Panel Encourages CWA Members to Market Themselves

October, 2001

A panel focused on marketing encouraged and challenged Construction Writers Association members attending the CWA midyear meeting in Chicago, October 5, 2001, to develop their careers, look for work opportunities, and position themselves for the future. While each of the four speakers shared experiences from contrasting backgrounds, the themes echoed were similar: Marketing yourself and your organization is critical to success, especially in an uncertain economy.

"I'm surprised by how many clients I've seen put their foot in their mouth," said publicist and professional consultant Francie Murphy, Francie Murphy Associates, Del Mar, CA, who offered tips for successful interviews based on lessons she's learned from more than 20 years working with the news media as a journalist and consultant. "Nine times out of 10, I can figure out what questions a reporter will come up with," said Murphy. "Once in a while there is a zinger." The moral of the story: Be prepared.

Murphy showed several video clips illustrating the winners and the losers of interviews. An example of what to do: Katie Couric interviewed Colin Powell in 1993 after he stepped down from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Couric asked a tough question. and the quintessential communicator "answers the question, corrects the mistake, and segues into some powerful messages," she said.

Freelance writer and consultant David Wood, Deering, NH, stressed the necessity of marketing to maintain a steady flow of work-in the good times and the bad. Quoting Winston Marsh, Wood said, "It's more important to be a good marketer of what you do than a good doer of what you do."

"You've got to be different," he said. "You don't want to be that PR guy or that freelance writer. Create an identity." He said it makes him happy when people say to him, "you're that guy with the dogs and the funny newsletter." Wood produces a quarterly marketing newsletter in which he lists his two dogs as staff.

Wood encouraged attendees to pick their clients well, know their price, and work to keep themselves in front of people. Touting himself as the champion of "shameless self promotion," Wood ended by saying, "The discipline to do marketing is the key to the whole thing. Don't get so sidetracked doing the work that you don't do the marketing to get the work."

Karen Courtney, director of marketing for NBBJ, Seattle, WA, gave attendees an insider's view of how to obtain work. She encouraged attendees to do their homework and discover their prospective client's "pain." Use a classic sales approach when looking for work opportunities. "Don't skip a step," she said.

Courtney encouraged attendees to take advantage of all the resources around them. She began her career as an architect. While working at an educational institution, Courtney said she learned about engineering, surveying, business operations and art as well. "I went through too many recessions as an architect not to be in marketing," she said. Another resource for your career is professional societies. You can gain leadership experience in volunteer organizations and "you can be a big cheese at age 23," she said.

The last presenter of the panel, Ron Worth, executive vice president of the Society for Marketing Professional Services, Seattle, WA, emphasized how associations can offer a "wealth of opportunities and information." Worth said to create a marketing plan for what you want to get out of an organization. He encouraged members to get involved and take advantage of the contacts and information available. "List serves and newsgroups will keep you up on what's taking place," he said. Concluding, Worth said, "Put yourself in these positions to force yourself to do uncomfortable things and improve your odds of success."

Construction Writers Association is a nonprofit, non-partisan, international organization for professional journalists, writers, editors and publicists serving the information needs of the construction industry. CWA has over 200 members, meets at least twice a year, and publishes a quarterly newsletter.

For more information

Deborah J. Hodges
Executive Director
P.O. Box 14784
Chicago, Illinois 60614
Telephone 773 687-8726
Fax 773 687-8627
info@constructionwriters.org