Copywriting /PR crash course?

What I do is probably very similar to what you're being asked for. I don't have any formal training either, except a facility with the internet and the Plain English Handbook instead of a brain.

So, the good news and the bad news is the same. It's different for every company. What works for one doesn't work for another. What you really need to start with is a way to measure your success in various outlets (facebook, etc.). Is your goal to gain readers? Make sales? Then you can start experimenting. And yes, this can get pretty complicated.

I think what you need to do is be up front with your boss. If he has any clue about marketing stuff he probably knows having you do it is a heck of a lot cheaper than hiring a company to do this stuff for him. (This is why I get paid.) Just tell him you're not experienced; you'd be interested in doing this stuff for him, but he needs to understand that you've never done this before, so part of the gig involves you researching what his company needs and experimenting. It also involves you doing a lot of internet research about marketing.

If you try to fake it until you make it, I can practically guarantee it's going to explode in your face. You're going to make mistakes no matter what; it's part of the learning process. If you make a huge mistake and your boss thinks you're a pro, you're going to be in deep water.

So yeah, just be honest.

Bettedra said:

Would you say, then, that in addition to my own self-education on marketing, the best place to start would be by getting intimate with the companies, their goals, their "styles" (I'm sure there's a more technical word for what I'm getting at), etc? And then come up with a few different ideas/strategies for getting their name and message out there?

Click to expand...

Companies? Like multiple? Wow. I just work for one. But yes, that's where I sort of put my foundation. I know my company's philosophy, goals, etc. inside out. Basically look at what their "brand" is/means. What originally got me this job is that I'm exceptionally good at listening to someone rattle on about some vague concept and then taking that and turning it into copy. So my boss is like, "I want it to be like blah blah blah blah" and half an hour later I toss him a paragraph and say "How's this?" and he goes "Yes, that's exactly what I meant!"

The other thing that's good to do is look at the other side of it. What kind of person does this company want to reach? Our demographic is primarily middle aged couples, mostly the wives. We also hit some older folks as well. Most of them are in the middle to upper income brackets. So what do all these people have in common? What are they looking for? What would really speak to them, and how do you reach them? Good marketing is really finding people who already want your product.

And yeah, if your boss will let you, just experiment. It's actually pretty fun.

A valuable tool to determining if the sites you are working on are moving up in rank is a website called Alexa.com. They have a free tool bar that reports the daily ranging and when you go to the site it has traffic info as well as best keyword searches for their industry.

Bettedra said:

Thank you so much for your help, I feel a lot less overwhelmed now. Would it be too much if I maybe came to you with some questions later down the road, seeing as your an old pro at this and I'm hopelessly new?

Click to expand...

Honestly, I don't feel like an old pro at all. I've been doing this for five years and it feels like we reinvent the wheel every 12 months. Anyway, my experience is with one specific company so I'm not sure how much help I can be, but feel free to ask away.

You might want to just start with the one company, btw, and see how it goes. If you like that, then see if anyone else is interested. You'd be surprised how much time and effort this eats.

A helpful book for ideas and how to avoid common problems is PR for Dummies.
I read it and while I haven't had a chance to use it the info is valuable and well laid out.

Media Bistro website offers some well-respected online courses on copywriting, Web content writing, PR, etc. But they tend to be fairly pricey.

I recently signed up for an online copywriting course from the Writers Store website. It's less expensive. I've done copywriting previously, but feel I need to know the thinking behind it rather than just go on instinct. Don't how good this course is, as I've not had a chance to get started with it yet. But it looks promising.


eScotty