What is your business about?

Naomi asserts that just because people visit and read your blog, they don’t necessarily then come away truly knowing what it is you do. I believe she is right.

There are a number of blogs I love to visit but, on reflection, I am not clear what the underlying offer is all about! I confess to not even really understanding Naomi’s business until she answered her own questions. Now I am making plans to utilise her services! (brace yourself Naomi!)

My answers to the ‘what people want to know’ questions follow:

What’s your game? What do you do?

I research, write and publish information. I do this for myself and for others. That sounds horribly dry and uninteresting (and some days it is!). I do have other strings to my proverbial bow, which I will not detail here as such detail will, I think, only cause confusion.

If you need a topic researched and written up in a book, report or web content then I’m your girl. Oh, I also write brochure copy, sales letters, articles and newsletter content too.

Why do you do it? Do you love it, or do you just have one of those creepy knacks?

I do what I do because it is a way of assuaging my endless curiosity. I love to learn and find out more when it becomes apparent I know less (and that happens a lot).

Having an opportunity to write on a diverse range of subjects allows me to indulge my curiosity.

Do I have a creepy knack? Is this something I would really want to admit in a such a public manner? (sotto’voce) The nearest I have to a creepy knack is in predicting the next project. It spooks me sometimes. I’ll find myself particularly interested in a magazine article or news report and read and surf to find out more only to find that within a week I am asked to write a piece on that self same subject. It has happened too often to be coincidence. Weird.

Who are your customers? What kind of people would need or want what you offer?

People who want to have written words to offer to their own clients or readers. My customers usually lack the time or inclination to write for themselves.

I doubt they lack ability as they are all bright cookies.

My customers are not in the ‘pile it high and sell it cheap’ brigade. They have real businesses, often in the bricks and mortar world, and use the words I produce for marketing and promotion or educational purposes. They don’t just want 500 words - they want a piece of information rich content.

What’s your marketing USP? Why should I buy from you instead of the other losers?

Why indeed! I ask myself that every time someone places an order.

This is going to be politically incorrect I’m afraid.

I have no USP other than I do what it says on the packet.

If you ask me to write anything from 50 to 50,000 words I will do that thing.

However, along the way I will want to get to know you and better understand what it is you are trying to achieve; I will want to become familiar with your business.

I don’t want clients to appear at the beginning and end of an assignment like an absent father* in the case of an unwanted pregnancy. I want you to be thrilled that your idea has been ‘conceived’ and I want you to be interested in the project. At the ‘birth’ I want you to be delighted with your new product be it a brochure, book or business card.

If I must declare a USP it would have to be communication - I encourage it.

What’s next for you? What’s the big plan?

Is saying ‘more of the same’ a cop out? I am blessed in that I really like what I do.

I am flexible and have tweaked my business offer over the years as the market needs have changed. My early focus on off-line business shifted to on-line; the production of books altered to ebooks.

I am adaptable and have always enjoyed meeting the challenge of change. I’d like to see the standard of information offered on the internet raised. There is some excellent content on the web but there is still an awful lot of crap. That’s a technical term.

Are you any the wiser now? Questions? Please either leave them in the comments below or make use of the rather splendid contact form you’ll find on the site.

If you would like anything researched and written for your business (I don’t do school assignments!) please let me know. Don’t be shy.

* Please don’t make the comment mean I am sexist or a feminist. Depending on which day you ask me I could declare myself as both or neither. The biological facts are that it is much easier for the male of the species to disappear during pregnancy than the female. I speak with authority on this - I tried running away when I found I was pregnant. A bit of a ‘Duh’ moment for me!