Nigel Charig As electronics boards continue to shrink and become ever more densely populated, x-ray inspection becomes increasingly critical to electronics manufacturing success - but how can you explain this convincingly to the manufacturers? This article allowed X-ray inspection supplier Cupio to highlight the technology's capabilities by providing a case study about one of their customer installations. Do your customer installations have built-in opportunities for case studies that demonstrate your product's advantages? If so, feel free to contact me and discuss how we can generate the story and deliver it through your media. An article I wrote for Cupio – which supplies inspection equipment and solutions – describes an X-ray solution they supplied to contract electronics manufacturer FermionX. This supplies some insight into modern X-ray inspection capabilities within a production environment. For example, manufacturers wishing to supply defence and military customers must have their own X-ray inspection capability, as such customers will only buy from suppliers with in-house inspection facilities. They cannot risk deploying products that have not been fully inspected. Meanwhile, as components continue to shrink, manufacturing problems will become impossible to spot with the naked eye, so even companies working in less unforgiving environments are increasingly seeking the peace of mind that X-ray inspection provides. You can read the full story here: How X-ray inspection allows FermionX to expand into new markets ( cupio.co.uk )

Nigel Charig This DC-DC converter article is an effective attention-grabber for my customer Vicor because it is highly topical while delivering interesting technical information. It describes a way to improve EV vehicle performance - a topic of interest, if not concern, to many readers. Additionally, it's about motor racing, which is exciting to many readers. Perhaps your technologies or products have aspects which could be converted into similarly engaging articles for your customers? Don't hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss your ideas! I have worked on many articles for Vicor about the innovative ways in which their customers are using their modular power solutions. One interesting case study looked at how these solutions boosted a racing electric vehicle's (EV's) performance. EVs typically have one battery delivering 400V+ for traction, and another at a lower 12/24/48V voltage for on board electronics – and racing EVs are no exception. While essential, these batteries’ bulk and weight can negatively impact the racing EV’s performance. However, Dynamis PRC, the Formula Student team of Politecnico di Milano, found an innovative way of mitigating this problem. When changing from a combustion engine to electric power, they implemented a weight reduction exercise. As part of this they significantly reduced the load on the 12V LiFePO4 battery – and therefore its size and weight - by using two Vicor DC-DC converters to extract 12V at 50A from the traction battery. The converters they chose were Vicor DCM4623 modules, which have proven reliability, can operate in arrays, and can accept an input voltage that varies from 550V down to 330V as the battery discharges during a race. The full article is on the Charig Associates website, under Articles tab. For further information, go to the Vicor web site and search 'Dynamis'.

Nigel Charig I particularly welcomed the opportunity to write this semiconductor manufacturing article, because the briefing allowed me to highlight how my customer CIL's technology benefits not only their immediate customers, but the UK electronics industry in general - a powerful message indeed! Maybe your technologies or products are hiding a similar opportunity? Let's discuss how we can convert this into a similarly valuable opportunity for your enterprise! As geopolitical tensions proliferate, relying on Far Eastern semiconductor component imports becomes riskier than ever. However, UK-based electronics manufacturer Custom Interconnect Limited (CIL) has come up with an advanced technology solution. With over 36 years of electronics assembly experience, the company has just opened an entirely new highly automated factory, housing the larges t semiconductor packaging facility in the UK. With reduced staffing costs, the facility can offer manufactured semiconductor solutions that compete effectively against imported products – reducing risk and cost to both CIL and its customers. As a technical copywriter, I was asked to write an article about how CIL did it – you can read the full article here . CIL's UK manufacturing facility

