Towards a transformative hermeneutics of linguistic periphrasticism, or, why do people love jargon?
In authoring this thought-leadership white paper my strategic roadmap was to build a key deliverable for continuous professional development and learnings. Er, what now? I said, I wrote this article to help you be a better writer. Only now, the Harvard Business …
The Future of Copywriting by Eric Moeller
There are a number of broad global business trends that have had an impact on copywriting and will continue to do so in the future. These trends include globalisation, customer centric marketing and technological innovations. Copywriters who want to thrive in the …
The Future of Copywriting – by Chris Smith
Here is the winning entry in our 2014 Blogging Competition – “The Future of Copywriting”. Among a strong field, Chris Smith triumphed. According to the judges: “A tightly structured and newsworthy article. This piece has a strong and original tone of voice …
Why I hate grammar nazis
Here’s a little tip for getting traction in the Twittersphere. Tweet about grammar. I did it this morning, asking why copywriters feel that “good grammar” matters so much. Roughly eight milliseconds later my Twitter feed lit up. I think I’m still catching …
Why I Gave Up “A Day’s Wages” To Attend PCN2014
The annual PCN conference is the only national meeting for copywriters in the UK. That alone should make it a must-attend event for anyone serious about their craft. Or who just fancies a chinwag IRL with fellow writers. Last year I remember …
Is rigid thinking holding you back from copywriting greatness?
Being a copywriter is a lot like being a chameleon. Not the whole eye-swivelling, gross metre-long sticky tongue rocket thingy, but the ability to blend in with one’s surroundings. In our case, those surroundings are two-fold. The persona of the person on …
18 free copywriting ebooks
Here is a list of 18 sites offering free or almost free copywriting ebooks and PDFs to help budding copywriters find their feet. I have linked directly to the download/signup pages so you don’t need to hunt around once you’re there. I …
Story and its authority and impact (without a particular char.)
How hard is it to put out a blog post that has a point but still has no … in it? I took this on as a task to find out if it was worth it. My work follows. (This is not …
Ten copywriting ‘rules’ you should break before you die
Rules, eh? Doncha just hate ’em? Do this. Don’t do that. Show me a rule and I’ll show you a baseball bat. Copywriting is plagued with rules. You know, you buy a book by someone who says they’re going to teach you …
The Periodic Table of Corporate Writing
Sunfish scientists have been studying the elements of corporate writing for decades and have now identified the 16 most dangerous. Goggles and rubber gloves on please. …
I feel your pain
Understanding how your customer feels is crucial to establishing rapport, trust and, ultimately, the sale. In general, and perhaps a sad reflection on the human condition – or maybe just marketing – we are not selling to contented people. No, that’s not …
Where old skool meets new skool – how to integrate content marketing into your sales machine
I woke up the Saturday after PCN2013 prey to a mixture of emotions, one of which I can only describe as a hubris hangover. Did I really say all those things about content marketing? Without qualifying my opinions? I must have come …
The 7 telltale signs you’re reading “zombie copy”
She stands, screaming. Her feet refuse to move. She is rooted to the spot with terror. Slowly, inevitably, the bloody, walking corpse approaches. Arms outstretched, snarling, it reaches for her. It is hungry. Actually, that’s a metaphor. It’s not going to eat …
The Copywriter’s Prayer
Oh Word, Let me compose sentences providing both meaning and pleasure. Guide me towards clarity, simplicity and truthfulness, And away from the seductive path of waffle, and the words whereof the weasel availeth himself. Teach me to care about punctuation without sharing …
Another email from a “team”. Gah!
I hate emails that come from “teams”. Why can’t they spend a few seconds of brain work and type in somebody’s name? Is that too much to ask? I mean, I love Jaguar as a brand, and their cars. And, yes, I …
Elevator pitches for the web
You know what an elevator pitch is right? Of course you do! It’s a verbal logo – vogo? – that sums up what you do quickly enough to give someone the pitch in ten seconds or less. Coming out of a meeting …
What links corporate brochures to ancient Greece?
What is it about corporate brochures that makes them both hideously expensive to produce and virtually unreadable? I suspect the culprit is our old friend hubris. In ancient Greece, hubris was the worst crime imaginable – desecrating your enemy’s corpse to inflict …
“Congratulations! Your copy is so good you’re now in charge of marketing”
From a common method of sabotaging in-house writers to a powerful tool for turning features into benefits, Andy Maslen explores 15 ideas that could put the sparkle back into your copy. *** I know you’re busy. So this issue, I won’t burden …
A doomed mission
Driving home from the country a few weeks ago, I overtook (at no more than the legal limit) a police car. Emblazoned along its dayglo-chequered flank was the following statement: “Reducing fear…stopping crime…preventing disorder.” And it made me think: why did they …
Making the leap to print (or the web)
Whether you find copywriting easy or hard, there comes a point when you have finished your final draft. Everyone’s happy: the marketing manager, the marketing director, the managing director, the company mascot. But if you’re writing for print (and even for the …
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