Author Archives: Kristen Hicks

Freelancing in 2012: The Industry Report

The 2012 Freelance Industry Report, put together by Ed Gandia, is a valuable resource for any current freelancer, or anyone considering branching out into freelance work.

There’s evidence that the freelance sector of the professional population is large and predicted to grow rapidly. While Freelancing in 2012that might sound like extra competition, the good news is that the more people who choose freelancing, the more politicians and society at large will have to pay attention and start improving the options available to self-employed workers.

With a sample set of nearly 1,500 freelancers in a variety of fields, the report’s data provides a useful snapshot of important information and trends relevant to the self-employed.

Some key points of interest:

  • 90% of freelancers report being happier freelancing than they were before leaving their full time jobs
  • The majority of freelancers work in design and writing
  • Women make up over 70% of the freelance workforce
  • Almost half are the primary income winners in their household
  • Flexibility in work schedule was the top reason cited by respondents for choosing a freelance career
  • 10% of new freelancers earn $100 or more an hour!
  • Almost half of freelancers work with the same client for a year or more
  • Referrals and word of mouth far outrank other methods for finding clients
  • The marketing method with the largest increase in the number of respondents saying they’re planning to use it in the next year is SEO
  • Even “accidental freelancers” that were pushed into the position based on economic factors largely report that they’re happier now than when working as an employee

To read the full report, either click on the image to the right or the link at the top of the page. Trust me, it’s worth the time.

Top 5 Marketing Mantras for the Digital Age

Marketing Mantras for the Digital Age

There are some ways that the internet has irrevocably changed marketing, and ways in which the changes are just an amplification of things that have always been true. In both cases, it’s good for businesses to have a handle on how best to approach marketing in the digital age. Here are five marketing mantras important to keep in mind for effective marketing in the digital age.

1. What you say matters less than what you do

While this isn’t new to the internet era, it’s more true than ever. You can talk about how awesome your product is and how you’re company’s the best at what you do, but if your customers on review sites and social media don’t back up your claims, you’re out. Word of mouth works faster and travels further in the digital age, meaning a business with consistently disappointing service won’t get very far.

2. Quality content is crucial

Google decides who wins and loses in the online arena and they’ve decided the winners are those offering the greatest value to their audience. To gauge that value they measure metrics like: how many visits a site gets, how long visitors stay on the site once there and the number of people who feel inspired to share the site with others via links on their own sites or social media. Google’s algorithm measures worth by popularity. The most popular sites tend to be those offering blog posts, videos, articles and other types of content that are entertaining, educational, inspirational or otherwise valuable to visitors, which brings us right up to #3.

3. Marketing is more consumer driven than ever before

You can’t make people pay attention to you. The amount of ad saturation facing the modern consumer has trained many to simply tune out the billboards, subway ads, and literally skip over commercials on tv. The internet allows people to hone in on precisely what they’re looking for — you can’t demand that they pay attention to your business, but you can work to make sure you show up when they’re looking for the types of products or services you can provide, or any information relevant to your industry. Someone that stumbles upon a florist’s useful blog post on the best flowers to choose for different types of occasions is more likely to choose that florist for her next event now that she knows their name and level of expertise.

4. Marketing is more targeted and trackable

Companies are welcome to throw huge quantities of their marketing budgets at media with large and varied audiences like tv, radio and billboards for as long as they please. For smaller businesses that need more value for their money, the internet allows you to focus your marketing efforts on people that are already looking for what you’re selling and better track just how they found you so you can measure ROI.

5. Competition has changed

With Google’s algorithm largely determining which businesses gain the greatest visibility in the digital age, businesses must pay attention to how Google measures website worth. Their goal has consistently been to provide the best possible user experience, meaning that insofar as the Google search engine is doing its job, the consumer wins. If your goal is to offer the best products or services, the best customer service and the most valuable content on your site you’re likely to beat any competitors with less honorable practices to the top of the list. It’s not an exact science, but it’s a pretty good bet that the businesses with the best practices will succeed.

Norman Bel Geddes: Advertising Idea Man

When Norman Bel Geddes was asked to design an advertising campaign for a new type of gasoline for Shell Oil, he designed a futuristic city. Why just sell people gas if you can make them dream about a future with more cars, but less traffic?

