Content Marketing Interview with Allison Nazarian, copywriter and founder of Get It in Writing

Allison Nazarian is a young copywriter with a lot to offer. She uses content to market her services on the Web, and helps her clients to do so through her company Get It in Writing.

In our continuing series of interviews about content marketing, we share her experiences here:

1. Tell us what your profession is, and who your typical clients are.

The core expertise of my company, Get It In Writing, is copywriting.
This branches out into more broad marketing consulting for certain
clients. Typical clients run the gamut from one-person entrepreneurial
ventures to Fortune 500 and publicly-traded corporations.

All need
WORDS (ie copy) for websites, blogs, newsletters, print pieces (though
print is less and less popular, I must say), press materials, sales
kits, etc.

2. What marketing tools do you use on the Web?

For my own information? Or to help clients with marketing? Not clear….. (Patsi notes that Allison’s website is www.getitinwriting.biz, and her blog about copywriting is www.getitinwriting.biz/blog/.)

3. What kinds of content do you write or use to market your business?

I find that news – whether a recent survey, report, trend, controversy – is the most compelling and relevant source for marketing. Tie the issue at hand into a problem out there and then back to the solution (product/service/expertise) you or your company offers.

4. What sources, besides your own, do you use to find content?

Trade associations (most if not all have websites, most of them very good), trade publications, information portals/sites, media research companies, Google news alerts, magazines (INC, Entrepreneur, Fortune Small Business, Fast Company + industry-specific pubs), I do use blogs and bloggers to bring me back to those sources BUT tend (unlike others) to use the blog or blogger itself as the news hook.

5. How much of yourself, your personality, your own experiences do you include?

In my own marketing, not enough! There is a fine line between being “real” (which is a good thing) and “TMI” (too much information – from potty training to dating to whatever – I don’t see a major place for it in a strictly business piece).

That all said, I am using my own name as a domain for a blog where I am more open and personal but still in a business context. I don’t necessarily see this as a marketing vehicle, but the insight into who I am, since my name is most closely associated with the Get It In Writing business, is something that’s been a long time coming.

6. What kinds of results do you see from your online content? And which media (ezine, blog, articles, etc.) bring best results?

TONS actually. The key is not one article or one effort – the key is consistency. Clients will ask why their phone is not ringing off the hook after one press release.

Content marketing is an ongoing process and you need to feed the “beast” without stopping, ongoing. Eventually, with patience and good content, your work will pay off. At that point, you will begin to see the successes build on themselves.

For instance, because of some blog posts and traffic success I had with my blog, I and my company were covered in the Wall Street Journal. Out of this appearance, I gained contacts and clients that would have never been exposed to my services before. I even gained someone who became a mentor to/for me through this experience.

One more piece of advice: don’t try to be everywhere and be everything to everyone. Know very specifically who your target market is and put everything into reaching it/them. Your results will come quicker and better reflect what need/are looking for.

7. How much time do you spend daily writing or posting content on your blogs or sites?

Less and less, actually, because I have such as great system worked out with my VA that I give the strategy and direction and she carries it out wonderfully.

8. What advice would you give to others in your profession about using content for marketing?

The “hard sell” approach is a thing of the past and a real-turnoff to most potential customers/clients. Use real information (content) and tie what you do/what you offer into that – someone won’t just “take your word” for it that you are the best – you need to SHOW THEM and content/information is the best way to do it. Become a resource and then you have a follower (and a client – if they are part of your target market) for life.