Category Archives: Personal

Cashing In On Tragedy: How Not To Write A Press Release

I stumbled across this nightmarish press release on The Bad Pitch blog. I wish I could say I was surprised. It’s a U.S. Netcom Corp release that leverages the Virginia Tech shootings… to hawk a product.
I’d like to congratulate U.S. Netcom Corp for being the first company (that I know of) to crawl over the bodies of the [...]

Thinking of Virginia Tech

The shootings at Virginia Tech dominate the news cycle, and it’s not exactly the kind of atmosphere that lends itself to a zany blog post.
Of course, people die every day — a state of affairs we accept because we know that nobody gets out alive to begin with.
Still, we’re shocked by the random and inexplicable, [...]

Why Teaching Marketing is Better Than Learning It

The old saw about learning more from your students than they do from you is likely true.
Last night I guest-taught a class of small business owners (or soon-to-be-small-biz-owners) about “The Messaging Platform” — the statement that provides a foundation for all of an organization’s marketing messages.
The idea is simple; these small business owners have devoted [...]

Writing Tired: What Fatigue Does to Copy. And Copywriters.

The last couple weeks have flown by. Copy’s been flowing like the Amazon at flood stage. Juggling work, proposals, blogs and a personal life meant a few late nights at the keyboard
Now even my friends say I look like hell.
From all this, one thing is clear; all-nighters aren’t the fun they used to be.
Lots of Vowels. [...]

The Copywriter Underground Goes Green (While Other Blogs Turn Green With Envy)

I like the freedom of self-employment. You make your own decisions and answer only to your own instincts (and those of your two-dozen bosses).
Simply put, it means if I want to work for a “green” company, I can.
Now I do.
It’s Easy Being Green
My wife and I try to keep our energy footprint to a minimum, [...]