Regular readers of the Copywriter’s Crucible will be aware of my ongoing theme: businesses need to invest in well written, informative and useful content if they want to convert browsers into buyers. In an ad averse culture, marketing is no longer about carpet bombing sales messages. But about building trust and confidence with content of […]
UK Businesses Start Taking Business Blogging Seriously
Last year, I attended a small business exhibition in my home city of Milton Keynes to distribute leaflets on the benefits of blogging for businesses. I’d hoped it would be a new area in which I could differentiate myself and ride the crest of the wave of the revolution in business communication. Unfortunately, my attempts […]
10 Ways To Become A More Confident Writer
If you’ve arrived here from Google looking for advice on how to become a more confident writer, why not download my eBook ‘Using Words to Convince, Compel and Sell’. It’s packed with advice on how to write headlines that reel in readers, how to structure a sales letter, the mistakes many B2B copywriters make […]
Warning: People Are Ignoring Advertising. But They Do Read News
Just over 20 years ago, David Ogilvy noticed that people weren’t reading his ads as much as they were the editorial sections of newspapers. In fact, the main content was receiving five times the amount of attention as his well crafted copy. Ogilvy, never one to shy away from pushing boundaries, came up with the […]
10 Ways to Beat Writer’s Block
Have your fingers frozen over the keyboard waiting for your brain to warm them up with the right words? Do you have stage fright at the thought of thousands of people getting lost in your muddled sentences and meandering paragraphs? Writer’s block is a common symptom that afflicts every writer at some stage. There’s a […]
The Power of a Tailor’s Tale
Once upon a time, there was a young tailor who was struggling to make a living selling his handmade suits. Every month he would scramble around to find the money to pay the rent, hoping he would eventually be able to find enough wealthy customers to keep his business alive. But as time went on, […]
Why Creativity and Good Copywriting Comes in Waves
In continuation of last week’s post on why copywriting shouldn’t be rushed, I’m going to don my psychologist’s hat to assess the reason why. Why do our eureka moments occur when relaxing in the bath, going for a walk or lying in bed? Why can’t we find inspiration at will? Well, it’s all to do […]
Why Copywriting Shouldn’t be Rushed…or Cheap
William Wordsworth would often walk up to 20 miles a day. Usually for no other reason than to give him time to think and gain inspiration for his poetry. Whilst exploring the hills and wide open fields of England’s Lake District, he would compose his lines, repeating and adjusting them over and over again, until […]
Johnson & Johnson Sues the American Red Cross. Were Marketing Consulted?
With brands falling over themselves to try and build a closer affinity with consumers and a positive association with their products, the mind boggles as to why a leading brand such as Johnson & Johnson saw it fit to launch a lawsuit against the American Red Cross. I can only imagine the eruption in J […]
‘Why You Must Invest in Content to Build Trust and Succeed Online’ report
Whilst I was experiencing the summer lull, I thought I’d take advantage of the free time to compile a summary of my posts from the last year. After all, with the dreadful weather we’ve had in the UK I couldn’t really spend it lazing in the garden. As every week has passed and the stats […]