Nigel Charig Top quality golf balls Marketing content timing is important, because while customers will always value a product that can fix their problem, their valuation will increase sharply when the problem becomes a priority. Accordingly, this post shows how to ensure you give your customers the right information at the right time. I play golf regularly. I’m not particularly good at it, but I like it a lot. I have a selection of golf balls in my bag, ranging from relatively new good-quality ones to a few scuffed-up old practice balls. Logically, the newer ones are worth more than their well-worn ‘colleagues’. Until I get to the third hole, that is; it has a large pond between the tee and the green and I’m highly likely to hit the ball straight into it (I probably wouldn’t miss hit if the pond wasn’t there, but it IS there….). Accordingly, I search through my bag hopefully looking for one of the old balls rather than risking a new one. At that moment, the old ball has become the most valuable, simply because it’s the least valuable! I’m not quite sure of what conclusion to draw from this apparent conundrum, except perhaps for this: No matter how much time, effort, and materials went into generating a product or service, its true value to the customer depends entirely on how well it solves the problem confronting them at that particular time. This has a couple of major implications for modern, successful sales negotiations. It’s about the leads: Back in the early to mid-1900s, when salespeople were becoming part of the business landscape, they only had landline phones and cars as sales tools. Leads were hard to come by, and a sales visit could involve a morning’s round trip to a remote farmhouse.  Faced with such a scarcity of prospects, it’s hardly surprising that some salespeople resorted to coercive tactics, trying to force the prospects in front of them into buying products irrespective of whether they were the right fit. It gave the profession a bad name. Today of course, there’s no need for such behaviour – and it wouldn’t work now anyway. You can use social media and a host of online tools to help identify prospects that could reasonably be expected to have an interest in your products. And if you engage with enough of them, some of them will fulfil that expectation! Then, you won’t need to sell to them, they will buy from you. It’s about timing, too: Remember, my interest in the scruffy golf ball only arises when I’m faced with a pond in front of the green. Similarly, a prospect, even if they like your product, will only be interested sometimes – when their piece of capital equipment needs replacing, or their incumbent consumables supplier lets them down. So it becomes essential to keep up a consistent (and persistent) marketing campaign, not only to build awareness and credibility, but also to increase the chances of catching a prospect at the moment they have a need.   Content marketing As a content writer and copywriter, I do not become directly involved with sales campaigns, but I can contribute to their success. I provide material for content marketing campaigns which are effective in generating leads, raising brand awareness, and engaging and retaining customers, among other things. As the Content Marketing Institute [i]  puts it, ‘Traditional advertising shouts at customers, while content marketing talks with them. Essentially, it’s about the creation and participation in meaningful conversations and development of relationships. Content marketing can benefit your company by increasing sales leads and positioning your company/brand as a thought leader, in addition to increasing the number of visitors to your website.’ Contact me on nigel@charig-associates.co.uk  or +44 (0)20 8933 0917 to discuss how I can make content marketing work for you. [i]   How to Explain the Value of Content Marketing | Content Marketing Institute

