Reader Q&A: To pitch now or to pitch later, that is the question

What is the best way to pitch a story to a potential publisher? What if you have access to a great interview candidate (say, a prominent local artist) – should you go ahead with the interview, write the piece, and submit it to a magazine; or should you first find a publisher who would like the piece, and then schedule the interview?

Sounds like a chicken and egg conversation, doesn’t it?

Well, we thought it was an excellent question when Brit DeLong (a graduate student who contributes a health column to the DC Examiner and writes her own blog – Busy Girl Health – while studying publishing at The George Washington University) brought it to our attention. Here’s what some of our Live to Write – Write to Live experts had to say on the subject:

From Susan Nye:

Dear Brit,

Query first; interview and write the article after you get the go from an editor/publisher. As you will need to interview the subject of your article, you will be taking some of his/her time as well as setting expectations that an article will appear sometime in the future. The artist gives you time – you give him/her some publicity. You don’t want to take the artist away from his/her art unless you can deliver.

I suggest you query potential editors to find out if they are interested in the topic. Unfortunately many articles have trouble finding homes because the editor(s) of your target magazine(s) does not see a good fit for your topic – especially if your subject is local or regional and the number of potential publications is limited. Just because an idea is brilliant doesn’t mean a particular magazine will leap to buy it. In addition, many small magazines have their editorial calendars filled for months to come. If nothing else, the artist will know in advance that the article isn’t coming out until July 2014.

People like choices. I suggest that you put together three great ideas, you already have your first, and query editors with all three. Include examples of your work with your query. Published clips are preferable but unpublished articles can do in a pinch. More than one student has secured an assignment with an article from a journalism or creative writing class. I got my first gigs with a newsletter I wrote for friends and family. The examples should demonstrate that you are up for the tasks you propose – an in-depth interview of an artist and your other two ideas. In addition, try not to go too far afield on your proposed topics. Most editors will believe you are credible on a limited set of subjects. It can be hard to convince a stranger that you are capable of a story about an artist one day and venture capital fund management the next.

Good luck – Susan

 

From Wendy Thomas:

I would add:

Include photos, let the magazine know that you have photos ready to go along with the article (some mags take their own photos, others like to have them supplied.)

Also, it’s important to list all of the people and references you will use for your article. That’s a point that adds credibility to your pitch.

I’ve done articles both ways. Querying or pitching first is preferable. My most memorable article first, pitch second was when I interviewed Michelle Obama. The campaign headquarters chose me to interview her but as a freelancer I hadn’t yet placed the article. I spent the night before the interview calling up editors to see if one would take the article. Eventually one did accept it, but not before I grew myself a baby ulcer.

Trust me, it’s a lot easier to pitch before you promise a published final product.
 

… and a little PS from me:

I don’t have much to add since the feature/column work I’ve done has all been procured through my network and word-of-mouth referrals, so I haven’t been in a position of having to pitch a story. I trust that my colleagues know their stuff, though.

The only other, smallish piece of advice I’d offer is to make sure you follow best practices for your pitch and the etiquette of reaching out to an editor. As a blogger who is often approached by people who would like to guest post or otherwise appear on one of the blogs I either write or edit, I can attest to the sad majority of folks who haven’t got good sense about how to respectfully reach out to someone.

A few random thoughts:

• Know about the publication you’re approaching – read a few of their other pieces (if not full issues, or a bunch of archived materials if the target pub is a blog).
• If you can, reference a piece or two in your cover note – just briefly, but to make the point that you know what they are all about.
• Proactive tip: If you have a few pubs you would really like to write for, get involved with their online community spaces (Facebook, Twitter, blog comments, Google+, etc.). This will make it a LOT easier for you to approach someone when the time comes.
• There are dozens of great resources out there re: how to write a solid pitch, but a few things that always bear repeating:
  • Address it to a real person, vs. “Editor.”
  • Keep it brief and to the point.
  • Focus on how your piece will benefit the pub’s audience. Remember – this isn’t about you. It’s about the pub and their audience.

