Insights

There are many things that get better with age. Fine wines, a decent cheese, children. I’d like to add copywriters to that group. In this blog, I’ll explain why there is so much more to gain from hiring an (ahem) older copywriter.

It’s easy to create words to fill the page. It’s much harder to create words that effectively convey your message or prompt action. And in business, that’s what you want to do, right? Here’s a list of the most common problems I see in copy; from my past clients and the wider world.

You know the type of copy. We’ve all read it. “This is a great special offer! We’re here to help! Call us now!!” Whilst liberal use of exclamation marks can be forgiven in personal emails and social posts, what about business copy? I have a point of view. Read on to hear it.

The end of the year is in sight. And your marketing budget for 2018 might be on its last legs. There are plenty of low-cost marketing actions you can take. Are you capitalising on these 14 simple ideas? Some might be obvious; others, not so.

Look around the internet and you’ll quickly find many dull About Us pages. Third person timelines of the company growth. Detailed explanations of the organisational structure. If this is you, you’re missing a trick and I’ll explain why.

You’ll have customers. You might have them logged in a CRM system. Name, address, email, customer type, products purchased. But do you know them? In this post, I’ll explain how you can get to know your valuable customers better. And why this will help you grow your business.

I write a lot of website copy and quite frankly, there can be more work to do before you start being creative. Think about decorating a room. It’s just the same. The quality of the finish is in the preparation. Your “finish” is a website that engages; and prompts action. So, here’s a list of those essential tasks.

Your copy often comes before you. Whether on your website, in a sales letter or a brochure, people make assumptions about you (and your business), based on what they read. They assume your competences, your business style and your ability to help them. All before they have even engaged with you. There’s many simple tricks to make a piece of business copy far more powerful – delivering better results for you. Here’s ten that will make a significant difference to the performance of your business.

Love them or hate them, capital letters have their purpose. But increasingly, people are using them in the wrong places and as a copywriter, that grates. Whilst some instances are considered subjective, there are certain rules to follow. Does it matter? Well, I think so. It makes your copy far more credible and therefore, effective. Here’s some guidance.

We can all write copy, surely? Granted, that’s one argument. But can we all write copy that engages, copy that motivates, copy that sells? No. And that’s why every business - even the smallest - stands to gain from hiring a copywriter. Let me explain.