Copywriting and internet marketing techniques work hand in hand to create a quick, intense, straight to the point document to stir the reader to action with as few un-necessary words as possible, and in the shortest amount of time.

 

A person marketing a product or service on the Internet realizes they have about three and a half seconds to get and keep your attention before you click off their site, maybe even forever!

 

Since capturing your attention is the paramount first step to keeping your attention, copy writers are worth their weight in gold.

 

What do they know about getting money that you don’t?

 

1. How to get to the point Right Away!

 

What does this mean? After you read the almost final draft, go through your document and eliminate at least 20% of the words! I know this sounds harsh, but as bureaucrats, we have a tendency to be long winded. By eliminating un-necessary words, you’ll find your document shorter, more concise and to the point, more apt to be read completely, and a lot less boring. As a rule, we bureaucrats are boring, but I’ll tell you a secret, we hate being bored!

 

2. Change your titles and sub-titles into HEADLINES!

 

Everywhere you have a title, sub-title, heading, or sub-heading, take advantage of these opportunities to create mini headlines that call attention to some benefit your project is proposing to deliver, alleviate, improve, or create.

 

3. Determine your USP (unique selling position) and make sure you incorporate it into the body of your text.

 

This is so very important! Refine your best or most important benefit down to about 20 words or less. This will give you an idea you can present in 30 seconds or less, which is about as much time as you get of someone’s attention. You can then express this throughout your document; ie: the Executive Summary, Project Proposal; Population Served. You will also be able to articulate your objective to any funder who’ll listen without boring them to death, or occupying more of their time than they want to give. Furthermore, if they know you as a person who gets right to the point, they’re more apt to give you a friendly audience at impromptu moments.

 

4. Speak English

 

If after reading you work you find it full of “bureau-babble” and “tech” terms, either define them, or express their idea in layman’s terms. You never know when reading your proposal has been delegated to an intern who may not yet be familiar with the delicate nuances of effective bureau-babble. Also, busy people and business people get bombarded with ideas and proposals continually, if they can understand yours, chances are they’ll remember it, and subsequently fund it too!

 

5. Write and submit articles to trade magazines in print and online

 

Becoming known as an expert in your field can only help enhance your credibility and establish your reputation among your colleagues and competitors. The easiest way to do this is to submit articles, letters, reviews, newsletter blurbs, to various magazines and trade publications that target your particular community. In other words, if you’re a fund raiser for a non-profit, and your area of expertise is youth oriented programs and services, submit articles that will get your name out in various youth serving communities. You can rest assured that when your name appears on a grant application, the funders will be familiar with it.

 

6. Attend every pre-grant briefing, press conference, or workshop  available . . .

 

Do this! You never know when the contact you make may come in handy. It may even save your project.

 

Once I applied for a grant that another larger entity wanted to apply for unimpeded. I got lots of pressure to back off, but unfortunately this was a partnership grant and I’d already committed to my partners, not to mention, we probably had one of the hottest ideas around at this particular time. To make a long story short, the big fish called me to his office, and after trying every smooth move he could think of, he finally pulled out the big gun, aimed it right between my eyes, and let me have it!

 

What he told me was that he knew the Funder so well that with just a phone call he could keep me from getting approved. Well, I smiled graciously, apologized for not being able to back out of my application, and left. I was furious to say the least, but I went back to my office, pulled out the Deputy Director’s card whom I’d met at the pre-application briefing; the same woman I’d taken the time to introduce myself to and thank for her time, and I called her. When she got on the phone, I reintroduced myself and reminded her that we’d met at the briefing. I then told her what this gentleman had implied.

 

After she calmed down I told her that if our application wasn’t any good then don’t fund it; we simply wanted the chance for our idea to be presented with the same equity and opportunity as all the other applications. Her exact words were, “Honey, you send me that application.” My exact words; “yes m’am, I will. THANK YOU SO MUCH!”

 

Did I get the money? Yes I did. Did I tell her what my idea was – no, I just asked her for a fair review.

 

7. Be personally vested in your project

 

You can’t sell it to someone else if you wouldn’t buy it yourself! As a sales person, I’ve made it a practice over the years to never sell anything I wouldn’t use or buy myself. No one can sell your ideas better than you. It’s your enthusiasm and faith in your product or project’s effectiveness and potential that is your biggest tool for raising awareness and money. Also, by writing grants for projects you believe in, your creative juices will be stimulated and you will explore avenues of creativity that you normally wouldn’t travel because by having a vested interest in your project, you aren’t as eager or willing to take “no” for an answer when it comes to making a

viable project work.

 

8. Do you have a “Killer App?”

 

A “killer app” is defined by the Tech community as, “a product or service that changes the method of delivery”, like WORD Perfect. When Bill Gates developed WORD Perfect and made it available for all applications he created a “killer app”. In essence, any application afterwards would have to recapture an entire market, and present a better method of delivery.

 

Even though this is a description of a technology “killer app”, a “killer app” can be developed in any area there’s a need for a better solution to a problem that affects a specific group or community, provided it’s a solution that will set the precedent for future solutions.

 

9. Be Creative

 

Sometimes you will find yourself with an “idea looking for money”. This is the premise from which most grant applications are conceived, BUT – working from this premise you automatically cut your available funding in half! Why, because you’ve overlooked the pool of “money looking for ideas!” Sometimes you need to create projects around already existing pools of money. Believe it or not, there’s a lot of weird money out there that people don’t apply for because they don’t know what to do with it after they get it. Think outside the box.

 

10. Invite the Funder for a visit

 

If you’re applying for a grant whose funding determination is partially based on a site visit of any kind, seize the opportunity to make the sales pitch and negotiations that will not necessarily be put on paper. What does this mean exactly?

 

“If I can use your money in a timely fashion, and exceed the number of people you expect to be served, while showing you there’s a need to continue funding of the project, do you think I’d have a problem getting additional dollars committed?”

 

This is always a good question to have answered. Plus it gives you a chance to share your vision with the Funder on your own territory; ground that you should be extremely familiar with.

 

Does it work? Seems to – I got $300,000 once with the promise of $400,000 additional dollars because our agency already had the initial amount spent; all the

support and reporting mechanisms in place, and we could do the job in half the time allotted for the expenditure of funds. Plus, with the additional funds we could produce a finished work; again in about half the time given for completion according to the grant guidelines.

 

11. Start a Newsletter

 

A cheap and easy way to get and keep publicity: If there isn’t a newsletter that already exists for you to contribute to, star your own!. It doesn’t have to be a major undertaking. Let people know what you’re doing. Let them know about your funding needs, your project goals, and your visions for the future. Ask for contributions in the form of articles from your peers and colleagues. If people see you (your department, your staff, your non-profit, etc.), they’ll assume you must be a newsmaker because they see you regularly in print.

 

12. Make sure each project provides plenty of publicity for the Funding Organization

 

Make sure you create photo opportunities, functions, events, symposiums, press conferences, workshop, public events, and fundraisers that ties into your event of future event, and that will bring your funders publicity for their philanthropic endeavors!

 

13. Write it yourself!

 

You have no idea how much money could be saved if more organizations wrote their own grants. No one can sell your ideas better than you! Why pay a consultant to write a grant for you when they utilize information they get from you, they utilize your staff and charge you for it, and they have no vested interest in your project because they get paid whether you get the funding or not.

 

Also, consultants share information. They get together and talk about the different grants they’re writing; compare ideas, and share projects. If you have a project being funded on originality or creativity then it’s in your own best interest that very few people know what’s in your proposal.

 

14. Write in an “Over 40” font