Welcome to WRITING MATTERS, celebrating the value of good writing in the business world.

 

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VOLUME 4, ISSUE 11 – JULY 2011

 

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This Month's Case Study – Northfield Insurance

 

The Company

Northfield Insurance is a property and casualty insurer operating in the northeastern part of the country.  The company has been in business for more than forty years and has a strong, stable customer base.

 

The Challenge

Northfield had always been a bit behind the curve, technologically speaking, but always seemed to catch up and continue to thrive despite its slowness to change.  In recent years, it introduced an automated claims system, interactive web site, and other modern conventions it had previously resisted.

 

Tom Tanner, the company’s Marketing Manager, wanted to continue Northfield’s “technical revolution” by introducing an electronic newsletter.  Over the years, the company had periodically published a print newsletter, but it had been reduced to two issues a year and wasn’t very popular.  Actually, Tom envisioned two newsletters – one for policyholders and an internal one for employees.

 

Unfortunately, Tom had a small writing staff, and his two writers were busy with other ongoing projects.  Due to budgeting constraints, adding a new full-time person wasn’t feasible, so Tom had to pursue other options to find a writer for the newsletters.

 

The Solution

Because Tom planned on publishing the two newsletters bi-monthly, he needed someone who would be available on an ongoing basis – he didn’t want to juggle writers or worry about someone cutting out on him.  He wanted someone dedicated and reliable who would commit to the long term.

 

Before embarking on his search, Tom discussed his plans with his two staff writers, Doug and Carrie.  After casually inquiring if they knew anyone who could help, Carrie recommended Holly, a former employee who had left the company a few years earlier to start her own copywriting business.  “She’s very talented,” Carrie said, “and she worked here for years, so she knows a lot about the business.”  Although Tom wasn’t working in the department when Holly was there, Doug remembered her and was complimentary of her work as well.

 

Tom perused Holly’s web site and was impressed with her portfolio.  Despite branching out into other fields, she still did some insurance work and had experience writing newsletters.  He decided to give her a call and discuss the newsletter project.

 

During their discussion, Holly asked Tom a series of questions to determine the proposed content and scope of each newsletter.  Although Tom already had some specific ideas, he was pleased with Holly’s suggestions and input.  And, better yet, she was available to work on the newsletters each month on an ongoing basis.  Holly prepared a rate quote and emailed it to Tom the next day.  Tom felt her rate was more than fair and initiated plans to hire her on a contract basis. 

 

The Outcome

The next week, Tom formally hired Holly and she began work on the initial two e-newsletters – one for the policyholders and the other for company employees, just as Tom planned.  After meeting with Tom and other subject matter experts to determine content and gather the appropriate information, Holly worked from her home office thereafter and kept in touch with Tom and the others via email and phone.  The arrangement worked quite well and all parties were pleased with the process.

 

Within a few weeks, Holly finished writing the content for the two newsletters.  With help from the in-house design staff, the premiere issues were completed and distributed accordingly.  Response was very positive and Tom and his team looked forward to working with Holly on subsequent issues.

 

In the end, despite being unable to hire a permanent, full-time employee, Tom was fortunate enough to find a reliable, talented writer to bring his newsletters to fruition.  With her freelance background and past experience working for Northfield, Holly was the perfect addition to the team.

 

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The next issue of WRITING MATTERS will be out August 1st.

 

Have a great month!

 

 

John Paul Tancredi, Copywriter/Consultant

Spectrum Copywriting Services

JPT@spectrumcopywriting.com

www.spectrumcopywriting.com

 

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