As soon as I wrote the headline for this article, I realized – more than usual – that what I’m about to say is just my opinion. And that what I’m suggesting you don’t do can actually work in some circumstances.

But I think there’s a better way and I’ll tell you what it is in just a bit. First, let my tell you what happened.

I received an e-mail from someone trying to drum up business as an Internet researcher. He was soliciting copywriters who might need the services of a researcher as they’re writing copy for a client. Can you see the first mistake he made with me?

Mistake #1 – I haven’t marketed myself as a copywriter for about 5 years. I state on my website that I work with businesses on the layout and design of their marketing material. So when I get an e-mail that is clearly targeted to copywriters, it gives the impression that this guy hasn’t done his homework. Somewhere he had old info, or misinterpreted something, and didn’t bother to check the facts. Not good for a researcher.

Next… The e-mail wasn’t just sent to me. I could see about 15 other names on the To: line. I knew about half of them.

Mistake #2 – C’mon… At least pretend that I’m special and you’re just writing to me. It’s bad form to solicit business with everyone’s name on the To: or even the CC: line. At the very least do a BCC: (Blind Carbon Copy.) Even that’s bad form, but if you’re going to be lazy, use the BCC. Ideally, you’d send an individual note to each person.

This e-mail was a great example of “spray and pray”… spray it out to lots of people and pray you get some response. But in this case, it just shows a bit of laziness. Not exactly the quality I want in a researcher or any other type of freelancer I work with.

Moving right along… The e-mail had different sized fonts throughout the letter… most of it bigger than normal, some smaller.

Mistake #3 – Granted, with so many different e-mail programs, it can be hard to come up with an e-mail that you know will look perfect in every single case. But especially when you’re sending an e-mail to multiple people, you have to keep it simple. It might have been wiser to send a Plain Text e-mail instead of Rich Text. Remember what they say about making a great first impression.

Next up… The e-mail suggested that I recommend him to any clients who needed a researcher. That way, I wouldn’t be paying for his services, my client would.

Mistake #4 – On a certain level, this isn’t a bad idea. But make it worth my effort. When someone refers business to me, I give them a percentage of the sale. And I have partners I work with who do the same for me. So if you’re going to make the first three mistakes, and then suggest that I recommend you to my clients, at least try to grab my attention by making it financially worth my time. Even putting aside the money issue, you better show me some proof that you’re good before I recommend you to my clients.

Which leads us to… No proof.

Mistake #5 – Every significant promotion I’ve worked on as a designer has included proof that the claims being made are true. This is extra important for clients reaching out to brand new customers. The e-mail I received – which is a promotion itself – had no proof that his services were valuable. I know a researcher can be valuable, but I’d want to know why this guy in particular is valuable. Unfortunately, there was no proof in the e-mail. It came across more as, “Here I am! Hire me!” Maybe he has proof. If so, he should have dropped a little nugget in the e-mail to pique my interest.

Finally… The e-mailer’s website and e-mail address were from an Apple-hosted site.

Mistake #6 – OK… this can be a bit nit-picky, but I’ll just lay it out from my experience and many, many chats on the subject with clients and colleagues. Perception counts for a lot. These days, it is incredibly easy to setup a website with a personalized URL and e-mail address. Take the time to look as professional as possible. A personal URL and related e-mail address based on your business name or your job comes across as more professional.

Any of these mistakes on their own might not have been too big a deal. But when combined, it simply doesn’t give the best first impression.

When I get an e-mail from you like the one this gentleman was sending, it should inspire me to respond to you directly, not blog about everything you did wrong for everyone to see.

Earlier I promised a better way. Let me spell it out and you can decide which method (his or mine) might be best. Or maybe you have a better solution.

Judging by the names on the list that I recognized, he was reaching out to some good people. How much better would it have been to contact each person personally? Send a personal e-mail or make a phone call.

If it’s an e-mail, ask to schedule a time to talk on the phone and explain what you’re offering. The best social media tool is the telephone for a one-on-one conversation with someone. That’s the quickest way to get to know someone and begin developing a meaningful relationship.

