“Poets see an ad as an end.
Killers see an ad as a means to an end."
That’s how legendary ad man David Ogilvy differentiated the two types of good copywriters.
But the best were the rare poet-killers who could exalt their subject matter with a poetic phrase and fill the shopping cart.
That’s my job.
Six Things I Do Differently...
And Why You Should Care
I Craft Strategies
that Catch Specific Buyers
The killer in me creates content that serves a purpose - namely, to convert your customers or prospects to a more valuable state. The most effective way to do this is to expound benefits that matter most to a single buyer segment. Instead of casting a wide net that drags in a bit of everything, I bait a hook to catch just the kind of fish you want.
Throughout the content creation process I return to a simple mantra:
“Who is the buyer, and what do we want them to do?”
I Do My Homework
Unless the copywriter understands what your buyer’s problems are, how your product or service solves those problems, and why your buyers choose one contender over the rest, how can he position your offering in a way that convinces them to engage? There are no short-cuts to gathering this vital intelligence: you have to do the research - product, buyer, and market.
Some organizations address this challenge by appointing a subject-matter expert as writer. This usually results in factually correct but bland copy that no one wants to read. A more astute organization will hire a professional writer who is naturally curious, with a strong research focus, and accustomed to interviewing experts to get the information that your buyers want to know.
I have curiosity in spades. I can find something interesting in even the most mundane topics and communicate it to your audience - a critical asset for content marketing.
At university, I earned a degree in philosophy, and what you learn is how to read the most dense, information-packed arguments. No topic is too technical for me to understand. Your industry journals are my bedside reading. I devour your product manuals over breakfast. And if the pieces of the puzzle still don’t fit, I pick up the phone (well, Skype) to pick the brains of people who see the big picture.
I Hook Readers With Techniques From The Story Craft
Twenty thousand years ago wise old Ug was dying from a tooth infection, and wanted to pass on his mammoth-hunting expertise to the tribe. Ug knew that if he delivered his three key lessons in lecture format, they would be forgotten during the thrill of the hunt, if not sooner (attention spans were short in the stone-age).
So he told the tale of strapping young Grok, who discovered how to use fire to cause a stampede, then split off the weakest mammoth from the herd and drive it off a cliff. In doing so, Grok saved his tribe from starvation one terrible winter and won the hand of the chief’s bodacious daughter.
The young hunters of Ug’s tribe remembered the inspirational story, internalized its lessons, survived and passed on their genes and memes.
Just so, humans have evolved a special receptivity to information encoded in story form, and good copywriters use techniques from the storytelling craft to create content that gets read and remembered.
I Illustrate the Content and Design the Page
Eye-tracking experiments prove that readers scan text but rarely read it. They do look at images though... and read captions.
A picture tells a thousand words. More importantly for the web - where surfers tend to scan instead of read - is that a picture tells those thousand words in an instant. When you really need to communicate an idea, illustrate it.
Similarly, good design not only engages the reader in the text and directs them to what is important, it communicates ideas in its own right. Drop the most compelling copy into an basic template and it will land with a thud… and convert poorly.
Not many content creators are equally skilled at copywriting and design. I believe that something special happens when the copy and design flows from a singular perspective. There’s a coherence that is absent when separate minds try to get on the same page. The work becomes more than the sum of its parts… and it gets published a lot faster.
I Build the Pages (and Sites)
During my 20 years of designing websites, I’ve picked up some skills. I can code responsive pages - and whole websites - in HTML and CSS, and hack together other front-end technologies. By building on Wordpress (like this site) I can provide a robust range of functionality, including e-commerce solutions, advertising platforms and other third-party web services.
I also have extensive experience leading development teams from the requirements-gathering phase through launch. I can fit your workflow, whether you have zero resources or a full in-house team.
I Measure Results, Test and Optimize
There’s always room for improvement. Even the most successful copywriter cannot know what marketing positioning messages will compel the buyer to action. Copywriting is an art, but it can also be a science when the writer embraces optimization.
When presented with two rival ideas, the prudent thing to do is A/B split-test them and let the audience decide by tracking which version converts better. I don’t let my ego get in the way of your success, because I know that sometimes the janitor will come up with a headline that induces a click-storm.
About Me
I’m a Hubspot-certified inbound marketer with 20 years of experience in marketing, content strategy, copywriting, design and web development.
How I got here
After graduating with a philosophy degree in the mid-90s, I started designing websites to earn a living while pursuing my dream of writing novels and screenplays. These careers ran parallel, crossing over often when I wrote marketing copy for websites and ad campaigns. Once I realized that content could drive traffic and boost SEO, the career paths merged.
Now, I'm focussed on producing the very best content to achieve my clients’ business goals, end of story.
Experience
I’ve served clients great and small from all kinds of industries, producing over 100 websites and online marketing campaigns - that is:
- managing the client relationship
- gathering requirements
- designing the user experience (UX)
- writing marketing copy
- designing the user interface (UI)
- managing the development team (or doing the programming).
Some Clients You May Recognize
Case Study
Blast Journal
Content Marketing & PPC AdCampaign
My most recent project is Blast Journal, a content marketing platform for Graco Inc, the leading manufacturer of fluid-handling technology. Recently, Graco entered the sandblasting market with a product line of abrasive blasting equipment that provides much-needed dust suppression by injecting water to the blast stream. Because sandblasting operators and managers are a conservative bunch, I crafted a content strategy that:
- attracts these buyers with content that solves their problems and answers questions they were searching for online
- evangelizes the benefits of wet blasting over dry blasting
- directs traffic via display ads to a product landing page at graco.com
I designed and built the site on Wordpress for easy content management, authored, designed and illustrated all the content, and launched a Google Adwords campaign. In less than a year, Blast Journal not only went from an average Google search result position of zero to the first page, but it has been generating revenue through display advertising and sponsored content insertions.
SELECT ARTICLES
Surface Preparation Standards ExplainedBlast Journal’s Guide To Rust Prevention
Sponsored Content: HoldTight
What is Vapor Abrasive Blasting?
10 Reasons to Rent a Vapor Abrasive Blaster
Guide to Concrete Surface Preparation
7 Steps to Success with Adwords
"Doug has an innate ability to mind the big picture, while at the same time understanding that a great application is about business and what works for business, without losing sight for an instant that it is also about user experience and keeping clients and customers recurring and driving business. Now, if you add to that the fact that Doug is also scientifically-minded about ensuring user satisfaction, attracting traffic, and rigorously measuring both, then you just can't go wrong.”
Manfred Schlager
CTO ServiMercado
ATTN: MARKETING MANAGERS ● AGENCY EXECS ● FOUNDERS
Supercharge your business results with superior content
Content marketing articles, resources and infographics that answer the questions and solve the problems that your prospects are searching for.
Tightly focused ads that only qualified buyers click on - and landing pages that convert them one step closer to a sale.
Sponsored content and advertorials that satisfy buyers’ informational needs, while positively positioning both advertiser and publisher.
Home pages that make a great first impression, and about pages that recruit buyers to your cause by telling a compelling story about your company.
Scripts for videos that explain what you do, why you do it, and why your prospects should care (and video production too).
Supercharge your business results with superior content
Content marketing articles, resources and infographics that answer the questions and solve the problems that your prospects are searching for.Sponsored content and advertorials that satisfy buyers’ informational needs, while positively positioning both advertiser and publisher.Scripts for videos that explain what you do, why you do it, and why your prospects should care (and video production too).