Toll-free: 1-844-267-9223
Strategic copy and content for business growth
Communications and marketing executives call us when they need help solving the following kinds of challenges:
• Frustration about content that isn’t connecting with customers and prospects
• Stress from trying to find a writer who can describe complex products in plain English
• Pressure due to a large volume of writing projects
• Disappointment over a lack of fresh marketing ideas.
If any of these issues sound familiar to you, maybe we should talk.
When it comes to written communication, we believe:
The number one job of copywriting is to shorten the sales process. In David Ogilvy’s words, “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”
Words sell. While we care about design, in our experience it’s the words that do the selling. Words describe the solutions your company offers. And words convince people to act.
Keep it simple. We’re big believers in making things just as simple as possible for customers. It’s worth the extra effort to boil ideas down to their essence.
Every communication is different. A writer needs to take a fresh look at the audience, message
and timing.
A Creative (or Marketing) Brief is worth the work. People often think they don’t have time to prepare a Creative Brief. However, a tremendous amount of time and effort can be saved with good planning up front.
It pays to take a walk in the customer’s shoes. Good copywriting integrates the customer’s point of view.
Buying decisions are emotional. Copy should reflect this reality.
Research is an asset. Carefully designed market research can reveal valuable customer insights.
Test the big things. Focus on the items that can really move the needle.
When it comes to judging copy, the only opinions that really count are the ones that belong to your customers. When you place an ad in the market, potential customers will let you know if the message
is on target.
We do the homework:
• Understanding your company, competitors, customers, industry and current marketing efforts.
• Investing the time required to create effective marketing materials.
• Testing—again and again—to find the most effective messages.
About
The founder of MayerWrites, William C. Mayer, has written hundreds of marketing communications that persuaded prospects to become customers. Or strengthened relationships with current customers. Or won back ex-customers. He knows how to work with colleagues and vendors to deliver tailored solutions that get results. In short, Mayer:
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Is consistently recognized for developing simple solutions to complex communication problems.
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Wrote marketing materials that pulled in millions of dollars in new balances.
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Has helped grow brands including Dreyfus, iHeart Media, LexisNexis, McGraw-Hill, Oppenheimer Funds, Scholastic, S&P Global, TIAA, Value Line and more.
Mayer got his start in the publishing business. The role combined marketing and public relations. Then he moved to the advertising agency world where he got an education in direct-response marketing.
These days, Mayer provides copywriting and marketing services to clients in financial services, government, and publishing. Portfolio site info on request.
Difference: Brain-friendly copy
After many years in marketing and communications, Mayer has developed a process to create Brain-friendly copy. To get your message across, he combines insights from cognitive science, linguistics, and marketing. An outline of his method follows.
Simplify concepts as much as possible. Mayer boils complex ideas down to their essence. That’s because when ideas are too complicated, your prospects will struggle (or worse, sink into paralysis).
Streamline every sentence. Mayer uses insights from linguistics to construct sentences and paragraphs that are easy to understand.
Employ analogies, metaphors and stories because they make it easy for the brain to grasp—and remember—important ideas about your products and services.
Align with human psychology. Mayer develops copy that works with your customers’ natural mental habits.
These days, many customers and prospects are busy, distracted, and just plain stressed out. In this challenging environment, Brain-friendly copy is engineered to attract and hold the attention of your audiences.
Services
Creating strong copy requires an ability to see the big marketing picture and attend to the details.
In everything we write, we aim to develop content with a blend of the following qualities:
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a strong start
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an appropriate persuasion strategy
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logical organization
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the right tone
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coherence
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clarity
In other words, we devote a lot of thought, time and energy to getting your company’s written messages right from the first word to the last.
WEBSITE CONTENT
A compelling, easy-to-navigate website is a must-have and creating the content takes a special skill set. You want to attract visitors, guide them effortlessly through the site, and drive them to take action. In short, the copy has to both invite and inform. That's what we provide. We're also happy to work with your web developers to create an intuitive user experience.
EMAIL MARKETING
These days, everyone's inbox is overflowing with emails. It's more important than ever to stand out from the competition. We've learned the techniques to elevate content so your target audience will open and read your emails, and most importantly, take action. With punchy, benefits-focused copy, we'll make your emails resonate with readers.
COPYWRITING
We write copy to attract new customers, retain current customers, even win back former customers. We can help you develop a content strategy or execute on your current strategy. And, if you need a fresh pair of eyes on existing copy, we can clarify obscure passages, eliminate irrelevant ideas, fix grammar, and sequence ideas to achieve a smooth flow.
E-NEWSLETTER WRITING
A great e-newsletter is a skillful blend of marketing and customer education. Stories should engage readers while sharing valuable information on your organization. As with every type of writing, plain language wins over jargon. And whenever possible, we like to include visuals (such as charts, graphs, or illustrations) to keep readers from being intimidated by a wall of words. If you'd like to add a newsletter to your marketing mix but lack the time to create it yourself, let’s talk.
“Bill’s copywriting skills, especially on complicated, technically oriented business-to-business assignments…have made significant contributions to client-agency relationships.”
