One Woman Marketing’s Featured Women in Business offers a firsthand look at the marketing experiences of women entrepreneurs and small business owners around the globe. This week features freelance SEO copywriter Lisa Banks.

One Woman Marketing: Describe how you entered your current position.

Lisa Banks: Right now I’m a freelance copywriter and still consulting with my previous employer, SEO Advantage. I’ve been freelancing as a copywriter since 2003, even as I worked with different agencies over the years.

I was first intrigued by freelancing when a graphic designer at the same ad agency I worked at told me she had been freelancing for some time. She told me it was easy to start.

I decided to quit and work for myself, as I felt I had reached my limit for growth at the agency and I didn’t want to be tied down geographically.

Amazingly, I got a big project to kick off my freelancing career when another designer left that agency and joined a company that needed to outsource copywriting for its website. I promptly planned a lengthy trip back home to Nova Scotia to spend time with family while working with my new found freedom. I also had grand plans to return to Japan and visit Europe more, but somehow I’ve remained in Florida for the most part.

Now returning to freelance full-time after working as marketing director with SEO Advantage, I’m attracted once again by the flexibility of working for myself. I have a toddler to tend to and I am enjoying the focus I can place on him while keeping myself alive professionally at the same time.

OWM: How did you get started with marketing? Was it challenging, or did it come naturally?

LB: I studied marketing in university and worked with campus teams running marketing programs for CPG companies like Pepsi and Neilson Cadbury. I loved it. I enjoyed the psychology and logic of finding out how to appeal to customers.

Copywriting is a very specific aspect of the marketing equation, and I fell perfectly into it. I had actually applied for a translation job at NTT (a huge telecom company) when I lived in Tokyo, but they hired me as a copywriter. Then when I moved to Florida, I worked full-time with an ad agency until going freelance. I can’t imagine working in another field now, to be honest.

OWM: What preconceptions about sales and marketing, if any, did you have when you started?

LB: I’ve always been of the opinion to keep your marketing real, no matter how big (or small) a company you are. So, at times, I’ve become disenchanted with the attitudes of clients that want to use marketing messages in a manipulative manner or to create a false impression.

It also upsets me when people confuse marketing with sales. Though my copy supports the sales process, I could never be a sales person myself. Get me on the phone or face to face, and I’m useless for sales. I think via my keyboard.

OWM: How important of a role does marketing play in your day-to-day business?

LB: Right now, I’m spending a lot of time networking and marketing myself after jumping back into freelancing, so I’d say it’s pretty important. When I’m writing copy for clients, of course it’s paramount. Marketing is a necessity in the day-to-day business of a copywriter.

OWM: What marketing methods have worked best for you? Which have been the most challenging?

LB: My website has proven to be my most useful marketing tool. When I first started working with SEO Advantage, I tinkered with optimizing it myself a bit, but it had already been ranking very well. Back in 2003 when I first put it up, there didn’t seem to be many other copywriter websites around, and I think its history has been helpful with Google.

But relying entirely on leads from SEO can be a bit dangerous. I had been receiving so many leads so easily that I could pick and choose the projects that appealed to me. I started a referral network, so I could pass along the ones I couldn’t take on to other copywriters. But now the site is in serious need of an update, and I think it’s also starting to languish in searches. I’m hoping to be able to announce the new version of lisabanks.com early in 2011.

On the other end of the spectrum, when I first started freelancing, I tried to cull a list of companies I thought might need a freelance copywriter and I sent out a postcard. It didn’t produce any business, and it took way too much time to put together the list myself. I also should have followed up with a phone call, but that approach just didn’t suit me. (See above note about me and the phone.)

OWM: How has your self-image changed since you started marketing?

LB: It’s humbling to actually put in practice things you know theoretically. Holding an MBA and studying marketing for years, you learn tons of things. Then, to actually run marketing campaigns and face uncertainty with evaluating performance, etc.… you learn that it’s not as easy and clear cut as it might seem from the sidelines.

I think I’ve found my niche, working with the words and concepts as part of a marketing team for clients. My background gives me added strength, and I am able to focus on the parts that I love most now.

OWM: What marketing advice would you give to other women in business?

LB: Hmmm… perhaps to be bolder with telling people what you do. Women often have extensive networks, but sadly many of those contacts don’t have a clear idea of someone’s professional side. I want my friends to say, “Hey, I know someone who can help you”, when they hear of another person starting a website but struggling with the copy.