YOUR STORY
Finding Your Written Voice
What is your written voice? It's the voice people hear in their heads when they're reading about your brand. It should reflect the experience they'll have when they engage with you or anyone within your company. Your website, brochures, advertisements and other marketing materials are ambassadors for your brand, working 24/7, to engage with potential customers who are seeking the products, services or information you have to offer -- make sure they sound like you before they get you on the phone or meet you in person.
The top 3 questions most copywriters are asked:
“What’s your rate?”
“Are you available?”
“What’s your style?”
My rates are provided in a free written estimate after our initial intake call. I don't charge by the hour because the better I write, the less money I make. You don't want to be watching the meter as we work through the creative process -- a flat rate for a set amount of revisions with polishes best protects your interests and ensures the copy isn't final until it is perfect. My process is swift, efficient and it works. A few items that will affect the estimate -- the scope of work and how fast you need it.
My style is irrelevant. My job is to write in a style that best fits YOU. And by YOU, I actually mean, YOUR AUDIENCE. Your written voice should best reflect a tone and style that will connect you with your audience, engage them, and usher them to sale.
There’s a lot of pressure to have people stay in their lane. Singers shouldn’t rap and rappers shouldn’t sing. I am a free-range writer – I can adapt to just about any style that’s called for. And the same goes for my clients. There’s often a lot of pressure to sound like everyone else in your industry, because it’s assumed that’s what works. So how do you stand out in a crowd? Be authentic.
A regional steakhouse once hired me to create a brand style guide that sounded authentically Texan and not cliché Texan. A prominent law firm hired me to bring the right dose of heart and humor to an otherwise buttoned up litigation brochure. A technology company hired me to simplify the message for a complex product. One of the best compliments I ever received was from the wife of my client, a grizzly man who owned a lawnmower and snowmobile repair shop; she said, “that website sounds just like him!”
For the record, I do have a writing style, but I save it for work that has my name on it. I’m always happy to share links to my editorial work; even if potential clients don’t hire me, they just might discover a favorite new band or song.