All of the activities in the following list involve writing and can help potential clients find you: keeping your website optimized and up to date, sending out e-newsletters, blogging, posting on Facebook and Twitter, keeping your Linkedin or Google profiles current, keeping abreast of your favorite listserv or community bulletin board, submitting articles to online article directories.
The trick is, business writing is not effective marketing unless what you write is spot-on to catch the attention of your ideal target clients!
Let’s briefly look at ways in which you can optimize your writing by organizing your writing goals for each month and then modifying your writing for use in multiple venues. Here are six tips to help you get the most from your business writing:
- Be clear on why you are writing (For example: “I want new clients!” or “I want to drive traffic to my website.”)
- Be clear for whom you are writing (Women over 40 who are recently retired. Small business owners who are struggling to find clients. Families who want help in collecting their family history into a book.)
- Write out your writing goals as a marketing strategy (How many articles per month? Linked to what other of your marketing strategies? Where and when?)
- Define the compelling interests of your audience. (What makes them look for an article of the kind you are writing or avidly read something you have sent to them? What do you want them to “do” after they read your article?)
- Choose the writing venues to which you will submit your writing. (Based on where your audience is most likely to look for writing by experts like you or in what mode you are going to send your writing to your database.)
- Use the same or slightly modified versions of your writing in more than one venue. The rule of thumb is that if you change the title and 10-20% of the article content it is a “different” article.
