About Me
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Most of the people I work with make, distribute, or sell something (products), or they do something for other people or businesses (services).
My job is to explain what you make, distribute, sell, or do for others into carefully crafted words, telling the story of your product, service, or brand in a way that attracts new clients and increases engagement with existing customers. . |
My Background
I have had a passion for words, writing, and storytelling for as long as I can remember.
From a young age, I wrote stories, essays, poems, short plays and almost anything in between. In my late teens and early twenties essay writing developed into crafting short stories (still my favourite form of writing).
For much of my adult life, I wrote creatively in my free time while working in the consumer electronics industry for 17 years. 15 years of that time were spent as a line/department manager in the local operations or distributorships of major international brands e.g. Samsung, LG, Sony, Boston Acoustics, Rotel, Russound & Loewe. I have managed customer service, national spare parts and reverse logistics operations with staff complements ranging from 5 – 30.
During that time, my work often required a fair amount of business writing, which I naturally gravitated towards, and I became quite accomplished at writing instruction manuals, training manuals and other materials, reports, presentations etc.
At the end of 2009 I left the corporate world and combined my love of creativity, my writing skills and my business experience by becoming a full-time freelance copywriter and web content writer.
I now write a variety of materials for organisations that recognise that effective communication is one of the key drivers of business growth.
Core Skills
- Learning about and assessing the products and services provided by clients, then writing engaging copy that clearly shows potential customers the value of the offering and how it will solve a problem or improve things for them
- Taking complex, technical, jargon riddled source material and rewriting/summarising it in a way that makes it more accessible, especially to the layman.
- Researching topics and presenting key information in a clear, logical, easy to understand manner
- Writing in a style and tone that is appropriate for your business and industry, and that resonates with your customers
- Finding and developing ideas for interesting, useful content
How I Work
Wherever possible, I prefer to form long-term relationships with clients – ideally on a regular work/retainer basis. This allows me to allocate blocks of time to the client in advance, prioritise their work, and guarantee availability. Having an ongoing relationship with a client, and doing regular work for them, also means that I become very familiar with the business and industry
This does not mean that I don’t take on ad hoc work or once-off projects. I do, provided the brief clear and interesting, and the job big enough to justify investing time in researching and learning about a product, business or industry if necessary.
As a general rule, I don’t take on jobs that would take less that one full day to complete.
My preferred type of client is an owner-run, mid-sized business that is committed to growth and recognises the value of high-quality copy and content. I do also work with larger corporate organisations, and in that case my preference is for businesses where department/business unit managers have a high degree of autonomy.
I have found that working directly with decision-makers rather than junior staff that need to approve everything through a long chain of command produces much better results.
I am also a firm believer that a vague brief is the surest way to end up with misunderstandings, unmet expectations, and unhappiness (on both sides of the relationship).
Establishing a clear brief, with timelines, upfront makes it clear what exactly is expected and by when.
How I charge
Although I do use per word or per hour rates for my own purposes to calculate costs, I usually quote a fixed fee per project or piece of work. This way costs are clearly stipulated up front, the client can assign budget to the job, and there are no nasty surprises at the end of the process.
Once my quote has been accepted, I will complete the work at the agreed price, even if it takes me a little longer than I anticipated. This is provided that the delay is not due to factors beyond my control, e.g. the client changing the brief or specification during the project. Should this happen, I may need to re-quote or add on a surcharge to cover extra work required as a result.
For those who like specifics, the base rate I use to calculate project costs are R2.50/word or R250/hour, as relevant. These are just a general guideline though, and I adapt as required.
Terms
As a general rule, I require a 50% deposit before adding a project to my work schedule, with the balance of quoted costs payable on completion/handover.
Quotes are valid for 30 days – thereafter I may have to re-quote if the situation requires
Making sure that each client is happy with the material I provide is a priority for me, so I will make up to two sets of reasonable, minor changes for no extra charge. However, this does not mean that I will do a free rewrite as a result of a vague or incorrect brief, or because the client has changed direction on a marketing campaign, or forgotten to include pertinent information in the brief etc. in those cases I reserve the right to quote for the additional work.
Contact Me Now to discuss your Copywriting and Web Content needs.
