Jun
02
USP Lesson: Rebecca Leigh, Smart Fresh Writing
This post is part of a series that will tell you how to create your USP by looking at other real, live ittybiz owners who have done it and kicked ass at it.
Rebecca Leigh is a writer. Yeah, her and everybody else. But she’s like, a real writer. The kind that doesn’t do something else for her day job. She just, you know, writes and stuff. If you’re also a writer, that probably sounds like Greek to you. If you’re not a writer and you’ve ever thought about them sitting alone in their garret smoking long French cigarettes, it probably sounds like Greek to you, too.
Anyway, whoever you are, pay attention to how Rebecca has bravely navigated the insanely competitive world of writing for money and made a fantastic name for herself.
Soft and fresh. Like laundry softener. Or freshener.
Rebecca knows what she’s good at and doesn’t even try doing anything else. She excels in soft sales and practically perfect communication. She works really hard to make sure she understands the point you’re trying to make and doesn’t waste a bunch of time figuring out the words you’re trying to say. (Because let’s face it, if you knew the words you wanted to use, you’re probably not hiring a copywriter, yeah?)
Rebecca makes sure every part of what you see shows that she digs smart, fresh writing. (Which I suppose makes it rather clever that she has named her business Smart Fresh Writing. Sneaky, huh?) As a buyer, I also notice that she writes about soft selling and what she calls ‘mindful’ business. This really sets her apart with businesses that feel gross about hard sales techniques. They can see that she is not a dirt bag and woowoo softie softies dig that.
Girlie, Feminine Womenfolk. And stuff.
While at no point does Rebecca hang a big sign that says, “I understand women!!”, she really understands women. Maybe because she is one. But even still, a lot of women in the writing world try so hard to be tough and, well, masculine that they miss a very important connection with female buyers. And in case you’ve been living under a damn rock for the last, I don’t know, forty years, you’ll realize that women are big buyers. They also like to talk to each other. Resonate better with women and you’ll sell a lot of shit. Just sayin’.
A very unique new add-on service
I have it on good authority that Rebecca is moving in a new direction. One of the problems that successful service providers run into is billing by the hour only goes so far. There’s only so many hours in the day, which means there’s a definite max to how many people you can help.
In Rebecca’s case, one of the other challenges she faces is that a lot of the people who like her and her stuff are not bad writers in their own right. Which means they’re not going to hire her, since they’re thisclose to being able to do it themselves.
What does clever Rebecca do? She decides to start coaching people on how to write their own copy. That way you or I, who can write just fine thankyouverymuch, can get professional help for a few hours, instead of dropping a bunch of money to have her do it for us.
I have a feeling this service is going to be absolutely huge for so many people who have blogs, have written before, or just need a little help with solidifying their message or breaking into a new area, like sales copy. She broadens her reach and opens up whole new possibilities like creating info products, teaching classes, and naturally one-on-one coaching.
So what can you learn from Rebecca?
Can you narrow your niche not by who you serve but how you serve them?
Can you differentiate yourself from your competition, who are screwing up?
Can you break into completely new markets with entirely new offerings?
I LOVE it! Sounds like Rebecca and I have an awful lot in common. I look forward to checking her out. Thanks Naomi, and it’s nice to meet you Rebecca.
As Rebecca’s, ahem, first coaching client I can say that she rocks! During our call, she gently coaxed my USP out of me in such a brilliant, marvelous, comforting way, getting to the essence of who I am and what I do for people that they can see and want to BUY!
Here’s what I wrote about the experience: Rebecca is so awesome I want to write a song about her, or name one of my cats after her, or bake a gigantic cake and Fed Ex it to Australia. I hope anyone who wants to express themselves authentically from their soul finds their way to this wonderful woman because she truly rocks.
She made it so much easier for me to write my copy in yummy benefits language and organize the pages for my site. I’d love to be able to point you toward the result but I’m working on the design aspect now. Any Thesis designers out there?
Anyway, run don’t walk to the fabulous Aussie copywriting coach.
