Pretty much. One further issue, too many young Taiwanese coming back from overseas thinking they have insight to contribute but really knowing fuck all about anything.
Right? Loads of this shit. I prefer working with Chinese companies because at least they are aware of their deficiencies
People are not broad or empathetic enough here. That’s the crux of the matter
I just had a LinkedIn post come back to me that’s been going up and down chains of command in my company for days.
Some Vice President in Slough decided to improve the English in it.
The guy is from Mexico. His English is rubbish.
It never stops.
And PRC companies pay a proper rate and on-time too. Taiwanese firms will always try and nickel-and-dime you.
I would add that marketing in TW companies is often work-driven and not result-driven.
The avergae marketer has a list of tasks to complete :“write a weekly blog post” “do 3 social media posts a day” “update the website” . The KPI is therefore often “have x number of posts” and not “x number of paying customers” or “x number of website visits”.
When marketing focuses on getting results, there will be a real change in professionalism, what doesnt work will quickly fly out the window.
I just came across this article as I now work as a cpywriter and I happened to come across this article.
Yes pay on time, pay properly and don’t spend ages negotiating for pennies
this reminds me of what someone online said about copywriting. If the copy does not convert, then it is ineffective.
I just came across this article as I now work as a copywriter and I happened to come across this article.
I notice that many Taiwanese managers have an “I understand things better than you since I’m more senior than you.” attitude.
You told us this twice
It’s cos he’s a copywriter
And sometimes it is also true. Seniority oftentimes brings with it experience and better understanding of the industry and what needs to be done.
it doesnt mean managers are allowed to be ass holes, but they do know what they are talking about.
My point is that they should not presume they automatically know more simply b/c they have more experience.
Case in point. There was a principal in his 60s who told me “I had to learn the culture b/c I’m in Taiwan” without accounting for the fact that I’m already speaking Mandarin, using chopsticks everyday. His advanced age in theory should’ve meant that he knew better, but he didn’t.
My manager does this as well. It just ends up ruining the grammar.
But that’s also the wrong way to measure the effectiveness of copy. I’m also a freelance copywriter and I would never guarantee that a client would get x amount of website visits from a new site I write. There’s too many other variables. How’s their SEO? Are they fucking up on the backend somehow? The same goes for a blog post. I can write a hell of a good blog, but is the company promoting it, are they getting backlinks?
There’s many ways to measure results, and I agree that they should be measured and tested and the tactics tinkered with, but I sure as shit wouldn’t put a finite number on it and then if it’s not reached, “well that didn’t work, let’s scrap it.”
Here’s an example. I recently rewrote a homepage for a client in the US. That’s what she wanted and it was all she could afford. So I was talking to her last night, asking how it’s been performing. She said there’s been an increase in views–obviously, because that’s what I do–but there hasn’t been an increase in conversions. That makes a lot of sense, because the homepage links to multiple sales pages, all of which are still shit. So until those are rewritten, the homepage will continue to pull people in, they’ll click the links that apply to them, and then the sales pages will leave them flat and they’ll leave without converting.
Immediately after reading this thread I opened up LinkedIn and this is one of the first posts I saw:
"CEO:
‘We need $5m pipeline.’
‘Let’s hire an intern & run $10k Facebook ads.’
3 months later…
‘Marketing is a waste of time.’"
Kinda says it all. If you don’t invest in marketing seriously, and understand how to measure it, then you’re not gonna get very far.
In Taiwan, it is generally the case that managers are promoted based on seniority and not necessarily merit.
Well copywriting is the whole package? I mean you wouldn’t just fix a portion of the website right?