Here’s something you might use or adapt: “Hi, my name is _____. I’m an Internet researcher, helping clients and copywriters quickly and efficiently gather the necessary information to create winning promotions. I’m looking to develop partnerships with other copywriters and was hoping to talk to you on the phone… learn what your needs are and show how I might be a valuable member of your team based on work I’ve done for other clients. If we find there’s not a good fit, no problem. I’d still find it valuable to learn more about what you’re doing in case there’s a good fit down the road, or if a client of mine might need your services.”

During that phone call, ask a lot of questions. The answers to those questions will help you determine if there’s a good fit.

If not, I think you will have left a better impression which is important… not a good fit now doesn’t mean there can’t be a good fit in the future.

What else could you do? How about a link to a video introducing yourself? How about a free report on the value of a researcher and why you’re the right one to choose? How about a case study showing what you brought to a project?

Like I said at the top, this guy’s method might work in a few cases. But my belief is that you’ll have even greater success using a more personal approach.

After the last article about my one-year anniversary on Twitter, I recalled something that’s worth mentioning.

As a freelance designer on Twitter, are you just talking about design (something cool in Photoshop, something you learned in InDesign, etc.) in the hope that clients will see what you have to say on the subject and hire you because you know your design tools?

If so, that could be a mistake.

Now if you just want to talk about design and primarily connect with other designers on Twitter, that’s fine.

But clients don’t really care about the nuts and bolts of design. That’s why they hire you so you can care about it for them.

So what do clients care about? Great question! I’m going to let you mull that one over yourself.

If you don’t have enough clients right now, I’d be willing to bet you don’t have a really good answer to that question. Or if you do, you haven’t done a good enough job of showing prospects that you know the answer.

If you’re using Twitter to attract clients, talk about what’s really important to them.

I hadn’t realized this until I looked at past articles on the blog, but I’ve been on Twitter for just over a year.

I said when I first started that I would update you as I tried to figure out if Twitter was for me.

If you’re interested in those past articles, here they are in order:

http://mikeklassen.com/blog/2009/06/04/despite-many-doubts-im-on-twitter/

http://mikeklassen.com/blog/2009/06/27/twitter-the-journey-continues/

http://mikeklassen.com/blog/2009/09/22/at-least-one-benefit-of-twitter/

It was interesting for me to reread those articles and see whether my feelings and approach have changed.

Here’s the short answer to what I think of Twitter today: I don’t really like it.

Here’s the much (much) longer answer… and these are based on using Twitter for business, not personal use…

It’s hard to stand out in the mass of tweets

For the most part, any one with a decent number of followers isn’t really paying attention to what you’re saying any more than you’re paying attention to what they’re saying. If you’re spending so much time on Twitter that you can read everyone’s tweets (assuming you follow at least a couple hundred people), you probably should focus more time on finding new clients.

As soon as your tweet comes through to your followers, it starts getting pushed down as newer tweets come in. Suddenly, your message is gone.

Your tweet could literally arrive just as one of your followers is running off to the bathroom and by the time they get back, your tweet is long gone simply because  each new tweet that flows into your follower’s Twitter viewer pushes yours out-of-sight. (In newspaper language, we might say your tweet quickly moves below-the-fold.)

Granted, there are people with a strong fan following. What they say is read by most of their followers. But with the millions upon millions of people on Twitter, I think those folks are the exception.

My approach today: While I hope everyone who follows me is interested in what I have to say, I know that’s not the case. Some people follow you simply because they expect you to follow them in return to boost their “Followers” number. Others just want to sell you something right now. Bottom line: It’s a numbers game.

What I learned is that when I post links to articles that I write, it helps my search engine ranking and can be helpful when people are searching Twitter on topics related to what I do. There’s a lot of value in that.

Whether anyone following me reads it is almost secondary… kind of like a happy bonus.

You can’t please everyone, but you can drive yourself batty trying

I have to admit to changing my approach to Twitter multiple times in the last year based on what I felt people wanted.

