I’ve got a very simple philosophy about writing anything: start from the end user and work back. Always. Tell me what the audience wants, help me figure out what you want to tell them and give me some time to come up with the words.

This is such a fundamental law to me that I’ve never seen a need to take marketing classes or the like to help determine how to write things. My view is not meant to be arrogant or to imply that I’m the world’s best copywriter, but I never felt compelled to give my processes names.

Like I mentioned, I’ve never taken a marketing class. I’ve taken precious few writing classes, with the exception of three or so journalism courses and an ongoing creative writing workshop at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Although my simple philosophy about writing suits me well when I’m sitting here by myself with a blank computer screen, I keep revealing my lack of formal education when my clients throw out marketing and writing terms I should have learned along the way.

• Email Nurture/Drip Campaign: I ran across this about a month after I started my own business when a prospect wrote me to ask for a quote on a series of emails for their new nurture campaign. Uh… well. I searched madly before I wrote back. A company will send a number of emails or other communications to leads to engage them over a period of time, thus nurturing a relationship. The drip part of it comes with the regular correspondence — one newsletter every month with little tips every week, that kind of thing.
• Creative Brief: I’ve had two clients come to me about creative briefs. The first one sent me a creative brief before we figured out the deliverables. The second client asked me to write one with her before we got started. I’m still confused about what they are, but it looks like they are written analyses of the purpose, goals, structure and markets for any type of ad/PR campaign. I think. Here’s more…
• SEO: Sure, I know what this stands for: Search Engine Optimization. But that doesn’t mean I know anything about what it means. I still don’t understand how this search engine differs from that one or how I can get Google to rank an article I wrote for a client. But I do know that if I write something for a client that’s not worth reading, no matter how many people find the document through great search engine optimization, the content is going to suck and the people are not going to find value.
• Site stickiness: I first heard this term about a month ago when I started trying to get more hits to my own little blog. Site stickiness refers to the enticing look, feel, info, etc. that people will encourage visitors to your site to stay a while. My site is not sticky. People pop in for one article or another and pop out. But I don’t spend any time trying to make my site sticky because I’m busy trying to help my clients create content that will make their sites sticky.
• Benefits vs. Features: I’m really embarrassed that I never knew this, but again, I come at it from a different perspective. From an email marketing dictionary: “Benefits address a prospect’s emotional needs and communicate how the product or service will improve his/her quality of life or make him/her feel better. Features address the attributes of the product or service. Benefits are more effective in driving action.” I have a conversation about benefits vs. features at least once a week these days.

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post to bring you an update of a woman we should all get to know.

Last night I had the honor of attending a talk by Dr. Jane Goodall, the primatologist who, at the age of 26 in 1960, discovered that chimpanzees create and use tools to harvest termites from mounds. This discovery blurred what previous scientists defined as a clear distinction between man and ape: that men were the only animals capable of using tools.

She discovered this on month five of a six-month grant that was her only hope to secure a more long-term assignment. Her mother accompanied her for her first four months because the government wouldn’t let a single woman work alone in the forest. These two women lived in a leaky tent as Dr. Goodall did her work. Her mother spent many hours alone while Jane tracked the elusive chimpanzees who distrusted the “white ape.”

She told us the story of the chimp she called David Graybeard. He was the first chimp to accept her as an observant and helped the other animals stop fleeing. And David Graybeard was the chimp that she observed breaking off first a long blade of grass then a switch to harvest termites.

In a soft, cultured voice, Dr. Goodall, now 74, described being a young woman with a high school diploma who entered Cambridge University to earn her Ph.D. in the late 1960s. Fellow scientists kept telling her she had done everything wrong with her research — that she shouldn’t have anthropomorphized the chimps, that she wasn’t objective in her scientific observations. But she used her childhood dog Rusty as proof that animals have personalities and feelings, and she eventually proved the critics wrong.

How inspiring this woman is! How strong! She now travels 300 days a year to speak around the globe about the need for conservation and peace to preserve the Earth and all its inhabitants. I was humbled to be in her presence, and I cried when she stopped at the podium and waited quietly while we welcomed her with a standing ovation. I waited in line for an hour (with hundreds of people behind me) as she signed each book and paused for a picture with each fan.

Thank you, Erin, for inviting me to share in this experience. And thank you, Dr. Goodall, for being such a leader.

Visit the Jane Goodall Institute.

Discover her Roots and Shoots program for children.

Something we can all do: Buy Green Mountain Coffee’s Tanzanian Gombe Reserve.

This morning I was driving back from track practice (where the general consensus is if you’re not almost ready to throw up, you’re not running hard enough). About five blocks from my house, a scruffy man on one crutch held a sign at the stoplight: ANYTHING HELPS.

I was driving my Mazda Miata with the top down, listening to jazz music on the Bose stereo and trying not to sweat too much on the leather seats. Instantly I felt like an indulgent elitist. I was on my way back to my fantastic apartment to take a hot shower with pricey shampoos and a body scrubber from a high-end salon. Ok, I actually was going to wash with CVS brand shampoo and the last drips of my Dr. Bronner’s soap, but I digress. I still had much more waiting for me than this guy did.

So I pulled over and handed him a dollar. He thanked me, adding, “I’m going to go find something to eat now.” And I drove off, a little bit less guilt ridden (but not much).

As I drove away, I thought of something someone said to me when I’ve given handouts before: “Hey, you actually earned that dollar, worked for it. He didn’t. Don’t give your money away.”

As a freelance copywriter who runs her own business, I realized that I absolutely earn every frigging penny I make these days. Every single one. When I drew a salary from the bed and breakfast or at my previous company, I could coast some days. When I worked at an environmental organization, my husband crafted one of those wonderful “I never wanted to hurt you, but…” letters before he ran off to Tennessee to be with someone he dated when he was 17. I stayed on the payroll at my company, but I didn’t do ANYTHING for weeks. Months. I simply existed until the pain dulled.

But these days, every single penny I am paid comes about because I spend time on every single project I am asked to do. I’ve talked about working on retainer with a couple of companies, but so far I’m still pretty much an hourly person.

At any rate, now that I’m earning every penny I make, my gift of a dollar to that guy means a little more to me than it did when I was simply handed money every two weeks, no matter how much I worked or didn’t work. I know not everyone approves of giving money to strangers, but I hope he enjoyed breakfast.

I try to make sure my company does its share for the environment. Here are five very small things I’ve done to reuse, reduce and recycle here on Avenue Z:

1. I make it easy to use both sides of the paper when printing by putting a collection box on my desk. This way I don’t just chuck pages that come out of the printer. I also recycle letters and junk mail by using their reverse sides as well.
2. My toilet paper roll was a little far from the primary place of use, so I frequently found myself tearing off more sheets than necessary. So I moved the roll to a more environmentally friendly distance. Laugh if you want, but Sheryl Crow would be proud.
3. I keep rags and dishtowels around the house so I don’t reach for paper towels for spills.
4. I always buy a Word a Day desk calendar, but I use the old words for note paper.
5. I bought a great new power strip that turns off office machines like my monitor and printer when my computer is not active, and I changed my computer settings so it shuts off when I’m not around for 20 minutes.