excess voice: nick usborne's blog

Building Your Brand as a Freelance Copywriter

Since starting my coaching service at AskNickUsborne.com I have been thinking more and more about the factors that lead to success or failure in a freelance copywriting career.

It strikes me that one of the most important foundations of any freelance career is to get your branding right.

The trouble is, your brand is one of the toughest things to understand and articulate when you are just getting started.

When you are looking for your first few paid jobs, you’re focused a lot more on just getting some paid work under your belt.

That’s understandable. But if freelancers are looking for any kind of long term success, they really do have to pause and invest some time in developing their brand.

How do you do that? To help freelancers find some kind of structure and process in the brand-building process, I have just posted a new article, The 4 Elements of Building Your Brand as a Freelance Copywriter.

Job Board for Online Writers and Copywriters

I have added a job board widget to one of the pages on the Excess Voice site.

There is a list of 6 online copywriting and content writing jobs there right now, in the right side column.

Click on the “View all jobs” link at the bottom, and you’ll be taken to a longer list.

Also, if you want to post a job for a copywriter or content writer, click on the “Post a job” link at the top.

New look and code for Excess Voice

My newsletter site, ExcessVoice.com, was first put up back in 2002. The code was basic and over time the whole site has become a mess.

Now it’s in the process of being redone. New design, new navigation and new code.

If you visit and wander around, you’ll find that some pages have the new look, and some have the old. The old ones will be updated over the course of the next few weeks. Or months maybe, as there are over 500 pages on the site.

Who did the design and code for the update? Not me, that’s for sure.

It’s the work of my teenage son, Thomas.

If you have time to visit let me know what you think of the new look.

Make the gift match the relationship

I received a direct mail package from my cell phone service provider this morning.

It was a nicely produced piece in an invitation-style envelope, including a short letter thanking me for being a loyal customer for a number of years.

In return for my loyalty, they offered me a choice of free gifts.

Sending the letter was a good idea. It’s easy to switch providers, and it was smart of them to thank me and offer a gift.

The trouble is, the gift choices sucked.

Gift choice #1: A pouch for my cell phone. Like I don’t already have half a dozen of those gathering dust.

Gift choice #2: A 6-month subscription to a magazine. Sure. I can get the same offer from a dozen places online.

Gift choice #3: A music CD. Are they kidding? Why not offer me some free downloads instead?

As soon as I read the list of gift choices, I dropped the package in the garbage.

And that’s a pity, because I toss 99% of junk mail without even reading the outer envelope.

These guys achieved the near impossible of getting me to actually read the letter and then glance at the brochure with the featured gifts.

I was feeling positive right up to the moment I saw the gift choices. And then those positive feelings turned to negative within the blink of a neuron.

The moral of the story is, if you’re going to try to hold onto your customers with a gift offer, make it meaningful. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it does have to have some perceived value and meaning.

Like everyone else, I like free gifts. I just don’t like to be insulted.

My new coaching service for freelance copywriters who want to build a better, bigger business.

For some time I had a forum at asknickusborne.com. The idea was that I could give tips and advice to people who wanted help with their online copy. But it never came to much.

So now I have re-launched that domain as the home of my new coaching service.

I won’t be coaching people on how to improve their copy. There are plenty of other coaches doing that already.

Instead, I’ll be working to help freelancers build their freelance copywriting business. So this is a business coaching service, but aimed specifically at freelance copywriters.

Is there a need to help freelancer copywriters with their business skills?

I think so.

Many copywriters are working in niches that really don’t suit them. And even among those who have the right niche, many don’t know how to position themselves and market their services effectively.

Am I qualified to help? After working for almost 30 years as a copywriter and 25 years as a freelancer...I certainly hope so.

You can find out more about my coaching service at asknickusborne.com.