Copywriting, Internet Marketing, Publishing Tips

My Thrive America Interview

2009-03-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Check out part one of my four part interview with Thrive America. I talk about SEO/SEM marketing, Social Media/Viral marketing , and marketing with e-books.
www.jig-sawmarketing.com

Featured Interview: Corporate Communications

2008-12-04T20:29:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I hope holiday time is proving to be full of good business prospects. I know the economy is hard right now, but you have to come up with creative ways to get new clients. Be consistent with your networking and you will persevere!

Take the time to help and give to others. And don’t just do it for the holidays, do it throughout the year. It makes the heart feel good!! I do charity work year round and I am getting ready to launch a non-profit group for writers. Yeah! I am a writer and other writers are some of my favorite people.

I just got through volunteering for We Care, at the Boys and Girls Club, in Atlanta, Ga. I will post some pictures later. I will be doing some work with Cancer Warriors next week.

I put on my reporters hat and interviewed Carey Adams, a corporate communications specialist at Georgia Power. We discussed how communications is important for corporations to keep in sync with customer needs.

Q. Explain what you do at Georgia Power.
A. I’m a communications specialist in the internal communications department for Georgia Power. I write articles for the internal newsletter, write for the online news division, help develop communication plans for different departments, and write external communications.

Q. What sort of external communications? Do you communicate directly with customers?
A. I manage the copy content for the bill insert that customers receive.

Q. Oh, so do you write that letter that comes with my power bill?
A. Well, it is more than a letter; it is an educational newsletter for customers to learn about energy efficiency and energy related issues.

Q. So you are the one that writes that ... I wonder if I write a letter to you and send it with my payment, if you will answer me back? Ha, ha. You don’t have to answer that question.
Is the bill insert is a good customer service tool?
A. Definitely.It increases enrollment in certain programs we offer, such as online billing.

Q. It sounds like having a good communications department makes it easier to service your customers.
A. That is true. It makes it easier to serve our customers and makes it easier for the employees to understand how the company functions.

Q. That sounds like a win, win situation for customers and employees.
How does corporate communications writing differ from other types of writing?
A. It is more technical and more specific to that business, you stay within the context of the business. In my position, I generally talk to company employees. There is not a lot of external interviewing.

Q. What is the most challenging thing about your position?
A. Learning the different technical aspects about my company. I have to understand my company. I’m constantly learning new phrases and jargons and putting them into layman’s terms.

Q. You touched upon what I tell my clients all the time. Defining a business’ core is essential before you can communicate, write, and conduct business. Then you can tend to your customer base and grow your business. It sounds like you have a lot of work to do every day and you are good at what you do.

Many thanks to Carey Adams for this interview.
As always, I welcome all comments.

If you have a question or would like to be interviewed please feel free to e-mail me.

Dee Doanes
Jigsaw Marketing
www.jig-sawmarketing.com

E-books and Direct Response Marketing

2008-11-03T22:01:00.000-08:00

My name is Dee, and I am the guru of copywriting, Internet marketing and self
publishing! I have more than 15 years experience in these areas and I want to share some
tips to help your business.

A lot of my customers have been asking for help to write and market e-books.
Some of these clients have never considered selling e-books. But, with the shaky economy, they are looking for alternate ways to make money.

Two things that convinced them that selling e-books was the way to go:

1. Writing an e-book is easier than anticipated if working with a professional direct response copywriter like myself. In fact, many of my clients now sell two or three products and are able to make $1,000-$3,000 per month with Google and Yahoo pay-per-click programs. That is a good profit considering the $800-$1,200 fee for paying a writer.

2. Marketing e-books is inexpensive. Advertising with phone book page ads, billboards, and TV commercials are very expensive and may not get as good of results as pay-per-click programs. You can market an e-book online for $600-$1,500 per month depending on the frequency of the ad and the cost per click.

If you are an expert on a subject then you can write an e-book. You can even expand to selling other e-products such as, CDs and audio recordings. Many companies sell workshops, financial products, and how-to guides. These companies make $1,000-$3,000 a month.

To market e-products, create a direct response Internet campaign. Sign up for Google and Yahoo ad words and create key words and text for the campaign. Then, design a landing page to use in conjunction with your Google or Yahoo pay-per-click program. A landing page is a Website link on your existing site which has a direct response sales letter made to get immediate sales, and collect potential customer’s e-mail information. This is the foundation of your Internet marketing program.

I write multiple versions of landing page and pay-per-click text and track which version gets the most sales. The whole key is to come up with a landing page that produces the most sales and then, put the system on auto pilot. In fact, some companies run entire businesses by selling e-products.

I want to point out to those not familiar with direct response copywriting; it is NOT the same as regular copywriting. I do both types of copywriting. If you contact a copywriter about writing a landing page, make sure the copywriter specializes in direct response copywriting.

I would love to hear your feedback. I will post again in another day or two.

Dee Doanes
http://www.jig-sawmarketing.com/
dee@jig-sawmarketing.com