28 Feb 10 Almost all Indians Willing to Pay Premium for Safe Food

In a global survey conducted by the Nielsen Company, it was found that 97% of Indian people consider safety of food as the most important factor when deciding where to buy food items or groceries. And 85% of them are willing to pay premium for food that is safe.

Other findings of the survey

9 out of every 10 Indian (86%) think they are responsible for the safety of food they eat.
6 out of 10 think it is on the food manufacturers to provide food that is safe.
8% people interviewed think its retailer who should be responsible for food that is safe to eat.
Government was found to be the most trusted entity in terms of safe food.
Most of the Indians believe that the food grown in the country is safer than food imported from outside.
73% people believe that some countries provide safer food than other countries.
42% (6 out of 10) said they actively buy local grown food to support local farmer or producers.
19% believe that locally grown food are good for their health and the health of their families.

In the absence of sample size and sample mix, this study should be taken with caution. I am not sure how deep in Indian villages did the surveyors went. In the absence of which trusting these numbers is quite hard.

Tags: Absence, Caution, Countries, Food Health, Food Items, Food Manufacturers, Global Survey, Groceries, Grown Food, Indian Villages, Indians, Nielsen Company, People, Producers, Safe Food, Surveyors

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10 Feb 10 Freelance writing – Have You Read Your Job Description?

If you thought by choosing freelance writing as a career you will just write, write, and do nothing else then let me prick the balloon. Your client wants many more things from you. Do not get scared, you will not be asked to do any fancy stuff like coding, scripting, PPC campaigns, and all.

Then what other works a client will demand?

Basically, you will be asked to do stuffs related to writing only. And in my career, primarily I have been asked to do following types of work (other than writing):

Many clients have asked me to do like keyword research, for writing purpose only. This actually is not all that bad. It helped me conceptualize the article or press release while researching.
At times, clients also asked me to submit articles to various social bookmarking sites. I helped my clients with 2-3 submissions, at max. I do not think I would have agreed to submit an article to 100 or so social bookmarking sites. It would have been waste of time for me, but for 3-4, I never said no.
Clients may also ask for content suggestions, and about other things he can do to meet his goal. This in fact is an opportunity in disguise to cross sell other services that you offer. If you are writing only articles for your client then you may suggest him to use press release to get some link juice, or may be forum posting and all.
I have also given some marketing and SEO suggestions to my clients. Depending upon your background (I have my background in marketing), you can either say yes or politely say no.

Word of caution

Do not say no to your clients’ request, at least not directly, if you can help him. And also do not ask for money for every suggestion that you offer—I know people who do so—because it looks cheap. For that work you may get paid, but it will reflect badly on your professionalism. You may lose the client.

If the work is going to take hours of your work then say this to client, and if it is going to take hardly 10-15 minutes then do not bother. It also depends upon your relationship with your client.

Tags: 15 Minutes, Background, Balloon, Campaigns, Caution, Content Suggestions, Disguise, Freelance Job, Job Description, Marketing, Press Release, Professionalism, SEO, Social Bookmarking Sites, Submissions, Suggestion, Waste Of Time, Writing As A Career, Writing Career, Writing Job

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02 Dec 09 Writing and Power of Metaphor

Metaphor is a powerful tool used by wise orator, astute politicians, seasoned writer, professional bloggers, etc., to persuade audience to a certain way of thinking. If you want to be successful in persuasive copy and/or content writing then you have to master the art of using proper metaphor.

Metaphor as described by Merriam Webster dictionary is:

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them.

Read the following two sentences and tell me which one sounds more compelling to you:

“He was silent, very silent, and completely motionless.”

“He was as silent and stationary as the dead.”

Of course, the latter one. The former sentence didn’t have the punch required to make us realize how much the person was silent and how much immobile he was, but once we supply the metaphor of dead, everything becomes clear, as we know how silent and motionless a dead person can be.

Metaphor helps us inject emotion in the written words. It helps us make the passage of texts relatable for the reader. The metaphor makes the read feel what has been written. A proper use of metaphor transforms the text making it meaningful for the readers.

Caution

Metaphor is a cultural thing. A wrongly used metaphor will push the audience far, far away. Hence, you should be careful in using it in your writing, and understand the cultural background of the users before infusing a metaphor in your writing.

A metaphor that works well in India may or may not produce the same result in Brazil. Culture plays an important role in it. If you are in doubt, use neutral metaphor. Like the one I have used in above example. No matter where you go, what cultural background you have the dead will be silent and stationary. Similarly, sky in the moonless night will be dark, stuff out of refrigerator will be cold, mid summer’s afternoon will be unbearably hot, etc.

Do not walk the cultural line while using metaphor if you are not sure.

Tags: Analogy, Audience, Brazil Culture, Caution, Dead Person, Doubt, Emotion, Figure Of Speech, Likeness, Merriam Webster, Metaphor, Mid Summer, Moonless Night, Orator, Persuasive Copy, Politicians, Punch, Refrigerator, Sentences, Webster Dictionary

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28 Feb 10 Almost all Indians Willing to Pay Premium for Safe Food

Other findings of the survey

02 Dec 09 Writing and Power of Metaphor

Caution

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