Tuesday 7 June 2011
Brian McArdle, Copywriter: Business Writing and How every little would help
Brian McArdle, Copywriter: Business Writing and How every little would help: "I was in Sainsbury's last week on the 'get what we've run out of on the way home' stop. I decided to award myself a drink as a reward for h..."
Brian McArdle, Copywriter: Business Writing and How every little would help
Brian McArdle, Copywriter: Business Writing and How every little would help: "I was in Sainsbury's last week on the 'get what we've run out of on the way home' stop. I decided to award myself a drink as a reward for h..."
Business Writing and How every little would help
I was in Sainsbury's last week on the "get what we've run out of on the way home" stop. I decided to award myself a drink as a reward for having to go near the place in the first instance. Being a weeknight I decided 2 cans of Pear Cider would be the perfect and apt award. To my disgust they wouldn't sell me two cans, I could have four or eight or one hundred and sixty four.
I was also recently in B&Q searching for a particular type of bulb. I located the bulb section but couldn't see the bulb I was looking for. After 15 minutes playing hide and seek up and down the aisles I eventually cornered an assistant in an orange apron. "Do you have any of these" I asked holding up the spent one from home. "The bulb section is two aisles across" he said and disappeared
Yesterday I was feeling a little sleepy driving back to Newry and stopped mainly to get out and walk about and waken myself up. I stopped at Tesco's in Banbridge.
A packet of sweets would be nice, but not nice enough to join a queue. The Tobacco counter was manned by two staff and no customers. I thought perfect but was rebuffed ,if I wasn't buying a lotto ticket or prepared to contract cancer I couldn't pay for my sweets.
The point I'm making is Customer Service. No doubt all these organisations have vast and sophisticated CRM systems in place, but it feels a bit like the tail wagging the dog. If I ran my copywriting service and insisted you could only have words in blocks of four hundred, couldn't possibly expect new ideas on a Tuesday and you should alter your business to fit my words I wouldn't last too long
So in praise of the small shop were the CRM is the people behind the counter I have turned my back on multi nationals. The butcher, bakery, hardware store and grocer are to be the savior in a shopping landscape where one size fits all.
On totally different topic The Food Standards Agency now have online results and rating of the hygiene in all the gourmet emporiums and greasy spoons across the country. I was horrified to find one or two of my favourites failed miserably. But it got me to thinking how would your business rate if the inspectors came round to visit?
Finally Quicksilver RIP
when I kicked off as a writer I thought The Quicksilver Production Company was a grand name, and it served me well. Unfortunately no-one knew what it did and so from the start of the year I've been re branding everything as Brian Mc ardle - Copywriter which hopefully "says what it does on the tin" The re branding is finished and so Quicksilver can return to the surf on Bondi for ever
I was also recently in B&Q searching for a particular type of bulb. I located the bulb section but couldn't see the bulb I was looking for. After 15 minutes playing hide and seek up and down the aisles I eventually cornered an assistant in an orange apron. "Do you have any of these" I asked holding up the spent one from home. "The bulb section is two aisles across" he said and disappeared
Yesterday I was feeling a little sleepy driving back to Newry and stopped mainly to get out and walk about and waken myself up. I stopped at Tesco's in Banbridge.
A packet of sweets would be nice, but not nice enough to join a queue. The Tobacco counter was manned by two staff and no customers. I thought perfect but was rebuffed ,if I wasn't buying a lotto ticket or prepared to contract cancer I couldn't pay for my sweets.
The point I'm making is Customer Service. No doubt all these organisations have vast and sophisticated CRM systems in place, but it feels a bit like the tail wagging the dog. If I ran my copywriting service and insisted you could only have words in blocks of four hundred, couldn't possibly expect new ideas on a Tuesday and you should alter your business to fit my words I wouldn't last too longSo in praise of the small shop were the CRM is the people behind the counter I have turned my back on multi nationals. The butcher, bakery, hardware store and grocer are to be the savior in a shopping landscape where one size fits all.
On totally different topic The Food Standards Agency now have online results and rating of the hygiene in all the gourmet emporiums and greasy spoons across the country. I was horrified to find one or two of my favourites failed miserably. But it got me to thinking how would your business rate if the inspectors came round to visit?
