Readers!
This week I’m sharing a few insights from Endeavor Business 2025 Media B2B Marketing Benchmark report. Endeavor is a B2B media company that produces a range of niche publications — things like Road & Bridges, Healthcare Innovation and LEDs Magazine. And while this wasn’t a huge survey — it’s based on the responses of 221 people — I thought it was worth writing about because it gives some insights into what these kinds of companies that hire writers are looking at this year.
- Budgets are up. Endeavor found that 60% of marketers anticipated an overall increased budget for 2025, with a focus on branding awareness and lead generation, with significant increases planned for video and content development. It’s important to note that the survey was done in from April to November 2024, so it obviously doesn’t take into account recent market chaos. But still, it’s nice to see here.
- Companies are outsourcing a lot of their creative work. The report found that 27% of companies plan to outsource copywriting; 26% will outsource design; and 26% search engine marketing; and 25% digital content production. That’s a ton of potential work for folks like us.
- Opportunities in content writing are varied. Marketers plan to use the following types of content marketing: 57% lead generation via short form content; 52% video; 51% product content; 49% press releases; 45% technical content; 45% website articles; 43% webinars and 42% blogs. This is why I advocate sending broad letters of introductin (LOIs) to people. You have no idea what they’re going to want, but your goal is to show them they can write, no matter what their needs are. From there you can decide if the work is a match (I don’t do video scripts, for example, but many people do!)
I share this because, well, it was an easy thing to write about before I leave for vacation. But also: I want to reinforce that there’s a lot of writing out these for freelancers. It may not be what you traditionally think about as potential places for assignment, but work is work. If writing is the way you pay the bills, this kind of stuff can be a big part of how you do so.
Recent Bylines
“Calling Out Church not Bigotry,” The Retrospect (yes I’m writing letters to the editor again!!!!)
What I’m Reading
- Siracusa by Delia Ephron. What is it with novels set in Sicily that end up being a bust? This one is about two couples in dissolving marriages who go on vacation together to Italy, including to Siracusa, a island of Sicily (Syracuse is the Americanized version of Siracusa). Added complication: the husband from one couple and the wife from the other used to be lovers, and everyone knows they’re still hot for each other. It does not get better from there. I didn’t understand why I should care about any of these people, and the ended of the book is just a tailspin. And that’s not even getting into how unrealistic the life of one of these characters as a freelance writer is. Onto the next!
- Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea, read by Barbara Flynn and the authors. This book is largely drawn from four years of conversations between Dench and O’Hea, both Shakespearian actors, and it’s lovely. Dench, who is now mostly blind, can recite lines from all over the canon with ease. When speaking her about her relationships with the plays, talks both about why Shakespeare continues to be so relevant, and also tells a lot about her own life on stage and off. For the audiobook, Flynn reads Dench’s parts (aside from Dench reading some lines at the beginnings of a each chapters, and a 45 minute conversation at the end). I can see why Dench didn’t want to read it, beyond her sight issues. She’s all about champagne and trees now, and I can’t blame her. Aside from Flynn’s laughs as Dench sometimes seeming a bit off, this was just a delight to listen to, and I wish it could have gone on longer. If you haven’t seen Tea with the Dames, I highly recommend it: Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins, Maggie Smith and Joan Plowright. Smith and Plowright have died recently, so what a treat — and historical document — it all is.
What I’m Watching
- Queen of the Deuce. This is the story of Chelly Wilson, a Greek WW II refugee who lands in New York City and builds empire by owning and operating a series of Times Square porn movie theaters. What a dame! She’s no longer with us, but the producers told her story through interviews with her friends and family, and recreated some scenes of her life with animation. I recommend this one, which I watched for free through Kanopy, courtesy of the library. Hooray libraries!
- Wallander. I picked this BBC show to watch while doing my taxes, and it was only half way through the first episode of season one (in traditional British fashion, each episode is 1.5 hours long, and there’s only three episodes per season) that I had seen this before. Oh well. Kenneth Branagh stars as the titular Kurt Wallander, a tired detective who is called on to solve a series of complex and gruesome crimes. It’s an adaption of the Swedish Kurt Wallender novels, though instead of moving the adaptation to England, we’re supposed to believe all these posh British actors are actually Swedes. Sure, whatever. Bonus: pre-Loki Tom Hiddleston. He sure can grow a mop of curly hair if he lets himself. Branagh can be a bit too much about himself (as he was in the West End production of King Lear I saw in 2023), or he can be very very good, as he is here. Phew. I watched this one for free through Hoopla courtesy of my library. Hooray libraries again! One note: the third episode has some very outdated views/language about members of LGBTQ+ community. The series aired in 2008, so that’s not entirely surprising, but a heads up.
- Severance (season 2) Well! We waited a very long time for this season, and while it was a bit uneven, they stuck the landing with a humdinger of a season finale. I didn’t think it was possible to top the last cliff hanger, but phew I was yelling at my TV during this one. I won’t say more because as someone who rarely watches a streaming show as soon as an episode drops, I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. But wow that was good.
- Scam Factory. This is a podcast, but I wanted to include it here because it’s that important. It’s about how people are human trafficked into becoming spammers. You know those annoying texts from fake recruiters or about bogus toll fees? Yeah, a lot of those people don’t want to be sending them. This podcast unwinds how it works (and unfortunately is still working).
Nail Polish of the Week
I Cancer-tainly Shine by OPI. A have a lot of glittery nail polishes that work better as top coats, but this silvery/rainbow one works on its own. Highly recommend it!
Until next time!
Jen A. Miller (she/her)
Notes from a Hired Pen ebook series
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