 
 

We were delighted to be able to share some of our insight and perspective with Brit. We wish her the best of luck with this project (and all future writing endeavors).

If you have questions for the writing team at Live to Write – Write to Live, please feel free to reach out to any one of us via our individual blogs or Twitter. We’d be happy to help out if we can. It’s all about sharing what we’ve learned.

Thanks for being here and being part of the conversation!

 

Image Credit: base image by Rubin Alexander

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Celebrate when you hit business goals and milestones

As a small business owner, it’s easy to get caught up in keeping the business moving forward.

You can always:

• be looking for the next client
• want to keep the best clients coming back
• spend time marketing
• connect with your market on social media
• build a support network
• spend time analyzing results
• get ‘caught up’ in deadlines

As a small business owner, you wear all the hats, juggle all the balls, keep everything moving forward. When you complete a task, you check it off and move on to the next item.

Similarly, when you hit a deadline, it’s easy to check it off your list and move on to the next project, but I think it’s important to pause and celebrate.

And before you say, “I don’t have time,” I disagree. At a minimum, I hope you’ll note the successful deadline completion in your list of accomplishments for the year. Whether it’s a success/achievement journal or a list taped to your wall, list the date and a brief description of the accomplishment.

For example: 4/20 – met deadline for (brief description of project) for (client      name) ahead of schedule/on time.

That’s the first activity I recommend. The next is to step away from your desk. Yep, don’t just push the chair back, actually get away from the keyboard so you won’t be tempted to work.

Take a moment to think about how the project arrived at your desk.

• Did you meet the client at an event? Pat yourself on the back for having made the connection that led to work.
• Did the client contact you through a referral? Congratulate yourself for having someone recommend you so positively.
• Did the client find you online? Give yourself kudos for your online marketing and social media efforts

Now think about the process of landing the project. Celebrate your successes of:

• Connecting with the client in a personal and professional way that resonated with the client
• Having your pitch/proposal accepted
• Being able to work with their deadline and other project parameters

And now that you’ve submitted the final work to the client, you get to celebrate the accomplishment, which is not something that happened over night. Recognize that. Appreciate it.

A different kind of celebration, but still a celebration

You’ve put in the effort and time, so take a few minutes, at least, to celebrate that fact! The ‘work’ itself may be easy to you, but that alone doesn’t make your business successful. YOU make your business successful with a lot of effort, so appreciate that and recognize it. (I’m repetitive with important points).

Talk out loud to the empty room: “I just finished X’s 2-week project and it feels GREAT!” (give your best Tony the Tiger imitation) “I look forward to more projects from X, and from similar clients I haven’t met yet.”

–As a note, yes, I do these things. I even do a happy dance – sometimes with music, sometimes without – to celebrate. There’s an exaggerated fist pump and a loud “YES!”, too. And laughter, because it *is* funny to be doing these things in an empty room. But it’s good – it’s fun – it’s celebrating – it makes me smile. I love to smile.

I believe that the more you can appreciate what you have, the more you’ll have. Business goals and milestones are worth celebrating.

And there’s another bonus to the celebrating: when you sit back at your desk to get back to work, you’ll feel more energized and have a fresh mind for the next project.

Have you been taking the time to appreciate all that you do for your business?

Lisa J. Jackson partners with businesses seeking to express themselves with words. She loves New Hampshire and is completing several 5Ks in 2013 as a way to get off the couch and away from the screen. She wasn’t a runner until now, and is thinking that someday she wants to complete the Alcatraz Triathlon. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, Biznik, Facebook, and Twitter. 

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5 Things to Consider When Writing Webcopy

When I write for someone else’s website, the first thing I do is hold a face-to-face meeting. I want to be able to hear the owner’s actual voice and figure out what it is about their business that makes them stand out from the competition. Some of the information I’m specifically looking for is:

What is the voice? I talk about voice a lot in my marketing writing. It’s something you hear about all the time with regard to internet writing. People want to hear your voice. But what does that mean? You, as the writer, need to gauge whether the client’s voice is friendly, authoritative, funny, or motherly to name just a few examples.

