Hi Sam!
Welcome to your personal project proposal page.
Thank you for taking the time to chat with me about your business, your goals, and your vision for moving forward.
My mission is to help entrepreneurs like you grow your business by conveying your story and message to your audience in a way that feels genuine, authentic, and engaging.
My goal is to make this a fun and exciting process that feels more like playing than working.
So let’s get to play. ?
Summary of Our Objectives
Clear communication is of the utmost importance to a copywriter, so I want to clearly state the objectives we discussed during my visit to the distillery and list out the deliverables that were discussed as well.
The ultimate goal of our work together is to create a compelling story that you can weave into all of your marketing efforts. Those efforts include tours, brochures, your website, and other marketing assets as you see fit.
Outlined below are the deliverables that we discussed during our meeting.
- Crafting an engaging story that grabs attention and creates a connection between your distillery and your customers
- Updating the website that you have built within the Wix platform
- Updating the informational brochure that you give to tour participants and place strategically throughout the community
- Graphic design of signage that can be placed throughout the distillery
- Creating a compelling story around your beautiful event venue so you can bring in more revenue
If I have left any of the other deliverables that we discussed off this list, please let me know.
My Skills and Qualifications
I would never expect you to put the voice of your business or brand in the hands of just anyone.
It’s a crucial component of a successful business and I want you to know that I take the responsibility very seriously.
That’s why I wanted to reassure you that I have the skills and qualifications that you are looking for and you can trust that I will keep the best interest of you, your business, and your customers top of mind during our project.
I have been in the field of online marketing since 2008. I began slowly learning what I could and teaching myself all along the way. In 2013, I started offering my services as a freelance web designer and built a successful web design business called Unleashed Web Design.
I have a long history of loving words and have considered myself a writer for most of my life.
My profession as a copywriter, however, is new. I am currently in a copywriting apprenticeship program with world-renowned copywriter, Ray Edwards.
I am honing my copywriting craft with Ray as my mentor, and currently working toward earning my copywriting certification from him, which fewer than 50 people in the world have obtained.
I know that you already know most of this, but I just want you to feel that you’re in good hands, so I thought a reminder couldn’t hurt.
The 4-1-1
Now we’re getting to the good stuff. The information you’re really ready for.
The details of our entire project.
Let’s Start at the Beginning
The very first order of business when we get started is to complete a full copywriting brief.
This will give me the foundation of the information I will need to capture your voice, your story, your vision, and the attention of your ideal audience.
We will accomplish this in a two-hour meeting at the distillery. My goal for this meeting is to interview crucial employees, get behind-the-scenes information about the distillery and your processes, and absorb as much of the history and current state of your business.
After our visit, I will write the brief, which will contain all the information we discuss. Within three business days, I will send over the written brief for your review so we can both ensure that we are on the same page and moving in the same direction.
If there are any changes to be made, or I have misunderstood something, this is when we’ll clear that up.
The copywriting brief will provide me with information to use in all copy deliverables in our project.
Crafting an Engaging Story for Your Visitors and Tourists
Your story is important. Not only can I tell that it’s important to you, but it is also important to your customers.
Humans learn from and connect with people through story.
The story you tell should help people see something of themselves in you, give them a glimpse of a world totally different from theirs, or inspire them in some way.
Brainstorming and writing of your story will include the following:
- Additional research
- In addition to the copywriting brief, research to understand what competitors are offering (both in the way of local tourism and possibly other similar institutions such as the wineries in the area), what seems to resonate with your audience, and clues as to how to tell your story in the most interesting way possible.
- I will suggest 2-3 possible angles to approach the story and you will select 1 idea to implement
- You have an idea of how you’d like your story to be told. I will not alter your story in any way. I just might tell different parts of the story at different times to create intrigue and capture attention. You’ll help me select the way that you feel will resonate most with your customers.
- I will write an outline of the story from the information I gathered during the copywriting brief
- I will ask you to review the outline to make sure it is accurate and that I haven’t left out anything of significance to the story
- I will use the content outline to write the story
- I will organize the content in the story to be an interesting and memorable experience for your guests and tourists
- Up to two revisions of the story
- Upon submission of the copywritten story, you will be able to request up to two revisions of the copy to ensure it meets your needs and feels authentic to you and your voice.
Updating the Website That You Have Built Within the Wix Platform
You have a good foundation with the website you’ve built within Wix. I believe I can work with the foundation you’ve started and build within that framework.
