How Currency Exchange Rates Should Determine Your Marketing

by Yolander Prinzel

When the value of the dollar plummets compared to the Yen, Euro, Rupee, or any other foreign currency, it is generally a bad thing.

As a nation, the goods we import from other countries become more expensive because we have to use more of our dollars in exchange for the currency used by the exporting company in order to pay for them.

Travelers and currency traders find their dollars making less impact as well.

But for freelance writers, the declining value of a dollar is a great time to target your marketing to other countries.

As an example, in the beginning of March, the value of one dollar in Euros was .7896. That means an article you charge $100 U.S. dollars for would cost your British, German, Irish, etc. client $78.96 Euros. Today, that same article would only cost your overseas, Euro-using client $69.58 because the value of the dollar has dropped to .6958 Euros. It’s almost like offering a sale without changing your bottom line at all.

In order to capitalize on this, you should know both the historical value of the U.S. dollar as well as the current value. Now, go have fun with that marketing spin!

Yolander Prinzel, ACS is a financial writer as well as a series 7, 66 and 2-15 licensed financial representative. With a decade of financial industry experience, she was the National Director of Marketing and the Director of Operations for The Compass Agency USA and has also been a trader for Raymond James Financial Services and a life insurance underwriter. No matter what you may think, none of her posts are advisory, they are simply informational. Only an advisor with close, personal knowledge of your financial situation can offer advice.

Guerilla Marketing for Writers

Will you be able to use all the tactics in this book? No. Will you get inspired to modify them in ways that best suit your circumstances? Definitely. Jay Conrad Levinson, Rick Frishman and Michael Larsen hit the marketing nail squarely on the head with this one. Guerilla Marketing For Writers is a valuable tool if nothing else than for it’s inspirational effects. There is always something more we can be doing to promote our work, another idea to try, another tactic to put yourself ahead of the competition. With Guerilla Marketing for Writers, you might just come up with an approach nobody’s beaten to death yet.

John Pareles on Music Marketing: Insert the Word “Writer” Here

Interesting reading over at the New York Times. This article by John Pareles is interesting enough to me as a very part-time musician and goofy music creator (ask Cath about her addiction to “Psychadelic Beige Orangutangs” available on CD Baby and iTunes).

But if you can read between the lines and insert the phrase “freelance writer” everywhere you read “musician” or “band” you get an idea of how this article could generate LOADS of great marketing ideas. What on earth does David Bowie shilling for Lincolns have to do with writers getting ahead of the game in a recession?

For a start, writers need to think more like musicians when it comes to plugging their work and talents. Writing isn’t as sexy as being in a band, but the marketing needs are the same–get your material in front of as many people as humanly possible. Could writers start pimping themselves out like rockers, doing endorsements and trying to create a bigger brand for themselves?

Why, I do believe the answer is a great big YES.

Freelancer-to-Freelancer Marketing

See all those empty office chairs? Offices like these could get even more empty if freelancers take my new bright idea and run with it. Let me state for the record that I should NOT be telling you this right now, I SHOULD be developing it MYSELF and making a cottage industry out of it. But I’m obviously not as smart as I should be, since I’m going to spill it now… … Continue Reading

Jennifer Mattern on Freelance Marketing

Jennifer Mattern has some excellent advice for freelancers in this recent post on freelance marketing. One great point she makes about holiday marketing is not to overlook sending Christmas  cards or other holiday-themed communications, even if you don’t personally celebrate that holiday. It’s easy to get tunnel vision about that sort of thing, and this advice is well-timed.

Another great bit of advice in this article; take stock of your accomplishments this year and start thinking ahead to next year. I’ve always started doing this round the end of the year, but earlier is definitely better when it comes to making plans for next year. What I would add to Jennifer’s advice is to start thinking ahead in terms of your budget, especially if you need to get new business cards and other promotional items.

Are you launching any new ventures in 2009? Will you start teaching writing classes or doing seminars? You’re going to need money for promotional materials and supplies. Do you need some extra tax write-offs for 2008? Get those supplies early and count it towards this year’s taxes where it’s legal to do so. A little extra thinking time never hurts. Great advice and food for thought all around in Jennifer’s article, Evaluation Time – Monthly Marketing Mix.

