45:5 Words win business

Lee:
Folks, before we kick off today show.

Lee:
Let me tell you about an amazing conference here in the UK for WordPress agencies. Agency Transformation Live 2022 is now open for business. We will be in Kettering on the 10th November and in Irthlingborough on the 11th November. An incredible two day event with speakers and fully fledged mastermind cheque it out over on agencytransformation.live. That’s agencytransformation.live.

Lee:
Welcome to Trailblazer FM. This is your host, Mr. Lee Matthew Jackson. On today’s show, we have the one, the only, it’s Mr. Steven Church from CopyrighterPro. He’s your friend. He’s my friend and he’s local. How are you today?

Stephen:
Oh, well, that was a great build up. Thank you, Lee. I’m ever so well. Thank you very much, and I hope you are, too.

Lee:
I am tiptop and champion. It is really good fun to be able to interview one of the local lads of Northamptonshire. We rock around the same networking events and we’re also in the same accountability group. And we figured it would be a great opportunity to jump on the podcast and get to know you a little bit more because you offer a great service offering clear, concise and compelling copywriting. That was a lot of cuz.

Stephen:
Yes, I guess so. Isn’t that what they call alliteration? I’m not sure, but yeah, that’s right. I help businesses get more and higher paying clients by writing words for their websites which are clear, concise and compelling. I don’t just do web copy. Like many copyrights, I turn my hand to other aspects of copy in business. Anything where words are involved. It could be press releases or white papers, or tender documents, LinkedIn profiles, sales letters. Anything where words are required is what I love to do.

Lee:
That’s awesome. And folks, you can find out more about CopyrighterPro over on copywriternorthampton.co.uk. There are links to everything and anything and anything we mentioned in this podcast in the show Notes over on Trailblazer FM. So, Stephen, just to get to know you a little bit, could you give us the kind of 60 seconds who Steve is and something that people may not know about you?

Stephen:
My goodness. 67 years in 60 seconds. Okay, well, I’ll do my best. I founded CopyrighterPro nine years ago, having spent several decades in retail. The key thing is I’ve always loved English, ever since school. But in our retail business, we were very early on with the internet. We had a website in 1996. We had an all singing, all dancing Ecommerce site in 2005, which was before John Lewis and Debenhams Evening. So it was during this process that I learned more about copy, about SEO, about what works and what doesn’t work. And in 2013, I decided it was time to set up as a freelance copywriter because I love working with words so very much.

Lee:
The other thing that people may not know about you, that I know about you, because I still queue on the Internet is your other business. Could you tell us a little bit about that?

Stephen:
All right. Yes. My dodgy little sidelines. Well, I conduct funerals. I’m a Humanist celebrant. That means I conduct non religious funerals. And there’s an increasing demand for these, for people of no faith who still would like to have a funeral conducted that celebrates the life of their loved one. And it’s something I do two or three funerals a month, and I’ve done over 200 now, and it’s something that I do enjoy doing. It’s a way to help people through a very difficult period and I do enjoyed it. It’s a fascinating thing to do. And, of course, it combines the skill of copyrighting, because you have to meet the family and then write the script, write the tribute, and so copywriting does come into it, too.

Lee:
I love that you do that and I really wanted you to talk about that just a little bit on the show, as very often, people get caught up in just being the agency owner or the business owner and they think they can’t do anything else. So I love that you’re able to offer such a wonderful service to both the deceased in honouring them, but also in looking after those families. My dad used to take funerals for a living for many, many years, and he always said to me how much of an honour it was to be able to support those families. But also, like you said, with words, being able to give that person a good send off using the power of language. So thanks for sharing that man.

Stephen:
Yup, that’s great. It certainly is an honour, what you feel really privileged to be able to do something like that. And it does help people. You’re absolutely right.

Lee:
And folks, don’t forget trailblazer.fm. If you want to find out more about that too, then just add Stephen on LinkedIn, because that’s how I discovered that you also did that. Now, mate, we’ve got a time machine. It’s an imaginary one, I’m afraid. It’s not real, but I’d really love to go back to the 90s that you mentioned and you said that you guys, you were in retail, you got a website pretty early on. Were you involved in getting that website sorted out? And if so, was that your kind of first copy gig?

Stephen:
It was pretty much my first copy gig. I’ve always been a one for new gadgets or inventions or technological developments. I mean, I had a Sinclair Spectrum in 1982 and I wrote a payroll programme in Sinclair Basic on that spectrum. Another time. But even before the Internet came along, if anything needed writing for the business, it might have been a press release or an article. I always enjoyed doing it and I studied the art of commercial writing fairly early on, so it was an exciting time to be in on the website revolution, really, from the very start. It was an exciting time and it’s continued to be exciting. Things are still evolving and it’s great to be able to combine a hobby or craft with a profession. So I feel very fortunate.

Lee:
At what point did you then decide, okay, I want to strike out alone and launch this full on copywriting service?