Some people don’t follow anyone who doesn’t engage or re-tweet. In other words, if all you’re doing is promoting your stuff, they don’t follow you. (Mental note: tweet a lot.)

Some people won’t follow you if you tweet too much. I unfollowed one gal – a business coach – who seemed nice enough, but she tweeted multiple times an hour. I couldn’t figure out how she managed to get any work done for her clients. (Mental note: don’t tweet a lot.)

Some people won’t follow you if they don’t like your picture. (Mental note: Go with a logo.)

Some people refuse to follow anyone who doesn’t use his or her own picture. “It’s social media,” they argue… they don’t want to connect with a logo. (Mental note: OK… back to a picture.)

Some people will unfollow you if you direct-message them. (Mental note: Ugh! Is all this really worth it?)

It’s easy to forget to do things your own way. Yet as you try to figure out how to properly use Twitter for your freelance business, you’re not totally sure what “your own way” should be.

My approach today: When potential clients go to my Twitter page, I want them to see information or links to articles that will help them or show I’m an expert in my field. Maybe it’s my own content, or maybe I’m retweeting a great article or link from someone else.

For the most part, no more chit-chat on Twitter for me. A couple of people I respect take this approach. Twitter doesn’t consume their lives… they simply use it as a tool to promote ideas they believe in and are passionate about.

The chit-chat model can work for people. I just decided it was no longer for me. (OK, I may do a little, but not as much as I used to.)

I followed you, now you should follow me, right?

This is back to the numbers game I mentioned earlier. It’s clear that some people who follow you have no interest in what you do. They’re just in full-blown “boost the numbers and try to get people to buy something” mode.

And I’m OK if with that if you feel that’s what you need to do. But I’m no longer returning the follow if you’re not saying anything I don’t think I’ll find value in.

I do look at the recent tweets of new followers. If you’re saying stuff I think I can learn from, I’ll probably return the follow. But I no longer feel guilty for not following some people who follow me.

The funny thing is, if you don’t follow those people, they’ll usually unfollow you after a few days. So much for thinking they initially followed you because they actually liked what you have to say.

And I don’t feel bad if people I follow don’t follow me back. I follow people because I think I’ll get value from what they say. If they don’t feel that way about me, they shouldn’t follow me. (But, of course, we’re back to the real issue of how much I or anyone else can truly follow what everyone says.)

My approach today: When someone new follows me, I’ll see what they’re about. If I think I’ll learn from them, I’m happy to follow them back. But because I get so many followers who are in constant sell-mode without offering any sort of real value, I’m more picky about who I follow.

To wrap this up…

I hope I don’t sound bitter or anti-social. And I know some people are having great success on Twitter. I simply found that my marketing efforts were better placed in other areas. Your mileage may vary.

In truth, I really want to have a deeper connection with people. But I’ve found that desire is not being satisfied on Twitter.

I’d prefer to share ideas with people in forums where we’re not limited to 140 character tweets that disappear from view almost as soon as you send them.

I think I said in my first article a year ago that I see Twitter as a business tool. If it’s not doing enough to pull in business, I have to evaluate how I use it and even whether I use it.

For now, I’ve found my comfort zone and the journey continues…

I got slightly involved in a conversation about whether designers should give their source files to clients.

I say slightly because I gave my answer, but never went back to see what other responses there were to the person’s question.

The reason I didn’t go back was two-fold. First, my position (give clients your source files for free) rubs a lot of designers the wrong way. Second, I’ve seen all the reasons designers give for not giving up source files (or for charging extra for them), so I’m not likely to read something I haven’t seen before.

I’ve thought a lot about my position and asked people I respect about their positions. And I suspect people with a differing view have thought a lot about their stance. No point in arguing about it then.

But there is an angle that comes up that I want to toss out for your consideration.

Whenever you take a position in the design world that runs counter to popular opinion, inevitably someone will say, “Doing things that way hurts the design community.”

I see this a lot when people start slamming sites that offer cut-rate logos or even sites like eLance where the bidding process brings down the price of a project to almost free. You also see this with people who oppose spec work.