A company that offers services to declutter someone’s house is going to have a far different voice than a company that offers international shipping options. When I sit down with the client, I listen to their physical voice when they explain what it is their company does, and that gives me an idea of how they want themselves represented on the internet.

What benefits do they offer the customer? I recently saw a client who showed me his introductory slide presentation for prospective customers. It started with how his company got started (30 years ago) and continued until today. That’s clearly a presentation that was designed for a person who is very proud of his company. It was not designed for someone who wants to know what it is you can do for them. Find out what the benefits and then use that information in every piece of writing you create.

What are the Keywords? I always ask my clients, what words would I use to describe your business? Those will often be the SEO words you’ll use for much of the documentation. I then ask, what words would I use to describe you? Those are often the words by which the company wants to be known  - trustworthy, intelligent, competent, etc. It will be those attributes that you’ll  be showcasing in your writing.

What’s the best way to present the information? Is what the company does visual? If so, like in the case of a decluttering service, perhaps before and after photos would be effective. Is the company more results oriented, as in, they save the customer money? Then charts and graphs might be effective. . Does the company showcase or teach skills? Well now, there’s a case for video clips.

Figure out, based on the product and services, how best to represent that information on the web.

To whom are we targeting the information? In almost all cases, it starts with a blog. That part is easy, what becomes a bit trickier is figuring out how then to broadcast that blog material.

Figure out who the company typically sells to? Is it the CFO? If so, then don’t spend a lot of effort on Facebook and instead concentrate on sending articles and blog posts to LinkedIn groups and out on Twitter. Does the company have a more “friendly” community? If so then go guns blazing to Facebook. Get those blog posts up and invite discussion in a community format.

Not all web promotion is created equal. It’s up to you to match what you hear and understand from your discussions with the client to what is available out there and that would bring the most bang from their investment dollars.

***

Wendy Thomas is an award winning journalist, columnist, and blogger who believes that taking challenges in life will always lead to goodness. She is the mother of 6 funny and creative kids and it is her goal to teach them through stories and lessons.

Wendy’s current project involves writing about her family’s experiences with chickens (yes, chickens). (www.simplethrift.wordpress.com)

An important part of being a good writer is being a good listener.

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Friday Fun – Anxiety and Comfort Levels with Promotion

Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, get-to-know-us question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.

QUESTION: When it comes to publishing, PR, and promotion (including “platform building” and “marketing”), what causes you the most anxiety and what are you most comfortable handling?

Lisa J. Jackson: What causes the most anxiety is doing in-person events. I’m getting better at it as I do more events, but being face-to-face with folks pushes me out of my comfort zone a lot. I like the uncomfortable feeling because it means I’m growing and pushing myself, but I get anxious when I feel the words don’t come right to mind when I need them. I can be quite comfortable with silence, just not when it’s an awkward pause as I formulate a sentence. I’m most comfortable with scheduling the time to do the tasks associated with PR and promotion. I can be inspired by an online or in-person activity and get it on my calendar with ease. I’m great with time management.

.

Jamie Wallace: Though marketing is what I do for a living, I have yet to come at it from the perspective of a writer promoting her services or body of work. In fact, truth be told, I’ve done precious little self-marketing for my marketing business which runs primarily on word-of-mouth referrals and repeat business from happy customers. The types of marketing I’m most comfortable with are, unsurprisingly, content-related: blog posts, articles, ebooks, etc. I’ve also started experimenting with audio and may integrate some video later this year. Like Lisa, public speaking has always made me anxious. Though I’ve gotten much better thanks to work I did in my friend Cheryl’s Platinum Presence workshop, it’s something I still have to psych myself up for. At the end of the day, I believe that finding your marketing groove is more about mindset than about mastering any particular skill or technique. It’s about knowing that you have a right to be here. Once you get past that hurdle, the rest tends to come a lot easier.