His “City of Tomorrow” campaign managed to make cars and driving an essential component in an exciting idea for the future. It accomplished the company’s marketing interests, while also going a step beyond to inspire an interest in innovation for many who viewed the advertisement.

The 1930’s campaign imagined cities of the 1960’s with highway systems and skyscrapers – cities designed with the efficiency to house more people and make it easier for them to get around. It showed cities that seemed like a distant dream to people of the time, but mostly look kind of familiar to us now.

Bel Geddes took his ideas even further at the famous “Futurama” exhibit at the 1939 New York World Fair. This is the creation that Bel Geddes is most remembered for. His sizable dioarama of another proposed city of the future, attracted huge crowds and was the talk of the town. Funded by and representing General Motors this time, it was another example of Bel Geddes going far beyond the needs of the brand and supplying his client with a piece of advertising that would far outlive most in its cultural influence and memory.

Shell and General Motors benefited from the ideas of Bel Geddes, but the influence of those ideas went far beyond the companies and made an impact on how cities were conceived and designed moving forward. Not all of Bel Geddes’ suggestions for better cities have been widely incorporated, but enough have to make his influence on how our cities look today undeniable.

The best marketing comes from ideas that aren’t just about selling a product. They give the audience something to think about, care about, or provide something of tangible value. Bel Geddes’ idea hit the jackpot, appealing to all three of these. The man was inventive and innovative on a level few people can reach. Even without access to that level of creative genius, there’s an easy to achieve marketing lesson to take away from his work.

Don’t just sell when you can inspire, make people think, or equip them with information of value to them. Go beyond making a case for why your product’s good and think of ways its uses can be tied to information or stories that will educate, entertain, or otherwise satisfy a need or desire that your target audience has.

What Bel Geddes did was content marketing long before the term became common in marketing circles. It’s just one more way he was ahead of his time.

*Images and a more thorough article on the “City of Tomorrow” campaign here.

SEO Best Practices: Press Releases

One of the main tenets of search engine optimization is link encouragement. While many refer to this as “link building,” I feel the best practices for gaining links to your business website is to provide content that encourages people to share it. In this regard, press releases are an especially good tool for SEO.

The best practices for SEO don’t just encourage more links to your site, they offer valuable information to potential customers and those running relevant websites.  Press releases provide your business the opportunity to bring important news about your company and products to a large audience and give many news hungry websites something noteworthy to publish.

There’s a long list of potential topics a business can benefit from publishing press releases for: the release of a new product, substantial updates to current products, an important new hire, geographic expansion, upcoming events, charitable activities, new programs, initiatives and anything else your company does that’s new or noteworthy.

For more ideas on potential press release topics and a surplus of examples that you can use as format templates, just check out any of the many press release distribution websites, such as Business Wire or PRWeb.com. The cost of posting your press release to sites like these can be well worth the level of attention they receive from them, but there are also a number of free press release distribution websites like PR.com and 24-7 Press Release.  It’s also worth taking some time to research industry specific sites that you can submit your press release to as well. These can be especially valuable as they help your news reach the most relevant audience and encourage links from more relevant sites, which are especially good for SEO.

Press releases draw attention to your business, alert a wide audience to company news and are a great tool for link encouragement. As an SEO best practice, they’re relatively easy to produce and distribute, at little cost.

Time for a Change

austin freelance copywriter

If you’re here, then you’ve probably already noticed that the writing and marketing blog of Kristen Hicks has changed from Hicks Marketing to Austin Copywriter. You may have also already seen the new and improved Austin Copywriter website.

In the past year of offering freelance copywriting and marketing services, I’ve gained a greater knowledge both of where my personal strengths lie, and the services likely to be of the greatest value to small businesses. The shift to the new Austin Copywriter brand is indicative of these realizations.

Quality content is the key to increasing online visibility and defining how consumers perceive your brand. The change to Austin Copywriter conveys an increased emphasis in my offerings on the importance of content marketing to generate new leads and foster ongoing relationships with customers.

Check out the new website and contact me with any questions, suggestions or to discuss ways I can help your small business.