I never marched in a nationality parade or drew a family tree, or said these are his eyes, her mouth, it runs in the family. I looked for myself in strangers, stood in a grocery aisle surveying the slope of a woman’s nose, the color of her hair. I never felt hurt by a racist…
Top 10 Tips From Women Business Owners (Content Writing)
Google “tips for women” and guess what you get. That’s right – page upon page of fashion, dating and weight-loss advice. While there’s nothing wrong with wanting to Zumba off a few pounds or snare your own Peeta Mellark, if you’re like the women who work at The Content Factory, you likely have loftier ambitions. Ambitions…
What is Content Marketing and Why Does Your Business Need It? (Content Writing)
“In the digital age, every business is in the publishing industry.” That’s a quote from a recent Huffington Post article, and it says so much about content marketing that for us it’s something of a mantra when we discuss strategy with new clients. We’ve written, tweeted, posted and pinned for businesses that sell everything from condos…
Employee Tenure: Your Company’s Key to Legendary Customer Service (Content Writing)
“The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary.” – Sam Walton What separates a good company from a great one? In a word, people. Even in a world driven by technology and commodity pricing, the most successful companies realize that their greatest asset lies in…
Do More, Apologize Less: How Bitches Get Ahead in Business
Right now, 480 of America’s most powerful business leaders are focused on their work. They’re negotiating deals, driving hard bargains and demanding results. They may even be denying promotions, dressing down sales execs for failing to meet quotas, or sternly notifying an assistant that it’s time to clear out his desk. They’re doing all of…
3 Ways Web Writing Is Different Than Creative Writing
You worked hard to earn that creative writing degree. You held back tears as professors ripped into your best stories, and you somehow found something positive to say every time that guy in your workshop class turned in another three-page poem about smoking cigarettes. You even read The Waste Land – twice. If you made…
Beyond Monogamy: The New Relationship Rules (Content Writing)
What was your favorite fairy tale as a kid? Whether it came from the brothers Grimm or Walt Disney, there’s a high chance the happily ever after followed a predictable formula: man and woman meet, fall in love, maybe fight some dragons or sea monsters, and then ride off into the sunset together. What if…
15 Professional Etiquette Mistakes You Need to Stop Making (Content Writing)
Learning professional etiquette is a bit like living in a foreign country. You can understand some aspects of etiquette inherently, some you learn from mentors or guides, and some you discover after making mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes are small — you use the wrong word when ordering lunch in Bilbao, or forget to refill the…
In the Dream Where My Mother Dies and I’m Sent to Live With Her Ghost
In the dream where my mother dies and I’m sent to live with her ghost my mother wears only one sweater and it’s not even my favorite. I want to buy a new sweater for my new ghost mother but she says what’s the point. No one is going to see her anyway. No one…
International Business Etiquette: 30 Things You Probably Don’t Know (Content Writing)
International business etiquette can be challenging. It changes shape, shifting as you cross borders, taking new forms as you travel across time zones. How you take your tea, how you wear your suit — they send different signals in Osaka than they do in Chennai. So when it comes to making a great impression, your…
Watching Episodes of ‘I Shouldn’t Be Alive’ in Reverse
We like tears sucked into ducts, the way waterfalls look running upwards. Viewed in reverse the sea ejaculates helicopters and lightning. Bears appear with limbs in loose jaws, healing hikers and tidying campsites. A ribcage coughs up buckshot. The mountain inhales its shelf of snow. We like the hour condensed, flares asleep in their nests,…
10 Ways to Improve Customer Retention (Content Writing)
“Every company’s greatest assets are its customers, because without customers there is no company.” – Michael LeBoeuf Acquiring a new customer can cost up to 25 times more than retaining an existing one. Increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can boost profits by up to 95%. Considering these statistics, it’s no wonder that the…