Diane MacKinnon: Most of my time in the past twenty years has been spent one-on-one with people, whether life-coaching clients or patients, and I’m most comfortable speaking with people (even groups) face-to-face, even when the topic is myself and what I have to offer. I find the whole social media thing very intimidating. I don’t want to waste people’s time with unnecessary content in their in-box or on their Facebook wall. I agree with Jamie, though. The most important thing is knowing you have a place at the table, whatever table you choose to sit at. That mindset took me a long time to develop, especially with regard to marketing, mostly because I trained as a physician at a time when it was considered really tacky to promote yourself in any way (before the advent of Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz.) I’m inspired by my colleagues skills at social media and plan to continue to learn from them. (Lisa helped me update my LinkedIn page just recently!)

Julie Hennrikus: As always, love reading what my blog mates have to say on this. Here’s my $.02–I am much better at promoting a friend than myself. So (and this is going to sound nuts, but here we go) J.A. Hennrikus author is a friend who I feel more comfortable promoting. I am getting much better at public speaking, and have a few other things I can talk about, so I can make it less about me me me, and more about engagement.

 

photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin: I love speaking in public! I love meeting my readers! But I don’t love asking for readings or sending out press releases or organizing all the details; this is when I wish I had a publicist. (Someday . . . ). But mostly, I like to write. I love being a contributor to this blog, and one of these days, I’ll start one of my own. But updating my website is one of those tasks that’s been on my “to do” list for going on two years. So much to do, so little time.

 

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Perspective, persistence, and patience help build your platform

Building an author (or writer) platform takes 3 things: perspective, persistence, and patience. And with commitment to each of these areas, you will see results in reaching your audience.

Let’s take a look at each category.

Perspective: Know the type of writing you (want to) do and the type of audience you want to reach.

• Start writing, write, and keep on writing. (Start, do, keep on.)
• Start finding ways to interact with the people who make up your target audience – online and in person. Interact with the people you find and keep on interacting with those people and others. (Start, do, keep on.)
• Start creating accounts on social media outlets that are relevant to your writing. Use social media to get your name seen (don’t hide behind a made up name like “iamawriter2″, use your real name (or the name you want people to recognize). Keep on using social media, and don’t be afraid to stop using one avenue if you find another that’s better. (Start, do, keep on.)
• Promote your website (or blog) link whenever appropriately possible. (Don’t just paste your link everywhere, let it have value by being associated with your name and a topic related to your platform).

Persistence: When you get that first follower, that first comment on a blog post, or that first inquiry from your web site, celebrate, but don’t sit back and think you’re all set. You’ve started, and you’re on your way, now keep at it! If you can reach 1 person, you can reach 2, and then 4, and so on.

It can be exciting at the start to want to get ‘the most’ followers, ‘the most’ comments, or ‘the most’ of everything. You’ll soon realize that quality is more important over quantity in many (not all) cases. The more you persist and build your platform and your audience, the more you’ll realize what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to be adjusted. Keep at it. You’ll get there!

When you get writing credits, flaunt them, let your audience know about your successes. The more you write, the more credits you’ll get, and the more you can promote yourself.

Keep at it. (Yes, I’m being purposely repetitive). Be persistent in letting people know who you are and what you write about.

Patience: Building a platform doesn’t happen overnight, but it will happen if you work at it. And you’ll only work at it if it’s something you truly want. So, dig deep and find out if you truly, really, honestly want to be an author (or writer), and if you do, and if you want an audience who reads your work, you’ll need to work on your platform! You can do it.

Today marks 7 years for me as a self-employed writer. *insert party hat and noise makers* I’ve been working on my platform and it has come a long way, but it remains organic. I know I can’t stop working on it now! I hope you have long years as an author (or writer), too.

Have you started to build your author (or writer) platform yet? If not, what are you waiting for?

Lisa J. Jackson makes a living helping businesses express themselves with words. She also loves writing and talking about New Hampshire and plans to complete several 5Ks in 2013. She drinks iced coffee year-round, and needs a stash of Peppermint Patties in the fridge at all times to satisfy chocolate needs. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Biznik, Facebook, and Twitter. 

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Writers and taxes

Self-employed/freelance writers, have you done your taxes yet? The correct answer is: “Of course!”