Stephen:
Well, it was something that was taken out of my hands. The business, sadly, packed up in 2012. All the usual reasons the decline of the High Street, the fact that the sector we were in declined dramatically. We were in China and Crystal and cut rates and collectibles and cookware, and the business had been going 154 years. I was the fifth generation owner of the business. Wow. In a way, we contributed to the decline of the business because we were so far ahead, more than any other retailer in the UK with our online business. And the online business grew really well. And what I should have done is to close down the bricks and mortar business. We had five shops. That’s right. And instead I mistakenly used the profits online to support the declining bricks and mortar side of the business. So the whole thing packed up in 2012 and I was very lucky to be able to go straight into copyrighting and set up on my own. And it’s been a fantastic experience.

Lee:
Now, I’d love to learn from you what’s been the most common driver of leads for your business?

Stephen:
It does vary, but it’s pretty much split afford. I get about afford my business from LinkedIn, on which I’m pretty active. I get about afford from my website, which is well optimised. I do well on Google, not just for the search term copywriting, but for certain niches, like copywriting for accountants, copywriting for trades. And the third form of leads is networking, which, like you, I do actively. I love networking and I get a fair number of clients through that channel.

Lee:
That’s phenomenal. Again, guys. Check out copywriternorthampton.co.uk. I do love your website. Who did your site? Let’s give them a shout out.

Stephen:
All right, well, I’m glad you liked it. I’m very lucky to know John Scotcher.

Lee:
Well, he’s on the networking scene as well. I know him.

Stephen:
And John is very creative. He’s a wonderful chap. He’s become a good friend. And I also use his online course platform called Tovi to host my copyrighted courses.

Lee:
I really should get John on, actually, because he’s another great example of how local networking really can work. We’ve spoken many times on the podcast on how to generate leads and how to grow a business, and both yourself and John are examples of companies that have been able to grow, yes, through other channels, but also through networking. What would you say to someone who would be a little bit on the fence about going to a local networking meeting? Maybe they are a web designer or a web developer like John, or maybe they’re a copywriter. What would you say to encourage someone along to a networking meeting?

Stephen:
Well, first of all, I’d say to them, I understand the idea of networking for many people, even if they’re the least bit shy, the idea can be absolutely terrifying and I really do understand that. But I wouldn’t urge them to give it a go and it’s a long game. It would be very unlikely that you get clients in the first few weeks. But it’s important to persist and the great thing to do is not to make the mistakes I made. I remember my very first networking event, I was very nervous and first thing I did wrong was to wear a suit. And I went along with a load of business cards and I started to show these at people in the hope that they would look at my business cards and say, wow, I want to give this man lots of money to do copyright from my website. And when I went home from the meeting, I then told her I’d be terribly clever. And I sent emails to everybody who’d been at the meeting, reinforcing my offering and telling them how great it had been to meet them. Of course, again, that had, quite rightly, an absolute zero response.

Stephen:
I’ve learned over the years, I think I learned fairly quickly, that with networking you have to go along and number one thing is to show an interest in other people, not to fit your services, shown interest in them as people, even more in them as people than their businesses, and find out about them and very quickly become known as a nice person. And then in time you get known as a nice person who’s an authority, who knows what they’re talking about. Then the referrals do come and they really do. So I would urge anybody who sets out in business as a web designer to give networking a go. Try several different types of networking events. There are, of course, zoom events, there are face to face ones, there are hybrid ones, and there are all different styles and types and formats. Give a few of them a go and then you’ll get a feel for the ones which suits you best. And then stick to one or two and then give it four or five months or more before making a conclusion as to how successful they’re going to be.

Lee:
So you mentioned that you have those three channels, you have LinkedIn, you’ve got the website and you’ve got networking. Would it be right in saying that LinkedIn is similar to networking? Are you doing the same thing there, being a nice person and becoming an authority, or are you doing something different? So for example, I get spammed all the time by people on LinkedIn saying, hey, I find you really interesting, would you like to buy my service? I know you don’t do that by the way, but what’s your LinkedIn game as a business owner for lead generation?

Stephen:
Okay, well, on LinkedIn, I do treat it as networking, as a form of online networking. And I adopt the same approach as with the other form of networking. I post articles and posts that are informative and definitely not sales. I try to be consistent. As with all marketing, one should be consistent, and I’m not pretty good at it, to be honest. That’s one thing I must determine to do is to become more consistent. So I’m informative and I find that it’s a great medium for getting to be known as a likeable expert. I do like to connect with people, but I never pitch in my connection request. What I do is I say, I’ve seen you’re doing these posts or I saw you do online networking thing. Shall we connect? And while we’re about it, why don’t you tell me about the kind of connections you like to make? Because you never know, I might be able to help. So my opening gambit, if you like, is to ask how I can help other people. And I think it works because people seem to appreciate it.

