Copywriters - something to remember

Hello, all. It has been awhile since I've posted here, for various reasons (most of which stem from my having nothing interesting to say, as business has just been cruising along at a good pace...) but I figured perhaps it was time to write a post and share some things with my fellow copywriters.

Many of us, especially those just getting started out, get stuck in one small niche of the market. I'm not talking about specializing in writing copy for one particular niche market, or one demographic. I'm talking about the big pink elephant in the realm of many professional copywriters - online copy.

Now, we've seen a lot of "offline consulting" type products come and go from the warrior forum over the last year. Some (like Kyle Tully's Consulting Tycoon, which I've read and personally endorse) are top notch, and provide great, real information. Some... Not so much.

But recently, I attended a local small business trade show. Not with the intention of promoting myself (although I did bring business cards, and hand out a few) - I was actually there assisting another business with setting up their booth. So I had a lot of free time to wander the floor, read the latest edition of Website Magazine, and contemplate my surroundings.

And as I was walking around, enjoying the free food, and watching overly-pretentious small business people overly-indulge in the cash bar, a thought occurred.

Everyone there was a potential client.

Now, I wasn't the only copywriter in attendance. Of course there was the traditional small advertising firm (if you can call a sign company who claims to create flyers and websites an ad firm, but that is the closest you get around here...), a few business writers, and a company that called themselves Something "Creatives" - with a neat display of their work scrolling across a monitor (cool idea!)

But most of the other copywriters just kind of sat there, waiting for someone to notice them in their booth. Or wandered the floor and talked to their existing clients. But regardless, they all knew something that my fellow online copywriters had forgotten.

Everyone needs words.

Now, granted, a small startup business probably doesn't have the need (or the budget) for a $2500 direct response style site - and as we all know, that is even still at the low end for copywriters.

As copywriters who are internet marketing savvy, we tend to forget that there is a whole great big world out there, just waiting for us to help them get their message out to the masses.

Notice, I said "help them" - not gouge them, take advantage of them, or charge them more just because they're an offline business.

As internet marketers, we tend to forget things about the rest of the world. Like the program I ran across recently in a WSO, that spams your link across thousands of blogs. Many people were praising this program as the best thing since sliced bread. But as an owner of a small, personal niche blog, my first reaction was "do that to my blog, and you'll have trouble on your hands."

We all tend to forget that outside of our Warrior or Internet Marketing community, there are millions of small businesses just getting started that know NOTHING about internet marketing - and don't really want to. They don't want an internet marketing evangelist to come shoving SEO & traffic stats down their throats, or charging them hundreds of dollars to put an autoresponder up on their site.

All they need is words.

Words that convey their marketing message in a heartfelt way to their potential customers.

Words that have nothing to do with "killing their day job" or "flooding their bank account".

They just have something to communicate, and don't know how to say it without our help.

That is something I think we all need to sit back and remember sometimes. It is easy to get jaded in this online marketplace, and strap ourselves into online copy for online businesses - and nothing but. After all, it is something we're all very familiar with.

But what if, just once, you thought about a small offline business in your community. And instead of seeing dollar signs (like so many offline consulting products have taught us), you saw that business as it is - a few people, trying to eek out a living in a competitive market place by reaching out and touching their customers.

And what if you took that idea, the high-touch approach of a business owner who really cares if his customers are happy and fulfilled, and applied it to your copy?

Would your passion for the product come through? Would you turn down projects that have questionable integrity (i.e. just in it for a buck) in favor of working for companies who genuinely want to make a difference?

Would it make you a better copywriter?

Tell me, warriors - would getting back the passion for helping people make a difference in your business? I know it has made a tremendous impact in mine.