Tag Archives: microsoft office 365

When Your Firm Needs 3,000 Words: The Bredemarket 2800 Medium Writing Service

This post talks about the Bredemarket 2800 Medium Writing Service, describes why your firm would elect that service over three of my other services, and explains how the Bredemarket 2800 Medium Writing Service works.

By Karl Thomas Moore – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58968347

Yes, I used the words “why” and “how” in the introduction to this post. It’s a habit (see my December 2022 e-book).

Four ways that Bredemarket provides written content

I know that the experts say that you’re NOT supposed to give your prospects a multitude of choices, and that you should keep your offerings simple. Sometimes REALLY simple.

From https://www.azquotes.com/quote/366577

But I’ve ignored the experts (again) and I’m giving Bredemarket’s prospects four options for content creation. I’ll briefly touch on three of them before describing the fourth one, the Bredemarket 2800 Medium Writing Service. Once I’m done, you’ll know when you want to elect Bredemarket 2800, and when you’ll want to elect one of the other three options:

  • Bredemarket 4000 (by the hour),
  • Bredemarket 4444 (by the month), or
  • Bredemarket 400 (by the small project).

One: by the hour (Bredemarket 4000 Long Writing Service)

By Jahobr – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58350319

Sometimes you don’t know the parameters of your project, or perhaps you may have multiple projects that require Bredemarket’s assistance. In those cases, Bredemarket bills by the hour using something I call the Bredemarket 4000 Long Writing Service.

One example of a use case for the Bredemarket 4000 Long Writing Service is proposal work. Proposals can be complex things, which is why the Shipley Business Development Method has 96 steps.

The first part of the Shipley Business Development Lifecycle. From http://sbdl.shipleywins.com/.

Whether it’s proposal work or something else, I do the work (however much work there is) and bill you for the hours that I worked.

Two: by the month (Bredemarket 4444 Partner Retainer)

Perhaps you have ongoing needs and just need me to be available for a certain number of hours each month, yet you’re not ready to hire a full-time person to do the work. In that case, the Bredemarket 4444 Partner Retainer is the package that is best for you. With this level of commitment, I am embedded as part of your organization.

By Staff Sgt. Michael L. Casteel – [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2407244

As I assert in the post “Three Levels of Engagement With Your Content Creator,” a retainer offers a happy middle ground between full-time employment and single project work. It gives you work flexibility, budget predictability, and consultant accessibility.

Three: by the small project (Bredemarket 400 Short Writing Service)

But what if you know the scope of your project, and it is a single simple project? If you only need between 400 and 600 words of text, then the ideal package for you is the Bredemarket 400 Short Writing Service.

By Unknown author – postcard, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7691878

As I note in the Bredemarket 400 video and brochure (both available here), common use cases requiring between 400 and 600 words of text include:

If your project only requires 400 to 600 words (give or take), the Bredemarket 400 Short Writing Service is ideal for you.

But what if you need more words than that? A lot more?

Why would you need 3,000 words?

There are a few cases in which your firm may need roughly 3,000 words of text, rather than the roughtly 500 words of text described above.

  • Longer blog posts. Often blog posts are pretty short and fit well within a 400 to 600 word limit. But sometimes you need longer, more detailed blog posts that delve into a topic more deeply. If you need 3,000 words to tell your story, tell it.
  • Longer LinkedIn articles. In most cases, social media postings will not hit the 3,000 word mark. (For some social media platforms it’s near impossible to hit that limit anyway.) One notable exception is LinkedIn articles, which can enter into the same detail as a long blog post. If your audience is on LinkedIn, then place your content natively on LinkedIn (repurposing it to your blog for your non-LinkedIn prospects if you like).
  • Longer case studies. Case studies can vary in length. As it turns out, the case studies that Bredemarket has written for its clients are simple two-pagers (including graphics) and fit well within the Bredemarket 400 parameters. But perhaps your case study demands richer detail.
  • White papers. While one may debate about the semantics of what is a white paper vs. what is not a white paper, you may demand a document that requires around 3,000 words of detail.
  • The content type that you know about, but I don’t. You may require a particular piece of content that doesn’t fit into the nice neat categories above, but requires text of between 2,800 and 3,200 words.

In these cases, the Bredemarket 2800 Medium Writing Service provides the content you need.

But is Bredemarket 2800 the same as Bredemarket 400, with more words and a higher price?

No.

Longer content requires a slightly different process.

How the Bredemarket 2800 process differs from the Bredemarket 400 process

Admittedly there are some obvious similarities between Bredemarket 400 and Bredemarket 2800.

Astronaut Scott Kelly along with his brother, former Astronaut Mark Kelly. Photo Date: January 19, 2015. Location: Building 2. By Robert Markowitz – https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/16335632852/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37967329
  • Both have a defined process. I don’t just start randomly writing and give you stuff.
  • Both have a kickoff.
  • Both have draft cycles where I create content drafts.
  • Both have review cycles where you review content drafts.
  • Both have a final deliverable.

But there are differences in the details.

Adult fraternal twins. By Dpulitzer – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29964235

The Bredemarket 2800 kickoff

The kickoff is an important part of the content creation process, since the questions I ask during the kickoff (since expanded) ensure that I produce the right content at the end of the process.

The kickoff ensures that the final written content (a) answers the WHY/HOW/WHAT questions about you, (b) advances your GOAL, (c) communicates your BENEFITS, and (d) speaks to your TARGET AUDIENCE. It is both iterative and collaborative.

The beginning of the Bredemarket Kickoff Guide that I use. There are many, many more questions that I haven’t disclosed. Do you want to learn them? Buy the service.

The basic work during the kickoff is pretty much the same as for Bredemarket 400, although you and I will probably go in-depth on certain items, and there is a higher chance that the content specifications will be more detailed (for example, goals for each subsection of the content).

  • You and Bredemarket agree upon the topic, goal, benefits, and target audience (and, if necessary, outline, section sub-goals, relevant examples, and relevant key words/hashtags, and interim and final due dates).
  • For complex content requiring input and approval of multiple subject matter experts, you and Bredemarket agree on a preliminary list of tasks, assigned persons, and due dates.
  • For content that must be incorporated into your content management system, you and Bredemarket agree on the necessary format and other parameters. Otherwise, the final copy will be provided in Microsoft Word docx format, including (as appropriate) callout indicators, hyperlinks, key words, and/or hashtags.
  • For projects requiring multiple related pieces of content, you and Bredemarket agree upon the desired frequency of content.

The Bredemarket 2800 prework

Sometimes one or two additional things will happen before I start writing the first draft.

  • I may need to interview one of your customers or subject matter experts—for example, to obtain the facts necessary for a case study or white paper.
  • I may need to conduct additional research, as agreed upon by us during the kickoff.

The Bredemarket 2800 drafts

Once I’m ready, I start writing.

Between you and me, I create a draft 0.5, sleep on it (sometimes literally), and then create a much more succinct draft 1.0. See “Your writers (in this case me) should be succinct,” in my post “Which Words Should Your Marketers Use? My Four Suggestions.”

It shouldn’t surprise you to learn that it takes longer to write 3,000 words than it takes to write only 500 words. Therefore, I allow myself up to seven days (actual days, not working days) to produce the first draft. (Contrast this with Bredemarket 400, in which I commit to create a draft within three days.)

Then I hand the draft over to you for the first review.

After I receive your review comments, I work on the second draft (again, taking up to seven days) and hand it over for the second review.

Then (if necessary) I work on the third draft and hand it over for the third review. Unlike Bredemarket 400, which only includes two reviews, Bredemarket 2800 includes three reviews because of the higher complexity of the content.

At the end, I provide you with the final copy.

But what if you need your content much more quickly than the 1-2 months it may take to go through all three of the draft and review cycles?

  • Then we’ll mutually adjust the parameters (and the billing) accordingly.
  • However, remember that when I adjust my deliverable schedule, it also affects your deliverable schedule as described below.

The Bredemarket 2800 reviews

As decribed above, you will receive up to three review copies during the process.

Because this is a collaborative process, your participation is important to ensure that I create the proper content for your firm. So be prepared to spent the time necessary to ensure that the content is right.

I realize that you probably don’t have a lot of time to review consultant content. If you did have a lot of time, then you’d probably write the content yourself rather than asking a consultant to do it. For this reason, I give you seven days to review each draft, rather than the three days that I give to firms that elect the Bredemarket 400 Short Writing Service.

Of course, if you require a more rapid turnaround, then you’ll need to review the drafts much more quickly, in the same way that I’ll need to write the drafts much more quickly.

The Bredemarket 2800 end product

After the kickoffs, drafts, and reviews, I’ll provide the final copy in Microsoft Word docx format, unless we’ve agreed on some other format. This will give you the content you need to put in your blog, in an article on your LinkedIn page, or in whatever content you need.

Where can I get more details?

You can get more details on the Bredemarket 2800 Medium Writing Service page.

Or you can read the brochure, which includes the standard price.

Bredemarket 2800 Medium Writing Service (June 2022)Download

So how can my company benefit from Bredemarket 2800?

Are you ready to move forward in creating content the Bredemarket 2800 way?

Then we need to talk.

  • If necessary, we can discuss things further before you move forward.
  • If you’re ready to move forward, we can hold the kickoff and get the process going.

Authorize Bredemarket, Ontario California’s content marketing expert, to help your firm produce words that return results.

Bredemarket logo

If you have a paid version of Microsoft Office 365, you have an audio transcription tool

I’ve been meaning to write about the tools that I’ve found to be most useful in my Bredemarket work, but I’ve never gotten around to actually write about them. Maybe one of the companies will sponsor my post or something.

Well, this post isn’t a sponsored post, because I don’t think that Microsoft regards me as an important enough influencer to throw money Bredemarket’s way. But I recently used a Microsoft feature to save myself some significant time on a client project.

As part of the work that I do for one of my clients, I participate in half-hour interviews with the client’s customers and ask them questions about the client’s software. Before the interview begins, the client asks the customer for permission to record the conversation. After the interview is over, I can then refer to that recording to extract nuggets of information.

You can imagine the process.

  • Advance two minutes on the recording to get past the preliminaries.
  • Listen for a few seconds.
  • Fast forward 30 seconds.
  • Fast forward 30 seconds again.
  • Oh, that’s good! Back up 10 seconds.
  • Listen for a few seconds while typing.
  • Stop.
  • Listen and type more.
  • Fast forward 30 seconds.

As you can see, it takes a while. So I began thinking about transcribing the recording to make things easier.

My first attempt didn’t go so well. I opened up a copy of Microsoft Word on my computer and opened up the recording, then I pressed Word’s “Dictate” button while starting the recording.

Good idea in theory, but it didn’t work in practice. And even if it had worked, it would have taken 30 minutes to dictate the entire interview.

So I did some research and found this article from Beebom. It described a “transcribe” feature in Microsoft Word, but you could only use it under certain conditions.

  • You have to have a paid version of Microsoft Office 365.
  • You have to use the web version of Word, not the on-computer version.
  • Your audio file cannot be larger than 200 megabytes.
  • Your audio has doesn’t have to be in the English language. While this was apparently true at the time the Beebom article was written, it looks like the transcription software now supports dozens of languages.
  • You cannot transcribe more than five hours’ worth of audio in any month.

I was able to meet all of these conditions, luckily. When you use the online version of Word, the “Dictate” button becomes a “Dictate/Transcribe” button, allowing you to upload an audio file to OneDrive and then transcribe it.

Transcription is much faster than real time. In my case, the service transcribed 30 minutes’ worth of audio in a few minutes.

You can then save the transcription to Microsoft Word (cloud or on-premise), and can include timestamps if you desire. The transcription also attempts to identify speakers separately.

I can say that the transcription was fairly good. I did not need five nines’ accuracy on the transcription; I just needed to figure out what we were talking about. And if I had needed to clean up any portion of the transcript, the timestamps could guide me to the exact place in the audio.

So this provided time savings for me, and also provided benefits for my client, since I was able to easily identify more “nuggets of information” than I could have the old fashioned way.

Now there are certainly other services out there, and this particular service isn’t technically a free service (since I had to pay for the Microsoft Office 365 subscription), but in certain cases transcription services are worth the money you paid for them.