Writing Contest + Writer, strategist, or both?

Here’s how you can make even more money in a pivotal role [The Writer’ s Life]( May 24, 2023 "Though nobody can go back and make a new beginning … Anyone can start over and make a new ending." – Chico Xavier Hi {NAME}, It's one of my favorite days — Contest Day! The prize is HUGE. And we're not just selecting one winner … We're choosing THREE. More on that in a moment … First up, though, we've talked a lot about ways to make money with content this week … both getting paid to write it and getting paid to develop the plan of WHAT to write. If you've yet to move forward, today, Heather Robson outlines three things you can do in this bigger role, so you can see if leveling up to strategist is the right choice for you. And if you decide you DO want to step into this high-paying role … I encourage you to check out the upcoming training with legendary content marketing pioneer, Brian Clark ([more on that here](). He's taking on a small group of writers to personally train as though they've been hired to work in one of his start-ups. When he's done, you'll know everything you need to know about developing an effective content strategy for any company in any niche … Get paid $5,000 each time you do it … And set yourself up for a monthly retainer from every client you take on. This is a unique opportunity I highly recommend you consider. [Read all about it here.]( But note, enrollment is closing soon. Speaking of unique opportunities … This month's Ad Writing Contest certainly fits the bill! All you have to do is write a compelling ad and submit it by the deadline … And you could be one of three winners who get a ticket to our upcoming 2023 Bootcamp (a $2,495 value!), and the chance to see your ad in print!! Check out the details below and good luck! Rebecca Matter President AWAI LAST CHANCE: Get Everything for $1 Everything you need to make $2,500 to $8,000 (or more) a month as a writer is in the Digital Copywriter membership site … And you can get FULL ACCESS for just a dollar! You'll get roadmaps … tutorials … how-to videos … job board access … an active member forum … the training webinars … All for $1. If you want to make good money as a writer, this is where you'll do it. [Get it all now for $1!]( Content Writer or Content Strategist? By Heather Robson [Female content strategist organizing Post-it® notes on an idea board.] No doubt about it, content is the beating heart of many companies' marketing efforts. In fact, SEMrush did a survey of marketers and found that 94% of them were investing in content … so basically everyone. Whatever industry you want to work in, whatever dream client you're hoping to land, there's a good chance — 15 to 1 — that they use content. That means if you enjoy writing content, the world is your oyster. There's a never-ending need for the service you offer. But there is a way you can make what you do stand out from other content writers while delivering more value to your clients and helping them get a better result. Become a Content Marketing Strategist. Help Your Client Understand Their Audience When you work as a strategist, you'll do more than write great content. You'll help your client figure out who their audience is. A lot of businesses have some notion of their audience, but many of them think about their audience as people who could benefit from their product. That's not enough to connect with the audience on a deeper level. When you're a strategist, one of the first things you'll do is help your client get a very good feel for who a typical member of their audience is. You'll talk to your client about who their buyer is in terms of demographics — things like age, income level, and education level. But you'll also research what values and beliefs the audience has … what problems they have that your client can help them solve and how they talk about those problems … and what it will mean to them if those problems are resolved, both in their professional life and their personal life. You'll investigate what the audience likes to read and watch, what kinds of stories resonate with them, even their political and religious leanings. You'll take everything you learn and distill it into a character summary for your client. Then whenever anyone at the company writes something that prospects will read, they can picture the person they're writing to. Figure Out What Content the Audience Wants Another role you'll take on as a Content Marketing Strategist is helping your client plan out the topics they need to cover. You'll review questions customers have asked. You'll brainstorm the information new prospects need to know if they're going to become customers. You'll think about the obstacles or resistance points potential customers might have. Then using what you come up with, you'll put together a list of topics — including possible headlines — that your client needs to cover so their prospects can find all the information necessary to make an informed buying decision. Design Content Journeys Most companies have an ongoing need for content. But most of them don't create their content strategically. They create one-off articles that stand alone. And they create them without giving much thought to how their audience will find them or what they will read next. They also don't give much thought to how they might use the content they create in different ways. They may post it to their website but overlook how they could use it on social media or as part of an email campaign. They often miss opportunities to repurpose the content they create to reach a broader audience. For example, a well-written content piece could provide the material for creating an infographic, a slide show, a video series, and a podcast. And many companies don't take the time to plan a series of content that creates an educational or inspirational journey for their readers. With a content journey, each time a reader finishes one content piece, you offer them the next. The pieces come to them in a logical order that deepens their understanding each step of the way. By the end of the content journey, readers will see the value in the product or service your client offers and making a purchase will be a natural next step. Yes, You Still Get to Write Content … If You Want To Becoming a strategist doesn't mean you'll stop writing content. After creating a