The Future of Copywriting by Gemma Stride
Looking Back Before Looking Forward The craft of copywriting begins with a love of words from an early age. Being a keen reader, I can remember having my nose stuck in a book for a lot of the time. I would always …
Results of our 2014 blogging competition
The results are in. But before I reveal the winner and runners-up in our blogging competition on The Future of Copywriting – here are a few thoughts on how the event turned out. The first thing that surprised me was the apparent …
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 …
Seven (more) reasons why copywriters should blog
Some time ago, I read a blog post by my friend and fellow copywriter, Tom Albrighton, titled, “7 reasons copywriters should blog“. It’s a great post, and in an attempt at provocation (which, I have to say, succeeded all too well) I …
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 …
Puzzled by infographics? Calculate their true value here
Ah, infographics, doncha just love ’em? All those pixels – all that effort. So little content. Here is my simple method for calculating the value of the next infographic that crosses your transom. Method Step 1 Calculate the area of infographic in …
10 Controversial Truths About Content That Will have You Spitting With Rage Or Smiling Contentedly Over Your Keyboard
Now I know how Daniel felt. Me – Mr If-you-can’t-count-the-money-it-isn’t-worth-doing – and 30 or so content specialists getting ready to debate how content marketing might evolve to survive as a marketing discipline. After my pugnacious performance at the panel session of #pcn2013 …
Content marketing is not dead. But it may be making itself irrelevant
The current debate in content marketing circles reminds me of the old story about clerics debating how many angels could dance on the head of a pin. While the clerics argue, the world moves on and nobody cares about their esoteric debate. …
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 …
Christmas Tweets from Santa
It seems even Santa uses social media these days. But what would the jolly old soul tweet about? As a recovering tweeter I left it to our Creative Director, Jo, to speculate… * Santa_Claus – Saint, advertising man, sleigh driver, reindeer wrangler; …
What links Darwin, road deaths, cold bugs and long copy?
How do you feel about people who say they don’t believe in evolution? What about folk who claim wearing a seatbelt causes road deaths? Or the ones who want antibiotics for their colds? There’s no evidence for their beliefs. And mountains of it proving …
Long copy ad for Rolex – 1971
Luxury goods don’t need long copy? Pah! Check out this ad from 1971. CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE. …
Annals of really crap email marketing #21,875
Oh, Lordy, where shall we start with this one? The hopeless headline? The passive voice? The grammar meltdown? The exclamation mark? For me it’s not even the two different misspellings of special. Or the use of Comic Sans. Can you spot it? …
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