There are still a couple of weeks to get them done, if you haven’t. And if, by chance, you haven’t started them yet, I found a great post on this very topic by a certified public accountant (CPA) – not mine – that is worth sharing. The site itself is focused on several artistic types, including writers.

There are downloadable checklists and worksheets, and a wonderful (and brief) detailed outline that hits on the main topics that writers need to consider when doing taxes.

I have to admit that I haven’t found the perfect strategy for getting everything in order. I track income and expenses monthly on a paper ledger and use Quicken (am switching over to Quickbooks this year as it really is better tool for a small business), as a double-check to make sure I haven’t missed anything.

Here are a couple of recommendations if you’re new to doing taxes as a business:

• Tracking mileage for anything and everything job related needs to be a habit – if it’s travel to/from a business meeting, or to Staples to get supplies, or to the Post Office for stamps, track that mileage.
• If you haven’t already, get a separate business account and debit/credit card so that you don’t have to spend time sorting through household accounts for business expenses each month/year.
• And if you keep on top of your income and expenses at least quarterly (monthly is best), doing the taxes can be almost painless and you won’t feel the need to procrastinate.

Like writing stories and having the details matter, doing taxes definitely requires paying attention to the details and making sure nothing is overlooked.

What method do you find best for keeping track of expenses and income? A software tool? Paper ledger? Sticky notes attached to receipts?

Lisa J. Jackson makes a living helping businesses express themselves with words. She also loves writing and talking about New Hampshire and plans to complete several 5Ks in 2013. She drinks iced coffee year-round, and needs a stash of Peppermint Patties in the fridge at all times. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Biznik, Facebook, and Twitter. 

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Some resources for small business owners

When you’re starting a writing business, you’ll have a lot of questions. I’ve found some useful resources that are generally available in most (U.S.) areas. They are worth checking into. Many are free or low cost, too.

SCORE – The Service Corps Of Retired Executives is full of, well, retired executives from all industries, who volunteer their time to their communities and help individuals, like us, get on the right track when starting or maintaining our small business. The main site (www.score.org) has links to numerous resources, and if you find an office in your state, or near you, you’ll find even more resources including links to information, affordable workshops, networking events, and more.

Meetup.com – Meetup.com is an online tool to find groups of interest near you. It started out as a social networking site – sort of like a notice board – where people posted activities they were doing and local people could join if they wanted. Now the international site includes those activities as well as specific business, networking, and writing groups.

When I search on “small business” within “25 miles” of my current location, I find groups such as: Local Entrepreneurs, Let’s Get Networked, Let’s Have a Net Lunch, Businesses Supporting Businesses, and many more. You search on keywords and connect with like-minded individuals and have the opportunity to meet them in person.

LinkedIn – I’ve talked about LinkedIn before (specifically LinkedIn for Writers, and LinkedIn for Journalists) and I’ll talk more about it in upcoming posts. It’s a fantastic resource for businesses of all sizes. It takes a while to build up momentum on this site, but it has fantastic groups that you can join (free membership gets you a LOT), to help you build your business, find clients, and find like-minded individuals to talk to and learn from.

Local women-owned business organizations – There isn’t a specific link to this, but it’s worth doing a Google or Bing (or both) search on various keywords to see if there are organizations in your area that are focused on women only (if this pertains to you, of course!) In my state of New Hampshire, there is Women Inspiring Women, Women’s Fund of New Hampshire, and New Hampshire Women’s Initiative. There’s a national org, Women’s Business Development Center, that can be useful too. You can probably find a local resource, or at least online information to help you on your journey.

These are just a few examples. There’s also the Small Business Administration and Chamber of Commerce.

Bottom line is that it pays to look around to see what you can find in your neighborhood. If you haven’t been self-employed before, it’s hard to know what exists. I’ll bet you find a lot more than you expect.

Have you found any groups or organizations for self-employed individuals, or perhaps writers in general that can be useful? Please share in the comments.

Lisa J. Jackson specializes in writing solution briefs, case studies, white papers, other marketing collateral, e-books, and more. She also loves writing and talking about New Hampshire and plans to complete several 5Ks in 2013. She drinks iced coffee year-round, and needs a stash of Peppermint Patties in the fridge at all times. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Biznik, Facebook, and Twitter. 

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Before jumping ship, make sure you can survive

So you want to be a freelancer and have your own writing business and you know your motivating ‘why‘ that is going to keep you inspired day in and day out.

Money doesn’t grow on trees

Now what?

For me, it was to make sure I felt financial comfortable leaving the corporate world.

First and foremost, I needed to know what the reality was money-wise if I completely fell on my butt in my pursuit of being a freelancer. I needed to know my survival benchmarks.

I looked at scenarios such as:

• How many months can I have zero income and still pay my mortgage and take care of my home expenses (including property taxes) based on my savings?
• How low am I willing to let my savings get before seeking employment?
• Do I want to sell my house to reduce expenses?
• Do I want 1 or more roommates to help me keep my home?
• At what point would my savings have to be before nervousness set in? Before concern set in? Before panic set in?
• How could I lower my current bills? (For instance, a higher auto insurance deductible can lower the monthly premium; did I really need cable TV?)

(Some things to note: I was only responsible for myself, I owned my car, and I only had 1 credit card, which I paid off each month. So other than my mortgage, I was debt-free – and it had taken several years to get to that point.)

After considering those questions (and more), figuring out the answers, and making adjustments to my current bills, my biggest concern became health insurance. It was affordable through my employer. But the COBRA offering did not fit my budget whatsoever. I don’t know how employed people would pay those rates, nevermind unemployed!

Before I could leave my full-time job, I had to have affordable, comprehensive coverage for peace of mind. So, I spent time researching.

• I spoke with a representative from my employer’s EAP (employee assistance program)
• I did some Internet research and found options (eHealthInsurance, Health Insurance for Writers, About.com article on this topic)
• I got quotes for health insurance through writing associations (whether I was a member yet or not)
• I looked through the Yellow Pages (amazingly, yes, I really did) to find local options
• I paid attention to health insurance ads in newspapers

It pays to compare. There were a lot of avenues and I checked out everything I found. And, happily, I found the type of coverage I wanted and a policy that was quite affordable to me.

With that final piece of the puzzle (for me) solved, I moved forward in my pursuit of self-employment.

Everyone is different – some people freelance part-time and build up a clientele. Some folks jump ship, hit the pavement, and move forward without a plan but with an intense drive to succeed, even if it meant not sleeping.

I needed a safety net and a certain comfort level and I didn’t want to work 24-hour days. I was going freelance to be happy, to enjoy life, and to savor each day as I pursued my dream. April 1 is my 7-year anniversary and all is well.

Questions? Comments? If you’re already your own boss, what was your biggest concern before you made the move?

Next up: resources for the small business owner.

Lisa J. Jackson, MBA, is a small business owner specializing in writing solution briefs, case studies, white papers, e-books, and more. She also loves writing and talking about New Hampshire and plans to complete several 5Ks in 2013. She drinks iced coffee year-round, and needs a stash of Peppermint Patties in the fridge at all times. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. 

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It’s about them, dummy

This post is in reply to a request for more marketing writing information.

My sister is in a Social Media class and she pointed me to this little gem of a video that brilliantly shows the relationship between the “Advertiser” and the “Customer.”

Advertiser vs. Customer

It’s a point that I need to state time and time again when I’m working with businesses.

It’s not about you, it’s about your audience.

Yeah, sure, you think your business is great (and maybe it is), but if you can’t sell your need or products to a customer, you’re going to be nothing.

So many people still don’t get this. They write about all the good things their business has done. They start marketing material off with “We are.” We are doing this. We are doing that. We’ve won this award. We are great.

But what they really need to do is write about how the good things they are doing can create a benefit to their audience’s lives. Will it make things go bigger, faster, or more efficiently? Will it amuse them? Why should they care about what you are doing?

When I’m reading marketing material, and it starts with “we” I sigh. It’s the pompous Uncle at the Thanksgiving table who’s going to dominate the conversation for the next 15 minutes, isn’t it? Pass the potatoes and it’s time for a little daydream, I know where this is going and I’m checking out.

