Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Kranz.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Jonathan. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Twenty-two years ago, I was at an office party with my wife, Eileen, and our newborn baby, Becca. My boss put his arm around me, grinned, and said that he loved it when one of his employees bought a home or had a baby because, “I’ll know they’ll be wage slaves forever.”
He meant it as a joke (sort of), but that comment exploded like a depth charge inside me. I realized he was right — if I didn’t grab destiny by the *ahem*, it would hold me by the throat. Forever.
Within a year, I was out on my own as an independent freelance copywriter. I had never worked for an agency before. I had never worked as an in-house marketer either. But that first year, I worked my butt off, networking like a madman, learning everything I could about my new trade. In my second year, I tripled my income.
Today, I have two books under my belt (Writing Copy for Dummies and Our Brothers at the Bottom of the Bottom of the Sea), two kids in college, and an office in an old funeral home. I’m riding the content marketing tiger, and also run in-house marketing writing workshops to train marketers in content creation.
Has it been a smooth road?
It’s been a long and dusty road, my friend. When I started, I concentrated in direct marketing — junk mail and such. But as response rates dropped from 3% to 1.5%, then 1%, then 0.75%, new writing appeared on the wall — time to redirect my professional path.
Fortunately, the same phenomenon that destroyed traditional direct marketing created a new kind of marketing based on “content”: quality communications audiences CHOOSE to consume. Today, content marketing has become my bread and butter.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Kranz Communications – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Kranz Communications serves mostly B2B companies in high tech, higher education, financial services, professional services, healthcare, and other miscellaneous sectors. Mostly, I concentrate on the hard, ugly stuff other people struggle with. Give me your most difficult challenges: undifferentiated products, complex services, “boring” business propositions. Give me your nightmares.
Lots of writers can push out a copy. I push my clients with lots of questions and suggestions. So far, they seem to appreciate my inquisitiveness.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Ayer is centered on a major rail junction, and like other post-industrial towns, is struggling to find its identity in a “new” economy. We have a surprising number of beautiful 19th-century buildings and great views of the Appalachian foothills to the west. Nature is our benevolent (most of the time) overlord.
Downside? There aren’t a single Italian specialty foods shop anywhere within a 10-mile radius. I miss Joe Pace’s in Saugus. His advice to me? Maybe I should hang some prosciutto in the attic and sell slices on the black market. Not such a bad idea…
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kranzcom.com
- Phone: (978) 391-4595
- Email: jonkranz@kranzcom.com
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathankranz/
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