It will be easier and less expensive than starting from scratch. The following information regarding changing your website is written with the impression that we’ll be using the Wix website you currently have. Building another website altogether, while we can do that, would be outside of the scope of this proposal.
A simple, helpful, handsomely branded website will help you grow your business by attracting more customers.
Your website will be the basis of the information that will be used in the brochure. It will be more comprehensive but will have the same look and feel.
Creating compelling copy that intrigues your readers and arouses curiosity about what they’ll find at the distillery will encourage more people to visit and experience it for themselves.
You’ve done a good job of describing your spirits on your website so a bit of sprucing up will make them more concise and compelling.
We also want to make sure they’re included on your site when viewed from a mobile phone (they’re not right now).
We would take or source a few new images, record a new video and clean up the layout of each page and your site will be good to go.
Update of the Wix website:
- Website Copy
- Your website will include your story, sprucing up of the descriptions of your spirits, and attention-grabbing headlines that people will see immediately when they land on your site.
- Aesthetic Update
- A more professional layout and a light re-design will go a long way with the website. Cleaning up some of the ways the information is displayed will also help establish a more professional and cohesive look.
- New Video Copy
- This copy will include a bit of your story and include a compelling reason for people to visit the distillery.
- Up to two revisions of the website
- You will be able to request up to two revisions of the website to ensure that everything is described accurately and you like the look and feel of the site.
Your brochure can be one of the main drivers of bringing visitors to your distillery. Once they are there, they’ll hear your story.
But teasers of the story will bring them to the distillery to see for themselves what the fuss is about.
If properly branded and designed, it establishes credibility, positions you as an authority with a cohesive and recognizable look, and tells your readers that you take your business seriously.
Updating the informational brochure will include:
- Branding assets
- Your brochure needs to have the same look and feel of your website. The branding assets that are created or obtained for your website can also be used on your brochure.
- The copy that is created for the video on your website will be repurposed for your brochure.
- I will put the text of your brochure into a professionally designed and branded PDF file that can be professionally printed
- Your brochure will reflect the look and feel of your website and contain contact information and directions to the distillery.
- Up to two revisions of the brochure design
- You will be able to request up to two revisions of the design to ensure it gives thorough information, feels authentic to you, and represents your brand.
Graphic Design of Signage That Can Be Placed Throughout the Distillery
The graphic design of these signs should be relatively easy to do. Again, we will want to maintain cohesion from the website to the brochure and even to your physical location.
Sourcing or taking photos for the website will give us the basis for the signage. We can then include pieces of your story, in a graphically interesting way, that will allow us to create memorable signs that prompt you on your tours and create a branded feel for all visitors.
The design of the signage will not include the production necessary to physically display any signage in the distillery. But you will be able to use all graphic files and have them printed and framed or created the way you want them (e.g. printed on wood).
Graphic design of signage will include:
- A short meeting to discuss signage intent and design direction
- The kinds of signs that will be created can vary widely. Knowing the material the sign will be created from will be imperative to designing an eye-catching design that will work with the medium.
- The images that will be sourced for the website will be used in creating signs
- Of course, if you’re planning on creating signs that are more text-based in nature and created on natural materials, imagery will not be necessary.
- Graphics files will be created
- You will be given all graphic design files so you can use them in the nature you intend. We will work together to make sure you have the correct file types to ensure that your sign can be created with the medium and method chosen.
Creating a Compelling Story Around Your Beautiful Event Venue So You Can Bring in More Revenue
You mentioned during our meeting that your event venue brings in about 30% of your total revenue. I believe that with the proper branding and promotion, it could bring in much more and be a large portion of the revenue generated by the distillery.
We could start by re-working the page on your website that shows off your venue (which would be included in revising your current website), but I believe that a whole new website would do it more justice and could really impact the revenue it brings in.
I would love to speak with people who have held events there, especially events where there was a professional photographer present. A few beautiful photos of events being held there would go a long way to someone who is looking at your venue for their event.
People make buying decisions based on emotion, and then justify their decision with logic. If we can create a rich emotional reaction with the imagery on your event website, you’ll see a big increase in the number of bookings and could possibly raise your prices as well.
Event venue website will include:
- A short meeting to discuss project direction and collect contact information of people who have held events at your venue
- The overall feel of the venue website will be different from the distillery website. The distillery will appeal mostly to men, whereas an event venue website should appeal mostly to women. It doesn’t have to be overly feminine, but we’ll need to discuss some ideas before moving forward.
