The most time-effective way to have the work completed for you. Done-for-you blog work, however, still requires the subject matter expert’s input – usually in the form of a telephone interview and a follow-up email for direction once a draft is completed.
Done-for-you blog work is planned during a brainstorming session. Each topic is then researched to develop a list of relevant questions for you or your subject matter experts (SMEs). Following an informational interview, a draft version of your collateral will appear at an agreed-upon interval for your approval. One round of revisions and rewriting is included. Following the receipt of your approval, the document is then sent to a third party for a final round of copy editing.
You have ideas (although we can definitely brainstorm if you’d like), and you’d like to take a first crack at writing the copy yourself, but you enjoy working with someone who can rewrite, ask questions and polish with some substantive editing. Think of this engagement like a co-authorship with your very own ghostwriter.
The next step up from done-with-you blog work, this kind of coaching is similar to done-with-you blog work, particularly at first, but with feedback and changes that are made more obviously and collaboratively. (I’ll also share with you some of my own continuing education efforts and resources, if really polishing your writing is something you’d like to pursue.)
From there, clients with a feel for copy generation can eventually find themselves needing my services less, until the help is phased out altogether. (A blog engagement, for instance, may be charged by the word initially. Over time, this could well be billed using my hourly rate, to reflect the lighter touch and less time needed.)
No longer needing my services because you’ve developed the discipline and confidence to DIY (with a referral to my editor – I always advocate for editing), in my mind, is a great success.
This work informs and guides virtually everything you write or create for your business, from sales letters to your website copy. It can also inform your business development considerations.
Doing this work, we dive deeply into who your perfect client is and what speaks to them. I will make you think about your client in the most granular detail, to create a profile and persona you can use to inform your marketing and other business decisions. (Pro tip: Want to make your writing more effective? Write DIRECTLY to the client you most want to serve. Sum that person up in your mind’s eye, gather everything you know about them, and speak to them in the language they would use. Hint: Our work together can uncover that language.)
This work is often developed in conjunction with target client research.
White glove service – we don’t offer it often, but when we do, it’s powerful.
Who is your very best client? The person you most jive with and wish you had five of in your practice? This person is also preferably a member of your own mutual adoration society. (They love your work and you love working with them.)
Once you’ve identified your target client or clients, we provide you with a letter you can customize and send to them, asking if they’d be willing to provide your researchers with some honest feedback and a testimonial.
Following a discussion with your target client, we craft and draft a testimonial based on what they’ve said about you and your business or practice. The client reviews the testimonial and gives their blessing before it is then sent to you.
While we’re at it, depending on how much time they are willing to spend, we can also use this opportunity to get feedback about your practice. (Although we generally look at this exercise with marketing in mind, the interview can ask any number of questions, depending on what you need.)
Base questions are tailored during pre-research discussions.
Clients are treated with the utmost respect – it is their time and input which is most valuable here – and are generally made to feel like valued contributors to your practice. (When we say thank you, we tell them as much.) We also have creative ways to say thank you, from you.
Have you ever discussed, and committed to writing, everything that you do for your clients and customers? It’s probably one of the most useful services I offer.
In addition to helping you brainstorm a full and complete picture of your service or product, we then discuss each in great detail, to get a full picture of what precisely it is that you’re offering, who that offering is for and when they would most effectively buy or engage with your business or practice.
In addition to using these descriptions online to help inform their own client’s choices, my current and past clients save time and keep their messaging consistent by using and keeping this work in a “swipe file” for their ongoing needs – crafting pitch documents, client engagement letters, future web copy, etc.
Ludicrous, we know, but Kate really excels at reading draft industry regulation, has experience explaining tax concepts, knows the nuances of insurance distribution in Canada better than many and has extensive experience distilling complex topics quickly.
Need to know what the Federal Budget means for a constituency and need to relay that information quickly? Want to be a responsive disseminator of news, analysis and thought leadership in your niche, company or industry? We can have your back. Call us to discuss.
Everything discussed here can be done with most clients, regardless of their position, but we know just how busy your top communicators are. We also know how important it is to get their messages out clearly to affected constituents. Identify your communication goals. Tell your leaders’ stories. Hone in on your desired outcomes.
Copy editing and proofreading services arranged upon request. (I both outsource and refer, depending on the circumstances.)
Web copy that speaks directly to your ideal clients. Press releases (although I generally refer public relations work to others), sales letters, announcements, thought leadership pieces, articles. Since 2009.
I don’t, actually. I prefer to do the original assignment or commission the way I have for years. (ChatGPT only hit the scene in November 2022.)
The only place where I do use AI, I believe, is when I have our phone calls transcribed for my notes. I will similarly process videos in this way on occasion. For this I use the services of Otter.ai.
But do I write your website/blog post/article/white paper using ChatGPT? No. Hard pass. For a number of reasons – all of which I’m happy to discuss over a Zoom coffee sometime, if you’d like. I have no idea what the future holds but for the time being your commissioned work gets done by humans.
Delivering polished, insightful, and audience-focused content for brands that value excellence.