Here, in a nutshell, is the ultimate challenge for the marketing writer – to always, always present the business’s accomplishments in the context of the audience’s needs and to not fall victim to the bloated, playground bragging style that far too many companies feel is the better way to go.

***

Wendy Thomas is an award winning journalist, columnist, and blogger who believes that taking challenges in life will always lead to goodness. She is the mother of 6 funny and creative kids and it is her goal to teach them through stories and lessons.

Wendy’s current project involves writing about her family’s experiences with chickens (yes, chickens). (www.simplethrift.wordpress.com)

It’s not as easy as it looks, which is why a good copywriter is something that a business will hold onto.

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The Art of Persuasive Copy Writing

I was reading an article in Writer’s Digest on creating written ad content (yeah, I also write marketing content for businesses) and the author, Athena Schultz,  did a great job in breaking down an ad into its major formulaic parts. The author proposed that most ads consist of:

• Attention –the ad grabs your attention and hooks you
• Interest –the ad fulfills a promise
• Desire –the ad appeals to your wants and needs
• Action –the ad identifies a call to action

Now, not all ads are going to fit this formula but I’m going to show you one that does. Below is an ad for Garnier Hair color. What you are seeing is actually part of a two page spread, on the facing page is a photo of a very happy (orgasmically happy) woman with perhaps the world’s most beautiful hair. She’s smiling, wearing bright red lipstick, has perfect teeth, is probably going home to a clean house – basically, anyone would want to be her.

Except that all she is, is really just a show pony. She’s there to simply get your attention (which is not a bad thing in the world of advertisements.)

If you break the written content of this ad down, this is what you get. (If you click on the photo, it will enlarge enough for you to read the text.)

Attention – Not only does this amazingly happy woman get our attention but take a look at that headline on page 2. HAIRCOLOR WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.  Whether you agree or disagree, it’s got your attention because immediately you are asking yourself “why not?”

Interest – Well there it is. There’s the promise that the ad will fulfill. Garnier has a technological breakthrough where oil can do *more* than condition hair (we can clearly see from the woman that it does more.) Garnier’s oil propels color deep inside the hair.

Wow, right?

Desire – Now look at the list that follows the promise. If you use Garnier, you will get: Maximum Color Performance, Visibly Improves and Restores Hair, and, if you were still on the fence, Unique Sensorial Experience.  Those are all things that appeal to my wants and needs. I don’t want to just color my hair, I want performance *and* a sensorial experience. (Seriously, if I’m going to play with chemicals, I want to have a good time.)

Action – there are actually two actions here:

• Take care. Garnier – a clever tagline which is a signoff, as well as a command
• “Try it and share your hair story with 1, 000s of others at ganierUSA.com /Olia”

Take care, try and share. That’s the call to action in a nut shell.

Now not all ads will follow this format as clearly as this one does, but many do.

So why am I teaching you about ad copy? Because it’s also a way to effectively organize a persuasive essay, a white paper, or an email to a boss requesting something. It’s also a nice way to organize an article pitch, a book query, or an article on why your book rocks. Basically, it’s one of those skills that should always reside in your back pocket.

You want to get attention, present your case, support your case, and then ask for action.

Go ahead and try using a formula like this in your persuasive writing, but don’t forget to use your head. I’ve had students in writing classes, who, when given a template like this, don’t know enough to make any personal deviations. Their writing ends up being stale and anything but persuasive.  However, if you are a skilled writer, there’s nothing wrong with putting this kind of a formula down first as the skeleton of your work and then going back to add the flesh making it the breathing creature that your writer’s soul needs to create.

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Wendy Thomas is an award winning journalist, columnist, and blogger who believes that taking challenges in life will always lead to goodness. She is the mother of 6 funny and creative kids and it is her goal to teach them through stories and lessons.

Wendy’s current project involves writing about her family’s experiences with chickens (yes, chickens). (www.simplethrift.wordpress.com)

And yes, this formula (with a few liberties) also works when trying to teach your kids how to write an essay for the SATs

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