Thanks for asking about my copywriting services. . . .
You need a good copywriter, a strategist with strong marketing sense and customer awareness — someone who combines writing skill and sales ability with technical know-how and product knowledge. But, you want to know more about a writer before you hire one.
If we were meeting in person or over the phone, you’d ask me questions. Let me anticipate some of those questions.
“What are your qualifications?”
I’m a web editor, copywriter, and content producer skilled at creating direct response copy and web content that engages readers and draws them into a purchase funnel. As a web content producer, I have managed entire editorial operations and internal and external content providers. I’ve written a variety of user interaction flows that make websites easy to navigate and engaging for visitors. I know the art and science of writing websites that register highly with search engines.
I also have experience in creating marketing communications and public relations programs.
Some of my recent accomplishments include:
- Building an editorial channel from scratch for Yahoo! that last year converted 35 million referrals into subscribers who contributed more than $6 million in incremental revenue to the business unit.
- Attracting tens of millions of referrals from Yahoo!’s front page and driving conversions that produced millions of dollars in subscription revenue.
- Recruiting more than 100 writers and experts who contributed articles at no cost in return for gaining exposure on Yahoo! — the world’s most-visited web destination — for their books, websites, and services.
- Using a combination of lively writing and savvy story and feature selection to quadruple click-through from ThirdAge.com’s front door to articles within its various editorial channels.
Prior to moving online, I worked in marketing communications and public relations. I’ve written public relations, advertising, direct marketing and general editorial copy for more than 50 clients in business-to-business and business-to-consumer market situations.
Marketing communications and public relations campaigns I’ve created helped to launch a worldwide courier (DHL), the predecessor to AOL (Control Video Corporation), an Internet phone company (MediaRing.com), a web-based vacation rental services (GetawayZone.com) and a transcontinental airline (World Airways).
They have also inspired 500 Northern California schools to start aluminum recycling programs (Reynolds Metals), introduced woven graphite composites to aircraft builders (Hexcel Corporation), sold thousands of feet of chain saw chain (Omark Industries) and attracted bidders who paid astounding prices for baseball cards and other sports memorabilia (Wolffers Auctions).
I was also a partner and account team leader with public relations firms, an advertising copywriter and newspaper reporter. I even took a turn at being a press secretary for a presidential candidate. Here’s an outline of my career and a list of clients I’ve served.
“Do you have experience in my field?”
If you sell to business, industry, professionals or through direct response, chances are I already have experience dealing with your type of product or service — or with something very similar.
I’ve written about real estate, computers, chemicals, mining equipment, construction, electronics, engineering, architecture, medical devices, industrial equipment, marine products, yeasts that ate potato processing waste, software, banking, financial services, health care, seminars, training, telecommunications, consulting, corporate finance and many other areas including romance and relationships.
More important to you, I’m a marketing copy specialist.
Writing marketing copy isn’t something I do to pass the time between writing web pages and ads. Rather, it’s my bread and butter. I put all my skill, knack and know-how into every piece of marketing copy I write. And, after writing hundreds of web pages, articles, brochures, ads, and sales letters for people like you, I’ve learned how to sell to corporate executives, entrepreneurs, managers, purchasing agents, technicians, engineers, professionals, and other business and technical buyers.
Send for my writing samples or look at my portfolio. Does what you see seem “right up your alley?”
If not, give me a call and I’ll go through my files to find additional samples that are closer to your area of interest.
“What kinds of assignments do you handle?”
I cover the full spectrum. About 80 percent of my business is writing for the web — marketing, SEO (search engine optimization), SEM (search engine marketing), creating landing pages and microsites, and user interaction content. The rest of what I do includes creating marketing communications materials, press releases, feature articles, ads, case histories, newsletters, product guides, presentations (including PowerPoint), and an assortment of direct-mail packages and catalogs for business, industrial and high-tech clients.
My specialty is writing clear, credible, persuasive copy about a wide range of business products and services, from the simple to the highly technical.
I am able quickly to grasp complex marketing problems and understand sophisticated technologies. Clients appreciate that I can sit with engineers, scientists, and other specialists, ask intelligent questions and speak their language. For years, as a public relations practitioner, I’ve worked with top management. I know how to apply their goals and objectives to creating marketing communications materials that achieve the results they demand.
What’s more, my copy gets results:
- I wrote email campaign that scored a 43% open rate and 10,613 orders — almost 2x the orders needed for the campaign’s success.
- An interactive site tour designed to sell a subscription service converted 44% of tour takers into subscribers within 24 hours after completing the tour.
- I wrote online health and personal-finance newsletters and a monthly newsletter for Yahoo! Personals that averaged 15-25% click-through rates.
- A newspaper and radio advertising campaign I created brought more consumers with more aluminum to recycle into a Stockton, Calif., recycling center on one day than the company had ever recorded on a single day anywhere in its nationwide recycling network.
- A house magazine I wrote for a maker of chain saw accessories regularly surpassed its two competing, independent publications for readership within its target dealer audience.
- Product and sales literature news releases written for a cast-steel products company usually outscored the company’s product advertising for lead generation.
And, I’ve helped several non-profits boost attendance at their events, swell their membership rolls and reap more donations.
