For B2B Technology Copy and Ghost Writing – which road should you travel?
Let’s start with basics, shall we? My strong points are direct response, Internet and Viral marketing. Let’s see how I apply this to my marketing efforts. Take a look at some recent Twitter marketing, copywriting and social media articles I share daily, with 20 K + followers (see tweets on right side).
Randy Kemp on Internet and Viral Marketing for Writers at A Writers Assistant
If you’re having trouble with the above video, click this link:
Image by moonbird via Flickr
Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr
Has anyone defined copywriting for you?
Legendary copywriter John Kennedy called it “salesmanship in print.” Wiki calls it, “the use of words to promote a person, business, opinion, or idea.” I say it’s being a “persuasion artist for marketing communications.”
In case you wonder what my other specialty is – ghostwriting – I’ll share the Wiki definition. “A ghostwriter is a professional writer who is paid to write books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person.”
Defining your target audience
The Key to effective marketing is defining your target audience. Let’s view a great YouTube video on this topic:
Finding the target audience persona is one step. You then need to tap into the proper buying motivators. Let’s look at a diagram from the University of Australia at Tasmania, illustrating psychologist Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Remember this! What you are selling is not the emotions. It’s the solution to the emotional reaction. This goes hand in hand with theme. The online business dictionary dot-com defines theme as, “Central marketing idea or message, or a product benefit or feature, known (or is likely) to have greatest appeal to a targeted market segment.”
How do you become a good copywriter?
Copywriter and marketer Daniel Lewis once said in an ezine article, “If you want to be a competent copywriter, you must do two things above all others. You must read a lot. And write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I know of – no shortcut. You don’t just wake up one day a copywriter. There is a constant learning process going on. “ It’s the same philosophy that College of DuPage, creative writing professors taught me (over the years) – write, write, write. But also apply these simple rules from 1935:
You find me doing something that sounds completely absurd – copying great copy by hand each day (i.e. the former Friday Make Peace Total Package swipe file). I’ve done that at least a half hour each day, since January 1, 2008 (i.e. 365 days a year).
Image by Doctress Neutopia via Flickr
Writer’s Voice
You also need to develop a writer’s voice. Wiki defines this as, “the literary term used to describe the individual writing style of an author. Voice was generally considered to be a combination of a writer’s use of syntax, diction, punctuation, character development, dialogue, etc., within a given body of text (or across several works).”
I don’t say, “I’m the greatest,” like a certain ex-boxer. Several copywriters are on an ego trip – let them stay there. I just write copy as if I’m the client. It must satisfy my standards, before a client reads it.
Biography
Randy Kemp is a copywriter and ghostwriter, who specializes in direct response, Internet and viral marketing. He runs a company called B2B-TechCopy, which is, “committed to providing persuasion artistry for B2B technology marketing communications.”While normally specializing in technology, a golf product developer approached him in early 2008, to develop a product marketing team. Randy set up a golfing WordPress blog and website and orchestrated content marketing. Then he produced golfing Internet radio shows on Blog Talk Radio and Talk Shoe.
Randy has a lifelong interest in writing, spending many years enrolling in College of DuPage creative writing courses and going to writer’s conferences. Randy has a graduate degree in psychology from Norwich University, the oldest private US military school, along with a Six-Sigma black belt from Motorola.
Randy shares daily marketing and motivational tweets with thousands of twitter followers at Randy Kemp on Twitter. He hosts Linkedin groups for copywriters, writers and university alumni. You can find him active on the technology blog at B2B TechCopy Blob.
Randy has many diverse interests. He is a lifelong practitioner of classical homeopathic medicine. You can find him providing editorial help with homeopathic medical books, for an international homeopathic consultant. Although a Christian by faith, Randy has spent several years studying the spiritual and medicine ways of Lakota, Ute and Ojibwa ethnic groups. He has a lifelong interest in the contemplative practices of Christian mysticism, Buddhism and yoga.
Working with me
Let’s talk about working with me. Both sides (client and service provider) can get fees (i.e. low, medium, and high) from the current edition of Writer’s Market, which is available at your local, U.S. public library. Look at the section, “How much should I charge?”