I haven’t worked with Rebecca yet because I still haven’t gotten it through my thick skull that I don’t need to do everything in my business myself.
But after reading this amazing description of her work, and having had contact with her wonderfully funny, kind and generous self in other places like Twitter and in forums, I am now SORELY tempted to sign up for a bit of her magical copy writing coaching.
Best of luck to you Rebecca…. you deserve it!
I had the great good fortune to have a session with Rebecca last week. She is incredibly intuitive, kind, brilliant and gentle–I love working with her.
Bec reviewed my website and lovingly led me through each page, showing me precisely what worked and what didn’t. I felt completely supported, and deeply understood. She “got” my vision of what I want my website to be, and then gave me specific, thoughtful suggestions for ways to get there.
I look forward to working with you, Rebecca. You’re amazing.
To all you folks out there who are just discovering this Aussie copywriter–get on her client roster now. You’ll be delighted that you did!
I’m also a coaching client of Rebecca’s. And our conversation worked wonders. Rebecca helped me see that that problem with my pages wasn’t the writing so much as the lack of clarity on the purpose. So we talked about that. And once I had some clarity, the rewrite was a breeze.
Of course, if you want her to write for you, she does that, too.
I utterly adore Rebecca and what she does…
she has SUCH a gift :)
And she’s dang funny and kind and TOTALLY gets me as a woo-woo contingenter. hee hee hee!
I love that Rebecca is offering consulting. Way to understand the itty biz market!
I’m a DIY girl, but I’m totally into the idea of spending some phone time with a copywriting genius who can help me get past the stuck and give my work a polish up. Especially when that genius is a lovely, approachable person like Rebecca.
Thanks so much for this USP series, Naomi. I’m finding it super-helpful.
Oh wow!
Thank you to Naomi for making me seem super strategic and ittybiz clever about my USP.
In truth, I didn’t sit down on Day One and think, “this is exactly what my USP is, yay I’m good to go” – it has developed through doing what I love (and what I do well) and listening carefully to what people need.
A lot of ittybiz peeps get really stuck at the start. They think that if they don’t have it all mapped out perfectly they can’t move ahead with their website and their business.
But you can. Because you probably know more about your USP than you think you do (I work through this a lot with clients) AND the best way to get clearer and more focused about it is to actually start doing whatever it is you do. Naomi says this a lot and of course she’s right: just start now!
So thanks Naomi, and a super big thank you to my gorgeous clients and others for their comments – it means a lot to me.
I loved learning more about the super sweet, Rebecca and her work. She deserves all the accolades!
Yay to Naomi and Rebecca for this. I’m in the MLM industry, which in the online world is pretty much synonymous with hype — ick! I have found some quiet professionals out there, offering up smart fresh copy, as you say, and doing very well. Michael Lemm, John David Mann, and sometimes Randy Gage, are among them. But online MLM is still in it’s infancy and I definitely teach my peeps that we learn the most from leading edge online marketers OUTSIDE the MLM industry. Thanks for supporting what I’ve been feeling/seeing all along, and hopefully with you gals all beating this drum the MLM industry will come ’round to thoughtful online marketing rather than hype-trash!
Damn! I want a seat on the Rebecca bus; I’m keen to go anywhere she’s going. Actually; I’m looking forward to arranging a seat for her on my bus, too…
[About the bus ride: I'm referencing Jim Collins, Good to Great, if anyone is wondering. An absolute MUST READ; although personally I listened to the audio book. TIP: Chapter 1 is insanely boring but persevere and you will be greatly rewarded].
Anyhoo, I would just like to give a big thumbs-up to the coaching concept. It’s so true that if you have some (or a lot) of ability for writing, the absolute last thing you’re going to drop coin on is a copywriter. But time and time again I’ve realised, when it comes to writing something about myself/business/services, I may as well be a cadet journalist again – I got nuthin’ and no confidence about anything I do got.
I’m very interested to hear how Rebecca fared writing the hard copy for Smart Fresh – did it come easily? Or did you have to get an outsiders perspective to OK it?