I can’t predict how many responses any ad, mailer or literature package will pull for you. However, I can — and do — guarantee your satisfaction with the copy you receive from me.
“You say you are a ‘copywriter and consultant’?”
Besides writing copy, I also work with many of my clients as a consultant, helping them plan marketing campaigns that generate maximum response. They’re pleased and happy to get on-target advice that works — at an affordable fee — and they like the fact that I don’t charge a monthly retainer for my copywriting services.
“You offer a service called ‘copy clinic.’ What’s that?”
A Copy Clinic provides an objective review of a webpage, ad, sales letter, and brochure or direct-mail package. You can have me review either an existing piece or a draft of copy in progress. It’s up to you.
When you order a Copy Clinic, you get a written report of two or more single-spaced typed pages that analyzes your copy in detail. I tell you what’s good about it and what works, what doesn’t work, what should be changed…and how. My critique covers copy design, strategy and the offer. It also includes specific directions for revisions and rewriting, although I do not write or rewrite copy for you under this arrangement.
A Copy Clinic is ideal for clients who want a second opinion on a piece of copy or who need new ideas to inject life into an existing direct mail package that’s no longer working. It also enables you to sample my services at far lower cost than you’d pay to have me write your copy from scratch.
“Speaking of money, how much does it cost to hire you for a project?”
For any copywriting assignment — web page, email series, sales letter, press release, case study, ad, brochure, direct-mail package, presentation script, or whatever — just let me know what you have in mind and I’ll quote you a price. I can send you a Schedule of Estimated Fees that will typical price ranges for a variety of projects.
“What do people say about your work?”
“Rad Dewey works for me as contract content manager covering two business units at PayPal. He tackles whatever project I give him with rigor and energy, producing clear, lively content, and matching PayPal’s style and voice guidelines. He is an amazingly quick study, has come up to speed on projects virtually immediately. He is a pleasure to have around the office, and has a good store of great stories, too.” — Janet Isadore-Barreca, Senior Manager, Global Content, PayPal (an eBay Company)
“Rad is one of the strongest and hardest working editors I know–and one of the most results-oriented. He did an amazing job radically increasing the number of people who came to Yahoo Personals because of the original content he assigned and edited and then pitched for placement on Yahoo’s front page–he was a master at making it all look easy, but his work drove a lot of eyeballs, page clicks, and revenue. Rad has great ideas and is a tremendous learner–he helped reformat the entire content area and refocus it with a fresher voice and feel. Rad is a great asset because of his skills and his work ethic. I would work with him again with pleasure.” — Susan Mernit, Senior Director, Product, Yahoo!
When asked, Kevin Plagman, principal of Communications West, San Francisco, praised my, “Immediate grasp of objectives and subject material and fast turnaround of tight, crisp copy that only a veteran can bring.”
Michael Dean, vice president, public relations of MediaRing Inc. (mediaring.com) says, “You are insightful and understand what news is and how to put it in news worthy release” and “You were available and quick to respond upon any request I had.”
Please visit my “testimonials” for more comments from my clients.
“How long will it take you to write my copy?”
Ideally I like to have two to three weeks to work on your copy. That gives me the time to polish, edit and revise until I’m happy with every word.
However, I realize you can’t always wait that long. So if the job is a rush, just tell me the date by which you must receive the copy. If I take on the job, I guarantee that you will have the copy on your desk by this date or sooner.
No matter what the deadline is, the copy I submit to you will be right. You can depend on it.
“What happens if we want you to revise the copy?”
There is no charge for rewriting. Revisions are included in the flat fee we have agreed to for the assignment, as long as you request them within 30 days of your receipt of the copy and you are not basing them on a change in the direction of the assignment made after I submitted the copy.
Most clients are pleased and enthusiastic about my copy when they receive it. Nevertheless, if you are not 100 percent satisfied, I will revise the copy according to your specific guidelines — at my expense.
“How do I hire your services?”
Putting me to work for you is easy. First, just tell me what you are selling and to whom you are selling it. Send me a link to your website, your brochure, catalog, whitepaper, or any other literature that will give me the background information I need to write your copy. However, do not worry about organizing anything — I will do that. If I have any questions, I will pick up the phone and ask.
If you’d like to get together to go over the job in person, we can do that, too. If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ll be delighted to meet with you, wherever and whenever you wish. Or, we can set up a web conference.
When you give me the go-ahead, I’ll write the assignment for you. You will receive your copy on or before the deadline date. And, remember, it is guaranteed to please you.
Dozens of firms — including Yahoo!, PayPal, Ancestry.com, Reynolds Metals, Hexcel, DHL, Tektronix, World Savings, ThirdAge.com, Omark Industries and WICAT Systems — have found my copy ideal for promoting business, industrial and high-tech products and services and direct-response offers.
So…why not try my service for your next writing project? I promise you’ll be delighted with the results.
If you have an immediate requirement, call me at 415-722-4386 or send me an email at radewey@radewey.com. There is no charge to discuss your job and give you a cost estimate. And you have obligation to retain me. I want to hear from you.
Rad Dewey
415-722-4386
radewey@radewey.com