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 […]
What’s Holding Back Businesses From Blogging?
If you spend any time reading internet marketing and copywriting blogs it’s very easy to get caught up in all the excitement on how blogs, and other web 2.0 tools, could transform a business’ fortunes. Although the benefits might seem obvious, persuading IT decision makers is another matter. Studies released in the last week continue […]
Why You Should Invest in Copywriting to Convert Consumers
The results of a new study, released by Marketing Sherpa, on website consumer conversions have been doing the rounds recently on the search marketing blogs, and are worthy of a mention here. The study, entitled ‘Digital Window Shopping: The Long Delay Before Buying’, has discovered that it’s now taking an average of 34 hours to […]
Blog theme change
Regular readers will know all about my search for a blog format that will satisfy both blog readers and business visitors. I might be attracting plenty of potential customers through the doors, but they’re not finding what they are looking for and promptly leaving. For the latest reincarnation of The Copywriter’s Crucible I have switched […]
Articles or Blog Posts? It’s Quality that Counts
Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen recently shared some of his pearls of wisdom on the role of blogs as marketing tools, and promptly upset a number of business blog experts in the process. Although I don’t agree with his rather narrow pigeon holing of blogging as being for websites that sell cheap products where customers […]
Want to Engage? Just be Helpful
I frequently preach on the need to provide content of value to build trust with consumers. I, and many others, believe that the best way to sell products and services is through information and education, not carpet bombing sales messages. Cynical consumers don’t trust adverting anymore, and will only pay you attention once they think […]