"Help! I Can't Find a Writer!"
No...you just can't find the right writer.
Is this a familiar scenario?
It's deadline time for a long-awaited piece of prestige copy. Your responsibility. Maybe it’s a print ad for a trade publication...a high-profile sales letter...a brochure for a new product. It could be web content for your company’s redesigned home page. Or narration for a new corporate-image video.
Or how about a major trade-association speech for your CEO or senior VP to deliver—next week.
It's yours. You own it. And it's not getting done.
Let me introduce myself. I'm Bill Henderson, Freelance Copywriter, and thanks to years of experience with corporate and institutional clients, I know exactly where you're coming from.
Most likely, your deadline was set weeks, months ago. You might have set it yourself, but one thing or another keeps getting in the way. As a manager, your attention is monopolized by events, programs, new stuff. Your phone is ringing off the hook. You find yourself scheduled with back-to-back meetings. You're fighting a half-dozen other fires.
There was a moment when you thought you might take it on yourself. But let's face it, when have you ever found time to go off in your ivory tower and write?
So now what? You need a miracle.
"Who You Gonna Call?"
Everyone knows you don’t just order up fine writing by the pound. But sometimes, that's exactly what you need--a pound or two of clear, powerful, on-the-money text. Not just text--but a focussed message, confident, elegant, and hard-hitting. The work of a sure hand.
And when you do...who do you turn to?
• Your ad agency? You tried that--they brought their high-priced guns to the table, charged you plenty, then at the last minute delivered something you weren’t happy with.
• How about the creative temp outfit you call in a pinch? No, you've learned from experience that jobs like this one demand a level expertise that's beyond the reach of their people.
• Should you bite the bullet and rely on your tech writer? Or your publications manager? Or the folks who turn out your in-house newsletter? Sounds good...well, if not good, at least adequate. Until you remember: they can't write marketing copy!
That’s when the muttering starts... "I can't find a writer!" It's the marketing manager’s age-old cry of despair. "I need a writer. And not just any writer. The RIGHT writer."That’s where I come in. Because being the right writer--for you--is what I'm all about.
Those Projects
In your mind, conjure up a memory of one of those killer copywriting projects...one that never rose to the level of distinction the occasion required because your writer, or writers, couldn't bring in the high quality of text you had in mind.
Now back up and think how it might have been--for you, for your group, for your bottom line--if you had you called me.Let yourself imagine the luxury of managing such a task...effortlessly.
Relax!
When you work with me, you've got the partner you've always wished for, but could never find before...a pro who can deliver for you with complete authority and get it done 99% right the first time.
Imagine having finally gotten what you always wished for. Through me you’re getting the job done—but with minimum stress, because there's absolutely no question that it's being done right. No panic. No nagging voice at the back of your brain saying...”Have you finished that piece yet?”
Imagine the peace of mind you’ll feel knowing that someone who’s been down these roads as many times as I have is taking care of it for you--without being in your face.
I Get It
Please understand one thing: when it comes your message, your story, I know your roots lie deep in specialized soil. The first thing I’ll do, if we work together, is take the time to learn your business inside and out. Not just how it works, but how you talk about it...how you use the words and phrases that have power for you and your target audience.
I’ll want to collect--and process quickly--every revelant document your company has ever published. Brochures, web promos, press announcements, your last five annual reports...everything. Then I’ll sit with your key people, your decision-makers, to gain the widest possible sense of how your shared needs and values guide and inform your mission.
And when I'm sure my research has left no stones unturned, I’ll put that research to work for you, just as I have so many times for others. I'll help you succeed when you need it most.
It's About You
Now you know my basic approach. What's yours? If you thrive on close collaboration, I'm there. Or if that's not your style, then turn your mind to other tasks--you won't have to see me until I come back with the draft text you envisioned. Either way we'll make you a winner. It's your choice.
Soup to Nuts
For over twenty-five years, in good times and bad, I’ve helped busy corporate clients like you generate effective communications. One key to my success has been my early training as a novelist and screenwriter. I know a good story when I meet one. Not only that, I know how to find and tell the stories that give order and theme to my clients' brochure, website, annual report, or video. After years of teaching fiction writing, it's sheer second nature for me to discover, enhance, or create thenarrative messages that give heft and authenticity to everyday facts, figures, capability statements.
Managers are fact-oriented, and rightly so. Their job, after all, is to orchestrate the daily interplay of a thousand real-work factors. But when it comes to business messages, I'll say it again, in no uncertain terms: No matter what you want to say, it's that extra dimention of narrative resonance that makes it authentic, compells your target reader to respond, remember...and act.
No, I don't "specialize."
To be candid with you, there's plenty of talk among freelancers about "keeping it simple" when you market your skill. Specialize in one form of communication, the common wisdom goes. The sales letter, the AV script, the annual report. "If you say you can do everything," gurus caution, "people just don’t believe it."
Well, I've never listened to that—and you know why? Because for a quarter century, the strongest "specialty" I've been able to offer my customers is my ability to give full and complete service, across a wide spectrum of voices and styles, genres and forms. That's my specialty, if you will—a natural fluency that allows me to be skilled at turning out whatever kind of text you need, in whatever form you need it.
Still with me?
Great! Let's get specific about what I can do for you.
First off, I can't emphasize enough that everything I do is keyed to your needs, be they continuing or sporadic, long-term or short-term.Do you need...
• A Writer/Editor who can untangle a jungle of "jargon" —the sort of dense report language intended to be read exclusively by specialists or technicians?
• A "Big-Picture" Conceptual Thinker who can identify your most powerful story and build on that to artiulate a unifying theme...a hook you can hang your message on?
• A “Corporate Surgeon,” able to cut through mountains of research and transform it into a tight, cogent, persuasive marketing statement?
• A Confident Marketer, adept at presenting a flourish of numbers to a roomful of investors, exciting them with the vision behind the project.
• A Performance Brinksman, ready to respond to your last-minute call, and able to write with passion about a brand new subject?
• A Credible Team Member, fully capable of representing you and your project at meetings with upper management or clients, internal or external? (Or, if needed, just the opposite—a low visibility "stealth" contributor, who can work with maximum effectiveness without ever showing his face?)
Perform this test
Remember that "Killer Project" I asked you to recall? Think about your next major copy challenge. Would you appreciate knowing beforehand that this time, your text will be all you want it to be? Zero pain and stress? No more nail biting?
It's possible. Just pick up a phone and give me a call at (888) 942-2127. Let’s talk about that project any other you envision, even if--especially if--it’s not sharply defined at this point. Let’s explore how I can be of real value to you. Because ultimately that's my job...to make your job easier...your life easier.
As it says on my home page,"Turn your copywriting project over to me, and sleep tonight...” It doesn't get any easier than that.
Yours sincerely,
Bill Henderson
PS
Here’s an offer you can’t refuse. Try me out on a quick project and see if you like the results. If you’re not completely satisfied, I won’t charge you a cent...and that’s a promise. How can you lose? Call now: (888) 942-2127 (toll-free) or (919) 619-6805 (mobile), or email me: info@billhendersoncopy.com. Let’s talk about it.