They feel it’s a threat to their livelihood. Fair enough… just don’t ask me to buy into that.

As I examined my thoughts on this a bit deeper, I realized something: I don’t really see myself as only a designer which is one reason I don’t get hung up on a lot of these “designer” issues or what might be happening in the “design community.”

Yes, I design. In fact, it’s mainly what I do. But I also write copy, write articles, provide general marketing advice for clients and prospects, teach… and there’s probably more that I’m forgetting.

I guess if I only saw myself as a designer then, yeah, perhaps I’d be scared by anything that I felt threatened my livelihood. But I’d be more concerned that I let myself get into that situation. It’s not much better than being an employee at a company doing a single task and hoping I don’t get laid off.

As a freelancer, you’re free to develop your business into something that is more than just the main task that you started out with. That makes you far more valuable.

I say this so that as you’re building your design business, you don’t stop with being a designer only. Expose yourself to related fields, like copy and marketing, so that you have more to offer your clients.

When you do that, you’re less stressed about what others in your industry are doing or what they’re worried about. And believe me… they generally don’t care about you unless you’re doing something they don’t like. That’s when you hear from them.

There are a lot of people who can design like I can. But, it’s all those extra things that keep clients coming back year after year. If I were only a designer, I could be replaced by someone cheaper… who would also eventually be replaced by someone cheaper.

Plenty of business only want “cheap.” That’s fine… don’t worry about them. Experience has shown me there are plenty of clients who value, and will pay a fair price, to designers who not only design well, but offer extra value.

Oh… back to source files for a moment. Be sure and e-mail me if you ever run across a business that fired a freelancer because the freelancer handed over the source files without making a stink about it. (Whether free or for an agreed-upon fee.) My guess is I’ll never hear of that happening.

But I can tell you with certainty that freelancers have been scratched off the call-back list because they did raise a stink about handing over source files.

In a way, it’s kind of funny. Freelancers in general can fall into this trap of “You’re hurting the community!” thinking. It doesn’t happen anywhere near as much in the corporate world where you do what’s best for you and your clients, not what others in your industry or niche think you should do.

If you do it their way and it doesn’t work, are they going to be there to bail you out? Probably not, and that tells you all you need to know.

I don’t want this to come across like I’m giving the middle finger to other designers. But the fact is other designers aren’t the ones having to pay your bills. They may think that their opinion is best for the design community, but that’s very, very questionable. And it sure doesn’t mean it’s best for you.

For me, I always keep in mind that I work for clients, not other designers. I do what’s best for me and my clients. If that bothers some other designers, sorry.

Just something to think about.

A few years back, I was introduced to FlashPaper as a way of displaying my portfolio work online.

PDFs are most common, but sometimes the file size would be larger than a Flash file. And there were some easier zoom-in and move-around functions that I liked with FlashPaper. FlashPaper files could also be embedded in your site for automatic viewing when your site loaded.

Since most computers had a Flash viewer installed (and still do as I write this) having a portfolio in Flash wasn’t a big deal.

Now, it is.

In fact, I’m in the process of replacing my Flash portfolio pieces with PDFs.

The reason?

My iPhone, and soon-to-be-arriving iPad, don’t like Flash. More specifically, Apple doesn’t like Flash. (If you’re somewhat of a technology geek, you know the Apple vs. Adobe issue that’s been going on since the arrival of the iPhone.)

While the world doesn’t revolve around Apple, there’s enough of a user base (in the millions) that you can’t ignore the fact that their iPhone and iPad won’t display a Flash file.

I trust you can see the dilemma for someone like me who has had all his portfolio pieces in Flash.

It’s not unusual for me to be out somewhere and use my iPhone to show someone my site. But the portfolio pieces are a no-go because they’re all Flash.

Click on one of the Flash pieces and you get a pop-up that basically says, “Yeah, right. Nice try. Ain’t gonna happen.” And from there, a potential client moves on.

With an iPad, my site and portfolio will look even nicer, but I’m going to feel silly if I can’t show people my actual work while we’re on my site. And I certainly don’t won’t people who are browsing the web on their own with those devices to give up and move on.

