Awards shows play a crucial role in inspiring us to open our minds to new possibilities, they fuel the competitive spirit to perform to a higher standard and they teach us how it’s done. The “textbook” of my first copywriting class was a One Show awards annual—the book that displays all of the winning […]
WANTED: Non-weird, Non-hermity Copywriter
I remember my first official freelance assignment like a dream that never was. I was working from my kitchen table. Framing my computer screen was a pretty view of the apartment cluster’s courtyard. The smell of coffee mixed nicely with the scent of salt air from the beach a block away. I remember sighing […]
Snowplow races and why paying a project fee beats hourly every time.
My house backs up to a cemetery and fronts up to a small but busy cul-de-sac maintained and plowed by our town. During a snowstorm, the cemetery side is where all the action is. Without exception, the guy who plows their roads has theirs cleared and salted hours, sometimes days, before the city sends […]
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You need a roadmap the most when you’re in a hurry.
I woke up in a panic a few Sundays ago. My daughter had a travel soccer game and we’d way overslept. The maps app said it would take 50 minutes but we only had 45. I reassured myself that those estimates only applied to little old ladies and snow plows. If I was driving, […]
Whether you call it “discovery” or “research” – consider it an essential part of the copywriting process.
A few months ago I attended the AdAge B2B conference in NYC. One of the attendees, a marketing director at a small or midsized company, asked a question that befuddled the panel of agency luminaries. She asked why every agency she came in contact with insisted on going through a lengthy discovery process of uncovering […]
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Crank out ideas by the bucket.
My time-tested approach for coming up with lots of ideas in a short time frame. You know, there as a time not too long ago, when clients would actually give you two weeks to come up with concepts for an ad. Yup. One ad, two weeks. These days, you’re lucky if you get two days […]
Why won’t you let me read my copy to you?
It’s important for copywriters and designers to present their work in person (or over the phone anyway.) I encounter almost universal resistance to presenting my work to clients. And just so you know, when I say, “present” I mean read my copy aloud to you over the phone as opposed to just emailing. I think […]
The Beaucoup Benefits of Working with a Professional Copywriter
Even designers who write, can benefit from working with a copywriter. Are you one of the designers who can write? They do exist—I know, because I’ve worked with them. But no designer is an island, especially when it comes to words. Even if you know how to turn a phrase or crank out a post, […]
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The Nine Steps to Great Naming: Part I
Congratulations, you have a new product or service. You’ve poured years of effort and experience into it, and it’s just what the market needs. But, your baby has no name. So, how do you pick a memorable, distinctive and meaningful name–without making yourself crazy in the process? Here are the first four of my nine […]
Nine Steps to Great Naming: Part II
In my previous post, I showed you how to conduct a thorough naming exercise. Now I’ll show you how to separate the wheat from the chaff with the end goal of finding your own Snausages, DieHard, or Mac for your product or service. Get ready for part two of my nine steps to coming up […]
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Nine Steps to Great Naming: Part II
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The Nine Steps to Great Naming: Part I
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