Tag Archives: writer

Flipping The Switch To Content Marketing

content marketing, journalism, sales,  promotions, advertising, B2B, B2C

Content Marketing is about as complicated as digital journalism.

What does an experienced digital journalist and trained fiction writer have to offer to companies for the purpose of content marketing? Plenty. The tools and experience are already in place. He/she just flips a mental switch and continues doing the same things in a different way.

One quick visit to Wikipedia tells us that content marketing “is any marketing that involves the creation and sharing of media and publishing content in order to acquire and retain customers.”

The two words that I hone in on, naturally, are “media” and “content,” because I have spent all my working years creating and producing content for media. My area of specific expertise is digital media. Lucky for me, digital media is the ‘here and now’ and the foreseeable future for media. By the way, in my world digital media also includes social media.

So, the question is: what specifically am I able to offer companies that are in search of someone with writing and content development abilities? People generally abhor being sold to and much prefer being told stories and presented with useful information. I offer a long history of successfully doing these two things. Continue reading

The Extroverted Writer: Me

beach, van wagner's beach, lake, lake ontario, walk

The extroverted writer gets some outdoor time.

My mom and dad have two friends that used to work in the steel mills of Hamilton by day and attend the symphony or opera by night. Now both of these fine men are retired and they have more time to enjoy the performances.

Getting dressed up and going to the downtown concert hall for a recital is part of their Eastern European upbringing and is a perfectly natural thing for them. When you see these elegantly coiffed gentlemen in their fine threads, it would never occur to you that they once toiled in the steel mills. The two parts of their lives are in direct contrast to each other.

I often think of my life in somewhat the same way. I’m an extroverted writer and sometimes I spend all day with my head buried in my computer, typing feverishly. At times like this, I’m contemplating the deeper truths of humanity and that sort of nonsense. Either that, or I’m trying hard to think of something silly and fun to say that will catch the attention of my Facebook friends. My thoughts run both ways: ardently serious and extremely silly. Continue reading

A Freelance Writer And Wasted Time

The time on the wall is important to a freelance writer

The time on the wall is important to a freelance writer

There’s a very simple formula for what ticks off a freelance writer: time wasted = freelancer upset. This formula proved true for me recently, as I dealt with an interview subject who didn’t check his facts with his boss, and wasted my time because of it.

When you are in the business of freelancing, your time is especially valuable because no one is paying you for: 1) not working, 2) your benefits, 3) your vacation time, 4) your sick time, and 5) the extra time you may spend trying to make them look good. Continue reading