Archive for the ‘Copywriting tips’ category
Copywriting tips: good copywriting needs empathy
This sign recently appeared on a gate into Marble Hill Park in Twickenham. We’ll ignore the random capitalisation and pompous phrasing (although they tell us plenty about the mindset of the person who wrote it) and get straight to the heart of why this fails as a piece of copywriting. Half an answer is worse [...]
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Copywriting tips: good copywriting is more than just spelling
Many of the copywriters I follow on Twitter have been pointing out this story from the BBC, about the importance of spelling to companies’ online credibility. Spelling is important but it’s only the most basic part of getting your story right. Really effective writing – online or in print – is based on a deep [...]
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Annual report copywriting: top tips for improving your annual report
Many companies see the annual report as just that – a report on last year. From this standpoint, the report becomes a compliance exercise, adding little value to either the company or its investors. The best reporters view the annual report as their once-a-year chance to explain their company to the market. They understand the [...]
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Business copywriting: show, don’t tell – it’s not just for fiction
Show, don’t tell is the most common advice for fiction writers. It’s also an excellent – and often overlooked – tool for business copywriting. Consider the company that claims to be a leader in its market. At best, an unsupported statement like this gets a dismissive shrug from the reader. At worst, it suggests the [...]
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Business copywriting: why your solutions are actually problems
Every business copywriter has clients who love abstractions. Competencies, verticals, footprint, added value – these words are so common that businesses use them without thinking. I’ve let plenty of these through myself, both in business copywriting and when I worked in corporate communications. It’s time, though, to be more vigilant. So when do your solutions [...]
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Copywriting tips: why good writing still matters
It’s easy to believe that good writing has gone the way of the vinyl record. Whether it’s content mills churning out filler for the tight-fisted and undiscerning or video’s plans for world domination, there’s plenty of gloom surrounding the written word. In the business world, though, good copywriting still counts. It’s not just Leeds Building [...]
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Copywriting tips: writing for more than one audience
Read any book or blog about copywriting and you’ll be told that one of the keys to copywriting success is knowing your audience. This is sound advice. You can’t write well if you don’t know who you’re writing for. But what if you’re writing for more than one audience? Much of the time you will [...]
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Copywriting tips: why business copywriting has to be tight
If you’ve read my post on the benefits of long copy, you’ll know I believe in giving yourself room to make your points properly. Even so, it’s vital that your writing is punchy. Prose that’s too wordy wastes your readers’ time, bores them and stops them reading on. Marketing and advertising writers have always known [...]
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Copywriting tips: how a copywriter will improve your project
You’ve got a big project in the pipeline – your annual report, a new website or a corporate brochure. It’s something that people inside and outside your company will pay close attention to, a project which will affect how your company – and you – are perceived by people who matter. Let’s look at some [...]
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Copywriting tips: length matters
Of all the factors which determine the length of a piece of copy, the desire to communicate clearly – to say everything which needs to be said – should be at the top of the list. So why is it so often at the bottom? Because fear sets the word count Sometimes there are real [...]
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