Inspiration, please?

Want people to read your marketing material?

First, make that material about them – not you. And make it useful. Show your target audience that you understand their challenges, and share some ways to make their lives easier.

Per John C. Maxwell, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Helpful, informational vehicles like newsletters, blogs and white papers get better results than standard brochures and websites. Done correctly, these tools build rapport, develop trust, and set you apart from all the self-centered would-be competition.

But these marketing devices do require thought. And many companies become paralyzed by the idea of having to come up with valuable content on a regular basis.

If you’re good at what you do, and you’re doing the right things, coming up with ideas should be a snap. Consider the following:

• What problems do you help clients solve? Don’t air anyone’s dirty laundry here, but it’s fairly safe to assume that other people and businesses face similar challenges. Write an article or a blog post.
• What’s going on in your industry? Or your client’s industry? As you learn about new developments that can affect your clients, share the information. Explain the significance. The connection between the news item and their daily lives may not be apparent. This is a great opportunity to show some value.
• What do you struggle with? You’re probably not alone. Share your solutions, and save others from having to repeat your mistakes. You don’t have to come across as incompetent, but this type of article or post can position you as both human (depending on how you position it) and resourceful.

There are just a few ideas to get started. If you have more, please comment below. We’re always looking for great suggestions – and guest bloggers.

Write. Now.

I hate shopping in department stores. My fashion is underdeveloped, at best, and all those choices send me into a panic.

The same instinct to flee assails me when I sit down to write, particularly fiction. Confronted with every writer’s nemesis – the blank page – I don’t know where to start. I’m terrified that I’ll make the wrong choice.

Take my current fiction project: a novel. I’m roughly 9,000 words into what will likely be a 100,000-word manuscript, and I’m not exactly sure where the next scene should go.

As a result, I haven’t touched the manuscript during this vacation.

I think about it and look at my laptop. Then, I do something else.

Today I tried something different: I sat down and started writing – not at my usual sticking point, but at some point later in the story.

It started innocently enough. I was wondering what kind of quirks my current protagonist might have, and baseball came to mind.

What could I reveal about my hero, a paid assassin, through his love of this all-American sport?

After toying with the idea for an hour or two, I grabbed my notebook and started to write.

Let me be honest: It was a slow, painful slog – especially those first fifteen minutes. I even made a note in the margin about the horrible quality of these words, with the caveat that the premise behind them held potential.

Soon, I had written more than 500 words and learned some interesting things about my lead character.

In fact, the experience was so exhilarating that I’m looking forward to getting back to my story.

Are you stuck on a writing project or having problems simply starting? Begin writing somewhere else. Start with the end, or jump into the middle, jotting down your main points and building from there.

Let me know how this works – or share your own suggestions for getting un-stuck.

Brilliant Beginnings

As I write this, it’s January 12 – or January 13, depending on your geography. (Since I’m presently flying over Alaska toward Japan, I feel caught between dates.) Regardless, we’re darn close to the start of the New Year. New resolutions, new beginnings.

For Mom and me, it’s the start of our latest adventure: three weeks in Taiwan with family.

For me and my business (and my writing life), today also marks the start of this new blog.

Beginnings always create unrealistic expectations of greatness. We feel the need to show our brilliance. This nasty pressure especially plagues writers, who so often give up on their craft because they’re disappointed with early attempts.

It’s okay to suck.

In Bird by Bird, one of the best books on writing I’ve ever read, Anne Lamott says it’s okay to write “really [crappy] first drafts.”

This isn’t just sound advice; it’s almost a universal mandate. Papa Hemingway himself said, “The first draft of anything is [doodoo].”

You have to write the garbage to get the gold.

It doesn’t matter if you’re writing the Great American Novel, a sales letter, or an e-book. With very rare exception, our first attempts fall way short of brilliance.

Sure, these initial scribblings may get the job done. Writing a memo to your boss? Just the facts will probably suffice.

But if you really want your writing to stand out, you must embrace the art of the rewrite.