Nigel Charig Technical publication examples Do you sometimes wish to secure content publication into trade magazines, without committing to an external PR agency? This post gives ideas on how to do so. Back in the day, the only way to achieve widespread coverage for your brand was through published media in the form of printed magazines. While the rise of emails, the Internet and social media has created new alternatives, published media – now online as well as printed – still remains as an attractive part of a marketer’s toolkit. Attractive, that is, so long as the cost of exposure doesn’t outweigh the benefits gained. And costs can be significant, since marketing in published media, as anywhere else, is a long game to build brand recognition rather than about placing a single advert in the hope of achieving instant business. One way of improving your marketing budget’s ROI is to secure placement of editorial content as well as paying for advertising. Such content is not only free to place, but also has improved credibility for engineers simply by not being an advert. But how do you go about this if you don’t have the services of a PR agency at your disposal? Below are some steps you can take to make the most of your circumstances, and maximise your success in placing your articles into published media. 1. Don’t rely on broadcasting press releases At one time, I could achieve a satisfactory success rate simply by broadcasting a client’s press release to a selected subset of my magazine editor database. This approach is no longer so effective, though. While I may get a couple of hits, the pickup rate is seldom sufficient to justify the cost of drafting and obtaining internal approval for the release, organising a supporting image, broadcasting, and maintaining the database, which decays quite quickly. You can improve your success rate by using a PR agency or freelancer that has the contacts and the expertise to secure placement, but this adds to the cost of marketing. 2. Consider more in-depth, technical articles A better and more effective alternative is to consider a longer, more in-depth technical article that offers information of genuine value to a magazine’s readers. Although they take more time and effort to produce, the results can be rewarding. While editors are inundated daily with press releases, they are far more interested in hearing about quality, detailed articles, especially when an article is relevant to any theme that currently interests them. 3. When it comes to promotion, less is more If you’re expending time and resources on generating an article, it’s because you want to raise brand awareness and/or increase sales lead traffic. Accordingly, it may be tempting to promote your products heavily within the article; however, it will be counterproductive to do so. Firstly, the editor will probably refuse to publish it – in fact, many magazines refer to this in their editorial guidelines. After all, they’re seeking to deliver material that will be perceived as reasonably balanced, credible, and helpful, rather than as marketing copy. And readers want to be informed, rather than sold to. It follows that an article that simply presents the pros and cons of the technology that you’re involved with will work harder for you than a more promotional piece. Readers will view it as credible, and if they find it useful it will contribute to your reputation as a ‘go to’ supplier within your sector. In any case, you’ll be getting exposure. The byline at the top of the article will show the author’s name, together with his position as CTO (for example) of your company. You can also have supporting images, which could show your equipment with brand name visible. And finally, having said that overt product promotion is off limits, a single discreet mention – perhaps to illustrate a point within your technical argument – will usually be OK. As long as the editor allows it. And, even more finally, you can always repurpose the article into a more promotional version to use on your own website. This will allow you to pitch to visitors who are already interested in your products. 4. Identify your target editor – and plan your pitch accordingly A strategy to maximise your chances of success comprises several steps. The first, not surprisingly, involves deciding what to write about. Which aspect of your company’s technology or experience do you want to offer to an engineering or decision-making readership? At this stage, it’s best to work up a synopsis, but no more; something to pitch to magazine editors. Which magazine is most likely to respond to your pitch? The (over) simple answer is: The one that finds it most relevant to their editorial schedule. Accordingly, the next step is to review all the magazines that cover your market area, and, in particular, download and check their editorial schedules. Hopefully you’ll see at least one upcoming opportunity that will match your synopsis well enough – or could do, if you’re able to adjust your synopsis a little. You can then pitch your synopsis to the relevant editor; an email followed by a phone call. During the call, ask if there’s any aspect of the story not mentioned in your synopsis that they’d like to see addressed. If there is, and you can accommodate them, your chances of placement are greatly improved. This approach can work without any need for advertising, if the editor perceives the story as strong enough, and sufficiently relevant to his current editorial topics. However, expecting to place a number of stories in the same magazine without advertising may be somewhat optimistic. (Again, it does depend on the material you have and the interests of the magazine.) 5. Understand your target magazine’s attitude to editorial So, what attitudes to magazines have to advertising and editorial? There’s no fixed approach, it depends on the magazine – but in my experience, their response aligns with one of three scenarios: a) Editorial is independent of advertising:  With some magazines, the editorial and advertising staff will insist that editorial is not influenced by advertising spend. So you’d better have a good story. b) Editorial is ‘paid for’:  Some magazines state explicitly that they charge for editorial – and when they do, it’s usually expensive. It seems to apply particularly to publishers of long, in-depth technical articles. I’m not referring to advertorials, which are really a type of advert, and can be an attractive option. c) A balanced relationship:  Probably the most common scenario. There’s no stated policy, but it becomes clear that if you want ongoing editorial placement, you need to reciprocate with some advertising. 6. Leverage your advertising spend I have found that I can successfully place content by working directly with editors, using the approach described above. However, if you’re buying advertising in the magazine, it’s worth endeavouring to extract the maximum benefit accordingly. Enlist your advertising account manager’s help in proposing your article to their editor. They may or may not be willing or able to help you, depending on the publication. At this point, I offer two observations about choice: a) The editor’s freedom : Unless your content is advertorial or otherwise paid-for, it’s up to the editor to decide whether or not to publish it. They will also make any edits at their own discretion. You can’t control these decisions, even if you’re buying advertising. b) Your freedom : However, while the editor decides whether to publish, you decide where to spend. If a magazine consistently fails to publish your content, you’ll naturally ask what the problem is. If it relates to a parameter like style, that’s easily fixed. However if you’re told that the content isn’t relevant to the readership, then you have to question the relevance of your advertising. Maybe it’s time to find another publication whose outlook is more compatible with your, own, leading to a more mutually productive relationship. Conclusion This article is based on my own experience gained while acting for my clients. Yet I spend most of my time writing; editorial placement is a service I offer to my clients as an extension to my writing effort for them. My perspective may be different if I was working from a full-service PR agency or large marketing department. However, I believe this perspective will be shared by many SMEs that don’t have a large marketing department or retained PR agency. I hope you find it useful if you are in such a position. If you'd like to learn more about my experience with content placement, and how you could use it, please contact me on nigel@charig-associates.co.uk or call +44(0) 7968 720316.

