The Copywriter Underground

Face it. Advertising pros and copywriters need an image makeover.
Public “trustworthiness” surveys suggest we rank somewhere below toxic waste, and guess what — the killer in the last Bruce Willis movie was an advertising executive.
Even in Hollywood which is not exactly awash in Ghandi-class human beings, writers are considered only the first drafts of people.
We’re […]

Today, a writer’s ability to quickly connect with readers is critical. What allies do you have in your fight to engage readers? (Stick around and I’ll show you.)
Meet Left and Right: the Parentheses Twins.
My English teacher said parentheses were the tools of lazy writers. Wikipedia says “In most writing, overuse of parentheses is usually a […]

A recent post on the Struggling Writer blog chronicled his decision to stop writing 650-word Web articles for $15.
His reasoning was simple: He wasn’t making a living wage.
I’m not here to denigrate low-dollar Internet article jobs. But I would ask those writing them a hard question.
Are you really making a living wage?
Even a basic wage […]

Business development should be an integral part of every freelancer’s day. After all, everyone wants to grow their revenues.
To most, that means seeking out new clients. That’s valid. But it’s ten times more work than seeking out new projects from your existing clients.
Grow Your Existing Relationships.
A writer once told me the best investment any freelancer […]

Over the last couple months, two of my steadiest clients were acquired by larger competitors, spelling doom for the freelance talent.
It typically plays out this way, and I can’t say I was wholly surprised. But now I find myself in business development mode - the part of the freelance gig I like the least.
The silver […]

A post on the Brian Clark’s Copyblogger site got me thinking. His warning was that so much in marketing today is hype. And that copywriting hasn’t changed.
I agreed. To a point.
I think the craft of copywriting hasn’t changed - but its goals have. The technology surrounding “Web 2.0″ has opened doors that were formerly closed […]

Mickey Khan at DM News wrote an excellent editorial piece where he dubbed the social networking revolution the “Age of Expression.”
It’s a good phrase and he asks the same questions of the business world I’ve been asking: why aren’t you truly engaging your customers with interactive media like blogs and social networking?
The technology barriers are […]

I recently read an article about mental barriers to performance, where the writer offhandedly asserted that 17′ had become a mental barrier to women pole vaulters (no one’s broken the mark).
It was an attempt to draw on a real-life example of a mental barrier, but what he didn’t consider was that most of the track […]

Your strongest marketing tool? It’s not your SEO strategy, your finely tuned messaging platform, or even your copywriter.
It’s the passion of your customers.
Tap into that, and you’ve created a mobile sales force that can’t wait to sell your product. They’re engaged. They’re credible. And they’re chomping at the bit to spread your message.
Passion-based marketing? It […]

So what are you really? Word jockey or success guru? If all you deliver are words, then it’s time to reconsider your role…
It’s not easy for your clients to succeed in today’s fragmented, fast-changing marketing environment, and for a copywriter used to selling success as much as words, writing simply isn’t enough.
A tricky headline won’t […]