If there’s one thing us writers can’t stop harping on about, it’s the importance of thinking about your reader – of writing for them, not yourself. It’s a common theme on this blog, and in most advice on writing. Read more
Imagine a world where a reader picks up a brochure or visits a website and remarks how beautifully the ideas, design and words complement each other… Okay, I’m dreaming. But this opinion-forming process does actually take place in the reader’s subconscious. All the best communications have something about their look and their headlines that just... Read more
Every thought-leader out there is telling us we need more content. Content that forms part of our overall marketing strategy and drives the business bottom line. Read more
I saw a good article recently about the tendency of primary school teachers to insist their pupils use flowery language and long words rather than straightforward ones. However, having just seen my son go through A-Level English Language, I can report that it’s happening at the other end of the school journey. Too often my... Read more
The thesaurus gets a bad rap. School teachers forbid it and Stephen King is a famous opponent. In his first novel Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer wrote the bad English of Ukrainian character Alex by using a thesaurus to change small, ordinary words into big, ill-fitting ones. The compounded effect is horrifying and hilarious.... Read more
A journalist’s inbox is flooded with press releases every day, and the vast majority of those end up deleted or forgotten. Here are five of the top reasons yours might be one of them (and how you can help it avoid that fate in future). Read more
Tone of voice. Verbal identity. Brand language. Whatever you call it, each has the same aim: to bring character, coherence and consistency to the way an organisation expresses itself in words. Why? Because adding character helps distinguish you from everyone else. Being coherent provides a richer, more meaningful experience. And being consistent helps build trust... Read more
There are over seven billion people on the planet, and over three billion of them use the internet. But with a saturated market of almost one billion websites – how are you going to stand out? Read more
