The marketing manager of The Squid Enthusiasts Society of Tuvalu is digging his heels in again. Saying there’s no way he needs a copywriter at all, let alone a professional copywriter.

He told me in an email, ‘Im quiet capable to write my own web content so that it give a god impression of the organisation.’

In order to substantiate his claim, here are the seven reasons why he doesn’t need a professional copywriter:

1.  He has plenty of spare time, when not being enthusiastic about squid – catching it, breeding it, feeding it, photographing and filming it, packaging it, selling it and shipping it – to write copious amounts of carefully-constructed web content and marketing material

2.  He learned to write when he was four years old so is quite good at it

3.  He’d rather spend his budget on an all-singing-all-dancing website with lots of Flash animation – the content is less important

4. Correct spelling, grammar and puncuation is a thing of the past – and anyway, the spell-checker on he’s PC picks up any mistakes

5.  If he needs copy, he can cut and paste it from someone else’s website. That’s perfectly ethical – it’s there online, isn’t it? And it won’t adversely affect his Google rankings.

6.  If necessary, he can outsource copywriting projects to companies abroad. The writers are paid a fair wage for what they do, they are never exploited and their grasp of the English    language is always exemplary.

(Please note – I admire anyone who writes in a language that’s not their own. I can’t. It’s just that for the purposes of writing material for any particular market, the home language really needs to be good enough.)

7.  His potential customers aren’t influenced by the quality of the copy on his website and printed material. They don’t think it reflects badly on the professionalism, attention to detail    and the  standard of work provided by the company.

Yeah! Who needs a professional copywriter?

Apparently not.

When I first heard the term influencer marketing, I thought…’Uh? Surely that’s just marketing! Specifically, word of mouth marketing – where satisfied customers recommend your brand or services to their friends and acquaintances and,  like ripples in a pond, your sphere of interested people grows. And grows.

(In my new manifestation as hip-techy-geek-nerd girl, I see I have to call Word of Mouth Marketing WOM, or people will think I don’t know what I’m talking about.)

WOM (hee hee hee) is one of the best ever sorts of marketing, because the people who post about your company have nothing to gain – and nothing to lose, either, since they’re not your competitors. Their word will be trusted. In the days of too much information and constant bombardment with adverts for this or that, people tend to shut down. They become armchair cynics.  But they will believe, to a greater extent, personal testimonials, especially if from people they know.

So – influencer marketing? Running with the pond analogy – I guess it’s about choosing the right pond to chuck your pebble into.

WOM marketing, therefore, is not influencer marketing, then, but it can be part of the process.

There’s very little point in telling a group of vegetarians, by WOM,  about steak tartare (unless you want to make them sick!)

Similarly, there’s very little point in writing  brilliant posts about copywriting and then sharing them with…what’s the opposite of a copywriter? I can’t think of anything to suggest without the risk of causing offence. Okay, here goes – The Squid Enthusiasts Society of Tuvalu. (With apologies to all members past and present.)

This all begs the question – WHY do I want to enhance my online presence at all? The answer: To let more people know about my copywriting services so I garner more clients. And bearing in mind there are a gazillion copywriters out there – I need to grab attention, stand out from the crowd. That’s the first step. Then they can judge for themselves the quality of my work.

Now, to choose that pond! And not only that, to choose the people in the pond (Uh? Analogy fail alert) who make the biggest ripples.

Currently, apart from Facebook, Twitter and general Google+, I share my blog with a copywriting and content marketing group (338 members) – who sometimes share my posts to others.

I’ve just put myself down for a social media marketing circle, soon to be formed by +Martin Shervington

Well, HE he makes big ripples – (I’m sure nothing to do with his physical stature.) If I somehow came to his notice, then others would notice me.

Just think, I might once have been a One Direction fan…

Now it’s someone who writes on the psychology of Google+

I get loads of emails which I don’t read! Some of those are even from people whose mailing lists I’ve subscribed to in a moment of enthusiasm or desperation.

How do I deal with them? Well, I can’t bear to see unread emails in my In-Box so I simply mark them as read then the accusatory number on the envelope icon goes away. Then I can pretend they don’t exist.

How powerful is THAT?

HOWEVER, there are three people whose mailing lists I’ve subscribed to whose emails I ALWAYS read. Sometimes not immediately, sometimes just a skim, but always read.

Here they are, for your interest. And my trepidation because there are only so many hours in the day and I’d rather you read MINE!

• Seth Godin’s blog – every day he says something that’s full of insight and thought-provoking – and while, broadly, the subjects are business and marketing – for that read LIFE.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I’m sure he has no hair to keep his brain cool. Maybe I should try it? He is a GENIUS.

• Linda Formichelli’s Morning Motivation for Writers – her website’s called ‘The Renegade Writer’  She says, “The concept is that to have a successful freelance career, you need to do what works for you — instead of blindly following the “rules” you see set forth in books, in magazines, and on blogs.” That, I find so refreshing. I don’t put into practice a lot of what she advises (more fool me) but it’s an invigorating read to kickstart my writing brain.

• James Chartrand’s Men With Pens – Please note, James Chartrand is a WOMAN, who discovered she got more response if she used a man’s name! Go figure… She’s a copywriter, so she knows exactly what she’s writing about. She’s fresh, engaging and full of reassuring common-sense which makes me feel better about myself and what I do, but also challenges me to up my game.

copyblogger.com

So there you have it.

It’s been nice knowing you!

OR – you could subscribe to MY mailing list instead of the other mailing lists.  My site SAYS there are only three people who do. I know from the stats that there a positively MILLIONS of you who read this blog – you just don’t say so.

It’s free! No obligation to buy anything. No adverts.

Go on…