I’ve often argued with my clients. Not because I’m petty, or vindictive, or because I’m used to getting my way. I argue because I want to give my clients the best possible work.
If a client is paying you to write for them, you have an obligation to give them the best you’ve got. If that means a line or an angle the client has supplied doesn’t work, you need to tell them why — and be able to suggest better alternatives.
Not all clients take direction. As Tom Albrighton notes, no matter how much experience you have, as …
I recently crashed and burned with a girl when I explained what I do for a living. As I’m used to socialising in the East London media bubble, it came as a shock to me to find that some people consider my profession to be on a par with lawyers, estate agents, and politicians: in short, that I lie for a living.
OK, so I’m not a doctor or a nurse, but she thought I was out and out evil.
It’s an accusation that’s been thrown at the advertising industry by critics since the dawn of time and, incredibly, is …
When getting to understand a client’s business, I always ask them about their USP (unique selling point). In short, I ask them the same question a potential customer will ask: “why you?”
Sometimes, particularly if their business plan isn’t fully formed, the client won’t know. So I help by saying it’s often one of two things: “are you the best, or are you the cheapest?”
The two types of consumer
There are two types of consumers in the world. There are those who want to minimize their cost no matter what. Then there are those who want to get the …
Last week I found myself doing some conversion optimization for a direct response company that markets the US equivalent of Cillit Bang. Great fun, and the potential to make a huge amount of difference — I never fail to be surprised by how few people take conversion optimization and multivariate testing seriously, so it’s great to find someone who does.
If your conversion rate is 2% but an alternate call to action increases it to 4%, don’t you owe it to yourself to test all possible variations?
But conversion science isn’t simply about design, flow, and, of course, making the …
Quick question. Have you ever used a QR code? Maybe you don’t even know what a QR code is. If you don’t, it’s one of those funny barcode things you’re supposed to take a photo of with your smartphone and it then points you in the direction of a website.
“Oh, like a link,” you say.
“Yes, almost exactly like a link, except you have to go through the rigmarole of standing up close to the QR code and taking a picture, et cetera.”
“So why not just have some text that says ‘visit http://allday.cc!’ instead?”
“Precisely.”
Okay, that’s an …
I am content to admit that, over the course of my life, I have gotten many things wrong. I dyed my hair blonde as a teenager. I picked the wrong degree as an undergrad, leading to a costly second trip to uni. I went back to a girl who was hopelessly bad for me far more times than I should have. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me eight or more times, shame on me.
But I am not one to shy away from my mistakes.
I firmly believe that if we learn from our mistakes, we have gained, …
I’ve been lucky recently – getting far more offers of work than I’ve been able to take on. Of course, freelance work comes in fits and starts (I went six weeks last year without a single enquiry), but unfortunately freelancers aren’t like squirrels – most people want a copywriter today so we can’t store up work like nuts for the winter. So I’ve been giving it away.
What’s struck me as surprising is that every time I have suggested an alternative copywriter to a client, they have hired that writer – once, twice, three times – four times in the …
Katie Price and Rio Ferdinand are facing a probe by the Advertising Standards Authority for their part in a wicked spoof by Snickers that quickly went viral across the ‘net. The celebrities posted a series of out-of-character tweets: Katie, whose breasts are bigger than her head and, almost certainly, than her brain – posted about quantitative easing, liquidity in the bond market, and the political economy, while footballer Rio Ferdinand posted about the joys of knitting.
Several tweets later, it was revealed to be a marketing ploy by Snickers: the celebrities tweeted ‘you’re not yourself when you’re hungry’.
The campaign …
Unlike graphic designers – who clearly provide a service most people can’t perform themselves – as a copywriter, I’m often asked exactly what it is I can do that anyone who can read and write can’t. And I can talk about my extended vocabulary, my sales knowledge, my daring ability to start sentences with the word “and”. But really, there’s one vital thing I can do that most non-copywriting folks can’t.
I can pick an appropriate tone of voice.
If McLuhan’s oft-quoted phrase ‘the medium is the message’ is true, then how you say something is at least as important …
Don Draper, the eponymous head of fictional ad agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce in AMC’s Mad Men, is a man with a past. He’s intriguing, popular, and his relationship status and family life is asked about by most everyone he meets.
In other words, you’d imagine that Don is exactly the kind of customer who’d embrace Facebook Timeline with open arms. So much so, in fact, that one individual even mashed up one of Don’s famous pitches to create the Don Draper delivers Facebook Timeline pitch.
But like Peggy’s ‘relaxerciser’, this is one product that Don may be selling, …
Page 1 of 1212345...10...»Last »