Learn from my dumb mistakes, trailblazing women in business & copy resource of the week

Hey, hi, howdy, and welcome to Issue #12 of The Subhead, a bi-weekly newsletter about copywriting, marketing & media, and a look at some of the women who make it great.

Here’s what’s on deck in today’s edition:

✨ This week in freelancing

✨ Avoid my dumb marketing mistakes

✨ Trailblazing women in business: Liz Dennery

✨ Copy Resource of the Week: Buyer Personas Need to Die a Violent Death

✨ Just for Fun

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This week in freelancing …

I recently wrote an article for my tech client about trivia quizzes, and I learned so much useless, arcane knowledge in the process.

For example, did you know that hot chocolate was invented in Spain? That the largest organ in the human body is the liver? That Eminem was the first rapper to win an Academy Award? (For the song, “Lose Yourself,” from the 8 Mile soundtrack.)

Oh, I got dozens of these unnecessary tidbits of knowledge now, and nowhere to use them, lol.

I also worked on a web copy project for an artist / illustrator / designer, and as always, I am completely bowled over by people with design skills. How do they do it?

I can’t even make a decent-looking graphic with Canva, and believe me, I’ve tried.

It’s a good thing I have at least some rudimentary writing skills. 😊

Let’s get into this week’s topics.

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Avoid my dumb marketing mistakes

Going way back for this one. This is a blog post I wrote in 2013; it’s part one of a 3-part series in which I recount some of the dumb mistakes I made when I first got started online.

Oh, the struggles! The despair, the weeping, the lamentations! (Ok, that’s a little over the top, but not by much.)

For over a year I made these mistakes, which seriously impeded my ability to attract the right kind of clients and make myself some folding money, as we like to say here in the South.

Read it here so you can bypass my blunders:

Are You Making These 3 Web Marketing Mistakes?

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Trailblazing Women in Business: Liz Dennery

Liz Dennery is the founder of SheBrand, “a results-driven, boutique branding and marketing firm specializing in women and their rising influence.”

Dennery founded SheBrand in 2010 to support women and the companies that care about them. SheBrand provides brand strategy and positioning, creative direction, content development, publicity planning, and media and influencer campaigns for individuals and consumer lifestyle brands.

I originally subscribed to Liz Dennery’s email list 5 or 6 years ago, and one thing I love is how she shares her beliefs openly in her emails, even though she knows they won’t always be popular, even among the women in her audience.

(If you write a newsletter or send emails to a list, I’m sure you’ve experienced wanting to be fully out there with your beliefs, but holding back because you fear unsubscribes, or folks deciding not to work with you because what you stand for. Or is that just me?)

For example, in an email from February of this year, she had this to say:

It’s been more than a year and a half since Roe was overturned by the Supreme Court.

It’s hard to believe that in the United States of America in 2024, women do not have bodily autonomy.

Women in states across the country have been denied necessary medical care in life-threatening situations.

To say I’m angry is an understatement.

But it’s imperative that we channel our anger productively. I believe one of the best ways to do this is to make sure that women are in all the rooms where important decisions are being made.

Enough with crusty, old white men sitting around a table making decisions for women.

From board rooms to Wall Street, Silicon Valley to the White House, we need more women with power and influence.

We must fight to protect women’s fundamental freedoms.

We need more women building brands and big, fat bank accounts.

“Why?” you ask.

Because your brand gives you a voice and a platform.

Your brand earns you money and power.

Women with financial freedom have options and choices.

Your brand affords you the opportunity to support other women and give to causes and organizations your care about most.

What we need right now more than ever is an army of badass women fully centered in their power, making money and empowering other women.

We need women building tables and helping other women do the same.

I believe that the women who build their brand, use their voice, and create impact and abundance for themselves and others are revolutionary. Women who understand that speaking up and creating success will re-set the decision-making table.

Women who know that we must smash the patriarchy and create a more equitable society where women make up at least 50% of the room where all decisions are made.

I believe building your brand and using it to lift women and marginalized folks will change the world.

Hooboy, I’m all fired up now!

There are many golden nuggets on the SheBrand blog about brand building, including uber-useful posts like The Taylor Swift Guide to Building a Powerful Brand, How to Capture Attention in Today’s Crowded Digital Space and Five Ways to Better Engage the Female Consumer, among others.

Lots of helpful how-tos to dig into!

Sources:

All linked within above.

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Copy Resource of the Week: Buyer Personas Need to Die a Violent Death

Buyer personas in the traditional sense are trash, under most circumstances.

There’s a much better way.

And Louis Grenier of Everyone Hates Marketers is going to demonstrate what to do instead, in his inimitable style.

As Louis says, traditional buyer personas are “useless in their current form because they’re full of demographics information that has nothing to do with the reasons why people buy your stuff.​”

Among the many lessons I learned when I worked in-house at a couple of ad agencies was that you’ve got to dig MUCH deeper that surface level demographics, because no one is buying your skincare products / writing services / online course / widgets / what-have-you / etc., because they’re 25-32 years old, married with two kids, and earning $75K per year.

Discover 6 steps to build buyer personas that are actually useful here:

Buyer Personas Need to Die a Violent Death

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Just for Fun

If you don’t laugh, you’ll rage-scream / cry (though I do both), and so I give you …

Women Explain How They’d Like to Have Their Bodies Restricted Next

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Ok, that’s all for this week, my friend.

Be well. Stay curious. See you again in two weeks, on March 24.

Warmly,

Kimberly

P.S. I am super-excited about the mini-profile coming up in the next edition. This female founder in the mental health space has been through some things, y’all. And kept going to launch a much-needed service for a seriously underserved market. Stay tuned!