- Creating a story around the venue
- The venue story will be different from the distillery story. In order to sell the venue more often and for a higher price, we’ll need to create a story that will create an emotional reaction that will immediately make someone decide to hold their event there.
- Website creation
- Since you’re already familiar with the Wix platform, I suggest we create the venue website within Wix as well. That way, you’ll be comfortable changing anything that needs to change within the site as changes happen (e.g. when you raise prices, or if you decide to put a calendar where people can see dates open, etc.).
- Even though this will be a separate website, it will be linked to the distillery website and it won’t be elaborate. Three to four pages should be sufficient to get people interested, deepen their interest with a photo gallery, let them know how to contact you and/or book the venue, and a page for people to share with their attendees that will help them locate you for the event.
Pricing
You mentioned wanting to tackle these projects one at a time, so I’m pricing them that way. Some of the projects will build upon previous projects, so the order in which they are done is limited to the order they are in within this proposal, with the exception of the event venue website, which could be done at any time.
For each project, payment will be paid as follows:
1/2 due upon contract signing, 1/2 due upon delivery of the first draft of all assets
Prep Work and Crafting of Your Story: $850
Current Website Update: $550
Brochure Update: $250
Distillery Signage Design: $200
New Event Venue Website: $950
Project Timeline
Each item in this proposal is basically a separate project. The timelines will vary and we will discuss the timeline of each as they are approved and we move forward with them.
How To Move Forward
You received a link to this proposal in a text message. You can either reply to that text message or send me an email at hello@lorireeves.us and tell me that you’re ready to move forward with our project.
Once I have the green light from you on the proposal, I will send over a contract and an invoice. Payment terms for each project are listed above.
This proposal is valid for 30 days from the day it was submitted. Date of submission is April 22, 2019.
Terms & Conditions
The Client means the person or company that has formally entered into the agreement. (That’s you)
The Company refers to the business entity Lori Reeves Marketing. (That’s me)
Quotation means a formal proposal document or price estimates provided over the phone or email.
Approved copywriting brief means the materials from which the work is to be based upon, subject to the approval of ‘the Client.’
Urgent work means copywriting work needed (finalized) within 7 days.
All information in this proposal will be included in the Master Agreement (contract).
The copywriting investment will be confirmed upon the completion and approval of the copywriting brief by ‘the Client’ when any unknown complexities of this project are known. If ‘the Client’ chooses not to proceed, the initial investment (minus the time spent on the copywriting brief) will be refunded.
Any project estimates provided before ‘the Client’ approves the copywriting brief are not guarantees of delivery and should not be taken as such.
Approval of the copywriting brief should be via email or will be assumed when ‘the Client’ sends an amended copywriting brief to ‘the Company.’ Approval of the copywriting of each asset delivered is via an online approval form. If this form cannot be completed, approval should be provided in writing by ‘the Client.’
If written approval is not provided by ‘the Client’ within 7 calendar days of asset delivery the asset will be assumed as approved.
Written revisions must be submitted to ‘the Company’ within 7 calendar days of revision request.
‘The Client’ may terminate the job at any time. In this instance, ‘the Company’ shall invoice for the time spent and work completed to date.
A non-refundable commencement fee of 50% of the total quoted amount is required on acceptance of the quote by ‘the Client.’
Invoicing is done by Intuit QuickBooks Self-Employed. Payment may be made by bank transfer or credit card or Apple Pay. ‘The Client’ is required to pay credit card fees so credit card transactions are subject to a 2.9% surcharge for fees.
Urgent work will incur a 25% surcharge. Why? Because of the other projects shifted around to accommodate.
It is agreed that the copyright for any work delivered to ‘the Client’ remains the intellectual property of Lori Reeves Marketing until all monies due have been paid.
Lori Reeves Marketing cannot be held responsible for how the material produced is used once ‘the Client’ has approved the final draft.
‘The Client’ agrees to indemnify and to hold Lori Reeves Marketing harmless against any and all claims, costs, and expenses, including solicitors fees, due to materials included in any work undertaken at the request of ‘the Client.’
With so many factors contributing to the success of a piece of copywriting, Lori Reeves Marketing cannot make any guarantees as to the performance of the copy created for ‘the Client’.
Due to the complex nature of search engine ranking, Lori Reeves Marketing cannot guarantee any specific ranking as a result of publishing optimized copywriting.