CONTENT MARKETING // MINNEAPOLIS INDUSTRY EXPERTS DISCLOSE THEIR SECRETS FOR SUCCESS // CLAIRE DEBERG’S INTERVIEW WITH SNAP AGENCY
I was honored to be the only woman interviewed (even though I fall last in the line-up…at least there was ONE woman, right?!) in the Snap Agency column on Content Marketing. Snap decided to get details of how other professional marketing experts handle, work with and manage content for their clients.
It is a wonderfully in-depth piece which I encourage you to read if you have time and an affinity for all things marketing. The author, Mike Frahm, also created a nice little SlideShare with the highlights from each expert which I’ll post below.
Here is the Snap Agency interviewing me:
As the owner of your own content business, what are your biggest challenges in producing outstanding content for clients?
I’ve been running a successful freelance business for nearly a decade. I’ve been the direct writer for agencies, I’ve worked as project manager for national CPG brands, I’ve worked with a suite of other writers, I’ve led teams and I lead teams of writers. The single largest challenge I have faced time and again in regards to producing content for clients is convincing them of its worth.
Far too many clients believe in the Field of Dreams motto when they enter into design and logo conversations: If you build it, they will come. No matter how slick and creative a logo is, if there is no content that bolsters that beauty high up into the din, which is future potential customers, you may as well peel money out of your wallet and drop it down the garbage disposal because people do not come for new logos.
I work hard to show clients the synergy that spins up from distinct branding coupled with powerful content. Once clients can see the energy that can be garnered for their products, ideas or services from the simple marriage of smart branding and rich content, they’re sold.
Then that delicious content has to be produced, which can seem daunting…because it is. There is a lot of online noise and by a lot I mean an overwhelmingly, sickening amount of noise on the Internet. How does a brand create an engaging voice among the cacophony? Read More
7 TIPS ON WORKING FROM HOME WITH KIDS (or PROJECTS BETWEEN PEANUT BUTTER)
I get this question a lot: How do you balance work and mothering? So this blog post is about being a mama and working but I think it applies to papas, too, who choose to work from home and parent at the same time. Check out my tips and pics from the trenches of Mothering and Working…
Tip #1: Be honest
When I first launched my career as a freelance writer I was very shy about sharing with clients
Under my desk while I work.
that I worked from home. I didn’t lie about how I chose to create my life, but I wasn’t forthright. However, because I was answering emails at 11:00pm or had a limited window in which to meet with clients (only when my daughter was at camp in the summer, for instance) there was no
hiding the fact that I had a unique set-up for work. As soon as I started sharing with clients that I office out of my home they didn’t run from me screaming as I had imagined. In today’s awesome world working from home is like the tiniest blip on a radar. No, it doesn’t even make the radar screen, people. I am honest about how I work my life.
Tip #2: Consider the benefits frequently
I have days, even now after 8 years of working as a consultant, where I envy the 9 to 5-ers. They get to be around other people during the day. Ah. They get to drop-off and pick-up their kids at school in clothes other than yoga pants. Ah. They get to like do whatever they want at night like read a book or workout or watch a movie or sleep–all those luxuries I give up because I’m working at night. I know not everyone’s 9 to 5 experience is super
Getting in some sitting work with Mama.
breezy or super easy. But I remind myself of the benefits of working and momming frequently. Today for instance, I woke up early to work because I knew I needed to post two blogs and submit a writing grant before I could get together with my friend Fiona so our kids could have a playdate. So at 1:00pm on the last day of March I’m sitting on a bench in the sun laughing with my friend while my son and her daughter played. That is a good life. I didn’t have to ask anyone permission to hang at park in the middle of the day. I consider the benefits frequently.
Tip #3: Learn to give up
When I first started as a freelancer I was a Super Solo Mama so it was just me and my kid for 5 years straight. Read More
HOW TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE (HINT: SET YOUR ALARM)
I recently read an inspiring article about a man who gets up everyday at 4:22am. Not 4:15. Not 4:30.
4:22.
He generously took readers through each moment of his day from the minutes he eats breakfast to what he reads on his commute to work. He sounded fulfilled, satisfied and very very productive.
I hate that in people.
Actually I love it. I was intrigued and also a little jealous of this dude’s tenacious way of being each day. He accomplished much and took very good care of himself: eating crazy delicious food, working out at crazy CrossFit, rearranging his crazy routine so he could invest time in his marriage.
So I decided to take some notes from his perfect life (just kidding, he doesn’t have a perfect life…in fact he says he sticks to his 4:22am routine about 90% of the time [so he’s kind of a failure]) and get into a routine that would work for me…but then I realized something.
I have a pretty good routine myself. Read More
THE BRILLIANCE OF WORKING REMOTELY
Here’s a story: I had my bags packed for a week of staff retreat and board meetings for an organization I work for. I purchased the right adapter for my Mac so I could project my presentation to the board of directors. I organized my home visits and wrote my docket report.
Mother-in-law was booked to serve as Super Grandma during both my work trip and while my husband was away for work, too. Schedules were printed. Doctor notes were signed.
And then it came: The Great Undoing of Claire DeBerg (veiled as a violent illness that had me pinned to the bed for 24 hours between little horrifying traipses to the toilet). I trust your acrobatic minds, dear readers, so I will not detail the horrors except to share the single-word texts I sent to my husband during fevers and The Fog of Vomit: Read More
Claire DeBerg // Writer 