Nigel Charig A well-crafted comb Do you ever ask yourself exactly how technical content can both give your product credibility and make it stand out from the competition? Below is a very simple example of how it can be done. If you’re involved in marketing, then no doubt you consider content as one of your actual or potential marketing tools. But do you ever wonder how effective it really is? I don’t mean in terms of metrics, important as they are; I’m thinking more about the impact a piece of content has on an individual reader. It’s certainly something I’ve considered, because, as a content writer, I spend most of my professional life generating content rather than being at its receiving end. I’m not involved in buying major capital items or key components for a new design. However, like everyone else, I do buy and consider items for office and personal use. One such item, which unexpectedly generated some content marketing interest, was a comb. For some reason that I can’t explain, I decided that my ideal birthday gift would be a really good-quality comb - and my wife duly ordered one for me. It’s in the picture above. In answer to the two questions I know you have: 1. A comb really was the peak of my birthday aspiration. Maybe it was to seize the opportunity while I still have some hair to use it on. 2. My wife and I do sometimes buy one another more extravagant presents. But see 1 above. Meanwhile, the comb arrived, and it certainly had a pleasantly chunky quality look and feel. The interesting part, though, was the accompanying text. Obviously, I’d expect something of the sort with any product, but its explanation of the comb’s ‘technology’ – how it was manufactured – was genuinely informative, not just meaningless PR. It described how the comb was handmade with sawcut teeth, unlike the sharp teeth associated with the usual, cheaper moulded types. Less painful to the scalp, less hair damage and fewer split ends. This resonated simply because it was true. Using the comb was a gentler, less scratchy experience than usual. There was plenty more in that vein, which I won’t describe as I’m not actually marketing combs. My point, however, is that the content did change my view of these simple, everyday objects. It turns out that not all combs are the same! And, from a marketing perspective, it would influence me to buy the same again, and maybe various other products too, from the same manufacturer. But would the content have been as effective if it hadn’t been corroborated by my experience in using the comb? I believe it would, as it created interest with the idea that a product differentiation exists, and then provided conviction by explaining how that differentiation is created. Accordingly, it seems reasonable to extrapolate. This little experience has given a first-hand perspective of how content can change mindset by capturing attention, providing information of genuine interest, and backing it with convincing evidence. The underlying principles should be just as true whether you’re buying a comb or specifying a new generator for a power station. If you would like to discuss how I could write content to set your products apart from the competition, please contact me on nigel@charig-associates.co.uk or +44(0) 7968 720316 #copywriters #copywriting #contentmarketing #contentmarketingtips #writers

Content marketing (CM) is a well-accepted method of generating sales: According to HubSpot, 82% of marketers worldwide actively use it, while over 60% measure their CM strategy’s success through sales [i] . Technology enterprises in particular can benefit from content marketing, as they have many opportunities to grow thought leadership, brand image, recognition and credibility by generating informative content about the multiple complex issues relating to high technology products. But if you decide to initiate a CM strategy, someone has to write the content! It could be you or one of your colleagues, or it could be an external agency or freelance copywriter. As a freelance copywriter myself, I naturally think the last choice is a great one; but let’s look at why, so that you can judge for yourself. Points to consider The first point is about productivity and efficiency. Depending on your experience and inclination, you could no doubt develop your own content. However, it can become very time consuming, using time that could be better – and more profitably – spent on your core business activities. An experienced copywriter could produce a better result more quickly, because they would have had plenty of practice in collating information from different sources, organising, filtering, and prioritising it – and then writing it up as grammatically-correct, well-structured, SEO friendly content. The result is a compelling and logical argument which delivers the required messages effectively and accurately. There is also the question of understanding the topic. If you don’t have copywriters in your business, you could ask one of your technical colleagues to help. That’s assuming they are willing to be diverted from what they would regard as their real role for any significant time. However, their deep understanding of the complexities of your product technology can be a hindrance more than a help. Being so close to the product can make it hard to understand how prospective buyers will view it, or what they will need to know to appreciate its key features. And most engineers aren’t experienced in promotional copywriting. Alternatively, you could use someone from Marketing or Sales – but they are often concerned that they have insufficient technical background to inform their writing. The advantages of a good technical copywriter By contrast, a good technical copywriter has both the technical background and the copywriting experience needed to produce content that provides true insights into your technology, your products, and their role in the marketplace. And if the copywriter has experience in your industry, they can use that experience to come up with suggestions for article topics. A copywriter is also useful merely through being an external third party who needs to ask questions to inform their writing. Hearing and responding to these questions gives you an outsider’s perspective on your product, and what your external audience would like to know as they weigh up the benefits of your company and your product offering. [i]   2022 Marketing Statistics, Trends & Data — The Ultimate List of Digital Marketing Stats ( hubspot.com )

As a technical copywriter, my customers often ask me to write case studies describing technology solutions they have provided to their end users, and the resulting benefits. While the technology must always be right, end users typically also regard the level of service and support given with the delivered solution as critical to their final decision. This was clearly demonstrated when inspection and test specialist Cupio (now part of the IPP Group) supplied a Nordson Quadra 3 X-Ray inspection system to The Electronics Group to support their student training and technical inspection business growth. “Even the best technology is never going to be entirely free of issues,” Dan Bloyce, General Manager at The Electronics Group, commented, “What matters is how the supplier supports us in resolving any problem that does arise.” Cupio’s support certainly paid off. Their installation, commissioning and training has allowed The Electronics Group to considerably improve throughput and inspection quality, leading to new business opportunities and increased productivity. See the full story here: Quadra 3 X-Ray inspection system ( cupio.co.uk ) Nordson Dage Quadra X-Ray inspection machine

