Used effectively the written word has the power to unlock your business potential, plan for its success, communicate your message and activate sales. Beckwith Communication centres on effective business writing from reports, plans and strategy to brochures, newsletters, direct mail and websites.

Marketing Plans

The best place to start. Plans include a review of your current situation, the market place you operate in, marketing strategies for achieving your goals, marketing tactics, schedules of costs and time frames. Planning is all, if you don't plan, plan to fail.

Marketing Strategy

Identifying and sticking to a strategy can make all the difference between success and failure, don't throw your money away, take the time to think clearly. How many generals go into battle without knowing exactly where to position their armies, where to strike first and what contingencies to put in place? I can work with you to identify the right strategy for your market based on your unique product and service.

Marketing Reports

Want something specific? A new market you're considering, a new product you'd like to launch? Let me do the research for you and give you some great advice to build on.

Web Sites - click here for recent examples

Probably the most unique and powerful marketing tool ever invented, web sites create amazing visibility and leverage and take relatively little time or money to develop. It's important not to overestimate what a web site can do for you though and set some clear objectives at the beginning. Ask yourselves a few questions. What will be the purpose of my website? How will it be used? Let me work with you to develop your web strategy, determine your content and write it. Dependent on your unique requirements I can recommend a web developer to build your site for you and can manage this third party, should you prefer. Take a look at www.WebPagesThatSuck.com for some great insight on what not to do!

The web pages at the top of Google have only one clear thing in common: good writing. People can get so caught up in the technical side they forget about site content. Top-ranking web pages on Google are consistently much better written than the vast majority of what is read on the web. Click here for some recent examples produced by Beckwith Communications

Of course, an important aspect of having a web site is deciding how you are going to tell your clients and your prospective clients about it. I can work with you on promotion and begin getting greater exposure for your product or service.

Search Engine Advertising Creation and Placement

Search Engine or Pay per click advertising, without a doubt, has to be the most effective advertising out there. I have used Google Adwords myself now for some time and have reaped the benefits. Search Engine Advertising improves your return on investment from online advertising by only displaying your ads to people who are actively looking for your product or service on line. The placement and creative is triggered by the search phrase the user enters into the search engine and as a result, costs are low and click through and conversion rates are very high. Advertising on the web has to be the simplest and quickest way to get in front of your audience and it is so flexible that you can change it, improve it and turn it on and off as required. In New Zealand this market is still very much in its infancy and there is an opportunity for advertisers to steal a march on their competitors by utilising this highly efficient method, afterall how many people do you know who look in the yellow pages these days, most will just Google what ever they happen to be looking for - this is only going to increase.

I can work with you to establish your goals, help you determine your key words, devise campaigns to reach specific markets and then write punchy, effective advertising copy within the Google Adwords guidelines based on your key advantages and your competitors offerings. I will then monitor the performance of your adverts, report back and adjust your advertising as required.

Case Studies - click here for recent examples

Case Studies are a great way to get the reader to closely identify with the customer and by showing a specific example, they clearly highlight the problem, solution and benefits. Well written stories help build brands. Through online research and careful interviewing of key personnel and customers I can effectively communicate complex topics and issues and make sure the people important to you say the right things about your brand.

Newsletters & eZines

A great way of staying in touch with your client and developing your relationship with them. The importance of keeping things interesting can't be overstated, you wouldn't want to bore your client after all. A great way to do this is to use case studies, talk about how you solved problems with your services, this is interesting.

I can help source and write stories for you, help with image selection, recommend professional photographers if needed and manage the print production. eZines, (newsletters distributed via email), are becoming increasingly common, the important thing to remember here is to make sure yours is 'opt in', ask people if they would like to be on your eZine list first, otherwise you will be sending them Spam and probably annoying them. The beauty of eZines is that they cost little to produce or distribute.

Media Releases

Having a PR strategy can be a great way of getting media exposure without paying for it. The important thing to remember is that if it isn't newsworthy it wont get used. Let me work with you to develop an interesting angle to catch media attention. I will develop concept, angles and write an effective release. I can also help with media selection and identification and, of course, issue the release on your behalf.

Communication/Marketing Material

If people are buying an expensive product or service they are very interested in what they are going to get and will read and reread your brochure or direct mail. It is important therefore to concentrate on the benefits and talk persuasively. Common mistakes with material are:

• Poor Focus - the material talks about what you do, not what your client will get
• Insufficient content – you haven't managed to say enough to persuade
• Poor design or layout – makes material difficult to read and lacks professionalism
• Mistakes, typos, grammatical errors – this ruins your credibility

Good communication material will go a long way to successfully promoting your product or service. It is important to go through a series of questions to avoid pitfalls.

• Why do you need the material? What is your objective?
• Who will read it? Will it be for one specific audience or more than one? Do you need more than one piece of material?
• How will it be distributed?
• Do you have images, does photography need to be taken?
• What quantity do you need?

Step 1 - Getting the message right - brainstorming
Determining what makes you unique from the competition is an important starting point. I can work with you to establish this and develop benefits we can actively promote. Often a strapline can help summarise your key message and all of your marketing can hook into this.

Step 2 - Copywriting
Effective copy grabs attention. You only have a few minutes for people to discover what you can do for them – don't waste it. I will devise the initial concept, write copy that communicates the key benefits to your target audience and then, using my network of professional suppliers, deliver the final printed item.