Rather than quote an hourly rate, I prefer to define a project rate. But to do that, I need to scope out the project. This is where I use my skills, as a former Motorola project manager.
| Here’s what I bring to the table and what you pay for: |
| 13 years of marketing experience, running my own IT consulting firm |
| Over 20 years of technology ability, working for major fortune 500 firms – like Motorola, Allstate, United Airlines, and Discover Card. |
| Writing experience – over 20 years, both in the corporate and academic worlds. |
| Psychological insight into the target audience, from an M.S. in psychology (from the oldest U.S. private military college) and 5 years of volunteer experience, working under the DuPage Country Mental Health department. |
| Research capacity, as a former Motorola black belt in statistical Six Sigma (where I conducted Six Sigma projects). |
| Project management ability. |
| Web expertise – for seven years, I helped build, support, and host websites for Motorola engineers. |
| Here’s what I ask in return: |
| Help define with me the project scope. This would include a central corporate contact to coordinate project milestones and project participants – at the company side. |
| Help define the deliverable. This would be the product, with two rounds of revisions. |
| Help define the creative brief. |
Certifications
| I’m also certified. I feel these certifications are invaluable to better serve business. |
| Web CEO certified me as a Professional Internet Marketer |
| HubSpot certified me as an Inbound Marketing Professional |
| Norwich University (the United States oldest, private military college), certified me as a graduate psychology professional |
| Motorola (whom I worked for) certified me as a Six-Sigma Blackbelt. See Virtual Six Sigma |
| The College of Dupage certified me in creative writing, with its Associates degree |
| Aurora University certified me as a mathematician, with its Bachelor of Mathematics |
| Dale Carnegie Institute certified me as a Sales and Marketing Motivation Professional |
| ESI International (backed with George Washington University accreditation), certified me as a Project Management Professional |
| American Writers and Artists Institute certified me as knowledgeable of copywritng, with completion of their Accelerated, Masters and B2B copywriting programs … complimented by a long-term membership in Ben Hart’s (direct response marketer and copywriter) inner circle. |
Now you can find out more about me, via the following audio and video avenues:
| Writing samples and interviews |
| Interviews with Randy Kemp on writing, blogging, marketing and technology |
Sample commercial writing and marketing communications on  |
| Fictional Books |
| Business website |
| Don’t forget to join me on Social Media – via links from Google Profile or Follow Me button on Social Follow |
| Google Profile |
| Social Follow |
You will notice I’m on many social media outlets. How important is this expertise to you?
| I can also help with other needs: |
| Expertise in viral marketing |
| Help with SEO |
| Setting up websites in WordPress |
| Getting an Internet marketing program off the ground. |
| Help with backing up MySQL files |
| Writing company blog posts |
| Setting up Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook pages and content |
| Managing a marketing project |
| Just writing some good B2C, Internet marketing copy. |
Notes to Potential Guest Bloggers
I’m always open to guest bloggers. In exchange, I’ll include a brief bio and a link to your website. Please send me in potential contributions to my contact page information. If it’s something I can use, I’ll contact you.
Notes to comment posters
I try to approve all legitimate comments. What I don’t approve is the following:
- Comments with links to pornography.
- Any URL reference the Web of Trust website (Web of Trust) flags as untrustworthy. I have the FireFox, IE and Google Chrome WOT plug-ins.
- Anything with links to merchandise embedded within the comment, rather than the website URL going with the email. So please don’t embed anything selling “Cat-in-the-Hat” SEO techniques, dehydrated water in a can – just add water, left-handed monkey wrenches, or special priced time machines.
- Anything asking obvious questions, like how can I follow you on Twitter, subscribe to RSS feeds, contact you, etc. This is self-explanatory on this website.
- Comments in a foreign language, where the free translation services give nonsense English translations.
- Anything that resembles a word per word translation of an earlier comment.
- Anyone is free to share stuff I write, as long as a back link is made to my site, and proper credit is given.
- The feeds are standard WordPress and Google output, which just boils down to XML docs. If you put my website URL, followed by /feed into w3 Feed Validator, it comes up valid. Unless you give me an Iphone, Blackberry, etc., I can’t tell what feeds might not show up for you.
- All comments not flagged as spam, go into an approval queue. Remember the old saying, “When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck?“ You can substitute the word spam for duck.
- WordPress.com support had concerns about some comments Akismet flagged as spam being approved. I’m now going through and trashing all comments it flagged as spam – whether legitimate or not. Please forgive me if I trashed any real comments. In order to satisfy WordPress support, I’ll only approve comments that Akismet doesn’t flag as spam.
Randy Kemp
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Hey man long time no see. Looks like you found youself a nice nitche.
Like you I got dropped from Mot.
Changes in the wind!
Hey, Found your blog on Google, glad I did, great site!! Keep it up! =)
Hi all great information here and good thread. May I ask how did you think of these ideas ?
Sure! Please do!
Randy
I have been hearing alot about softwre that [converts|changes] articles into videos and wonder if the software works and also if you get as [many backlinks|much traffic] as article marketing does.
Carroll:
Every software that’s worth it’s weight in gold offers a trial period (i.e. 30 days). I would test it out and see.
Does running a blog bring in as much traffic as article marketing? That’s a very “general question” and hard to quantify. There are so many variables.
For example:
1. How many articles are written and what repositories are they sent to?
2. What social media or blog directories (i.e. Technorati). is the blog promoted in?
3. Etc.
It’s like comparing apples to oranges – that is, unless you quantify the variables.