When ChatGPT appeared in November 2022, I naturally wondered if it would automate my role as a technical copywriter and make me redundant – and maybe it has in some quarters.    My own experience, though, has been much more positive. I’ve found it to be a powerful tool that has given me inspiration, helped me unearth content that I couldn’t previously find, and bring focus to large, unwieldy and complex sets of information. I have found that this article , titled “Teaching writers when and how to use generative AI to create helpful content” gives a great description of how Generative AI relates to copywriters – especially the sections on ‘When should writers use generative AI?’ and ‘How should writers use generative AI?’

As a technical copywriter, I’m often asked to write articles about the IoT – it’s a constantly-evolving, vast topic with many associated technologies. One good example was a request from AssetBook IoT UK to write content describing their concept of a unified IoT environment and its benefits. They recognise that modern buildings typically have multiple IoT-type implementations, each with sensors to indicate their respective system’s current status. However, these setups often have untapped potential, simply through being siloed. For example, a security system may detect an open window, yet be unable to alert an HVAC installation to close it and save energy. AssetBook’s solution unlocks the IoT’s full potential; their unified platform not only integrates all existing systems, but also enables deployments of newer, lower cost IoT devices, and benefits from the wealth of extra information they can provide. You can read the full article here . #copywriting

I recently wrote a case study about Custom Interconnect Ltd (CIL), titled ‘Bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the UK’. The study describes how the electronics manufacturer has made a major investment into the plant, equipment, and staff needed to manufacture semiconductor components and assemblies, and has become self-sufficient by doing so. I believe that CIL’s initiative is valuable not only to themselves, but also to UK industry in general; it signposts the way forward against a backdrop of rising international tensions, events, and threats to long-distance supply chain integrity. This message has been reinforced by Electronics Sourcing, which has just published the article in their UK April 2024 edition. See the article here: Issue 213, Vol. 20, No.04 ( flickread.com )

If you’re thinking of hiring a technical copywriter or content writer to generate content, you no doubt want to know how much the exercise will cost you. You have a budget, and you need to keep to it! As a start, we can say that most copywriters have an hourly rate, so the cost will be rate x no. of hours spent on the project. But for this to translate into a useful answer, we must know how many hours will be needed. It would be great for writer and client alike if we could say that 100 words takes (for example) 1 hour, so articles of various lengths could be priced as multiples of 100 words. However, it’s not as simple as that. Firstly, there isn’t a linear relationship between length in words and time taken. More importantly, though, the time taken to write an article depends on many factors in addition to its length. These include: How complex the topic is, how deeply technical, and how sensitive : Drafting a press release is faster than extracting information from one or more academic white papers to write an in depth technical article for engineers. However, the press release may be communicating a sensitive topic such as a company takeover or appointment of a new CEO, so many iterations and much time may be needed until the message is just right. How good, and thorough, the briefing is : Managing briefing meetings to best give a copywriter the information they need is a major subject in its own right, and I address it in another blog post. In summary, though, they should put the writer together with the client project’s key technical, marketing and commercial stakeholders in an on site or online meeting. This allows the client to explain what they’re looking for, and the writer to ask the questions that they need to. Transcription tools : Online meeting apps such as Teams have increasingly sophisticated transcription tools which provide a printout of what was said at the meeting. Some of it will be gibberish, but quality is improving all the time. In any case, they save considerable time compared with transcribing manually from a recording, which can easily take a couple of hours or more for a one-hour meeting. Availability of necessary source content (either as supplied by the client or as a result of online research):  If source materials are supplied by the customer, then research time and effort is limited to reviewing and understanding the material, and extracting the information necessary for the new content. However, if Internet research for some of the content is needed, then the writer also needs time to find suitable sources in the first place. And this is a highly variable factor. Sometimes you can find the information you need quite quickly, but some topics are not so amenable to research. Suddenly a couple of hours have passed, and you still haven’t nailed the topic. How many iterations will be needed after the initial draft, and how extensive they are . This is something that can significantly impact the time expended on a project, yet it doesn’t follow any discernible logic. In my experience, the number of edits and iterations I’m asked to make depend very much on the client. In my proposals,   I usually allow for up to three iterations. In my experience, this should be enough, provided the initial requirement hasn’t changed. Tight delivery deadlines that call for weekend and/or evening work, or task reprioritising, can increase hourly rates. Hopefully, you find these insights into the writer’s perspective useful, because you can discuss the issues with the writer and better quantify their likely impact on times and costs.