Category: Entrepreneurial Wellness

It’s been a month now since I attended the American Writers and Artists, Inc. (AWAI) annual “Bootcamp” conference, in sunny Florida. When I arrived home, I hit the ground running, as I submitted copy for some of their competitive “spec challenges.” Now that the smoke has cleared a little, I’ve returned to the conference recordings that AWAI provides and am feeling motivated, especially by the talk of Web Copywriting Great Nick Usborne gave. (It doesn’t hurt that he’s a Anglo-Canadian genius, based in gorgeous Montreal.) He spoke live on Thursday October 25, 2012, in cheerful Delray Beach. . . . .

As it turns out, the psychology of marketing that so often interests me also interests Nick. And his presentation drew on that interest: “Love, Luck and Total Focus: Surprising Truths Behind Every Successful Freelance Business.”

Inspired by Nick who writes at least 1000 words per day, and as part of my new blogging practice (I’m planning to write shorter, more conversational blogs, more frequently), I’ve decided to blog today on some of the highlights of Nick’s talk. . . . Nick directed his presentation at beginning as well as intermediate writers (esp. copywriters), who are striving to find their pathway through the Marketing and Communications’ world.  At the conference, several newbies asked me about psychology in marketing, so I’ve decided to publish this posting all at once. (In the future, my postings will be briefer, a la Seth Godin and virtually everyone else, these days. . . . But I digress . . .)

Here are the three major insights Nick shared, that you may find useful, as you write and revise and write some more. .  . . He summed them up as “Love your message; Play the odds; and Stay focused.” Want to use or quote Nick’s arguments? Cite him and send him a quick email. He’s very generous.

(1) Love your Message:  we all at some point face the “Imposter Syndrome” (I.S.), as a newbie to a field, or to a niche within a field. As you’ll likely know, the I.S. is the anxiety-producing fear that you’ve gotten as far as you have through sheer (dumb) luck. And when you have some success, you fear that now you’re really about to be “found out.” You feel a fraud.  Nick connected that paralyzing insecurity to the false (but convincing) belief that your value is tied “to the sum of your knowledge.”  When you view yourself and your business that way, who wouldn’t be found wanting? So you nervously read yet another book on marketing, “take another five courses,” and put off facing the reality that you need clients.

Continue reading “Love, Luck and Focus: Revisiting Nick Usborne’s Talk at AWAI’s 2012 Bootcamp”

October, 2012 Blog: In lieu of producing another blog posting this month, I have written a  detailed, highly readable White Paper on how to use one particular network of Social Media to promote your association or services. Adhering to true White Paper format, I’ve named it : “Special Report: 10 Tips for Using Social Media Effectively in Your Association.”

This White Paper is available complimentary to you and your association.  All you need to do is ask! Send me an email message through my “Contact” page here (on this website. Please use the “Contact” form and not the “Reply” form at the bottom of the blog page.) Mention that you’d like to receive a copy of the White Paper on Social Media and I’ll send you a copy, directly.

October is also the month in which the American Writers and Artists’ Inc. (AWAI) holds its annual (North American-wide) Copywriting conference. I’ll be there, meeting Steve Slaunwhite, Nick Usborne and others–the most accomplished Copywriters in the business! More on that in future postings.

In the past couple of years, businesses and professional associations have realized that LinkedIn is the most useful Social Media network for most, if not all, B2B professionals. LinkedIn (hereafter “LI”), unlike Facebook and Twitter, is a professional networking website where personal information is not shared. Even more relevantly, LI does not feature (or allow) direct self-promotion or marketing: the “hard sell” is taboo on this network, where no one is allowed to sound like an advertisement (and those rules are enforced by system administrators). LI works indirectly by eliciting participants’ expertise and knowledge indirectly (e.g. in response to LI Questions and in discussions or exchanges in its many groups), by privileging content above sales. LI’s content-rich nature mirrors the nature of B2B Associations themselves (where “content is king”) and therefore makes the network so useful to us. Interviews of association leaders, YouTube videos on the latest techniques of SEO for B2B content pages and Twitter Updates and blogs on your association website can all be shared (indirectly) through discussions in LI “groups,” or in comments and responses to LI “Questions.” Continue reading “5 Tips on Using LinkedIn “Company Pages” Effectively in Your Association”

I have long been interested in the Psychology of Marketing and was interested to read the treatment of that topic in last fall’s release, Arlene Dickinson’s Persuasion: A New Approach to Changing Minds (Toronto: HarperCollins, 2011). Canadian readers may recognize Dickinson as the sole female “dragon” of  CBC’s popular reality show, “Dragon’s Den,” a show in which new cash-strapped entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of veteran (and wealthy) business developers, who may offer them financial backing and mentorship.

In a fusion of business book, biography and self-help guide, Dickinson first tells her “rags-to-riches” story. She was a broke divorcée at age 31, with only a high school education, no experience and four children to care for. In just one year, she became a partner of Calgary’s start-up “Venture,” which soon became one of the country’s most successful, independently-owned, marketing firms. And, 10 years later, she was the highly successful CEO of the company.

Continue reading “Highlights from Reading Arlene Dickinson’s _Persuasion: A New Approach to Changing Minds_ (HarperCollins:2011)”

Want to Write a Better Case Study? (with thanks to Steve Slaunwhite and Ed Gandia, who have written about this format for AWAI):

Case studies are a common format of B2B Copywriting that chronicle the creation and functioning of a successful product or process in a detailed “success story.” Recently I completed a case study on a high-tech food development technology, which gave me cause to reflect on how to write better case studies! Here are 5 major tips on how to improve the case studies that you may be writing . . . . . Continue reading “5 Ways to Improve your Case Study Writing”