Tag Archives: IDEAS

Crazy ideas are cool, but only good ideas work

Before you write any piece of copy, you need to figure out if the idea you’re writing about is any good. If your idea sucks ass, your copy will suck ass too. On the flipside: if your idea is good, writing the copy will be much easier, and faster. And chances are, your copy will be […]

Repetition, repetition, repetition: A good idea is worth repeating

It’s an objection often raised, especially when it comes to longer pieces of copy. If handled badly, it can ruin your work. But get it right and it could be one of the most important tools you employ. I’m talking about repetition. A reader asks an interesting question on this very subject: “Is there a good […]

Inspiration really can come from anywhere

You may know him as Kento. Or you may know him by his Spanish name: Pedro. For a short while, I knew him as Hector. Before a fellow writer and marketer, Thomas Goosey, enlightened me. In case you don’t recognise his name, he looks like this: He’s a children’s television character that’s become a meme. He’s usually […]

How to stop your head from exploding with ideas

My mind is a mess. I mean, literally, a mess. There are too many ideas in there. Bits and bobs lying about all over the joint. Send help. Send a cleaner. Send a shrink. It’s like someone ran into a library with a barrel of explosives and let rip… There are pages everywhere. Ideas strewn […]

The C.I.A. secret for identifying good ideas

Before you write any piece of copy, you need to figure out if the idea you’re writing about is any good. If your idea sucks ass, your copy will suck ass. Worse: A bad idea will make it even harder to write the suck-ass copy, which is just dumb. Why spend extra time writing bad […]

A slideshow all about creativity and ideas

After spending an evening with social media expert and general ‘smart guy’, Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee), I decided to check out SlideShare. “Green light your ideas” Have you come across this yet? It’s basically a social network based around sharing slideshows. Sounds weird, I know. But I kind of like it and spent some time designing my own […]

Quotes about Copywriting: 1. Always be open to ideas

The first here in a new series of ‘quotes about copywriting’. Every now and again I’ll be posting a new snippet of copywriting advice that you’ll hopefully want to share with the world. (Frankly, I’m so fed up with the wealth of meaningless inspirational quotes circulating the web that I thought it was about time […]

what-ernest-hemingway-bill-hicks-and-bob-dylan-have-in-common

I wrote a new article for a fellow copywriter, Alastair Allday, that is currently featured on his website, Allday Creative. You can read the piece here. In it I reveal five things that could help you improve your writing. But these aren’t regular copy tips and it isn’t a list of typical ‘how to’ textbooks. […]

The one thing you must do to make sure you have new ideas

Ideas are irritating. Sometimes they’re right there in your face, shouting at you like an arrogant teenage kid who thinks they know best… Other times they’re nowhere to be seen, like your broke mate Steve who’s always in the toilet when it’s his round at the bar. I’ll tell you what… From now on, let’s […]

How you should start the perfect sales promotion

Aristotle’s idea was to start in the middle… And I have no doubt that in creative writing classes all around the world they’re preaching the same message as we speak. But hey, I was brought up under contrarian copywriter supreme, Bill Bonner, so why not throw a spanner into Aristotelian theory. Someone’s got to, right? […]