Finally Quicksilver RIP
when I kicked off as a writer I thought The Quicksilver Production Company was a grand name, and it served me well. Unfortunately no-one knew what it did and so from the start of the year I've been re branding everything as Brian Mc ardle - Copywriter which hopefully "says what it does on the tin" The re branding is finished and so Quicksilver can return to the surf on Bondi for ever
Tuesday 22 March 2011
The Best Marketing Campaign Ever
Congratulations to all of us, who wittingly or not have taken part in the best and most expertly executed marketing campaign ever. The old adage "What ever you say times the number of times you say it are texecuttehe only things that matter in advertising today" has never been truer
What is this campaign.you may ask? I don't know what the official name is but my title is
"The perceived wisdom of cuts"
Months and months before the last general election both main political parties began to mutter about cuts, well before the cacaphony of noise we now have to endure. After all it's very hard to say we're putting you out of work, cutting your wages, pitching the infirm back into the labour market and sending young boys up chimneys again - now can we have your vote? But the mutter grew louder and louder so that the Tories crawled into power with the aid of the Lib Dems and talked up the cuts from there on.
Spin Doctors
As an aside and mostly to make listening to goverment spokesmen slightly more palatable, count the number of times they repeat "Inherit or inherited from the previous goverment" Hard wired or what?
Health, education, policing, local goverment and all the private businesses which in some way depend on selling into these sectors or depend on the wages earned in these sectors to enable people to buy their goods are on the cusp of massive cuts.
Think " Massive cuts" , so over used that it's lost all currency. "Massive cuts" mean unemployment, mortgages in arrears, debt, stress, and a dumbing down of education and welfare systems that were for all their flaws admirable.
Now here's the rub, where are the massive street protests, the workers revolt, the refusal to lie down?
No where, because we were conditioned to expect and accept cuts from months and months of telling us we needed to have cuts.
"Say it loud enough and often enough and it becomes the truth" it's a marketing masterclass.
I am aone small voice in the wilderness, but the questions that come to me are
with any massive debt there must be a myraid of ways to both service and reduce the debt.
Think. it's only in the last 10 years that Britain finished paying the USA for all the money they needed to borrow during the 2nd World War.
Think, the banks which certainly aided if not caused the global meltdown had thier slates wiped clean and they're up and running again as if nothing ever happened, making huge profits, paying large bonuses and making it evermore difficult for SME's to get credit.
Why are we suffering to reduce the debt at such a devastating rate? Politics, pure and simple, the choice of the ruling government. All the time the rich get richer and companies insist on wage cuts ( because their profits are down). Not because we're losing money, but we're cutting your job or reducing your wage because we're not making as much money as we did last year. and the ordinary family deals with shrinking incomes and rising prices.
When will the writers and artists, musicians and communities come together to say enough is enough - thre is a better way
What is this campaign.you may ask? I don't know what the official name is but my title is
"The perceived wisdom of cuts"
Months and months before the last general election both main political parties began to mutter about cuts, well before the cacaphony of noise we now have to endure. After all it's very hard to say we're putting you out of work, cutting your wages, pitching the infirm back into the labour market and sending young boys up chimneys again - now can we have your vote? But the mutter grew louder and louder so that the Tories crawled into power with the aid of the Lib Dems and talked up the cuts from there on.
Spin Doctors
As an aside and mostly to make listening to goverment spokesmen slightly more palatable, count the number of times they repeat "Inherit or inherited from the previous goverment" Hard wired or what?
Health, education, policing, local goverment and all the private businesses which in some way depend on selling into these sectors or depend on the wages earned in these sectors to enable people to buy their goods are on the cusp of massive cuts.
Think " Massive cuts" , so over used that it's lost all currency. "Massive cuts" mean unemployment, mortgages in arrears, debt, stress, and a dumbing down of education and welfare systems that were for all their flaws admirable.
Now here's the rub, where are the massive street protests, the workers revolt, the refusal to lie down?
No where, because we were conditioned to expect and accept cuts from months and months of telling us we needed to have cuts.
"Say it loud enough and often enough and it becomes the truth" it's a marketing masterclass.
I am aone small voice in the wilderness, but the questions that come to me are
with any massive debt there must be a myraid of ways to both service and reduce the debt.
Think. it's only in the last 10 years that Britain finished paying the USA for all the money they needed to borrow during the 2nd World War.
Think, the banks which certainly aided if not caused the global meltdown had thier slates wiped clean and they're up and running again as if nothing ever happened, making huge profits, paying large bonuses and making it evermore difficult for SME's to get credit.
Why are we suffering to reduce the debt at such a devastating rate? Politics, pure and simple, the choice of the ruling government. All the time the rich get richer and companies insist on wage cuts ( because their profits are down). Not because we're losing money, but we're cutting your job or reducing your wage because we're not making as much money as we did last year. and the ordinary family deals with shrinking incomes and rising prices.