It doesn’t matter whether you have an iPhone/iPad, or even if hate Apple… the fact is millions of people will be using those two devices. Don’t lock them out from viewing your site and your work.

I know it’s nice to get fancy with your site and portfolio, tossing in whatever technical tricks might be available. But what good is it if large groups of people can’t see it because of technical limitations on mobile devices?

Yes, you could also have a mobile edition of your site. For a freelance direct market designer who works mainly on print projects and doesn’t have website experience, I’m not sure it’s worth the trouble, but that’s just me.

You could hire a specialist in website design to help out. But I know most people reading this blog are beginning direct market designers and my guess is your budget doesn’t cover a web designer at this point. You’re still in DIY-mode when it comes to your site.

As always… just something for you to think about.

I was reading an article – 5 Ways Graphic Designers Can Win Over Price Objections – at Michael Huggins’ site, For Graphic Designers Only. (His site is worth bookmarking, by the way.)

He addresses how you might respond when someone says, “I’m sorry, I like your proposal, but your price is too high.”

For the record, I think they’re great suggestions. But I’d like to add two more.

1. Walk away without any negotiation.

OK, it takes guts to walk away if you don’t already have a full calendar. I’m not even saying this is a great suggestion. Just pointing out that it is an option you might choose from time to time.

I’ve taken this step myself more than once. When it comes to certain projects that I have a lot of experience with, I know what it’s worth to me. And there are times, albeit rare, that some of Huggins’ excellent suggestions don’t work with the prospect.

In other words, you don’t want to give and they don’t either. Not exactly the Win-Win we read about in the negotiation books, but it can happen for legitimate reasons.

You’re not going to be the best fit for every project that comes your way. And you need to respect that just because you think a project is worth X amount of dollars to you, it may not be worth that much to the prospect. That’s OK.

Don’t always look at it as the prospect being cheap. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. Sometimes, the fit just isn’t there.

When it happens to me, I wish the prospect well, thank them for contacting me, and leave it open that a future project might be something to discuss. Let me quickly point out, though, that when you’re seen as someone who won’t budge, you may be immediately scratched off the “call-back” list. That’s a risk you’d need to be willing to take.

So let’s be clear again… this isn’t the best option. Try to avoid walking away. Instead, try to make it work. But realize that sometimes it just won’t.

2. Maybe your prices really are way off base.

This is actually what prompted me to write this article. Sometimes your quote is way outside what might be considered normal and the prospect is right: Your price is too high.

It’s important you consider this scenario, especially if you’re new to freelancing or bidding on new types of projects. Ideally, you’ve done some research to find out the average prices of  projects you want to work on. But beginners stumble over this issue time and time again. Unfortunately, they lose out on a number of projects before they somehow learn how to price projects better.

There are resources to help you price projects, but the one I’m most familiar with is written by Lori Haller: The Ultimate Guide to Building a Highly Profitable Graphic Design Business

Lori is pro through and through, so just learning from her experiences in this book is a great thing. But there’s also a price-range list for common direct market design projects. If you have nothing else, this is a good place to start researching to build your own price list.

So, yes… try to go with Huggins’ advice. But keep my two points tucked away in the back of your mind just in case.

You may not know Dr. Ivan Misner by name, although you’re probably aware of his creation: Business Network International, also known as BNI.

I’m kind of tying this article in with my last article on Chambers networking events. At that end of that article, I linked to an article I wrote long ago on how to approach networking events.

If there’s anyone who knows how to master networking, it’s Dr. Misner. I was reminded of this as I read an article of his in the November/December 2009 issue of Networking Times magazine.

Networking Times is primarily focused on network marketers. However, I’ve found that most of the articles in each issue are easily applied to any business. In that issue, Dr. Misner talks about a couple of things I talked about in my article on how to make the most of networking events. For example, he mentions getting a professionally-made name badge and acting like a host at networking events, not a guest.

