Marketing advice for business card? (take II)

Subject: Marketing advice for business card? (take II)
From: Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>
To: techwr-l List <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, Rob Hudson <caveatrob -at- gmail -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 16:51:26 -0400

Rob Hudson suggested: <<Let's see. I do proposal, grant, and
technical writing, so I suppose I could do any of the following: 1)
URLs to a variety of sites, 2) Editing symbols (though this feels
outdated), 3) "Action words">>

Possibly, but those seem overly generic. Grant and proposal writing
are good ones to focus on because these are things most people
(excluding professional proposal writers such as yourself) hate to
do. So why not put together a Web page that lists useful tools to
help people write grant proposals?

For example, you could cite the McKenney (1994) paper (Can. J. Agric.
Econ. 42:105-112) study that showed the cost of chasing research
dollars amounted to $0.22 per $1.00 in grant money that was obtained.
(That's for one very specific context, but it illustrates the point
nicely, which is why I keep that paper in my literature files.) Could
you demonstrate that the cost of hiring you to write the grant would
be less than this amount, thereby freeing up more dollars and time to
actually do research? Could you demonstrate that a proposal that
takes a researcher 12 hours to write could be done by you in 6,
thereby allowing the researcher to procrastinate longer and have more
time to do their research? <g>

One very useful approach is to present enough information that people
want to come back to your Web page repeatedly: tips and tricks and
useful references on how to do the job more quickly and less
painfully. That keeps them interested enough to return. But since
many non-professional proposal writers hate doing the work, they may
take the tip, try implementing it, and then get fed up and ask you to
do the job for them. See how it works? The site provides enough value
to keep people interested, but not so much value that all potential
clients can dispense with your services and do the work themselves.

(fwiw, I've marketed my own book -- see below -- quite successfully
this way: I answer questions related to the topic of the book, in
enough detail that people can do the work themselves, but provide
full details in the book itself for those who need more support.)


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
--------------------------------------------------
***Now available*** _Effective onscreen editing_
(http://www.geoff-hart.com/home/onscreen-book.htm)

Print version: http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fStoreID=1505747

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.


References:
Marketing advice for business card: From: Rob Hudson
Marketing advice for business card?: From: Geoff Hart
Re: Marketing advice for business card?: From: Rob Hudson

Previous by Author: Marketing advice for business card?
Next by Author: Alternative to floppy?
Previous by Thread: Re: Marketing advice for business card?
Next by Thread: Re: Marketing advice for business card


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads