Although it might not seem so at first glance, beauty is one of the more dynamic properties throughout history. From thin to plus-size, you can see different representations of what men and women find desirable in different eras. There was a time when “extra” size was especially attractive, because it suggested wealth and prosperity, for example. Today, in a time when social media and the ubiquity of internet access has made multiple forms of beauty very apparent, the people are responding positively to many of the unique results that are emerging.

Hashtag HonorCurves

Let’s face it: up until the last few years, during which social media has exploded as a primary means of business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer communications, you were inundated with images of super-skinny models as the overriding standard of beauty. Although both men and women have to deal with looking at models, and then looking at their own body and feeling subpar; most would agree that this is an issue that especially affects women.

Facebook user Sara Sofia Almeida grew tired of always having to compare her body to the popular mass media images. Using the hashtag #honorcurves#, she sought to have all the people out there appreciate their bodies and realize all the amazing things it can do – swim, run, hug people, love, laugh, and enjoy life. Basically, her body positivity contribution was that you should manage your perception of yourself, and don’t let the media define you. Her post received thousands of likes and dozens of comments; the hashtag itself was created by a young lady name Honorine, and has been used nearly 300,000 times to date.

Hashtag BigFinesBreakTheInternet

Yet another movement that celebrates larger women; the Big Fines Break the Internet hashtag was started to help women feel more positive about their bodies; particularly to help combat the results of studies showing that 54% of women between 18-40 feel dissatisfaction with their bodies. The 2014 survey done by Glamour showed that body negativity was actually growing worse, since back in 1984, a similar poll showed that just 42% of women in this age-range felt unhappy. The cause? Big magazines and social media – which proliferate the message that one kind of body is attractive. #BigFinesBreakTheInternet# is seeking to help change that perception.

Dove Gets Into It

Soap and body care company Dove jumped into the body positivity fray and launched a campaign that may be the largest yet. The #ChooseBeautiful# hashtag caught on like wildfire, when it was revealed in a study that 96% of women don’t choose the word “beautiful” to describe their bodies. This social media campaign has springboarded off the success of the Choose Beautiful hashtag to launch the Speak Beautiful variant, which encourages women to talk positively about their bodies with each other, to help realize their gains in self-esteem and self-perception.

A Celebration of Culture and Modesty

Melanie Elturk is Muslim, and despite that religions staunchly conservative appearance requirements for women, she’s taken to social media to show that girls can be attractive even in conservative garb. Her Haute Hijab movement is big on Instagram, where she showcases herself and other Muslim women wearing fashionable headscarves and other accouterments.

To celebrate your business on Social Media, please contact Blast Creative today.

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Draft and Revise.  Writing is an art of precision.  A writer has the ability to shape the world in their writing, to give his or her world shape and dimension.  In a broad scale, think one sentence holds up the one before it, and, also the one that follows it.

On a smaller scale consider that every word in the sentence is responsible for holding up the entire sentence.  One weak word can denigrate the entire thing.

For most writers—suspecting them all, of course, but leaving some room for anomaly—perfection didn’t happen in a single draft.  To realize something to its conclusion takes time.  Weaknesses in the work need to be made strong, the irrelevant should be omitted, or made relevant.

A Writer Learns

A writer learns of his or her weaknesses and drafts the work again.  Of course this could end up in a continuous loop of drafting—some novelists have claimed that they will write one hundred thousand words before they find a stories beginning (this is a lot of work, considering the average novel’s length is only ninety thousand words).  But, considering the microcosm of the word to the sentence, writing is a process.

Mark Twain once said, “The difference in the right word and the almost right word is really a large matter. ‘tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”  The way to draft is up to you, it’s up to your writing process, and how you work.

Writing’s an individual practice.  However, if you are unsure of how to draft your writing, consider this process as a start.  First, write your initial draft with regard for little perfection.  Find your story.  Even if what you are writing is a school paper, when you write it out, you might find that the most interesting parts, are areas to which you gave little importance.

Once you have found your story, find the shape of it.  Finally, clean it up, polish it, give each word a reason to shine.  If you are frustrated by the time in which it’s taken you to write something, remember that every minute put into perfecting a piece of writing, should only make the writing better, or at least hopefully better.

