Reassurance isn’t a term that’s widely used in copywriting. Have a quick scan through the index pages of Cialdini’s Influence, Daniel H. Pink’s To Sell is Human or even Ogilvy’s On Advertising and you won’t find any special preference given to the word. Does that make it redundant? Does the fact that late greats and modern thinkers alike haven’t targeted the concept of ‘reassurance’ mean that it isn’t something to think about? No way. I…
A lot of people have been in touch to ask if they could find All Good Copy on Facebook. You can now. I’ve set up a page dedicated to All Good Copy and will be posting stuff on there regularly. It won’t just be articles from the site, either. As with my Twitter feed, you’ll find comments and insight that you won’t find on any other of the All Good Copy channels. So, if you’re…
I’ve just published a new book for Kindle… And as well as it being available on Amazon for just $1, you can also download it for free with a simple ‘tweet’. Yup. All you need to do is tell your friends about it and then you’ll be able to download it for free. (You can also share it on LinkedIn or Facebook.) Inside I’ve brought together ten simple rules that I recommend you follow when…
In the second of three videos about my writing process, I hope to share with you how to get your ideas down on the page. Once you’ve done your research and you’ve got a load of great ideas bouncing around your brain, the next step is to give them form. Sure, you can just throw everything at the empty page if you like. Indeed, some copywriters recommend you do just that. But I think that’s…
Whenever I’m looking to take on a trainee copywriter, one of the tasks I always set is the same. It’s designed to see if the writer is able to turn features into benefits. On the face of it seems a very simple exercise… And frankly, it is. But it reveals something about a writer that very quickly shows me if they have this skill that I’ve found to be almost inherent in successful copywriters. You…
In the first of three videos about my writing process, I hope to share with you an idea that will make your own writing process much easier. But this isn’t something complicated or ground-breaking. Instead, I just want to highlight a mistake I’ve noticed a lot of copywriters make when it first comes to dealing with a new project. It’s a mistake that most clients or employers will actually force you to make… But it’s a…
So this is a trick I teach any copywriter or editor I work with… It isn’t difficult. It isn’t time consuming. And it certainly isn’t fancy. In fact, it’s a very simple and purely technical change you make to your word processor each time you’re writing copy that will be read via email. It’s particularly effective for articles, auto-responder copy and email endorsements. It also returns great results for copy that will be read on…
I want to talk about the end… The moment you know the inevitable is upon you. The moment you see everything flash before your eyes and wonder if you’ve done enough. The moment you quietly whisper into the vast, empty abyss and ask… Dear reader, do you actually want to buy this? Yes – I’m talking about the end of a direct response sales letter. NOT the end of the world. Though to be honest,…
I often compare writing a successful direct-response sales letter to passing your driving test… Providing you don’t make any major errors and you manage to keep the minors to a minimum – you should be OK. If figures then that when you start learning about copywriting, you generally tend to focus on avoiding the bigger blunders. Just as you’d rather not run over the instructor’s wife (and accidentally admit you’re having an affair with her…
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. In fact, these five things are totally unrelated to copywriting and actually involve Ernest Hemingway, Bill Hicks and Bob Dylan.…