When will the writers and artists, musicians and communities come together to say enough is enough - thre is a better way
Tuesday 1 March 2011
Saturday 12 February 2011
Digital Copywriters' Like Hello?
Add "Digital" and it's sooo much better
I've been to the Bizcamps and BEN in the City Hall and the Social Media talks and I was thinking in spite of everything, times were promising in digital marketing land, or maybe not. It appears that digital agencies are going to great lengths to con marketers to part with their budgets.
Typical is the claim made by some digital types that you need specialist digital copywriting skills for the internet - skills that of course only their binary scribes possess. With due respect, what a load of old bollocks.
There is only one skill needed to write copy for online advertising, website content or e-mail messages. It's the skill known as copywriting. And you need to be a copywriter to possess it.
What has binary code got to do with copywriting and communications? Next you'll hear claims that specialists are needed to write copy for ads on the back of toilet doors, or for writing stairway advertisements at railway stations. Or does it really mean a digital copywriter has no talent for writing press, or radio, or outdoor, or television, or mail, or brochures or...
Nearly every digital expert making the specialist claim is not a copywriter. They've never trained as writers or journalists, or written copy in the real world. They may have written copy in the virtual world, but typically it's rather ordinary, just like most copy written in traditional media by people who aren't copywriters.
One of the biggest shortages in the marketing industry has always been talented experienced copywriters. In particular, direct response and retail writers - which are the type of writers you need for online advertising and content. The internet is a pure direct marketing channel, as every ad and much of the editorial content seeks to get readers to click-through and respond in some way. So your writer needs to know how to use words to make this happen - not an easy task in any media.
And as it has been for decades, it is the job of the copywriter to adapt the content to the medium, be it television, mail, website, e-mail or outdoor poster, etc. Because internet users (or should that be visitors?) are likely to scan web pages and e-mails (miraculously in the same way they scan printed newsletters, mail, press ads and articles) the writer must use headlines, sentence and phrase structure, cross-heads, sub-heads, indents, bold type, bullet points, layout and other techniques to attract and keep the attention of the reader.
If you subscribe to any professional copywriters' e-mail newsletters you'll discover that many of them produce their newsletters in text format. And they publish them with serif fonts and often many pages long. They do this because they know their craft and they conduct tests. They discovered for example that content published as text can often work better than HTML for newsletters and e-mail messages. That's because often their readers print the newsletters to be read and stored as hard copy, or because text is regarded as more personal.
I recently saw a test where the text version of a newsletter achieved over 320% higher response rate than the identical newsletter delivered as HTML.
But ask any alleged digital copywriter about testing and you'll likely receive a blank stare - they've never done any copy or creative tests.. Sadly they won't have a clue what you're talking about and won't be very useful to you. Yet digital marketers perpetuate the claim they possess amazing black magic that poor simple analogue marketers don't understand.
The main skill digital marketers possess is usually related to binary code - they produce ads using slightly different software to those who produce ads for newspapers or catalogues for example. Much of this digital skill, such as HTML programming, is taught in high school these days. And as far as I can tell most copywriters of all persuasions already use a digital technology to produce their copy - it's called a keyboard.
It seems that getting a digital expert to write your copy is like getting a software programmer to write the ads for a new computer brand, or a motor mechanic to write the brand plan for a new vehicle launch. Why would you risk it?
So beware the digital voodoo and avoid any big mouth who claims mystic digital copywriting powers. Look for copywriters who are experienced in all media, not just online - you'll get much better results and be safe from the mumbo jumbo.
That's the rant from Newry on a Saturday afternoon, if you agree or you want to stick up for our digital cousins drop me a line
I've been to the Bizcamps and BEN in the City Hall and the Social Media talks and I was thinking in spite of everything, times were promising in digital marketing land, or maybe not. It appears that digital agencies are going to great lengths to con marketers to part with their budgets.
Typical is the claim made by some digital types that you need specialist digital copywriting skills for the internet - skills that of course only their binary scribes possess. With due respect, what a load of old bollocks.There is only one skill needed to write copy for online advertising, website content or e-mail messages. It's the skill known as copywriting. And you need to be a copywriter to possess it.
What has binary code got to do with copywriting and communications? Next you'll hear claims that specialists are needed to write copy for ads on the back of toilet doors, or for writing stairway advertisements at railway stations. Or does it really mean a digital copywriter has no talent for writing press, or radio, or outdoor, or television, or mail, or brochures or...
Nearly every digital expert making the specialist claim is not a copywriter. They've never trained as writers or journalists, or written copy in the real world. They may have written copy in the virtual world, but typically it's rather ordinary, just like most copy written in traditional media by people who aren't copywriters.
