If there’s one piece of advice I’d offer to copywriters (other than embrace SEO), it’d be, “Use more contractions!” I’ve lost count of the number of freelancers who’ve sent me samples chock-full of things like “we will” and “you are” and “we are”. Even fairly conservative audiences like to read the way they speak (within [...]

We all know the advertising truism: focus on the positives, not the negatives. You’ll sell more by talking up the benefits of buying, than you will by harping on the risks of not. In his book, ‘Scientific Advertising’, legendary ad-man, Claude Hopkins, says: “We are attracted by sunshine, beauty, happiness, health, success. Then point the [...]

Just read some very interesting statistics presented by one of my favourite writers, Gerry McGovern. (The statistcis weren’t from his research; he was just discussing them.) According to a February 2008 study published by the Association of National Advertisers and Forrester Research, “Sixty-two percent of marketers believe traditional television advertising has become less effective in [...]

Yesterday I was asked for advice by an aspiring copywriter. This happens all the time, but on this particular occasion, I think I actually helped a little! So I thought I’d post the original question and my response in the hopes that it might help someone else… The question: I am looking at returning to [...]