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How do you measure accomplishment at the end of a day of writing?  Is it pages, words, or time?  Ask yourself that question because it is different for all writers.  The prolific writers, the ones we turn to for advice, even for something as small as a quote, have mostly all spoken about accomplishment.  While Hemingway was in Montana he wrote most mornings, and spent his afternoons fishing for trout or hunting.  Other authors start and don’t finish until they’ve hit some predetermined goal—Steven King’s five pages every day, or the gold standard one thousand words, or Karen Russell’s goal of maximizing quality time spent engaged within her story (she’s not a word robot).     

Why do we listen, then?  Do we plan to copy Hemingway’s write-only-in-the-morning style?  Will adhering to Steven King’s prolific writing style make us as celebrated an author as the man himself?  No.  At least for the most part I believe no.  We listen to them, because being in the room at the desk alone can feel daunting.  For the most part, writing is not a team activity.  It’s just us.  There’s no one to whom the writer can compare himself against but himself.  It’s an activity that entirely self-motivated—unless of course you have a deadline or a job which requires you to write—and the reason we look to other authors for advice is that these are the people who discovered something about themselves.  They all discovered who they are as writers. 

Start easy, start a journal.  Don’t simply walk away when things get difficult—if the right word is not coming, or if you’re simply stuck staring at the screen—keep writing.  You’ll be amazed at the ideas you will find yourself capable at times of the greatest stress.  Those ideas might not flesh themselves out with perfect articulation, but they might be there.  Keep writing and determine the things that work best for you.  Consider the amount of time you need to stay focused every day, or even every other day.  Understanding what will keep you focused, keep you at that desk for those ours or those pages or that word count will, eventually pay off.    

If you need a content writer or a copywriter, please contact Blast Creative today.

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Blast Creative specializes in Roofing Contractor Marketing, we assist roofing companies just like yours to get to the top of the search engines. We are one of the first companies in Billings, Montana to offer search engine optimization as well as Social Media Marketing.

Roofing Contractor SEO Services should consist of more than content writing!  True SEO consists of links, keywords, blogs/content writing, social media and backlinks. You need to be doing all of those things if you want your website to come in the search engines.

If you want to know why your competitor is beating you in the organic search, it’s a simple fact that they are doing more SEO than you! You can’t buy your way to the top of the search engines. You have to earn it, with a lots of White Hat SEO!

Are there broken links on your website? Is your website mobile or responsive? At Blast Creative we do a complete site analyzes and fix what’s broken. We plan out a strategic Marketing and SEO Plan that fits your needs.

If you are a Roofing Contractor in need of Marketing and SEO Services, we are here to assist you. Our program is month to month, there are no long term contracts. Without a contract, we have to deliver month to month.

With so many companies offering Roof Contractor SEO these days, we know that it’s hard to decide what type of Roofer SEO is best for your business. Most monthly services can be quite expensive and you’re required to part with your money in advance with no guarantee you’ll see results.

We not only do SEO for Roofing Companies, but for any company wanting to come up in the search engines, increase phone calls & web leads. If you are looking for SEO Services, please contact Blast Creative today!

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There is a famous saying that goes like this “you only have one chance to make a good first impression.” Nothing could be truer when it comes to writing headlines for your blogs, articles, eBooks or any other online content.  Without magnetic headlines, you may not be able to grab the attention of your reader and motivate him/her to continue reading past your headline.

Statistics show us that an average of eight out of ten people searching for information online will first read the headline, and out of these ten only two will be persuaded enough to read the rest of your content. These statistics, clearly answer the question “what is in a headline?” the answer being “power.” So, if you are an online content marketer or a copywriter, developing magnetic headlines is a valuable skill you should possess if you want to create clicktivism.  Below are some tips on how you can write magnetic headlines:

Start with the Headline
While the headline might seem like the most challenging part of writing (at times it is), you should always try to start your writing with the headline first. That is because the headline is the promise you will give to readers, so it must clearly communicate what you intend to deliver to the reader. Of course, before creating the headline you need to have a clear understanding of your subject matter. Once you have identified your subject matter or what the content of your writing will be, go ahead and create a headline. If you write the headline last, you will be looking for the promise within your content, instead of first making the promise and delivering it through your content.

