Here it is. The place where I get to comment on a subject I care about intensely – content. Words, in other words.

How to write winning award entries

Ever wondered how a product gets to be awarded ‘the world’s best’? It’s not a level playing field – yes, each product has an equal chance of winning. But not every product is going to enter, and the common mistake we all make is focusing on competition that isn’t even there. Most businesses aren’t doing anything to win awards, so they’re not competing with you. They are run by business owners who too busy honing their sales techniques or getting to grip with their finances. Often the business...

When marketing automation goes bad

Online reviews from happy customers are a great way to win more business. Marketing automation can help you, by sending emails to ask for feedback. But while automation can save you time, you also don’t want to make these mistakes. Today, The Body Shop UK sent me this email: Immediately I was suspicious – it looked like a scam email, the business name wasn’t simply the Body Shop. Learning point: Use a sender email address that’s consistent with the brand. Then the ‘Thanks for your recent...

Digital skills your writer needs right now

I know successful business people who can’t add up for toffee. Likewise, my design skills suck. You can’t do it all, which is why you need to bring in a specialist. Or be prepared to give it a try. Which is often my approach, and why I’ve got a better understanding of what digital is all about. Looking back at when I set up, eight years ago, I realise how far I’ve come from traditional copywriting. In those days, campaigns were either digital or print, delivered by separate departments using...

Are you targeting the right reader?

Recently I was talking to a designer who had been asked by their client to redesign an employee magazine. The client is a multinational company, with a workforce of tens of thousands spread across multiple locations worldwide. It has grown rapidly through acquisition. According to the client’s brief, the aim of the magazine is to help employees of the wider group have clarity of the company’s strategy. They cited the target reader as the average shop floor worker in Slovakia. The ‘new’ look...

How to write clear instructions

When you borrow an electric car from Enterprise Car Club, they give you printed instructions covering the basics such as how to start it, and how to return it to the charging point. The thing is, the unfamiliar charging set-up gets all the attention, at the expense of the truly basic, like how to start the car. Having successfully unhooked it from the charging post and stored the cable in the boot, and with the dashboard lit up, I was unable to drive away. Because the previously explicit...

Proofreading: top advice you can takeaway

Skimping on the services of a professional proofreader is a false economy. Recently a friend opened a takeaway business and came by to hand out menus, fresh from the printers. There was an awkward silence. Finally, someone spoke. ‘Where’s Lona Street?’ Our friend looked blank. She followed the finger, to where it pointed at the menu. 'It should say Iona Street.' There was a typo in the address. The menu had been put through a spell check. Spell checkers don’t pick up on local place names or so...

How to write an Annual Report, Year Book or corporate blog

Suppose you’ve been asked to pull together this year’s Annual Report. You quite like the idea. It gets you valuable time with the Chief Executive, exposure to the heads of each business function and licence to enquire about opportunities for career progression. You can almost feel the satisfaction of producing a tangible output, increasingly rare unless you work in manufacturing. But what are you actually being asked to do? You are being asked to coordinate multiple contributors. The Annual...

When will it be worthwhile to produce Virtual Reality content?

I’m not one to jump on shiny new kit, but virtual reality has converted this sceptic to dedicated follower. I went along to the Edinburgh Digital Entertainment Festival, curious to find out what the latest off-shoot from the Edinburgh Fringe and International Festival was all about. One hour later and I was prepared to replace the real world with virtual reality. Donning a headset, immersed in the Virtual Reality Cinema, I got to explore documentaries, music performances, events and drama,...

You saw this headline. What happens next is hard to believe

Facebook has introduced measures to reduce the number of clickbait headlines that it shows in your newsfeed. A victory for all of us who have wasted time clicking on a headline, and ended up being misled into reading a load of nonsense. Farewell to ‘32 Health Things You’ve Been Doing Wrong for Years’ and ’12 Facts You Won’t Believe Are True.’ Perhaps we can look forward to the return of well-written, factually-accurate headlines, to click on to find meaningful results. Clickbait I couldn’t...

Why ad blocking means writing better copy

You know those images on web pages that keep moving, the banner adverts that distract and annoy? Well, I’m rather proud to have made my first one. It’s a GIF, an animated digital advert placed in an American trade directory for film and TV equipment suppliers. Round-and-round it goes ad infinitum. Or not, if you are one of the 22% in the UK who use ad blocking software (source: IAB, 2016). Ad blockers promise to rid the internet of annoying adverts. Both Google and Facebook allow users to set...

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