“I just sit at a typewriter and curse a bit.” – P. G. Wodehouse, Born Oct. 15, 1881. Oh, Pelly-boy, that may have cut the mustard back in your time, but these days you have to be a complete artist. Cursing is when you wish ill upon your enemies. As in, I pray to White… Read More →
Let Your Processes Become Your Secret Weapon Against the Betrayal of the Fickle Muse
“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.” – W. Edwards Deming, Born Oct. 14, 1900. A lot of people who get into copywriting mistake it for other kinds of creative writing. They believe it is all art, and invention, and creative genius. And hey, work… Read More →
Say it. Then say it again differently. And yet again, but not the same, and Etc…
“The average voter has to hear a point seven times before it registers.” – Paul Weyrich, Born Oct. 7, 1942. Repetition is key. Repetition is key. If you want your message to be received… Repetition. Is. Key. Here is the rub. The trick to making this work is that you can’t just say the same… Read More →
Writing Even Your Brain Farts Down Will Change Your Life
“For my stand-up, I always have my notebook with me and if something strikes me, I’ll write it down.” – Janeane Garofalo, Born Sep. 28, 1964. Some of these essays go for deep, profound quotations. But this one is just a great, compact piece of professional advice that will have a PROFOUND impact on your… Read More →
Mashup Your Core Topic With Everything Else That Is Cool (And People Will Love It And Beg For More)
“The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well.” – Horace Walpole, Born Sep. 24, 1717. This is also a decent philosophy for thinking about your core content that you will use to build an audience around. You choose your central, main topic. And then… Read More →
Caring About Customers, And Showing It In Writing, Are Two Different Things
“If you really don’t care what an audience thinks, make a home movie and show it on your wall.” – Ned Tanen, Born Sep. 20, 1931. Maybe some kind of artist types can get away with not caring what an audience thinks of their work. But most artists care. And business people definitely should care…. Read More →
How to Tell Stories That Sell (Without Going All Blah Blah Blah)
“You can’t tell any kind of a story without having some kind of a theme, something to say between the lines.” – Robert Wise, Born Sep. 10, 1914. “Storytelling” has been a buzzword in marketing for a few years now. I’ve taught two courses myself, focused on using story to sell. But this is something… Read More →
If You Want to Write Better, Practice Writing Faster
“I can’t write without that urgency. Something is wrong if it takes more than five days to finish a screenplay. A story created this way will always be full of life.” – Werner Herzog, Born Sep. 5, 1942. Whatever you’re working on, you’re probably taking too long. Do it faster. Stop honking around. Focus on… Read More →
What Holds You Back From Being a Copywriter is Not Writing Any Copy
“If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.” – Edgar Rice Burroughs, Born Sep. 1, 1875. Until you are a copywriter… Stop buying copy books. Stop collecting swipes. Stop hand-copying old ads. Stop it. Instead… Start writing some copy. Start publishing it…. Read More →
Sneakiest “Hack” For Writing That Creates Easy Reading
“One should never write down or up to people, but out of yourself.” – Christopher Isherwood, Born Aug. 26, 1904. Here is a magical shortcut to becoming a good writer. Learn to dictate. You don’t have to use digital dictation tools, but you could. I do sometimes. What I mean is to simply compose your… Read More →
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