Randy
Hi friends,
Thank you for sharing this great information. Now you have set the platform where we can share our knowledge.So friends do keep us update.
My experience: I raised the kundalini (a Yoga meditation technique) 12 years back. After that, i experienced a burning desire to repent of my sins and commit to Christ as my saviour, and found that many Christians entered into my existence, sent presumably by God. If you believe Yoga and meditation to be from the Devil or anti-Christian, how would you explain this?
I stay away from 2 items if possible – religion and politics. But let me say this. Christian theologians have investigated other faiths and mystical traditions, and have different opinions on it. Probably the most in-depth research comes from the Roman Catholic Church, but you will find noted Protestant theologians writing about it. Rather then give you an opinion, I would stir you towards priests, ministers and theologians, and have you dialogue with them, regarding this topic. But let me pose a question. If someone experiences symptoms of kundalini awakening – yet doesn’t practice meditation, yoga, etc. – how would you explain this? Kundalini, psychosis, demonic influence, etc.?
Theology is the way man views God’s attempt to communicate with us. This gets a different spin, depending on the Protestant denominational filter you see through. In a more global perspective, the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Churches, and Protestant denominations have different “ways of seeing’.
In the garden of Eden story, man was created in the image and likeness of God. The Eastern Orthodox take that statement “very seriously” and gave it a perspective – Theosis – which is the way mankind strives for Union with God.
There’s a classic book entitled: Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind by Richard Maurice Bucke. It’s available at http://www.amazon.com. In it, he describes various figures in history having spiritual awakening experiences.
Another way to look at it is this. We were initially created in God’s image and likeness – this perspective never completely disappeared. Being human, we fall short – which is why Christ came. Yet what Christ has done for mankind is different in Eastern Orthodox theology than in the western theological worlds of Roman Catholic and Protestant theology.
Perhaps things like awakening experiences (i.e. Zen Satori or Eastern Kundalini), metaphysical healing (i.e. Christian Science, Unity, Infinite Way, etc.), are just mankind getting back to what was available in the garden of Eden. Now movements like Zen and Christian Science have their own perspectives on these topics. And these experiences can be beneficial – as author Maurice Bucke points out. But they fall short of the original perfection – which gets back to the mission and purpose of Christ.
Randy
Wicked! Just got a new BB Pearl and I can read your blog on my phone’s browser, it didn’t work on my old one.
Well, let’s look at some comparisons, since you brought up the subject.;
1. Consumer Reports first impressions – http://is.gd/eUZzF
2. Cnet Reviews – http://is.gd/eUZG9
3. Yahoo answers – http://is.gd/eUZLb
4. Tecnipages – http://is.gd/eUZPm
I have used the http://is.gd URL shortening services. If someone wishes to give me one of each, I’ll be happy to compare them.
Randy
I’ve also found this side by side comparison at http://is.gd/eV0na.
Randy
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Thanks great website
I assume you mean the articles in general, and NOT my background article.
Randy
“There is clearly a lot to understand about this. I think you built some excellent factors in Features also.Retain operating ,fantastic job!”
I’m using Digg 3 Column by Small Potato. I like it, since I can use a customizable header. I also embed photos from http://www.flickr.com into some widgets.
Randy
I have been searching via the internet looking for some ideas on the way to get my website coded, your current design and design are wonderful. Did you code it yourself or did you employ a programmer to do it for you personally?
It’s actually done through “smoke and mirrors”. In technical geek talk, it’s templates and themes – no programming involved.
Randy
How about http://www.freetranslation.com/ and http://translate.google.com/?
Randy
I’m very familiar with Krishnamurti and I’ve read a bit of his work. You see, I live very close to the national headquarters of the Theosophical Society in America. Theosophists can be a “bit strange” at times. However, I can visit their library, and he is one of their historical stars.
Yet I do have criticisms of Krishnamurti, just as I have of other writers – like Eckhart Tolle. Krishnamurti is just rehashing stuff you find in Gautama Buddha, just as Tolle rehashes stuff you find in Ramana Maharshi. Tolle has one redeeming quality. He has the same name as Eckhart von Hochheim, better known the as Meister Eckhart.
Randy
You are a good candidate for “direct response” approaches. Anyone who wants to hire me just needs to check the “Contact” tab info. If you are serious – not just a tire kicker – we can talk!
Randy
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Gary:
If you hit the subscribe button on the left hand side, it takes you to a few select options. The “add to Google” option adds it to the Google reader.
Randy
There are share/save links, at the end of each page/article (i.e AddToAny).
There’s a share blog widget link, on the left hand side of the site.
I have social media follow links, via Social Follow and Google Profile, on the right hand side.
What else should I do?
Randy
Rosalee:
Contact me offline and I’ll look at what you are using (i.e. browser, operating system, etc.). Use the contact info in this website.
Randy