Newsy headlines, grab attention
Newsy headlines are the type that makes announcements such as discovery, new product release, finding, invention and more.  You can use these headlines to introduce new services or products in the market and to make press releases. People are usually captivated by the concept “new” and are, therefore, more likely to read on to discover “what’s new.” Examples of newsy headlines are those that begin with words such as “announcing”, “introducing”, and “at last.”

“How To” headlines are magnetic
One of the most used headlines is “how to”, simply because this is a magnetic headline that is sure to grab and retain the attention of the reader. These types of headings answer the question, “what is in it for me,” which most readers will ask themselves before reading any content. So, if your content answers the question “how to,” consider creating a “how to” headline such as ‘How to Write Magnetic Headlines.”

The benefit headline will get your content read
A benefit headline is like a carrot dangled in front of a rabbit. The reader will immediately identify “what’s in it for them” from your headline. This kind of headline excites the curiosity of readers, and they will want to read on or click the headline for more details. So, when creating a magnetic headline identify a compelling benefit from your content, and serve it up in your article topic. For instance, “Get Your Online Business Noticed Today, With This Amazing SEO Tool.”

When it comes to writing content especially for online marketing, your headline is your lifeline; because a magnetic headline is what will determine whether your content will become a hit or miss.

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Almost every writer has been faced with the mind blowing process of “how to create high-quality content, quicker.”  This is especially true for new writers and those that work in the content marketing field where the demand for new and fresh content is constant.  New fresh content is important in social media marketing as it engages the target audience, hence the need to develop this content in a fast manner.

The reality is, coming up with high quality, persuasive content will take some time; however, it does not have to take “all your time” as there are useful tactics you can apply to increase your writing productivity.  Here you will find kickass tactics that you can practice daily to improve your writing speed:

1) What do you believe?
Writing starts from the “inside”; how you feel about a given topic will greatly influence whether you are motivated to write about it or not.  For example, if you have been assigned a writing task about IT, and you find such topics too “technical” and lets face it down right boring, then you will probably write this article at a snail’s pace, and it might not even be high quality. It may just be flat out lousy!  Your subconscious mind has great influence on your writing speed and the quality of article you will deliver, so believe that you can write any given topic brilliantly and you will.

2) Begin with your writing goal
Even before picking a pen or launching MS word or note, you should have a clear goal of what you want your target audience to take away from your article. Your article needs to be killer. Ask yourself, what is the ultimate goal that you are trying to achieve from this piece of writing?  What information or action do you want your readers to absorb?  What do you want your target audience to walk away with from your article?

Once you have a clear goal of what you want your writing to achieve, you can start writing with this in mind.  By beginning with your intended purpose in mind, you will save time and won’t be horrified at the amount of time you are spending on writing.

3) Keep your article short and sweet
There is a common phrase used in the marketing industry, abbreviated as “KISS” (Keep It Simple, Stupid). This concept should also be applied in writing. High-quality content means “high quality”, and not necessarily long. Most writers have the tendency to be “wordy”, but simple, short and sweet content can be quite engaging and even informative. I recommend 450 to 700 words.

This essential concept applies mostly when you are writing online content where the majority of people searching for information usually want it served up in a simple and easy format that is inspiring and persuasive. Remember that most of the online users will want the information they are looking for to be served up quickly.

4) Have an ideas diary
Generating ideas for articles is one of the most time-consuming parts of creating high-quality content. Most experienced writers will tell you that if you have an idea or concept that you want to cover in your piece of writing, words will often come easily and therefore, you will write quickly. 

One of the ways you can generate great ideas quickly is by keeping an ideas diary, that way if an interesting idea snaps into your brain at any time or place, you can record it on your smartphone or simply write it down in your diary.  You can also write ideas you get from reading blogs, newspapers or by simply watching TV, to use later in your writing.

5) Keep a topic list
Coming up with topics for your content can also be quite a challenge and time-consuming task. Come up with a potential topic list before you begin to write, to help you write faster. Ask friends and family to give you a list of questions that they have about what you do and use those for your topics. Simple, but BRILLIANT!

6) Plan
If you want to write high-quality content fast, you really need to plan your writing. When you plan which sub-headings or topic you want to cover, you will limit the time you are likely to spend rearranging paragraphs that are out of place (due to failure to plan).

7) Write First, Edit later
Writing as your edit can waste a lot of time. So, put all your ideas down first, before you start editing to save on time.

