copywriting
Marketing e-mails: what do they look like and what do they say?
6th June 2012 | Posted in Marketing communications
I prefer signing up for email alerts and newsletters to following someone on Twitter. Emails can be saved for quiet times. Tweets are gone in a flash and you might miss something useful. So as something of an email addict, despite the protestations from the social media crowd, I know how fast they can fill […]
Writing newsletters that people want to read
10th April 2012 | Posted in Marketing communications
Have just spent an enjoyable couple of hours advising a small business on taking their newsletter to another level. It read well enough, but it just wasn’t being opened, read or acted upon. Bit of a problem. So let’s go through some of the advice I offered. Make the open tempting. Write a subject line […]
Making the most of a customer interview
28th November 2011 | Posted in Content creation
If you’re putting together an article for a case study, newsletter or a blog, and you’ve got half an hour with your customer, you want to make the best of your time. Research the company – make sure you know what your customer’s business is about and the market they’re in so you can make […]
Why written words matter
12th October 2011 | Posted in Content creation
If you can’t be there in person, then your written words have to make the sale for you. The words in your ads and mailshots must grab attention. Your web words should encourage visitors to read on and buy. Your brochures, case studies, data sheets and more need to prove that you can answer your […]
Is your content repeating on itself?
22nd February 2011 | Posted in Content creation
There’s a common mantra about content, exhorting recycle, repurpose, reuse. A lot of businesses are picking up on the recycle and reuse, but they’re ignoring the repurpose. It’s important. As ever, put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Suppose you’ve received a piece of direct mail (print or email) that interests you. You follow the call […]
What’s the point of your newsletter?
15th February 2011 | Posted in Marketing communications
I’ve been working on newsletters for several companies recently, and I’ve noticed a distinct change of approach from the marketing team. Old-style newsletters were generally a hard sell. “You’ve bought this product from us. Now you need add-ons and upgrades to get something even better.” Others were full of company news. It was about the […]
Where does good copywriting fit in the modern marketing mix?
29th October 2010 | Posted in Search engine optimisation
If you’re using email, Twitter, Facebook or any other online tool for marketing, does that mean you don’t need perfect writing? Is it now true that the speed at which messages come and go mean that volume is more important than quality? If you opt for fast and furious rather than well-crafted content, you put […]
Repurpose, reuse, revive your content
6th October 2009 | Posted in Content creation
When you’ve sweated blood to get the words right for your corporate brochure, web site, data sheet or any other piece of marketing writing, you want to make that copy work as hard as possible for you. By repurposing your content, you can adapt it to help market your business to your different audiences through […]
Creating web content that supports direct mail
2nd September 2009 | Posted in Web content
When you invite your potential customer to visit your web site for further information, what are you actually offering as content on your site? Are you providing a special landing page, or even a micro site, that is dedicated to drawing the customer further along the purchasing process? Are you truly offering “more information”? To […]
Is great web content being wasted by a terrible buying experience?
18th July 2009 | Posted in Web content
This week I thought it was probably time for a little more direct marketing of my own. So I headed for the site of a list seller that I had used before to check whether they had new offerings that were more relevant to my copywriting business. I had hardly entered the site when I […]