—J.B., Managing Director, Direct Marketing
“Bill consistently produces high quality deliverables that achieve the desired results. He has an extremely high level of attention to detail, and always utilizes that skill to improve results.”
—B.W., Editorial Services Manager
“I worked with Bill for many years and he is an astonishingly talented copywriter and creative strategist. His insight goes beyond mere technical proficiency to pinpointing what does and doesn’t work and what can and can’t work with a particular piece of creative. What’s more, Bill is equally at home in the digital space as he is in the traditional ink and paper world. He is thorough, becomes fully versed in his subject matter, and delivers exceptional work on time and on budget.”
—K.M., Senior Associate, Creative Services
"You've proven yourself to be a top-notch content creator. Keep up the great work!"
—P. H., Editor
...and what it’s like to work with Mayer
“Bill understands and communicates the necessity of change to enhance [the company’s] business practices and results. He readily adapts to new requirements and is flexible in meeting changed objectives.”
—S.B., Editorial Services Manager
“Bill’s greatest strengths are his in-depth knowledge of [the company’s] products and his well-honed interpersonal skills. He is a man of high integrity who is always willing to help others and always follows through on his commitments. He focuses on doing the best job possible.”
—L.S., Marketing Manager
You don’t have to take our word for it.
Over the years, colleagues and managers have frequently praised Mayer for his writing skills. A sampling follows:
Testimonials
Case Studies
Communications and Marketing Directors sometimes ask Mayer how his work has made (or saved) money for past clients and employers. A few cases follow.
Small Manufacturer
Problem: A manufacturing company was unhappy with the results they were getting from their website. They use the site to start conversations with potential customers.
Action: Mayer researched the company and key competitors.
Solution: Mayer’s instinct was that the company was using a weak name in the marketplace, especially versus the market leader.
So, Mayer suggested they keep their original website and launch a second site with a more customer-friendly name. We built the second site and set up a pay-per-click campaign for both sites. Identical copy. Identical keywords. The only difference was the website name shown in the PPC ad. The new site outperformed the original site by 300 percent.
Retirement Plan Enrollment Brochure
Problem: A large retirement plan provider was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to design employer-specific enrollment brochures.
Mayer’s employer had been producing expensive, plan-specific brochures for decades. And no one had ever attempted to develop a template. In fact, when Mayer spoke to colleagues who had worked at similar companies, none of them were aware of an organization that had built a template to address this problem.
One of the challenges: there are many complicated variables. These include –
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Enrollment process
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What happens to an employee's assets in the old plan. (Do they stay or move?)
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How would new money be invested?
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Do target-date funds need to be explained?
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Do customers need to revisit their beneficiary information?
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Does a brokerage account need to be introduced?
Action: Mayer analyzed the best brochures created in recent years, isolated all the key variables and possible permutations. Then Mayer got buy-in from internal Communication and Compliance managers.
Solution: We created an interactive PDF that lets Communication managers select the copy patches they needed from a series of drop-down menus. A few clicks and the design shop was able to assemble a brochure that was ready for review by the retirement plan sponsor. Savings from this template were estimated at well over $900,000 in the first year alone.
403(b) Plan - Contribution Increase direct mail
Problem: A retirement plan provider was spending a small fortune on direct mail ($3.00 - $4.00 per package) to encourage retirement plan customers to increase the amount they were putting in their 403(b) plans. Each package included a reply form that was unique to the particular retirement plan. Management asked Mayer to figure out a way to be able to mail one package on a national basis.
Action: Mayer studied the existing packages with the aim of creating a generic template.
Solution: Mayer’s innovation was to develop a reply form that could be used for every retirement plan managed by his employer. The cost of the new package was about 45 cents before postage. The first time it mailed, it generated about $4.4 million in annualized premiums.
Health Insurer - Employee Newsletter
Problem: Employees of a managed care company did not understand the medical aspects of managed care, which was important for the company to achieve its goals.
Action: Launch and write a newsletter to educate employees.
Solution: Mayer developed, reported and wrote a newsletter that explored subjects that were central to the success of the company, including disease management, data quality, the dangers of multiple prescriptions, etc. The newsletter won an award from the Public Relations Society of America.
Copywriting Resources
There are many resources available to help you improve your organization's copy. Some of our favorites follow.
Websites
Copy Hackers Where startups, growth marketers and copywriters master how to write persuasive copy. www.CopyHackers.com
MarketingProfs’ training programs, online events, conferences and free resources help individuals, small teams, and large organizations execute marketing campaigns that drive business results. www.MarketingProfs.com
MarketingSherpa reports on stories of customer-first marketing giving marketers the stats, inspiration and instructions to improve their results. www.MarketingSherpa.com
Adweek Performance Marketing covers everything from marketing automation and direct mail best practices to email and content marketing. www.Adweek.com
Books
Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug
Influence by Robert Cialdini
Ogilvy On Advertising by David Ogilvy
Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples
The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, and Stand Out from the Crowd by Allan Dib
The Copywriter’s Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Writing Copy that Sells by Robert W. Bly
This Is Marketing by Seth Godin