When you’re writing books, white papers, marketing collateral, or other project longer than a single article you’ll often be asked for a proposal.
Doug Stern, a marketing writer, tells you his six tips for successful proposal writing. Doug also has a nifty blog about on business writing and marketing strategy called Observed.
Write well and often,
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Thanks for the attention! In the spirit of hope over experience, here’s another clip: http://doug-stern.com/blog/?p=893.
Enjoy!
DOUG
You’re welcome.
The graphic content here didn’t warrant use of a video instead of a written post. No charts, no examples of templates, no show-and-tell at all. Just a guy with Lenin glasses sitting there as a talking head. Pretty ‘scape behind him, but again, it could have all been a still. I can read faster than he can talk. If I’m going to spend extra time to watch video instead of text, let’s have something worth watching. Anne and a whiteboard come to mind.
Jorge, I wonder about videos like that or like mine… but the trend seems to be people would rather watch/listen than read… which saddens me. And you may not want me with a white board… my handwriting sucks big time to put it gently.
Thanks for sharing the videos. Sometimes writing a proposal can be tricky. I downloaded a “standard proposal” from the internet and tweaked it specifically for my freelance writing business. It works!
.-= Rebecca´s last blog ..Are You a Special Freelance Writer? =-.
Willing to share the link for a standard proposal?
I love your videos, Anne. And the whiteboard solution (if one is really required) is: have an associate write out the information beforehand (faster viewing, so you’d have it ready in any case). Or print it out with your laserjet in big type and hold it up for the camera or move the camera to view the printout. If you have video editing software, more possibilities exist…
If you’re going to use videos by 3rd parties, maybe just be a little more selective. I’d rather read than watch, especially if it’s a cheesy video like this one. I’m not sure “the trend” is real or that it applies to writers.
BTW, there are a dozen or so proposal formats here:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC101733851033.aspx?pid=CT101438941033
lol, I love our different perceptions… I found him sort of cute in a very chubby way… and unassuming… and his points made sense to me. Mileage sure varies doesn’t it.