FAQs
- What types of customers have you worked with?
They are usually projects that have many different "deliverables" that make up a strategy to move the client or business from one stage of recognition to the next. For instance, I might do 12 newsletters, set up 50 auto-responders based on a set of "if, then, else..." statements, write four feature articles, rewrite the content of a website, articulate their message in an eBook and companion audioBook and online courses, and then with my staff, look for stories in the media that are about their areas of expertise. Through that portion of promoting all the other "deliverables" and "expertise" of our clients, we may have them comment in a news article, become the subject of an interview, provide technical consultation in a movie or documentary, produce a radio show series with them, or have them participate in a television show as the expert or artist in residence. We will build a story catalogue that allows us to take portions very small to very large and create a set of consistent messages. We will try to find speaking engagements for our clients, and where appropriate, opportunities to provide expert testimony. For clients that are trying to emphasize their expertise in a broad area, we will write a series of eBooks and produce their audiobooks, as well as a campaign to develop a large readership in conjunction with certain professional websites and organizations. Attorneys, doctors, scientists or inventors are more often likely to want projects like these. This goes further with defining SEO objectives and shorter articles that link back into social media components like LinkedIn, Twitter, #Twubs or Pinterest to promote their overall objectives. In short, we are constructing stories that are as short as 140 characters and as long as 100 pages and then refashioning them through as many conduits as we can come up with. So, it's in the common message throughout these many different formats that the objectives are achieved. We are using a combination of frequent appearance in the market place as well as weaving a series of messages together to bring recognition and business to our clients, or to help them bring about disruptive change. Sometimes, it is both.
- What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?
When you hire someone to write, narrate, publish - to be your 'content strategist' - and market your business, you're placing something very sacred into their hands. If you are not a good strategist yourself, take the time to ask them what they see as the long term plan and the time frame it will take to meet your goals. Usually, the soonest I see meaningful, real results is about nine months into a long term project. Prior to that, my clients usually think of what I do in a more task oriented way. The overall vision begins to take shape at 12 months, and usually major objectives that quell naysayers come to fruition in the 18 to 24 month zone. By then, I am either finished with my objectives entirely, or we begin to work on another set of strategic objectives all together. For me, I can tell pretty early on which situations will be most successful. There are many great ideas out there, but the clients I am going to be able to give the most value to are the ones that are cooperative and collaborative.