documented content marketing strategy for your client that includes who they are writing to, what they need to create, and the order it should be delivered in, it's only natural that they would hire you to write the content you've suggested. By starting with the strategy, though, you'll accomplish a number of things. - You'll set your client up for success. Companies that use a documented content marketing strategy see a greater Return on Investment than those that don't. - You'll get to see how well you work with the client while providing a high degree of value. The content strategy can be something you offer as an initial project. If at the end, you don't feel the relationship is a good fit, they still have everything they need to create strategic content working with other writers. - You'll position yourself for retainer arrangements. If you and a client are a good fit, you may find yourself writing two to six content pieces (or more!) for them each month as part of an ongoing relationship. - You'll add value to what you do, and to your bottom line. You can charge between $2,500 and $5,000 for creating a content strategy — and that doesn't include writing the content. [Becoming a Content Marketing Strategist will elevate your content services.]( Your clients will enjoy better results, and you'll move from the role of writer into valued partner. If you enjoy writing content, it's worth considering adding this service to your offerings. Now, it's YOUR turn to try writing attention-getting content … Bootcamp Challenge Ad Writing Contest Here's Your Chance to Write an Ad for AWAI's Upcoming 2023 Bootcamp … And be one of three winners who receive a ticket to attend The Copywriting Event of the Year! (A $2,495 Value) In just a couple of months, AWAI will kick off its annual Copywriting Success & Getting Clients Bootcamp. And no doubt our motto will hold true … This will be the BEST BOOTCAMP EVER! Featured speakers include … - Donald Miller — The legendary New York Times bestselling author who teaches business professionals everything they need to know to grow a profitable business. - Terri Trespicio — An award-winning writer, in-demand speaker, and brand advisor whose TEDx Talk, "Stop Searching for Your Passion," has been viewed more than six million times. - Mari Smith — This top social media thought leader known as the "Queen of Facebook" demystifies social media marketing, and emphasizes how relationship building is always at the heart of successful business. Those are just a few of the "headliners" who will be sharing their expertise at this action-packed three-day learning event. Since the first event over 25 years ago, Bootcamp has become known as the "must-attend" event for marketers and writers of all levels of experience. That's because it's changed the lives of so many people in so many ways. And today, you're going to have the opportunity to experience Bootcamp in a completely new way. I'm inviting you to take part in a special Bootcamp writing challenge where if you're one of the lucky three winners, you'll get a FREE entry ticket to the event. All you have to do for a chance to win is follow the writing instructions outlined here. But first you might be wondering why we're doing this. Well, it's simple. Bootcamp is by far the biggest event we host each year. And because it's become such a game changer for so many people, we want to spread the word to as many writers as possible. We'd love to give you the chance to help us do just that by writing an attention-getting ad we can use for our online marketing campaigns. But it runs deeper than that. Because if you decide to take us up on this challenge, you're actually getting a chance to use your freelance writing skills. And if we like what you hand in, your ad might be one of three we'll use to promote Bootcamp. If your ad is chosen, you'll get a free entry ticket for Bootcamp on us. Yep, that's right. You'll be one of three people who will be given a Bootcamp entry pass for the in-person event — a $2,495 value — absolutely free of charge. The Bootcamp Challenge Ad Writing Contest is open to all AWAI writers, regardless of the level of writing experience you have … from newbie to experienced professional. Now, I'll share the details in a minute, but let's take a few minutes to talk about ads and why they are so important to our online campaigns. When I say "ad," I'm talking about writing a message that runs on a website with the intention of gaining attention, generating awareness, and getting visitors to take action. That action is clicking on the link included in the ad. And when a prospect clicks the link, they are taken to either a blog post with more information, a mini-website, a landing page with more in-depth information or an online order form. Now that you know a little more about how ads work, I'm going to walk you through a few guidelines to help you feel comfortable writing an ad, especially if this is your first time. Writing Ads Guideline #1: What is the goal? Banner ads are written for different reasons, including letting potential customers know about a new product or service, offering them a discount or free report, or telling them supplies are limited. Whatever the ad is about, as the writer, you need to know what the client's goal is. In other words, what do they want to achieve with the ad? Do they want to bring awareness about the product or get a visitor to take some kind of action? Writing Ads Guideline #2: Who will read this ad? Readers pay attention only to ads that mean something to them. It's similar to that old saying, "If you're speaking to everybody, you're speaking to nobody." Before you write an ad, you'll want to know the target audience. What are their core desires and beliefs? In addition to researching the target audience, the other way to get to know who you are writing to is by putting yourself in their shoes. Writing Ads Guideline #3: Get them started with a strong headline Whatever the goal of your ad is — to gain recognition or get someone to act — it all starts with a headline. After years of studying how headlines are put together, we know the most successful ones usually share several key elements: - One strong idea - One desirable benefit - One driving emotion - One inevitable solution In addition to these elements, AWAI has developed a set of criteria that makes writing headlines much