Content With Teeth
My Client
Content With Teeth
This client is a creative content agency in the United States. Michael invited me to apply for his job on Upwork to design a Google Docs template for quotes and proposals. When I began the conversation with Michael he threw in another job to create a swipe file in Google Sheets. A swipe file is a collection of tested and proven advertising and sales letters. Keeping a swipe file is a common practice used by advertising copywriters and creative directors as a reference of ideas for projects.
I like to find out the exact requirements, the objectives, the end result of the project. Only then can I suggest which of Google's suite of products (or some other alternative) will work best. When Michael told me what a swipe file was (I had never heard of one at the time) I suggested that it could work better in a Google Sites website. However, the client explained that what they wanted was something that could be downloaded (by a visitor to their Wordpress blog) by clicking on a button, so that ended the Sites alternative.
This was an interesting use-case for a spreadsheet and shows the versatility of them. There wasn't a formula or function in sight! The way a spreadsheet can provide a solid structure or grid to keep things nicely in order is just one pro for a product that was originally an accountant's tool.
In the Google Sheets file I developed for this project, each subject (such as 'What's your favourite way to consume content') occupied a column. A graphical representation of the subject in the highest row was followed by a link to 'Read More' and then more information and graphics below that.
Swipe file