Bernie Heer has a knack for writing catchy headlines. This one is his. Great marketers write well. They know how to create?the hook to draw us into their?message/offer.
(Heer is drawing you in to a series of advertising “bads” and invites you to submit a sample of your ad for a review; setting the stage for further marketing consulting services.)
Most contractors, whether they be residential or commercial — or architects and engineers, for that matter — are not great marketing writers. If you are responsible for a GC or trade contracting business, or one of the construction-industry related professions, you don’t need/want to be a great marketing writer to do your work. The skills required to write solid specifications or engineering review document obviously are different from?preparing advertising/marketing copy.
(RFP responses fit somewhere in the middle — they need to be technically correct, yet written in a manner that builds positive attention and response. The skills here are so important that specialized consultants provide support services.)
Many of us are bad writers. Only a few are good. Effective marketing writers — known in as copywriters — are scarce and can be costly. (And you need enough judgement and experience to know good from great writing; something that is rather hard to do if you don’t know much about writing in the first place.)
Fortunately, good/great writing correlates largely with reading skills and interest. If you are reading this blog, you likely write well enough to get by. You can take courses and learn how to improve your writing skills. Pragmatically, however, you will probably want a professional writer — someone with experience in the AEC community — to review your materials and edit them into shape; especially the first time around.
The fact remains that, while we all can improve and develop our skills, only a few of us can write well enough to make the career our profession. If you don’t have someone with these skill internally (you may find one of your administrative or support staff persons truly has writing competence), find someone to?do the work for you.
Bernie Heer may be a good choice for residential/service contractor marketing support materials. I know of some solid proposal writing consultants and, if I can’t help you directly, can recommend other writers will skills in general professional or commercial writing. If you would like some guidance, connect here or email me at buckshon@constructionmarketingideas.com.)
