This has been under wraps for a while but last year I went through the process of opening up a Thai business and making my freelance writing official!
Introducing Morgan Media: www.morganmedia.buzz
I work with a small team of people copywriting in English for both Thai and international clients, mainly in the travel, hospitality and lifestyle industries.
We help brands find their individual voice and write their messages for different audiences and mediums.
You know when you’re asked to write something about yourself or your work and your mind goes blank? It’s often hard to articulate what you want to get across in a way that’s both easy to understand and interesting…that’s why we do it for you. No more staring at a blank screen, rambling on to the point where your real message gets lost or wasting time trying to find the right words when you should be focusing on other tasks.
Personally, I have more than eight years of experience in all types of writing. In university, I majored in communications with an emphasis in PR as well as history…which basically means I graduated thanks to my writing skills. From practicing journalistic writing to preparing reports about colonialism in the Congo, I got by on my writing. After college, I worked as an account manager at a boutique PR firm in Seattle before running away to Thailand. During this time I learned more about how to create and target different messages to different audiences.
In Thailand, I started Paper Planes and freelance writing. I’ve since written for ALL types of companies and products ranging from 5-star hotels to church pulpits, and covered topics from how security agents should pat someone down in Australian airports to reviewing online artificial intelligence tools…you can’t make this stuff up!
After spending more time in Thailand and realizing there was a particular need for Thai companies to get writing help by a native English speaker, I looked into the process of setting up my own Thai company.
Here’s what we do…
About half the time I tell someone that I do copywriting they respond with a confused expression. Many people are unclear on what copywriting is but every business needs it.
Copywriting is writing copy (words) intended for communication and marketing purposes. This can include writing for website homepages, blog posts, internal communications, email newsletters, advertisements, social media posts, company profiles, product descriptions, text on marketing collateral…anything with words.
I’ve written press releases for international brands and edited the text for technical manuals, drafted funny posts for Facebook and written crisis updates to be sent out to a client’s partners.
On the Morgan Media site it says, “Just because you can type a text message doesn’t necessarily mean you can write the right messages for your business” – and it’s true! Obviously, most people can compose a decent email, but not everybody can simplify complex information and present it in a way for others to easily consume and comprehend.
This is where a copywriter comes in.
My writers and I are all native English speakers and intimately familiar with Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia, especially regarding tourism and hospitality. We can also help with Thai-English translations and editing.
Just because we’re based in Thailand doesn’t mean we only work with Thai clients! We currently work with brands in the US and Australia as well and, thanks to the nature of the work, can easily connect with companies anywhere in the world that need copywriting in English.
This is related to copywriting but slightly different. To produce effective brand copy, a business first needs to know what their brand voice is and how they want to come across to their different customers or audiences. This includes the type of language used – for example, is the tone conversational or more professional? – as well as establishing consistent formatting and practices, such as spelling and which perspective is used. Brand messaging can also involve creating mission statements and corporate values. For brand messaging, we work with businesses to pinpoint their unique voice then create clear guidelines for their team to follow. This can range from basic messaging frameworks to full-on style guides.
Between running Paper Planes since 2012, writing hundreds of blog posts for clients, and managing various company blogs over the years, I know the ins and outs of blogging both personally and professionally.
At its height, Paper Planes received close to 100,000 unique visitors every month. While it has not been my priority the past couple years and I post less frequently than in the early days, I’ve created a foundation that still attracts tens of thousands of readers every month. How? Looooots of time and effort spent writing, promoting and dealing with SEO.
Blogging takes a ton of time. Even the simplest, shortest posts will take a couple hours to perfect. More in-depth posts or posts in technical subjects easily take 4-5 hours.
While blogs are still an important marketing tool for many companies, they’re difficult to keep up with and, to be done well, require someone dedicated to maintaining them. Many companies don’t have the manpower in-house…so that’s where Morgan Media comes in.
From drafting blog posts to managing the entire process – including creating a content calendar to formatting the finished content in a company’s CMS – my team and I have years of experience managing blogs in a variety of fields while maintaining creativity, consistency and best practices.
While we meet in person whenever possible, we work remotely for all clients. Even with clients based in Chiang Mai and who I’ve worked with personally for years, most communication is done via email with no problem. When it comes to social media, however, I find it’s best to have someone close to the business maintaining social media accounts as they have consistent inside access to what’s going on with the company.
That said, we still help small businesses and individual passion projects focus their social media efforts or figure out why their current strategy isn’t working.
Normally, this means auditing their social media accounts, looking at the business’ goals, audience and what’s missing, to prepare a report with actionable tips tailored to the business.
Now you know the main reason why I haven’t been blogging recently – setting up a foreign business took up all my time! If you’re interested in learning more and need help with copywriting, check out the site at www.morganmedia.buzz. You can find details and starting rates for services here or contact me here.
Hey! I'm Alana and I've spent nearly the past decade living in Chiang Mai, Thailand, working as a writer and photographer. I started Paper Planes as a place to share local insight, special places, and how to travel well through a range of experiences — from hostels to high-end hotels, street meat to multi-course meals.
New places are always calling my name...
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Very helpful explanation of what you do. Your work sounds great & should be really helpful & useful to your clients.