Karla Pollack and Paula Hartmann were featured in the November issue of New Jersey Business Magazine:Women in Business
Managing the Work/Life Balance
By Anthony Birriterri, Editor-in-Chief
Reprinted with Permission (pdf)
Women Entrepreneurs: Inspirations & Innovations
March 1, 2007
Princeton University
ABS is pleased to
announce long-time client, MantaCole, LLC, has received the prestigious
Forbes Award
Local Law Firm Wins National Forbes Enterprise Award
for Innovative and Client-Centered Business Model
Princeton, NJ. February 18, 2007.
 MantaCole LLC, also known as the http://www.theELawFirm.com was selected from thousands of applicants as the winner of the 2006 Forbes® Enterprise Award in the law firm category.
The firm, which has offices in Princeton, NJ, Philadelphia and Berwyn, PA and shortly in Doylestown, PA, was recognized for its innovative use of technology to deliver services to clients in the most cost-effective and convenient way. MantaCole is a full service law firm that operates virtually paperless. It places all documents in digital files, which are accessible by clients through a password-protected and SSL encrypted server certified by VeriSign®. Read the Complete Article
EntrepreneurshipWeek USA
Integra LifeSciences, Association Business Solutions, Princeton University and NAWBO-NJC Join EntrepreneurshipWeek USA in Effort to Support and Educate the Nation’s Next Generation of Entrepreneurs and Innovators
Read the Complete Article
A Quality Choice
An association management company (AMC) is a firm of skilled professionals whose goal is to provide management expertise and specialized administrative services to associations in an efficient, cost-effective manner. Read the Complete Article about the Benefits of Association Management
The Write Stuff:
Creating the Must-Read Article
by Karla Pollack and Paula Hartman
Write it, and they will
read. Unfortunately,
that’s not always true.
Increasingly, it’s becoming
all about the content, content,
content. That’s where sales and marketing
techniques come into play.
Start by taking inventory of the
stack of reading materials on your desk
not to mention in the reception area
and in the recycling bucket, never to be
opened by the target readers.
What can you do to increase the odds
of your article seeing the glow of fluorescent
light over the member’s desk?
The Basics
Like any writing assignment, its
good to start with the basic five Ws:
who, what, where, when and why.
- Who are you writing to?
Is your target audience a group of
conservative investment bankers or
an association of real estate agents?
You want to write in the style preferred
by the industry at large whether it be
colloquial, or crisp and formal.
- What should you write?
What’s keeping your readers up at
night? Can your topic solve some of
their problems? Clearly articulate the
topic in the headline and make sure
your content delivers its promised
solutions.
- When should you place the
article?
It sounds obvious, but you want to
strategically publish your article at the
appropriate time of the year or when
there is the best fit with the rest of the
editorial content in a publication. (For
example, you wouldn’t want to cover
fall cleanup in the December issue.)
- Where should you publish?
First, determine which publication
types you have available, and then
select the publishing vehicle that
makes sense for your organization.
Don’t worry about the “glam” factor of
the publications. If your audience
reads a highly technical trade journal,
then that is where they should find
you. Some professions may only check
fax communications if that’s where
all their bids are delivered to the office.
On the other hand, e-zines are effective
niche publications for other groups.
- Why write the article?
A published article serves as a great
promotion for your organization. If you
are writing an article that can help
your target audience, it’s a perfect
opportunity to attach your company
name to this resource.
The Next Steps:
So you’ve answered the basics and
are all set to go. What are some strategies
to help get your “Pulitzer Prize”
winning piece read?
Ask your current members
what they read. Going back to No. 4
above, you can ask them basic questions
about what magazines they read
and which sections.
Do they use
e-mail at home and in the office? Do
they subscribe to any e-news services?
You also can ask how much research
they conduct on the Internet and if
they generally read beyond the first
paragraph of online articles.
Be sure to ask a few specific questions
that will be helpful in your particular
situation.
Write for the reader. It may be all
about you before starting, but once you
embark on the writing odyssey, you
need to seat yourself in the target audiences’
reading chair and answer
“what’s in it for them.”
Create an enticing title. A bold
headline should not only explain exactly
what the article is, but also provide a
reason to read on. A play on words can
sometimes be effective, but you don’t
want to be overly clever. There is no
worse reaction than someone scratching
their head, murmuring, “huh?”
Sum it up in the lead paragraph. You’ve seen dismal statistics about the
media clutter and how little time is spent
by the actual readership skimming
through each issue. Gone are the days
when people poured over publications
page by page. You don’t want the reader
to feel “cheated” after spending the time
to read the introductory paragraph.
Briefly outline the problem and how to
fix it at the beginning of the article.
Place a byline under the title. The author’s name may never be seen
at the end of the article if the reader
never reads beyond the first paragraph.
However, you can usually
include a brief bio at the end of the
article that gets recognition for the
association as well as the author.
Tell a story. Talk about real problems
and how to go about addressing
them. Relate a story that the reader
could possibly identify with and provide
practical solutions. Readers will
be much more interested if they feel
they can apply this technique to their
situation, because you’ve shown that it
has worked for their peers.
Try collaborative marketing. In
the case of associations, what companies
are targeting the same organizations or
their members? If you are talking about
high-end printing machines, you might
be able to incorporate critical advice in
your article from a banking partner for
the lease, an accountant’s amortization
or depreciation schedule, IT suggestions
for linking into the network and
so forth.
Review editorial schedules. Get a
copy of a publication’s editorial calendar
and select the best issue in which to
appear. This advance planning helps
you set your production schedule for
writing.
Incorporate current events. If
you are going to make a point of reference,
avoid 25-year-old case studies
unless they are still relevant.
Compile an article archive. Start
putting together story ideas, background
resource materials and your
organization’s information that can be
incorporated into future writing assignments.
After all, it is much easier to edit
and expand upon existing notes than
starting from scratch each time.
Outsource writing when it makes
sense to do so. Let’s face it, until you
have an archive of articles in the vault,
writing diverts time away from catching
up on e-mail correspondence, courting
clients on the golf course and meeting
with the accountant. If you don’t have
a full-time communications person on
your staff, you can hire a talented freelancer
for the writing mission.
Proof it for readability. Run the
article by someone outside the industry
to see if they come away with a basic
understanding of what you’re writing
about.
Now put your best pen forward, and
may your articles be reader magnets.
This article was published in "FALL 2004: 501(c) Publishing." Reproduced with the permission of McNeill Group, Inc. |
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