There’s a small, six-letter word used far too much in copywriting. I don’t like it. Do I hate it? Possibly. To me, it’s a sign you’re being lazy, you’ve run out of steam and you can’t be bothered to think properly about what you’re writing. What’s the word? UNIQUE. Wait… Hold on one minute, Glenn. Unique […]
Author Archives: GLENN FISHER
When you procrastinate, I don’t believe it’s the type of task that’s important. You might choose to watch television or bake a cake. It doesn’t matter. Nor does the ease of the task you choose make much difference. You might choose to procrastinate by doing something you actually find quite difficult, like going for a […]
An old mentor of mine – the great Mark Ford – used to wind me up in a debate about subject line open rates. He said it was pointless analysing open rates. But, I argued, if you can increase the open rate, you get more people to see the email. So what, he’d ask? Well, I’d wonder, […]
Who. The. Hell. Would be a copywriter? Seriously. I threw out a request on Twitter for folks to tell me what they thought the hardest thing about being a copywriter is and…jeez. Ping. Ping. Ping, went notifications. Hundreds of fellow sufferers gave their two pence and the little tweet soon turned into some kind of […]
Did you hate it?” No, the interviewer replies. “Shame. You’re supposed to,” says McQueen. When it comes to getting someone’s attention, you’ve got to go for emotions. If you don’t at least try, you’re guaranteed to fail. If you’re not thinking about how your audience relates to your writing, you shouldn’t call yourself a copywriter. You’ve […]
No. This is not the introduction I was planning. I hate using I. It should be ‘you’ – that’s more engaging. I is self-indulgent. All good copywriters know that. But I need to use I, don’t I? Sometimes I wish I could open every piece Trott-style… In 1805 Gary Bingham was a captain in the […]
I get so worried by what other people are doing. It’s the worst kind of anxiety. Right now, I’m reading The War at the End of the World by Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa. It’s great. It’s also massive. 750 pages. And no pictures. I’m halfway through and can’t believe how dense the damn thing is. The […]
Before I wandered unwittingly into the world of marketing and became a copywriter, I was a punk. Well, not strictly a punk in the proper sense. I was a little too young for tartan and safety pins. But one element of punk that thrived in the ‘post-punk’ era was the DIY ethic. Driven by record […]
In 1963 things were really beginning to take off for Rowlf. After a false start recording several commercials for Purina Dog Food, he was put in the cupboard and almost forgotten. But when his owner was invited to do a skit on The Jimmy Dean Show, Rowlf was brought back in for a second shot at stardom. […]
Copywriting should be fun. It should be challenging too. But if you’re finding it too challenging, it’s wearing you down or it’s taking up too much of your time… You’re probably doing something wrong. So here I want to give you some tips on how to better manage your time as a copywriter. Most of […]