Articles


Options for Writing Promotional Articles

by Heidi Bada

You don't have to do all the work, but someone needs to publish news about your company sooner or later. Better you have a say in what's said about you!

There are only three things you need to worry about:

  1. Who you are trying to connect with
  2. What is in it for them - a compelling value
  3. How to budget the time and people to get it done

No matter what type of message you want to send to your targets, the best results come from knowing your audience. Articulate who you're trying to attract, for reference when planning your website and other marketing materials. Messages that are tailored to the target audience have the best chance of reaching out in a meaningful way.

As well, any member of your audience cares about their time. To grab their time, to encourage them to read your message, you need to make a connection and keep their attention. If you can tie your message strongly to something the reader cares about, they respond with gratitude, even relief at finding you and your message. Then you can continue to build a deeper connection, such as an invitation to experience your product or service.

The actual work of drafting such a compelling connection requires time, energy, and focus. If you don't often write, or don't feel comfortable writing, this may feel like a chore, but don't despair. Many resources are available at your local library and you may enjoy trying short courses online that will teach you the skills of business or technical writing that you need for your situation. You can even hire short-term assistance from freelancers (ie. fiverr.com) for mundane tasks like fact-checking, fact-finding, and editing.

When you want a total solution, your options include hiring a copywriter. You'll find many of them online all over the world. Keep in mind that skills and experience vary wildly. I don't want to brag but by the end of my second program at university, I had gained twelve years of writing experience in science and social sciences studies, and several closely-related science and health positions. I consider this a wide variety of practical and demonstrated experience (check out my samples on the portfolio page). For any writing project, I enjoy choosing writing approaches from my most dominant areas of experience in sociology and environmental sciences, but I can also choose a historical manner based on art history and political studies. Naturally, I also studied accounting and business in that time, to cover more technical writing (business plans, etc.) and news and marketing communications.

My personal passion is working with complex information that needs to be modified appropriately for general or consumer audiences. For this, experience is definitely helpful. Not every writer enjoys working with highly technical, scientific, or statistical language, trying to modify it and simplify it for untrained non-specialist readers. My process includes assessing the audience’s needs, your goals, and choosing an appropriate technique. For your project, the best approach may include conversational tone, concise and plain language, imagery, storytelling, dialogue, and/or many other specific skills. Specifically I also consider approaches and techniques found in Canadian Press style, APA style, technical writing, business writing, and even screenwriting and video game design.

I'd be delighted to help you figure out how best to handle your project. Let's discuss your project - send me a message! I'll give you my gut instinct and tell you the options I can offer to suit your needs.