One of the golden rules for any kind of writing is asking yourself whether what you want to say is what anyone really wants to hear. A good copywriter has to ask this question continuously of his or her own writing – and of what clients all too often seem determined to bore their audiences... Read more
How daydreaming can help the creative process… It often pays to get your head away from the page, particularly when it comes to conceptual work, or ideas jobs like brand naming, straplines and taglines. You might not have the privilege of a rolling landscape or an eclectic metropolitan pastiche outside your window, but simply sitting... Read more
De-dum de-dum de-dum de-dum, de-deum de-dum de-dum de-dum. De-dum de-dum de-dum de-dum, de-deum de-dum de-dum de-dum… Having several consecutive sentences the same length can really suck the life and pace out of your writing. It’s like talking in monotone. That’s why rhythm is so important when you write. Read more
Any copywriter with any sense, and someone they can ask, will get a second opinion on their work before they expose it to the client. Even the most detail-obsessed scribes need a quality control safety net. But a second pair of eyes will see much more than typos – especially if it belongs to another... Read more
Writing for social media is a bit like fishing. You need a juicy worm to lure your readers away from all the other hooks. Of course, writing clear, compelling, relevant copy with a strong call to action is no different from writing for websites, brochures or direct mail. But the big difference with social media... Read more
As a veteran writer of more annual reports than I care to think about, I’m often asked how best to write one. I find it helps to keep in mind at all times the four basic questions below. Here I’m talking about companies traded on a stock market, though much of what I say relates... Read more
“We’ve got this website, but we just need to make it more… engaging.” Nine times out of ten, our copy briefs ask us to make the copy more engaging. We’ll pretty much assume this as a given really, because if it doesn’t engage the audience it’s not likely to persuade them to take action. Engaging... Read more