One of the biggest shortages in the marketing industry has always been talented experienced copywriters. In particular, direct response and retail writers - which are the type of writers you need for online advertising and content. The internet is a pure direct marketing channel, as every ad and much of the editorial content seeks to get readers to click-through and respond in some way. So your writer needs to know how to use words to make this happen - not an easy task in any media.
And as it has been for decades, it is the job of the copywriter to adapt the content to the medium, be it television, mail, website, e-mail or outdoor poster, etc. Because internet users (or should that be visitors?) are likely to scan web pages and e-mails (miraculously in the same way they scan printed newsletters, mail, press ads and articles) the writer must use headlines, sentence and phrase structure, cross-heads, sub-heads, indents, bold type, bullet points, layout and other techniques to attract and keep the attention of the reader.
If you subscribe to any professional copywriters' e-mail newsletters you'll discover that many of them produce their newsletters in text format. And they publish them with serif fonts and often many pages long. They do this because they know their craft and they conduct tests. They discovered for example that content published as text can often work better than HTML for newsletters and e-mail messages. That's because often their readers print the newsletters to be read and stored as hard copy, or because text is regarded as more personal.
I recently saw a test where the text version of a newsletter achieved over 320% higher response rate than the identical newsletter delivered as HTML.
But ask any alleged digital copywriter about testing and you'll likely receive a blank stare - they've never done any copy or creative tests.. Sadly they won't have a clue what you're talking about and won't be very useful to you. Yet digital marketers perpetuate the claim they possess amazing black magic that poor simple analogue marketers don't understand.
The main skill digital marketers possess is usually related to binary code - they produce ads using slightly different software to those who produce ads for newspapers or catalogues for example. Much of this digital skill, such as HTML programming, is taught in high school these days. And as far as I can tell most copywriters of all persuasions already use a digital technology to produce their copy - it's called a keyboard.
It seems that getting a digital expert to write your copy is like getting a software programmer to write the ads for a new computer brand, or a motor mechanic to write the brand plan for a new vehicle launch. Why would you risk it?
So beware the digital voodoo and avoid any big mouth who claims mystic digital copywriting powers. Look for copywriters who are experienced in all media, not just online - you'll get much better results and be safe from the mumbo jumbo.
That's the rant from Newry on a Saturday afternoon, if you agree or you want to stick up for our digital cousins drop me a line
Brian McArdle, Copywriter: Digital Copywriters' Like Hello?
Brian McArdle, Copywriter: Digital Copywriters' Like Hello?: "Add 'Digital' and it's sooo much better I've been to the Bizcamps and BEN in the City Hall and the Social Media talks and I was thinking in..."
Wednesday 19 January 2011
Brian McArdle, Copywriter: Business Writing: The Kiss Principle
Brian McArdle, Copywriter: Business Writing: The Kiss Principle: "“Keep it Simple Stupid” The mantra all good writers should remember. Whether you’re producing a piece of marketing material, a sales prop..."
Business Writing: The Kiss Principle
“Keep it Simple Stupid”The mantra all good writers should remember.
Whether you’re producing a piece of marketing material, a sales proposal or perhaps an educational presentation, there are a number of key questions to bear in mind when trying to keep writing simple.
What is your angle?
Any piece of writing exists to communicate a message to your readers. This message needs to be clear in your mind from the very beginning. It is the driving force behind your text. It should also drive the processes that produce that text as well.
What is the appropriate structure for communicating this message?
Note that this structure should be as simple as possible.
What background material should I include? It is now, and only now that you should evaluate any research material you might have. Most importantly , if there isn’t a compelling reason to include some information within your structure, just cut it out.
How long should each topic be?
When writing each section of your piece, be extremely realistic about your planned word counts. Only say as much as is absolutely necessary to get your point across.
.
As you can imagine, writing generated according to the Kiss Principle tends to be produced very efficiently. The great thing is that it also improves the quality of your writing.This is because, in general, the simpler your structureand the clearer your proposition, the better.The process of writing that eventually follows is,
after all, far more fluid and enjoyable. What’s more, the message tends to be clearer because it has been better defined and the structure tends to be more robust which, in turn, will help your readers enormously.
Brian McArdle, Copywriter: Business Writing: The Kiss Principle
Brian McArdle, Copywriter: Business Writing: The Kiss Principle: "“Keep it Simple Stupid” The mantra all good writers should remember. Whether you’re producing a piece of marketing material, a sales proposa..."
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