Growth has been a major theme at MarketSmiths this past season. It’s the subject of our weekly staff powwows; the impetus for exciting new initiatives; the nudge for a shifting business model.
In a business, growth can butt heads with initial objectives. It pulls, prods, and reforms a younger vision into one that serves changing aspirations.
In her most recent podcast on Smashing the Plateau, Jean Tang speaks on her diverse career, and how it’s formed her interpretation of growth and alignment as the CEO and founder of MarketSmiths.
Copywriting for Humans: The Vision That Started it All
MarketSmiths was borne into a niche that carved itself. As SEO became the core driver of online content, copy began to lose both its meaning and inspirational value. Website copy spoke to machines and algorithms rather than the human at the other end of the screen. The result was spam, devoid of feeling.
A copywriter hell bent on authenticity, Jean singlehandedly waged a war against this dispiriting trend. “Copywriting for Humans” became the basis of her vision. With it in mind, she was able to hone a recipe for web-based, B2B copywriting that moves away from stiff jargon and towards an evocative, contextual approach. MarketSmiths had a solid vision to carry it through the future.
A Goal-Driven Career
In every piece of copy we write, MarketSmiths draws from Jean’s ‘eclectic’ background. A former Juilliard pianist, lawyer, and travel and food journalist, she’s had the distinct opportunity of excelling in widespread fields–broadening her ability to step inside the mind of the buyer.
Goal-oriented by nature, Jean set the bar high in each of these endeavors. But when success came in piano, law, and journalism, the post-mastery “plateau” phase left her uninspired—and in search of a new ways to grow, new horizons to conquer.
Adaptation, Realignment, and Exceeding “The Plateau”
For Jean, MarketSmiths is unlike any past venture. At its plateau, it pushes her to achieve more.
Today, MarketSmiths finds itself at a pivotal growth point. We’re actively shifting towards recurring business and a wider net of B2B content marketing services. We seek to entertain bigger, more established clients. It’s the growth we want, but it also creates opportunity for pushback—to be more buttoned-up, more corporate, less human.
Does this inevitably change our vision? In the type of client we seek and the relationships we maintain, it does.
But has it changed our reason for existing—our relentless quest to bring human back to copy?
Never.