Ten Ways to Diversify Your Freelance Writing

Freelance writing as a full-time occupation currently faces some scary times; will our current economic problems start affecting how much work is available? If magazines and online publishers start cutting back their budgets, what does a poor freelancer do? Here are ten ways to diversify your freelance career to keep those checks rolling in even when times are tough:

10. Branch Out. Have you been toying with adding digital photography to your skill set? Graphic design? Newsletter writing? Any of these additional skills make you more marketable AND give you great source material for opening up new freelance writing markets in trade mags and industry-specific websites.

9. Volunteer. That’s right, I am suggestion you work for free. As well as the altruistic side of things, you might discover another untapped resource for articles and advice pieces. You might even get plugged in to the for-pay part of a non-profit or charity group once they find out you are a professional writer–especially if you are willing to be flexible with your rates to help out.

8. Teach Classes. Does your local community center need a guru who can teach people how to write better cover letters and resumes? You don’t have to set yourself up as a freelance writing teacher–just show people how to write better in vital areas such as job seeking, employee evaluations, even the art of “romantic communication” might be a fun community center class you can teach. The key to these types of classes is knowing how to market your class properly to interest the people in your neighborhood.

7. Hook Up With A Temp Agency. Call your nearest temp service and explain about your writing business. Find out what you need to do in order to be listed as a writer/proofreader/editor and give it a try. … Continue Reading

A Great Gimmick

Sometimes the right kind of calling card or gimmicky merchandise is all you need to leave a lasting impression. Check out this great idea from Says-It.com. Go to Says-It and fill in the blanks at the Vinyl Record Generator and you’ll get your own custom vinyl album graphic for free. Choose between a full-length album, 45 single or even an old-fashioned 78! Best of all, you can buy merchandise with your custom image printed on it, including three inch stickers, coffee cups, travel mugs, keychains and more. It’s a cool idea sure to keep ‘em talking wherever you hand your personalized trinkets out…I wish I had thought of this one first.

The “Just Say No” Thread Continues…

Mark Dugas wrote an interesting post at FreelanceSwitch.com on saying no to low-paying freelance work you don’t feel is worthy of your skill and experience. This makes me think of a post I recently raved about at WritingHermit which touches on the same notion.

I had some painful choices to make in 2007, and the agony of cutting loose dependable, but ultimately time-wasting gigs is very real. You wind up accumulating some serious time-waster projects if you aren’t careful. My dilemma was that I was earning just barely enough to justify the work, but the time investment was actually costing me money. The strange thing about freelancing–at least in my world–is that it usually pays off when you go out on a limb, treat yourself right and say no to money that isn’t worth the effort. I found much better projects to replace the ones I ditched, and fairly quickly!

You’re probably wondering what the relevance of the above photo is–it’s a still from Mark Dugas’s documentary, Ganesh. Something I’d be interested in seeing as I’ve always loved the Ganesh imagery. Being a fellow documentary filmmaker doesn’t hurt either, so in the spirit of cross promotion, please take a second to have a look at Dugas’s site. Doc films don’t get enough love at film festivals in my opinion–though it’s been several years since I submitted one, so maybe the tide has changed. But I digress…

Stuntdubl Speaks Up On LinkBait

Internet marketing consultant Todd Malicoat, better known in the SEO community as Stuntdubl, had quite a lot to say about the ins and outs of linkbait in a recent interview at VKI Studios. Stuntdubl is a site dedicated to helping SEO writers and marketers find jobs, learn the trade and discover a few secrets about search engine optimization. I find this site quite useful for writers–even fiction and trade mag writers who have little to do with SEO on a daily basis.

What? You don’t know what SEO or “linkbait” is and you’re pissed off that I didn’t spell it out for you? Shame on you, writer. You need to know how your career can be affected by Google, search engine optimization, and building traffic through linkbait. A writing blog or resume site needs to be optimized with these things in mind or risk being left in the dust by more savvy writers.

Any technique you can learn as a writer to increase traffic to your own site is an important tool of your trade. If you aren’t a restless self-promoter, you are behind your game. For every one of us who doesn’t bother to seek the cutting edge for their resume sites, blogs and other promotional tools, there are five writers who ARE hip to these things and they will beat you to the next gig. No writer should ever be caught saying “I don’t understand the Internet.”

I know I’ve got much to catch up on with regard to SEO, linkbait and other tools–Todd Malicoat’s blog is one way I try to keep up with the times. I just wish I’d found this one sooner.

Listen to the interview here.