant, Product Developer, Customer Service Representative–entrepreneurs often find themselves fulfilling these and many other roles, with minimal outside assistance. These DIY opportunities can be exhilarating and empowering. They are, in fact, part of what makes owning and […]