8) Set a deadline
Set a deadline of what you want to achieve within a particular time frame.  When you have a time limit, you will work harder and faster to complete your tasks within this set time.

Writing high-quality content quickly is important in today’s fast society; especially in the social media marketing field where there is constant demand for high quality and inspiring content. Use the above tips to create high quality, inspiring content as quickly as possible.

If you are looking for a copywriter, please contact Blast Creative today!

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All websites need fresh content in order to stay relevant in the search engines. Here is a writing sample for the web that we did for a published author. You can hire a copywriter to do your writing for you or write about what you are most passionate about. You know your business, sit down, pick a subject and write what you know.

Fiction Story Point of Views

Every fiction story is told through point of view. The three types of point of view available to writers—first, second, and third—all have advantages and disadvantages. An author may even change point of view in subsequent story drafts to determine the best tone of voice that fits her work. Let’s examine the three different types and why and how an author would use them in her story.

First person point of view—the I point of view—gives the narrator of the story a voice. The narrator could also be a we, our, me, my, mine, us; but, for observation, let’s just consider the I, for now anyway. The I is a natural point of view for most writers, because it allows the author a natural authority to write as the character. The author’s only responsible for giving voice to one character. That character will shape the story, and other events/characters are made understood to the reader through the voice of the narrator, or during sequences of dialogue. This does provide a limited perspective, however.

Second person point of view isn’t widely used. It’s a way for the author to speak directly to the reader. For an example of this, read Junot Diaz’s story “This is How You Lose Her.”

There’s two types of third person point of view: close or limited, and omniscient. Close or limited Perspective, when it’s used well, can bring the reader as close to the character as a first person perspective—sometimes it can take us even deeper into a character. Third person close is probably used by authors as much as first person perspective. Third person omniscient enables the writer to bounce around through different characters. Third person Omniscient, while it seems like a great choice (inhabiting the minds of each and every character leads to clarity, right?) it’s also a demanding and risky choice, because each character will need to have a definite voice so as not to confuse the reader.

Perspective is a creative choice. If you’re struggling, listen to the story, put it through a few drafts, and determine what perspective the story wants.

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RF^x Executive Consultant Marcy Lowe from Billings, Montana has her love of shoes to thank for her successful Rodan + Fields business. Marcy signed up to be an Independent Consultant in November 2009 because she wanted to look better, and with R+F products her skin noticeably improved. After seeing her results, Marcy’s family members and friends began using the products, and their skin changed—a lot. At the time Marcy was helping her husband with his construction and land development business, but decided that an endeavor with her own Rodan + Fields business could be great “shoe money” … and shoe money and so much more it because; Marcy quickly became a Level V Executive Consultant working part-time hours.

As time went on, she started focusing more and more on Rodan + Fields, appreciating the fact that she could mold her business into her lifestyle and hold events wherever she goes. Now Marcy can travel in the new Lexus she has earned, a reward that has taken her from classy heels to first class wheels. As Marcy works on building new Level V Leaders, she believes Rodan + Fields has given her benefits that are changing not only her shoe collection. but also the future of her family.

Marcy Lowe
RF ^x Executive Consultant and 2015 RF^x Circle Achiever
Two Time Achiever

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How does your business use your social media accounts? If you’re like most businesses, you think about attracting new customers, marketing, and branding through Facebook and Twitter. You want to build relationships with your clients and vendors to build your business, but there’s so much more potential to your social media medium. Customers use social media to report problems with a business. How you respond to those complaints will determine if you keep those customers or lose them.

Although you may have phone or email support, most people don’t want to take the time to track down the information and call during business hours. Submitting information through a contact form is impersonal at best, and customers often do not even expect a response because they have no idea who is going to receive the information. Customers want personalized immediacy to their issues, which can be costly for your business to provide.

Why Do People Turn to Social Media?

When your customer gets upset, they want to be heard. If they’re just looking for an answer to a question, they want it now. No one wants to wait which is indicative of the microwave society in today’s world. Social media is more immediate. Expectations for social media is very different from the expectations of email or phone. In a recent study, most people expect your business to respond in 60 minutes or less when they use social media.

