Promotional Video Scriptwriter

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. So many companies, when they look for a copywriter, want to hire someone who has a degree in English journalism. To me, that's not the most effective approach. Most English professors have never sold a thing in their whole career. And writing in correct grammar is not always how people think.

A good copywriter knows how customer make the right buying decisions. A good copywriter knows how to educate the reader or listener on making a decision that's in their best interest. Compelling someone to buy something is not enough. That can create too many product returns or service complaints. The purchase decision has to be the best choice for the buyer.

That's the kind of copy and scriptwriting I do.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. For a promotional video, it is critical that a clear objective is defined. Online viewers tend to move from site to site quickly. So the objective needs to be presented clearly, in a way that they can understand and that keeps them engaged until the end ... where you present your offer.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. In addition to being a trained copywriter, I also have many years experience in marketing, advertising and sales training. One aspect that makes me effective with my clients is that I have people skills. In addition to working on client projects, I teach workshops on marketing, advertising, and networking. My workshop on how to write an effective elevator speech is one that local chambers of commerce ask me to present regularly.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. Meeting innovative companies and entrepreneurs. I continue to be amazed at what people invent, and how they go about solving a customer's problem. Being a copywriter feels like I get to learn on a continuous basis.

I love helping companies be successful. That's probably my main motivation.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. How much do you charge?
That largely depends on they type of project you want me to write. If you want a one-page sales letter or a 30-second video script, that'll be relatively inexpensive. If you want a full website or a 5-minute video, it will cost more. Much also depends on whether you can give me background information. If I have to spend my time doing research, it'll be more expensive. If you give me plenty of existing information, it'll be less expensive.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. One day, the president of the company that I worked for gave an employee speech that totally sucked. Since I sat right next to his office, I asked him for a few minutes of his time and made some suggestions. Next I knew I was writing his speeches ... then the internal company newsletter ... then I was the contact for the media. In other words, I just sort of fell into it and loved it right away.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. Absolutely. Every industy changes. The copywriting industry is not any different. That's why I continue to take training from copywriters and copywriting schools that I respect. Scriptwriting is the latest training I took. It came along the same day as I was hired to write a 20-minute training video.

Q. Describe your most recent project, what it involved, how much it cost, and how long it took.

A. A client in the wholesale travel industry wanted to do a webinar on training travel agents how to get and keep more customers. Nobody on their staff felt comfortabe to speak to a larger audience ... although they are all star sales people, but mostly one-on-one.

I developed their powerpoint presentation, wrote the email invite and the reminder email. In just a few days I'll be training a large group of travel agents on "a simple marketing formula that works."

Developing the whole project took me about 15 hours. Probably about 30% of that was communication with my client.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. It's really quite simple. Watch your mail. Watch TV commercials. If you receive or see the same ad over and over again you know that it's a winner. Or the advertiser wouldn't spend the money on postage or TV time. Study that material. And read books by the copywriting Greats.