Obviously, Dr. Misner didn’t get those ideas from my article. In fact, as a former member of BNI, I probably got those ideas from him or the BNI organization in general.

But as I was thinking about all this, I remembered a conference call I was on where Dr. Misner was a guest. With a relatively small number of people taking part in the call, we each had a chance to ask Dr. Misner a question. While I can’t recall what I asked, I do remember a brilliant piece of advice he gave.

I figured I couldn’t explain it any better than he could, so I scoured the Internet and found where he described the same idea he told us on the call. Sure enough, I found this article – Shape up Your Business With Networking Aerobics – where Dr. Misner explains “open or closed two and threes.” It’s point #4 in the article.

It’s brilliant stuff. It’s even more brilliant if you consider yourself the shy type and not sure how to approach a room full of people you don’t know.

By the way, I’ve said this before (and it’s a bit harsh) but I’ll say it again since it applies: At a networking event, nobody cares that you’re shy. Either get over it on your own, or join a group like Toastmasters to help you speak with confidence.

I’ve run into more than a few people at networking events and seminars who are really shy. In fact, it’s the only thing they’re not shy about: Telling other people how shy they are. I’m obviously not a psychologist, but these folks seem to take more-than-healthy bit of comfort in being shy and letting other people know about it. However, as a freelancer, it really doesn’t serve you well.

I don’t consider myself either shy or out-going. But I understood early on that if I was going to make any progress in networking and as a freelancer, I was going to have to get over any issues I might have facing groups of people I didn’t know. In some cases, I’ve faked it… I pretended to be more out-going than I really was. Nobody knew, nobody cared.

I’ve also mentioned that as a Chamber Ambassador, part of the job was to be a host at Chamber networking events. That was actually a big help to me… I had to be out-going since it was part of the job as an Ambassador. It’s almost like an actor who has to take on a new personality as part of a role.

I’m not saying you should be a fake, insincere person. I’m saying you sometimes have to step a bit outside of yourself to achieve your goals. That might include playing some mental games with yourself so you’re not focused on whatever fear you might have in new situations.

Hopefully, over time, those temporary qualities you adopt for these situations will become a real part of your everyday personality that benefits your business and the people you associate with.

Some time back, I wrote this article called, Chamber of Commerce Networking Events Are A Waste Of Your Time.

I knew that would bug some people. The headline of the article itself was intended to grab attention. (I do have a copywriting background, after all.)

But I didn’t write the article to annoy people. I wrote it because I believe it and I want to give you something to think about. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether you agree with me or not. In fact, if all I’ve done is cause you to re-commit to an opinion that’s totally opposite of mine, that’s a good thing.

Today, I found this article taking me to task for my article. Looks like it was written a year ago, but some things that are brought up are worth commenting on.

Frank Kenny writes:

I wish he would have allowed comments.

I don’t allow comments on either of my blogs because I don’t have the time to address people who comment on a regular basis. If you take the time I post a comment, I feel I owe you the respect of a response. But I just can’t these days… business is good, free time is short. That’s why my own participation in other blogs is way down.

And, sad to say, there seems to be a lot of people who make it their mission to be disruptive on blogs whether it’s with rude, disrespectful comments, or spam. Again, I just don’t have the time to deal with it.

Having said that, I’m never opposed to including a well thought-out rebuttal in a future article if you want to contact me directly. Or posting an article that links to your own blog where you have a different point of view. In fact, that’s what I’m doing with Mr. Kenny’s article. I wish I had known about it long before now.

He fails to mention being of service. He is all about “what’s in it for me”. People like this are horrible networkers because all they want to do is take.

Actually, I failed to mention lots of things. It was already a long article. I could have written pages and pages more.

But for the record, I’m not all about “what’s in it for me.” I was a Chamber Ambassador, on the board of the Chamber Ambassadors (even nominated for Ambassador of the Year), on numerous committees, etc. My trouble ended up being that I was giving too much at the expense of my freelance business. (Same thing with being in Rotary.)

