If there’s any time to dream up a theme for your marketing, it’s NOW, before the holidays hit. Yes, we’re only just approaching fall… but before you know it, the malls will be decked with holly and teeming with Santa Clauses. Are you prepared for the deluge of competition?

Large corporations begin planning for their holiday campaign launches in the thick of summer!

Here’s a Christmas toy catalog cover that I worked on “back in the day.” I’m quite certain that the air conditioning in my cubicle was kicking when I wrote this.

Your holiday marketing event needn’t be an expensive or time-consuming affair. With a little creative input from you, Wordfeeder.com can help you launch a holiday campaign like this to drive more business in December!

So, the holiday season looms, and with competition fierce in a tough economy, it’s time to get out there, get known, and get more clients. Here are some holiday ideas you can implement in a hurry…………

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Popularity: 24% [?]

Hello. My name is Dina Giolitto, I’m a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant and the owner of Wordfeeder.com.

I started the Entrepreneur’s Breakfast blog because I was feeling topically-challenged by the niche-specific nature of my other blog, Copywriting on the Fly. After five years of managing a business online, I feel I’m more than qualified to offer advice that goes beyond copywriting and into the areas of outsourcing, online business, customer relations, website marketing and blogging.

That’s the purpose of the Entrepreneur’s Breakfast - a single serving of knowledge to nourish your business and start your day off right.

Allow me to explain “The Entrepreneurs” listed in the sidebar of this blog, in case anyone is confused by that. These are people who I know personally, admire for their entrepreneurial spirit, and would wholeheartedly recommend to trust with your projects and your business. Some of these people function as “online associates,” some have become friends, some I’ve had just a brief brush with but I was nevertheless impressed by them, and some are or have been clients or consultants of Wordfeeder.com.

All are completely scrupulous, high-minded individuals whom I greatly respect and admire for their talent, skill, drive and integrity. I’ve listed them here not to show off how many people I know, but to give you a gentle push in a good direction if you, too, are perpetually in the market for great business contacts.

Of course, not everyone who you come across in the freelance and online business markets will live up to your expectations. I could have created a blog of people to avoid, but what would that get me other than negative attention?

Don’t forget to stop by for your daily Entrepreneur’s Breakfast.

- Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing

Popularity: 52% [?]

Dogs and bees, and freelancers, can smell fear. As someone who writes copy and produces marketing materials on a freelance basis, I can tell within five minutes of talking to a potential customer whether their fear of being overcharged will set the tone for our work together. I can also assure you that there are ways to retain quality and get good turnaround time on projects without being run through the wringer.

Some facts and suggestions on how to get the most bang for your outsourced buck:

Know that the freelancer is just as interested in being quick and efficient as you are.

People who are new to outsourcing might view me (the copywriting consultant) as someone who would try to milk them out of their last dime while dragging the project on forever. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Established freelancers typically juggle multiple projects at once. It makes much better business sense for us to complete two projects for two happy clients in two days, then deliver one project for one client in two days and have that client feel uneasy about the amount of time we spent on their work.

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Popularity: 87% [?]

Admit it: if you’re a freelancer or online business consultant, sometimes you let prospective clients fall through the cracks. Let’s say, for example, that a friend of a friend contacts you with a vague request for your services. You mean to reply and ask them to be clearer on their needs. But time slips away and before you know it their email is at the bottom of the heap along with that Cialis spam that you meant to delete two months ago.

Even if you always manage to snap up the hot prospects… forgetting, procrastinating or blatantly ignoring the less than stellar ones is bad policy. It lets others know that you’re not walking the talk you spout regularly on your blog… and it’s just an un-smart way to do business.

Let’s review some possible reasons why you’re not answering every query that comes your way:

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Popularity: 100% [?]

A good copywriter should be well practiced in the art of perspective jumping - not just in your marketing communication, but with your client relationships as well. While I was always pretty good at hopping into the minds of my own clients… I was never so tuned in to them as when I began outsourcing aspects of my own marketing.

Here is my take on what small business clients not only want, but desperately need from the people who we outsource our jobs to.

“The Small Business Client Wishlist” from Dina at Wordfeeder.com.

Small business clients wish that service providers would take the initiative.

I know that many freelance professionals wait there passively, thinking “Well, if my clients needed my services, they’d call or send an email.” The truth is that sometimes business owners can’t catch their breath long enough to say what it is that they want, let alone map it out in steps.

I guarantee that the next freelancer of mine who appears in my email inbox and asks for work WILL get it, even though right now I have no idea of what that assignment will be. Believe it; small business owners are THAT busy. If you’re looking for work, just say so. Clients do not spend time wondering how much work you do for other clients. We just like to know that you’re available for US.

Small business clients wish for marketing without ego.

Being on the flip side has allowed me to experience the unspoken friction that happens when clients make copy changes that copywriters don’t appreciate or agree with. There are two occasions where the copywriter has the right of way in this situation. One, is if the copy changes that the client implements might affect sales. (Let’s say the client deletes the call to action or deletes their own URL - yes it happens.) And two, if the client accidentally says something in the copy that blatantly makes them look unintelligent.

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Popularity: 43% [?]

What is a brand image? Is it a logo? A slogan? A color scheme? A provided service?

The simple answer is, yes, it’s all of the above. But it goes beyond that. A lot of businesses have slick logos or catchy slogans, but go unnoticed. So let’s take a look at each individual item and see how it fits with your overall brand image.

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Popularity: 29% [?]