Great design is a lot like great copy. Done properly, both will take your breath away, even as they recede into the background – a perfect match of form, function, and inspiration.
Done properly, the call to action – whether it’s to “click here” or to simply pick up a tool and use it – is [...]
It’s Friday, which means copywriters all over the planet are struggling to meet deadlines, but since it’s the end of a long, long week, we’re mostly brain dead. Frankly, our copy reflects it.
How do we stop ourselves from shipping something… well… stupid?
Why, I use the Internet StupidFilter:
The concept behind the StupidFilter Project originated during a [...]
Writing billboards is tough. You’re delivering a sales message at freeway speeds, and you absolutely, positively must cut through the barrage of information coming at your reader — who’s trying to keep a ton of steel nicely centered between the lines.
Billboards: An Example of KISS
New copywriters are barraged with formulas for writing great copy, [...]
Someone once said screenwriters were “only the first drafts of human beings.” That’s funny, but it underscores the problems faced by Hollywood screenwriters, who aren’t getting their fair share of the emerging digital market.
Still, why should you — a copywriter — even care about the Hollywood writer’s strike?
Simple.
Hollywood’s writers face many of the same issues [...]
It’s not exactly a surprise to the copywriting world, but traditional “interrupt” marketing techniques are losing ground to “softer” engagement marketing techniques, and the switch is picking up steam.
Proof can be found in an excellent New York Times article, which outlines the extent to which marketing giant Nike is already channeling its marketing budget into engagement marketing:
Last year, [...]
I’m getting calls from a lot of prospective clients. That’s good.
Less good is this — a growing number seem interested in heavily leveraging my least-profitable service: free advice.
Lately, I’ve heard from a surprising number of prospects expecting me to do all their marketing legwork for them — for nothing more than the price of a few words.
Three in the [...]
Moving is stressful. It’s a lot of backbreaking work (and I noticed none of you offered to help).
The Writer’s Office doesn’t look like this. So what does it look like?
The good news? A new home office space is in my future. (New. That’s an exciting word).
Because I started down copywriting’s path when most copy was [...]
Selling anything to anyone is an apt description of the modern copywriter’s job — but it won’t happen unless the writer keeps current with the latest digital media channels. Here’s how to do that.
Sometimes the weight of a couple deadlines, too much coffee, and a late night can have a mildly hallucinagenic effect on a copywriter — especially when you’re trying to pop out a half dozen “brilliant” ads.
And yes, there were times when I was reasonably sure my typewriter/computer/fingers/brain were conspiring against me. And if anyone else [...]
No freelancer likes to get sick. It’s not as if we get sick days from the HR department. And there’s little worse than missing deadlines because you’re too busy driving the porcelain bus.
Yet it happens. It’s been happening to me all week.
I’ll be back at work next week. Preferably without the headaches, nausea, fever — [...]
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