Going beyond that, the seminars/classes I’ve taught, these blog articles to share my experiences with other freelancers… that doesn’t come from someone who is selfish. I’m not sure how Mr. Kenny could read the original article and come to that conclusion, unless he thought I was lying when I wrote:

Years later, when I became a freelance writer, I had the some of the best times of my professional life volunteering as a chamber Ambassador and getting involved in the community in ways I had never done before. Some of the people that I worked with on various committees remain good friends even though I’m no longer a member of any chamber.

So, again, I have nothing against chambers in general.

But his point about people who are just in it for themselves being horrible networkers is spot-on. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons why Chamber networking events can be such a waste of your time… the people who are just in it for themselves.

To a certain degree, you have to have a bit of “what’s in it for me” in you. You’re not running a charity… you’re running a freelancer copywriting or design business. You have bills to pay. There does come a point where you have to be on the receiving end of things.

You can only control your own actions and attitudes, though. It’s a nice idea that you can change people and their attitude about networking. And given enough time and effort, you could probably make good progress in changing other people. But we always have to come back to the reality that, as a freelancer, you have limited time and probably limited financial resources. If you’re not focused on the right things, you’ll soon be out of business. (And then the Chamber loses, too, because you’ll have to stop being a paying member.)

Glad he is not a member of my chamber.

I interpret that comment as one coming for a person who is personally hurt that I strongly said something he didn’t agree with. Otherwise, I’m not sure why you’d say something like that without really knowing me or developing a deeper understanding of why I believe what I believe if it’s not making any sense to you. It would be unfair to expect anyone to read every blog post I’ve written here or elsewhere, but I think it would create a very clear picture of my attitude toward giving. It’s a shame to apparently be judged like that off of one blog article that holds an opposing view.

It’s not bragging for me to say I was a valued member of my Chamber because of all the volunteer time I put in to help make my Chamber as good as it could be. They were sad when I moved away because it’s hard to find people who are willing to put in so much extra volunteer time. (And can do so during “business” hours because of my flexible freelance hours.) Chambers would be much stronger if more people would find ways to pitch in.

I would have been a valued member of Mr. Kenny’s Chamber, too. But because I criticized one aspect of Chamber membership, I guess I’m marked as selfish, despite my comments in the original article and my service to my own Chamber at the time.

Addressing some of the other comments made by others in Mr. Kenny’s post, I would agree that Chambers need to do a better job of helping people understand what might be realistic in their networking environment. I don’t think my Chamber did a really good job at that time. And part of that blame falls on me as someone who was on the Ambassador Board. The beauty of 20-20 hindsight, eh?

And I would also agree that Chambers do far more to help businesses than just hold monthly networking events. But that still doesn’t mean Chamber membership is the best thing for you, much less their networking events.

There are very few, if any, Chambers that have unlimited resources. So they have to make tough decisions on what they can offer, now more than ever. That means they can’t be all things to all people. So it’s not being selfish for you to examine whether you’re getting good value from your Chamber or any of their events. While it might not be fair, for beginning or struggling freelancers, “good value” can sometimes be nothing less than “paid projects.”

I stand by everything I said in the original article including how Chambers have a tendency to create an atmosphere of “attend our event to make sales.” Unfortunately, it’s natural for smaller businesses that are struggling to go into those events with that mindset.

If you get a roomful of people like that, it’s not so much a matter of them all being selfish, although I’m sure some are. Instead, I think it’s more about not being educated by their Chamber or still being totally unrealistic if their Chamber does have an educational program in place. (And as someone said, that might be as simple as Chamber Ambassador becoming something of a “big brother, big sister” to the new member.)

I also need to point out that my article was in a narrow focus of freelance copywriters and designers and using your networking time most efficiently. We are sometimes seen as a luxury. At best, people know the value of what we do and would love to hire us, but simply can’t afford us. Again, that’s something even more prevalent in this economic environment than it was when I wrote the original article. At some point, you have to move on to better opportunities. (And I gave ideas for that in my original article.)

I didn’t say you shouldn’t join a Chamber. I didn’t say you shouldn’t attend Chamber networking events.  I didn’t say there’s no value at all in talking to the non-bigwigs of a company. I certainly didn’t say you should go in with a “what’s in it for me” attitude.