easier for writers to do. We call these criteria the Four U's™: - URGENCY. Give the prospect a reason to desire the benefit of the product/service sooner rather than later. - UNIQUENESS. Make the prospect feel that there is one particular thing about the product/service that is different — in at least one small way — from every other product/service of that type. Uniqueness also suggests that you are talking about something real and concrete. - ULTRA-SPECIFICITY. Be as precise as possible, stating true facts and figures. - USEFULNESS. Promise the prospect something that has value for him. These criteria can be applied to any kind of writing project you take on … from writing sales letters and articles to blog posts and ads. That's because all good copy starts out with a compelling headline. Writing Ads Guideline #4: Write relevant body copy Much like writing a long-form sales letter that keeps your reader engaged from page one until the close, no matter the length, writing ad body copy also needs to keep your reader's attention. Although it's okay to use catchy words, you don't want to bore the reader with clichés and terminology they've heard before. You have limited space when writing ad body copy, so you must choose your words carefully. Think in terms of benefits, not features. As a refresher, a benefit is the positive impact the product or service will have on the customer, whereas the feature is part of the product itself. Writing Ads Guideline #5: Can't resist not clicking The body copy of your ad should get the reader eager to take the next step. That next step is clicking on the link in your ad. This is also known as the call-to-action. You want the call-to-action to be explicit. A simple "click here" may just do the trick, but you can also experiment with some more specific approaches, such as "read our free report," "join our contest," or "reserve your spot now." Now that you know the guidelines for writing an ad, it's your turn to give it a try for the chance to win a free entry ticket (worth $2,495) to Bootcamp. The Project: Write an ad for AWAI's Copywriting Success & Getting Clients Bootcamp. When you're ready, you can submit your ad. The AWAI team will be reviewing the submissions, and based on what we see, we'll pick three winners. And those winners will be awarded a free registration ticket to Bootcamp. Here's a sample of the kind of ad you'll be writing. [Ad Example] About The Product: AWAI's Copywriting Success & Getting Clients Bootcamp. For more than 25 years, copywriters worldwide have called AWAI's Bootcamp the "rocket fuel" that launched and propelled their writing careers. It's where writers from all age groups, backgrounds, experience levels, industries, and niches come to hear the latest writing secrets from top experts … learn up-to-the-minute industry trends … discover the hottest writing opportunities … and make lifelong connections with marketers and insiders who can impact their careers. [You can find more information about AWAI's Copywriting Success & Getting Clients Bootcamp at the website here.]( Guidelines for Writing Your Ad Get familiar with Bootcamp by reading all the information available on the website. It's here you'll find golden nuggets of information you can use to craft your ad. Perhaps you'll focus your ad on a particular speaker and the information they'll be sharing … or a testimonial of how Bootcamp changed a person's life … or the new trends attendees will learn. This is important, because when a reader clicks on the call-to-action link in your ad, they will be taken to the Bootcamp website. The Rules for Submitting Your Ad Rule #1: Make this all your own, original work. Remember, the real value here lies in practicing and improving your craft. Rule #2: The headline needs to grab attention. But it also must be short. In fact, it cannot be more than 135 characters long. Why so strict? Ads are short bursts of copy and the amount of space you have to work with is limited. Rule #3: The body copy should be relevant to your reader. But again, you have space limitations to follow. Keep your body copy limited to five sentences in total length. You can structure your body copy as bullets, but each bullet will count as a sentence. Rule #4: Explicit call-to-action. Be concise and clear. Avoid vague terminology and wording. And make certain your call-to-action is just 30 characters (including spaces). If the call-to-action doesn't fit on one line, it will be trimmed. Rule #5: You have a deadline. Submit your copy by 11:59 p.m. ET (one minute before midnight) on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. AWAI will announce the three winners in Week in Review. Bootcamp Challenge Submission Details Your submission needs to be dated by 11:59 p.m. ET, May 31, 2023. [Submit your entry here.]( Only one entry per person. Good luck! What's Hot at AWAI … 😄 Closing Soon: [Grab The Brian Clark Method today and future-proof your writing career against AI!]( 👉 [THIS is one of the most in-demand copywriting niches today.]( 🤩 [Father of seven finds flexibility, and full income with copywriting.]( 👀 Did you see our Bootcamp Revealed event yesterday? The news was so exciting! [You can catch the replay here.]( You'll want to watch this today! Winning the writer's life … [Social media post about winning a past TWL contest] [Social media post about winning a past TWL contest] Congratulations, Chrissy!! You did it! Have your own story to share? Email us at mysuccess@awai.com, or [post it over in the Facebook group](, so we can celebrate your win too! Featured Jobs You can find these jobs and thousands more on [WritersWanted.com](: --------------------------------------------------------------- Content Writer — Kforce Technology Full-time, Stamford, CT The Content Writer will ensure that communications are written, reviewed, and executed based on specific project or issues being resolved. --------------------------------------------------------------- Content Writer — Crowell & Moring LLP Full-time, Washington D.C. The Content Writer plays an integral role in content generation for the firm's marketing and business development efforts as a writer, editor, and researcher. --------------------------------------------------------------- Copywriter & Content Creator, Sterile Processing — Censis Technologies, Inc. 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