Disqus - Latest Comments for divinewrite

Re: The client relationship

divinewrite — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:36:00 -0000

Heya Jonathan. Nice post. All of these vids and stories about horror clients and prospects are very entertaining. I love ‘em! (They’re funny and they bring us together as a community.) But they really are a little self-indulgent, I think.

Yes, the value of creative is difficult to justify. But that’s not unique to the web world. Whatever you do, if you charge more than usual, you’ll have to justify it, if you want people to pay.

If you’re a creative and you're experiencing these horror-stories all the time, it’s likely one/some/all of the below are true:

1) As Jonathan suggested, maybe you’re not adequately promoting your benefits.

AND / OR

2) You’re targeting the wrong audience. If you don’t want to spend a great deal of time educating clients about the benefits of high quality creative, then you should be targeting clients who are already aware of those benefits.

AND / OR

3) You’re mismanaging your businesses. If you’re managing your business intelligently, these horror stories should almost never come out of actual client engagements. They should come only out of prospect enquiries and requests for quote. (And if 1 & 2 above are sorted, they be few and far between.) If someone is ignorant of the benefits of your service, you have to know this BEFORE you take them on as a client. If they're 'doubters', don't take them on. What’s more, you should have default mechanisms in place to ensure you’re covered if they start doubting your benefits AFTER you take them on:

i) Always take a hefty percentage up-front (never less than 50%).

ii) Always get your client to sign a contract that includes the scope of job, the cost, the assumptions, the deliverables, and the terms.

iii) Ensure this contract is written such that ambiguous concepts like “quality” and “creativity” are NOT prerequisites for payment. Instead, make your contract about time / labor / deliverables — things that can be measured. Unless the client demands (and you agree, in writing, to) results-based payment terms, you must get the client to agree, in writing, that YOU GET PAID EVEN IF THEY DON’T LIKE THE END RESULT. (There is an inherent risk in engaging a creative: it’s subjective. There’s no guarantee it will work the first time. Or the second. Or the third. If the client wants guarantees, they have to pay for them. For the time and expertise required to isolate all the contributing factors and identify the precise impact of your contribution. And for the time and expertise required to engage in split-testing until one approach is proven effective. Failing that sort of commitment, the client needs to understand they’re paying you for a measurable amount of work, based on what you already know and the sort of work you’ve done in the past.)

iv) You have to get them to approve your style/approach BEFORE you complete the entire job.

If the client balks at any of the above, run away.

Just my 2 cents...

Re: 650 Strategic Ways to Choose a Premier, Unique, Full Service, Interactive Marketing, Digitally Driven, Results Oriented, Innovation-Focused, Creative, Social Media Marketing, New Media Global Consu...

divinewrite — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:49:25 -0000

Heya Ben. In the context of an About Us page, for instance, the 'We' nature of the first quote would be fine. I also think it's fine to say: "we are passionate about exceptional website design and application development." I like the brevity and balance here: "We research it and practice it. We live and breathe it." And for all that the prospect of them running with your project made you feel icky, many clients WANT someone who'll take the entire job off their hands and use a bit of initiative. That's how I read the following: "Let us run with your project and see just how great web development is done these days."

Granted none of it is the BEST writing I've seen, but it certainly ain't the worst. And there's some good stuff in the middle, if you ask me.

Cheers.

Re: 650 Strategic Ways to Choose a Premier, Unique, Full Service, Interactive Marketing, Digitally Driven, Results Oriented, Innovation-Focused, Creative, Social Media Marketing, New Media Global Consu...

divinewrite — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:38:57 -0000

Nice post, Ben. Although I think there's actually a lot of merit in the first quote above (in the right context), I agree with all your points, generally.

More impressive -- to me at least -- is your understanding that copy can/should bring personality to a website. If only more people grasped this...

Cheers.

Re: Is Quality Copywriting Worth the Expense?

divinewrite — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:30:53 -0000

Nice post, Ang. I particularly like "you need to build the elemental foundation of trust". As I look around, most copy seems to have been written without this in mind. Also, I agree with Justin. Your discussion of voice is very well put. By accepting low quality copy, you're endorsing it, and equating it with your brand.

Re: Want a Copywriter Who Works for Free?

divinewrite — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:42:35 -0000

Exactly! I'd love to hear some answers from 'free-seeking' prospects to your question, "What is it about writing that makes people think it’s not valuable?" It's valuable enough for them to come looking for you, and to ask you to write it, but not valuable enough to invest in?

Re: How Much is a Twitter Follower Worth?

divinewrite — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:48:19 -0000

I've always wanted a bridge! What's the weather in Brooklyn like? Would you consider a trade on a bridge in Sydney? Tell me more... Interesting post. If followers do, indeed, have a $ value, I think the individual $ value of each follower increases as your following increases. Too long an explanation without another coffee. Perhaps I'll blog on that myself! Also, that value is going to increase a LOT in the coming year, as Twitter becomes more mainstream. Cheers. Glenn (@divinewrite).

Re: Don’t let the SEO snitches ruin it for all of us…

divinewrite — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:37:44 -0000

Great post! Couldn't agree more. Nice one, Patricia.