Author: OConnell Copy

If the mind of an industrial buyer was a room, I’d guess it would be organised, Spartan and there’d be a big checklist fixed on the wall with solid criteria outlined. These people don’t buy on emotions, whims or trends. And if you sell equipment or services to them, your sales and marketing material must reflect that.

Brace yourself. It’s not often you’ll hear a copywriter tell you this. But sometimes, you might just be better off preparing a marketing piece yourself. A case study is a fine example. If you are an owner-manager or a small SME, you know your customers very well. So well in fact, that you can list off all their project details in your head …with ease.

If you’re an SME, ‘message-definition’ is a bit like pre-season (marketing) training. It’s the hard work you put in on a windswept pitch in January that will get you results when the sun shines later in the year.  Targeted ‘on-message’ marketing can only be achieved by thoroughly understanding your customers’ problems. And if you’re currently struggling with that very issue, read these four steps to message definition and find out what your problem is. Because their problem is your problem!

2014 is not the year of the blog! This time of year, it’s tempting to look into the next big thing and force it into your marketing mix. But for the average Irish SME, it might be best to revisit the things we have done before and see how we can make them work better for us in 2014. And that brings us to the humble blog. An effective brand builder and a practical SEO lead generator, you can be sure the right content for your blog will get you results. So what do people actually want to read about and not read about? Here are six things to keep in mind as you build content for your blog.

1. Help – they want help! If you provide a complicated product or service, your consumers or even enthusiasts want to know how you can help them out of a tight spot by giving them a little information or guidance. If you’re worried about giving too much away for free – don’t…your helpfulness and generosity will hopefully not be forgotten by these prospective customers in the future.
2. Insight – you know your industry and the hot issues only too well. Don’t be afraid to share your knowledge and experience.
3. Myth busting – this is similar but very relevant in Ireland. Bad news continues to travel at light speed here over the past few years. If you can tackle misconceptions head-on about your industry which will be helpful to prospective buyers – do it.
4. News? – I would say most people get their news from longstanding trusted news websites and you must ask yourself – is there something I can add? And if there is, great…but if you’re simply repeating news stories already found on other specialist news sites, it’s a waste of your time and space.
5. How great you are – we like it to be known how successful we are and how good things are going but when we keep going on about it, others don’t really appreciate it. Over Christmas, you may have met up with an old acquaintance who told you how brilliant and successful they are at everything. I’m betting you didn’t hang around any longer than you had to! So perhaps instead of saying …we won  a €3m contract, perhaps focus on why you won it and build your blog around that.
6. The hard sell – even when people are expecting this technique (car dealerships/electronics stores etc) it can be tough going. So if you think your blog is another chance to list off your product benefits, please think again as you may be making people move on faster than they have to.

So this year, before turning to new tactics, think about your existing business development tools and how you can perfect them. Your blog should exude confidence, calmness and generosity. Happy New Year!

So what makes a good content writer? And what does an experienced content writer or copywriter have to say about pricing, original content and good old-fashioned bull and bluster? I’ve been in this game for a quite a while now and there’s always a few things that I’m happy to clear up.

If you’re an SME food/drink producer, the chances are you don’t have a lot of time to devote to marketing.  But yet you already know how crucial content marketing is. And you need to start with your blog! Here’s four ways to kick-start your content marketing drive without spending too much time or money.

Is there an end to this content marketing drive, you wonder? Now you’ve been advised that you need a video for your website. You can understand the value of it and you want to write a video script but need to get a handle on what it is and how to do it. While putting together a few lines for a 30 second or even one minute script sounds easy – it’s not. Take your time and keep these tips in mind when writing your first video script.

Tax accountants – understand one thing. For the most part, we know very little about what you do and we depend on your knowledge and insight to handle the awful job of the tax return.  Well, we have a rough idea – like when you need to change the oil in your car but it always makes a lot more sense to get a professional to do it. Your insight and experience is worth it – pure and simple.