Lee:
I don’t know the quote exactly, but I’ve heard many times people saying that if be a connector and by doing that, the opportunities will come back to you, as it were. So be somebody that goes out and is purposefully helpful for the sake of being nice and helpful. And your approach to LinkedIn is perfect. Connecting with somebody new and saying, hey, I noticed X, Y, Z maybe I’ve got some people that might be helpful to you, describe your ideal client, or whatever that is. And that’s again, exactly how we can reflect that in our network. By having a conversation, finding out as much as possible about the person that we’re stood in front of, really listening and trying to work out and find out how we might be able to help and support that person. Dare I swear, Paul Green, who leads our specific networking that you and I are a part of, when I’ve been to a BNI, sorry, Paul they very much focus on teaching the room, as it were, who your ideal client would be. And it’s also a great question, therefore, to ask whoever it is that you’re meeting, who is your ideal client?

Lee:
What is that pain point? What might they say when you can solve that problem? So I used to go around telling people that if you bumped into a web designer who was really stressed and said they just had no time to get all of these sites built or that they were having to work weekends, then please tell them about me. That would be how I’d educate the room. And I would actually generate lots of leads in that way because people understood I’m seeing a stressed out designer here, and I remember lease saying that. Now off the back of networking. We’ve gotten to know each other over the years and I’m very excited that you’re going to come along to Agency Transformation Live 2020 this year because, hey, we’ve put on a great international event and it’s in your backyard.

Stephen:
Yeah, well, it certainly is exciting and it’s great that you’ve invited me along. I shall be really excited to meet so many people in the digital space and it’s an honour to be asked and looking forward. Also, of course, to be doing a presentation, which, after what we’ve been talking about now, definitely can’t be a sales pitch, but it will be informational and I hope it will be helpful, too.

Lee:
Well, at 11:45, unless the time changes depending on different speakers, you’ll be speaking on Words Win Business. I love that title. Learn how to create impact with words, the words you write. Discover how to engage your readers and get more and better clients by writing words for your websites that are clear, concise and compelling. And I totally stole that from your website. But, folks, if you’re coming along to Agency Transformation Live this year, then you’re going to get to meet my friend Stephen, have a great chat set, share some awesome stories and also learn how to improve your copywriting skills. So here is a shameless plug agencytransformation.live. And if you use the code 20 off, that’s 20, the number 20, and then off in lower case, all one word, no spaces, check out the show notes. If you really want to copy and paste it, that will get you, yes, 20% off. Not £20, but 20%. Isn’t that cool? Steve, we are coming into land now and I’d really love to just get one little nugget of wisdom. A common problem that our agency owners have is looking at their website and trying to work out what message they should have.

Lee:
What’s the first kind of opening strap line in that big hero block that they should have? Have you any advice for helping people start to unpick what that opening sentence should be?

Stephen:
Well, I think I have. I mean, it’s perhaps dangerous to generalise, but only yesterday I saw a website where the very first block of text began. Something like, we were established in 1997 have been serving the community with and I can’t remember the rest because I think I’d fallen asleep. Big mistake. The thing to think about, about the very first opening words of a copy on the home page of a website is think about why somebody has landed on the website. In other words, what their pain point is. And very closely linked to the pain point is the benefits. What website visitors want to know about is not the ins and outs of your offering, not so much the features of what you offer. They may well know what you offer. Everybody knows, for example, what an accountant offers. They’ve got a pretty good idea of the range of services. What the people want to know when they land on your website is whether it is about the benefits of the offering. They want to know the benefits way ahead of the features, because the benefits are the other side of the pain point coin, if that makes sense.

Stephen:
And I often begin to copy with a question. Do you find that doing your accounts is a hassle? Are you burning the midnight oil on your account? There’s a very clumsy example. If you can begin with a question with the word you in it, immediately the reader is going to be thinking, oh, he’s talking to me. And that’s what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to talk to them, make them feel that they’re the only people you’re addressing. There we go.

Lee:
You have a course for anybody who’s interested in firing their copywriter, which sounds random because you are a copywriter. That means people would be firing you. But that’s cool. How would people go and find that if they were interested in improving their copywriting skills or even potentially adding it as a service to their agency?

Stephen:
Okay, well, if they go to CopyrighterPro or copywriternorthampton.co.uk, there’s a very clear menu tab on copywriting courses and that will take them through to academy CopyrighterPro where the currently three courses lie, and they’ll be able to see what the courses offer and the benefits of taking on the courses. So just go to my website and it will be there, folks.

Lee:
We’ll make sure that we put links to all of those in the show notes. But just to recap, Stephen, it’s been great to meet you. I love your history, the very difficult story that you shared of the five generations of business that you eventually had to close. However, you were able to launch a copywriting business of which you’ve been able to continue to grow and sustain since, I think, around 2012, you mentioned. And you’ve grown through not only leads through your website, but equally through LinkedIn and of course, the power of networking. You shared some great wisdom during this episode on ways to network and you’ve also thrown in at the very end some excellent tips for creating some compelling language or compelling hook when people first land on our website. So thank you so much for your time. Can’t wait to meet you and hang out with you again at Agency Transformation Live this year. So all that’s left for us to do is say cheerio and tu dalu..

Stephen:
Well, thank you, Lee. I look forward to the event immensely. Thank you. Bye bye.

Lee:
Bye bye..