Having trouble getting your copy right? Try doing it three times. Yesterday I happened to mention on Twitter that the “write three versions” trick wasn’t working for me, which prompted another writer to thank me for the idea. That’s when I remembered that – as far as I know – I invented this technique, which is why other people won’t have heard of it.
I’m currently looking for electricity suppliers for my vibrant, up-and-coming house and I came across your website. We’re looking for an electricity supplier who can power the fridge, the washing machine and other electrical appliances. We want someone who can deliver electricity quickly as required, ideally in a no-fuss quirky way that “fits” with our house style.
I wrote last week about bad first drafts and why we should do more of them: because getting something out there, however bad, is often the best way of moving forwards with a creative project. I write bad first drafts with a sense of taking one for the team: OK, I’ll be the one who makes myself vulnerable to criticism if it means we can finally get going on this.
I sometimes do copywriting work for clients who struggle to define exactly what they want. My tactic, which often surprises people, is to come up with what I call “a bad first draft”. It’s easier to look at what I’ve come up with and tell me why it’s wrong than agonise over trying to create a brief for the copy you want.
One of the perks of being freelance is that you get to work for lots of different organisations, which means you can spot interesting patterns. You get to see if a type of behaviour is unique to one workplace or common across many organisations.
When someone you love celebrates a significant birthday, do you send flowers – or pay for them to experience something unforgettable? The idea of giving “experiences” as gifts went mainstream with Red Letter Days in the early 1990s, but until now there’s been a huge gap in the market.
If you have a disability, it’s not easy finding an activity provider that meets your needs. It’s not impossible, but the extra work involved - contacting operators, explaining your disability and asking questions – is offputting.
Unless you’re obsessed with copywriting, it’s easy to forget that packaging blurb has to actually be written by someone. Mostly it’s like incidental music for films – if the consumer is reminded of the creation process, you’re probably doing it wrong. But sometimes it just jumps out at you.
Earlier I criticisede-consultancy.com about an article purporting to explain what journalists look for when they come to a website. I'm going to post some constructive advice soon, but first I want to highlight the assumptions behind the article and why they're wrong.
It reads as if the writer has enrolled in a Victorian object lesson about journalism, but never actually met a real live journalist. It represents the newsgathering process about as well as What Women Want mapped the depths of female consciousness.