Why You Should Care About Answering Your Customers on Social Media

Customer service through social media lets you personalize your brand and the experience of your customers. Instead of going through a phone menu to try and get to a person who can help, your customer asks a question, then gets an answer. It’s a great method to make customers have control and to provide transparency. Potential customers see the transaction and know that you will answer questions promptly. It also encourages more mentions of your brand online, which increases your presence. Not answering questions and complaints may also provide more publicity, but in a negative light. When you provide customer service through social media, you proactively manage your image. Users who reach out to you through social media are more likely to talk about your company.

With social media, follow-up is quick and easy. You can always send a personal note to the customer, but Facebook and Twitter allow you to demonstrate your commitment to providing excellent customer service. It might be overwhelming at first, and you may make some mistakes. In your industry there may be regulatory issues that you have to work around. But the long-term benefits far outweigh the challenges. When you engage with your customers, they will engage with you. If you don’t respond, they will find a business that will. Don’t lose out by ignoring social media. Reply quickly and keep your customers coming back again and again. Contact Blast Creative if you are interested in our Social Media Marketing Services.

If you are a business owner in any of these genres, financial, photographers, dentists, hotels, restaurants, construction, HVAC, hardware stores, real estate, or any business owner and want more information on Internet Marketing, please contact Blast Creative today!

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Are you wondering how to drive an effective email campaign? Let me give you a few tips. First answer these 3 questions

1. How often do you send an enewsletter?
2. Are your enewsletters mobile friendly?
3. How quickly does your business respond to email requests?

For question 1-you should be consistent. If you send an email once a month, you should send out that email on the same day every month. For example, send it the first Monday of every month. You customers will then look forward and know to check their in-boxes on that day every month.

Question 2-just like your website, your enewsletters should be mobile ready. The majority of consumers will read your enewsletter on a smartphone or mobile device.

Question 3-your business should be responding to email requests within 5 minutes. I know that seems fast, but the odds of connecting with a new customer drop 100- fold if you wait 30 minutes or more! At the time they send that email, they are focused on your business, connecting with you and whatever service that they are inquiring about. After 30 minutes they have moved on with their days, kids, work, etc. And because you didn’t respond quickly, they have already contacted 2-3 of your competitors to inquire about their needs. So respond quickly.

You have an opportunity to use email globally and to attract customers to your business. There is compelling new data in support of email marketing. Email marketing out performs social media; we expect organic distribution of an individual page’s posts to gradually decline. Less that 2% of users who like a page on Facebook will not see that company’s posts in their newsfeed. I still recommend social media for SEO and to help distribute your content, which I will talk about shortly.

In the US, adults are almost twice as likely to sign up for your emails than to interact with you on Facebook. Most businesses have email lists that are 30-50% larger than their social fan base. The open rate for health & beauty emails is greater than 20%.

Top 6 Things To Do for Your Email Marking Strategy

1. Start at the beginning with your list make sure that you are doing all of the right things to grow your list. This should be your PRIORITY! Do you have a signup for your newsletter on your website? When someone calls your business do you ask for an email address to share specials and updates? When someone comes to your business, do you ask them for their email address to share specials and updates?
2. Make and Editorial Calendar-don’t just look at the immediate-look at the year or at least 6 months. Create a calendar theme. Feb-Valentines, March-Spring, April-Easter, etc.

3. Create an email template, consistency and branding are key. Your enewsletter should be attractive and professional.

4. Take the time to look at your data from your email platform. What is the open rate? What is the click through rate? What are people clicking on and does a certain time and day get more opens and clicks than others. I recommend sending enewsletters mid-day Tuesday thru Thursdays, research shows that you will get a larger response during those times.

5. Do you know your customers-ask them-do a survey-what would they like to see in your emails. Do a survey at least one a year.

6. Make sure that all of the emails have a strong call to action and point back to the website.

Your content, don’t stress about not having content, you do. What are your specials or deals? What have you been posting on Social Media or your blog. What do you have on your YouTube channel? Do you have vendors that you use that giveaway free content and photos? If you don’t know, ask, because most will help you with marketing. You have content, you just may not know that you do!

Your email template should align with your branding, make sure that it looks neat and professional. Always send a test email first, have more than one person review it to catch any errors. Also test the email on your smartphone and devices. Test links to make sure that they are working.

For more information on eNewsletters or email blasts, please contact us!

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