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

 

This month WRITING MATTERS celebrates its fourth anniversary!

 

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VOLUME 5, ISSUE 1 – SEPTEMBER 2011

 

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This Month's Case Study – Middleton College

 

The Company

Middleton College was a small liberal arts school located in the northeastern part of the country.

 

The Challenge

Although Middleton had been in existence for over 40 years, the school never had a regularly published alumni magazine.  Typically, one or two issues were published each year, but there was no set format or distribution schedule.

 

Recently, Middleton had hired a new Director of Marketing, Sue Stratton.  One of Sue’s priorities was to establish a formal alumni magazine distributed bi-monthly, with regular features and contributors.  Sue had a small staff and although they could handle the graphic design duties and contribute some written pieces each issue, she needed someone to oversee the process and act a writer/editor.  Unfortunately, budget constraints prevented hiring a full-time person for the job.

 

The Solution

In her previous position at another college, Sue had worked with a freelance copywriter named Bill on several occasions.  He was originally recommended by a former colleague of hers, and she had a lot of respect for his professionalism and work ethic.  He had experience writing newsletter and magazine articles, including some for universities.

 

Sue knew Bill was probably very busy, so she wasn’t sure if he could take on an ongoing writer/editor role for the new magazine.  After contacting him by email, he confirmed he was busy, but still wanted to discuss the project to see if they could work something out.

 

Sue and Bill met at the school to go over the details and determine the scope of Bill’s duties.  Sue had ambitious plans for the magazine in the way of articles and feature stories, perhaps a little too ambitious for a bi-monthly publication.  Bill pointed this out and suggested they narrow the focus and concentrate on specific subject areas for each issue (school news, alumni profiles, historical pieces, etc.)  By narrowing the focus to a few key features, each issue would be interesting to read without any filler material bogging things down.

 

Sue was pleased with Bill’s analysis not only because it would make for a better end product, but also because it would allow him to take the job.  With fewer feature articles and a streamlined process, Bill could handle the work on an ongoing basis.  The two discussed Bill’s fee, and he said he would email her a detailed bid letter the next day, outlining timeframes and expectations for the ongoing project.

 

The next day, Sue received Bill’s email as promised, and she reviewed it with her boss.  Both determined his rate was fair, and Bill was offered the job. 

 

The Outcome

Over the next several weeks, Bill worked with Sue and her staff on the premiere issue, compiling the articles, writing a couple of his own, and editing everything in the process.  Additionally, he collaborated with the graphic design group to bring the overall vision together. 

 

Sue was pleased with Bill’s project management skills, as he really took a lot off of her plate.  His past experience with overseeing this type of project was very apparent, and it showed in the results.  The premiere issue was widely acclaimed, and Sue looked forward to working with Bill on subsequent issues.  Middleton finally had the kind of alumni magazine it deserved.

 

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The next issue of WRITING MATTERS will be out October 3rd.

 

Have a great month!

 

 

John Paul Tancredi, Copywriter/Consultant

Spectrum Copywriting Services

JPT@spectrumcopywriting.com

www.spectrumcopywriting.com

 

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