Building Trust + My Gift to You 19 December 2007

The festive 2007 edition of ‘Communiqué for Success’ is now ready for you. It answers such questions as:

• How do you get people to trust you and buy from you?

• What’s the difference between ‘affect’ and ‘effect’?

• How can you make your brochure magnetic?

• What is my gift to you?

• How can you add a few extra pennies to your pocket this festive season?

• What can you do to get free advertising?

• What’s the alternative to socks? 

 

All the answers (and more) are in this month’s newsletter.

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Word count for this issue: 2,117
Approximate time to read: About 10 minutes
Suggested props: Mulled Wine or Hazelnut Hot Chocolate

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You can see the current and most of the past newsletters by going towww.mediaminister.co.uk and clicking on the “F*REE stuff” link on the top menu. 

To take advantage of subscriber specials, etc, I would highly recommend you sign up to receive your very own copy.

You’ll also find direct links to my blog and other sites.

And it’s all freeeeeeeeeeeee.

Enjoy!

Tracey

PS – The direct link to the Decenber newsletter is –http://www,mediaminister.co.uk/cfs/11December2007.htm

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Holiday Office Hours 17 December 2007

Just to let you know that I plan to shut down the office from 10.30am (GMT) on Wednesday 19 December for my birthday. I’ll be up and running again on Monday 24 December, until 4.30pm when the office will close for the festive season. It will re-open for business on 2 January 2008 (wow, that feels weird just writing that!).

I would like to take a moment to extend my warmest wishes to all my blog readers for a happy, peaceful, and healthy holiday season. And may 2008 prove to be the very best year of your life.

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’Tis the Season to Be Thankful… 13 December 2007

The run-up to the holiday season is a perfect time to say thank you to your business prospects, current and past customers, suppliers and associates for their custom and support.

Seeing as though we all liked to be appreciated (I do!), why not send an email, a letter, an online or offline greeting card and acknowledge the people that have made a difference in your life and business?

If you’re feeling particularly flush and want to jump straight into that ‘giving’ mode, up the ante and send a ‘thank you’ note along with a gift. 

And a big thanks goes out to all my clients, blog readers and subscribers – I really do appreciate you.

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Reader Q&A: Using Other People’s Work 11 December 2007

Question: "If I come across an article that I’d like to use, is it OK to copy it and post it on my website as long as I give credit to the author?"
– by email

Answer: No, apart from the ethics involved, you could encounter a number of copyright-infringement legalities. You really must get permission from the author or source first. They’ll most likely say yes and give you a resource box to include with the article. Best to be safe than sorry, I say.

That said, there are times when an article will be published with a ‘reprint’ box that describes how to use the article for free, providing the author byline or source and any copyright/reprint notices are left intact. Like with the article above.

Got a burning question you want answered? Email it to me and I’ll try to answer it sometime soon.

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Socks are Boring: Give a Flexi Gift Voucher™, Instead! 7 December 2007

The holidays are coming full speed ahead. Have you done your Christmas shopping yet (smug? Moi? Actually, I haven’t escaped the December rush – crush?! – as I STILL have two presents to go and then I’m all done)? If not, for last-minute gifts for people anywhere in the world you can’t beat ‘flexi’ vouchers. Click here to read more: http://tinyurl.com/y2cfce.   

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Free Legal Advice for Creatives 7 December 2007

A new ‘Law for the Arts’ service has been launched by the Legal Advice Centre (LAC) at Queen Mary, University of London. It offers free legal advice to those working in the creative industries on issues such as copyright and trademarks. 

For further information, visit: the LAC website.
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Reader Q&A: How Did You Get Started in the Copywriting Business? 5 December 2007

QUESTION

CfS reader Brian Roberts asks, “How did you get started in the business?” 

ANSWER 

To paraphrase that legendary Nike strapline, I just did it!I had contributed to the student magazine while at uni. And when I later embarked upon my career, I just started writing and sending off my work to various publishers.

After graduating, I fell into PR, which I thoroughly enjoyed, especially the writing element. For direction and to hone my skills, I started a home-study writing course through The Writers Bureau. I also began to write article for magazines and newspapers.

Then an amazing thing happened; one got published.

Spurred on by the feeling of being like a ‘proper’ writer, optimism ran high and so I left my PR job and headed off into the freelance writing world. I wrote more articles, and more of them got published. Hurrah! This was going well.

Soon I received a ‘Certificate of Competence as an Established Writer’ from the Bureau, which cemented the feeling of being the real McCoy.

It wasn’t long before I decided to concentrate my writing endeavours in the direction of the local and regional press, and so studied for and achieved a post-grad degree in journalism at the London College of Printing & Design.

Ironically, although this strengthened the business side of freelance writing, this resulted in me becoming keener on freelance sub-editing than writing. Still, I stuck with the writing and continued to get published in local, national and international newspapers and magazines. I wrote about topics ranging from health to women’s issues and business matters.

Many publishing credits later (and yet more study, in particular the rather fantastic copywriting course at The Institute of Copywriting), I expanded my remit to include web content, online marketing, marketing coaching, sub/copy editing and proofreading.

I’ve been earning a living with words for just over 14 years (yikes!) now – and I love it. Granted, it’s not an easy nut to crack (despite the glut of ‘gurus’ telling you how easy it is to earn a six-figure income in a year or so with copywriting; it’s just not realistic, or fair, to say that), but once you get some momentum going, it’s a great career choice.

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Rover to the Networking Rescue! 3 December 2007

I’ve discovered a fantastic way to break the ice at networking events, and to ensure networking success, to boot: Talk about Rover…

OK, so my pet pooch isn’t called Rover, but he is certainly a great conversation-starter.

Realise that I do not take him along to events. Oh no, that would be networking suicide – he’s far too over-zealous when it comes to making friends! Rather, I slip in some anecdote about the motley hound at some point when speaking to potential new business contacts.

This usually results in a great rapport, and the exchange of video footage and pictures of our dogs. As a bonus, a connection has been made that might well lead to something of mutual benefit in the future. 

So why not introduce your pet while networking at your next event, and see what happens?

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