What I did say was that these events may not be the most efficient use of your time. I did say that, given limited time, there might be better opportunities for you, the copywriter or designer.

And here’s what I did say from my original article (with copywriters and designers in mind):

To network efficiently and to land projects that will help you reach your financial goals, you need to be where your best clients are. My guess is they’re not sitting next to you at a chamber breakfast once a month.

That’s just my opinion based on my experience and the experience of writer/designer colleagues across the U.S. If your Chamber is different, I am truly happy for you. In fact, I’d like to hear about it and post it here. If you’re a freelance copywriter or designer, send me your positive Chamber networking event story and a link to your site so I can consider it for inclusion on this blog.

I want to end with a link to a PDF. It’s an article I wrote several years ago called, 12 Steps to Make Networking Events Successful. That was based on lots of Chamber events I attended, first as a total newcomer (and pretty-much a know-nothing networker), then as an Ambassador with a lot more experience under my belt.

It was pointed out to me that someone has been copying some of my marketing message on my websites and Twitter. In fact, some of it was word-for-word, just changing my business name for his.

What’s kind of funny (or sad, I suppose) about the situation is that the person has no clue whether my message is worth copying because he has no idea what the results have been with that message. I consider myself a successful direct market designer, but that certainly doesn’t mean everything I try in the marketing realm works successfully.

It’s natural when you’re starting out to pull whatever lessons you can from those who have gone before you. That’s the whole purpose of this blog: To share what I’ve learned the way other people shared with me when I was starting. But there’s a difference between letting something be an inspiration to you as you develop your own style and message, and simply copying it.

As quickly as possible, you really should come up with your own message based on your goals, your experience, your personality, etc. And don’t be silly enough to think that what you see in someone else’s marketing is actually working effectively. One thing worse than copying someone is copying their bad ideas.

I could sit down with you and go over everything I’ve done to make my business successful. But if you tried to apply those things exactly to your business, it’s likely you wouldn’t have the exact same results. There are just too many variables and intangible things that can’t be passed along in a conversation or copied from someone else’s marketing.

You’re going to have a much higher rate of success when you’re coming up with your own marketing ideas that mesh with your goals, experience and personality. If you’re not experienced with marketing, buy a book on the topic and see what makes sense to you based on thorough discussions of why certain ideas work or don’t work. Or consult with a marketing expert.

To close… a couple of FYI items for you:

1. The direct marketing world, in particular, is a small universe. Seems like everyone knows everyone else. Good stories or bad, word about you will spread… fast. (Even faster in these days of Twitter and Facebook.) Just something to be aware of.

2. There are no secrets on the Internet. And there are tools that can find if material has been copied from another site. Don’t think that because you’re not a big name, people won’t discover if you’ve, to put it politely, taken some shortcuts.

Be confident about what you offer and what makes you unique, and then chart your own path… don’t be riding on the coat-tails of someone else as they travel their own path.

I’m working on updating some of my marketing material. I typed out a few paragraphs and then put it into an e-mail to send to someone for feedback.

Looking at the pasted text in the e-mail, I realized a sentence in one paragraph might be a candidate for getting chopped. So just to make things easier, I separated all paragraphs into single-sentence paragraphs. I figured it might make it easier for the other person to either comment on the copy or to line it out if it was weak.

Wow! What a difference that made in evaluating the effectiveness of each and every sentence. I don’t know if it will help the person I’m sending the copy to. But I suddenly had a much better sense of whether each sentence was pulling its own weight.

As many of you know, I can write long articles full of long paragraphs. But that does make it harder to see where there might be waste.

When it comes to your marketing copy, waste is a bad thing.

So this tip might be something to try with the copy on your website. Copy and paste it into some other document, then break paragraphs into single sentences. Looking at those sentences by themselves should make it much easier to see if it has any value to your overall message. (And when you’re done, feel free to put things back into paragraph form. I’m not suggesting your sales copy is completely single-sentence paragraphs.)