“Live. Die. Repeat.” That’s the tagline of Tom Cruise’s new movie, Edge of Tomorrow. Have you seen it? Basically Tom Cruise gets the blood of an alien on him, which means that whenever he’s killed he returns to the day he got the alien blood on him. He meets Emily Blunt and then he has to […]
Tag Archives: Direct-Response Copywriting
One of my mentors, the American entrepreneur and writer Mark Ford, once taught me a simple way to improve problematic headlines using ‘the Four Us’. I’ve written about the idea many times before, but today I thought I’d put it to the test LIVE. Or rather, as I write this article. Why not, eh? Indeed, I’m […]
I’ve been in the cash machine queue half an hour already… But I’m not getting anywhere. Plus, I’m losing the will to live. The drinks queue is equally stupid, and I figure by the time the main act is on, even if I swap queues now, I’ll only have time for one pint anyway. That […]
“Write Better Copy is a life jacket for those who are dipping their toe into the wild marketing waters and sinking,” writes Blanca. She’s a fellow copywriter and journalist who picked up my Write Better Copy guide looking to understand more about how copywriting works. She continues: “When I started to study copywriting, I desperately needed the right tool […]
16
Feb
Feb
At last count, it was estimated around 300 billion emails are sent on a daily basis. “Sometimes we have to spend a little time with the numbers.” 300. Billion. A day. That’s a damn lot of emails. So, with so much other email copy competing with yours, it hardly seems worth spending much time on it, right? […]
16
Jan
Jan
I’d like to talk about salutations, my good friend. Or should I say Fellow Copywriter? Perhaps Intrepid Freelancer would be better? Of course, this is my point: There are far more options when it comes to addressing a reader than the classic ‘Dear Reader’. Sure, it’s a small thing. But still, it’s there on a letter for a reason […]
As a copywriter, you likely spend a ton of your time trying to come up with new and original subject lines to grab attention. It’s hard work, right? So let me ask you… Should you even bother? Especially when there’s a way you can hijack existing subject lines – that are otherwise considered boring – and use […]
16
Aug
Aug
‘When we tell stories about creativity…we neglect to mention those days when we wanted to quit, when we believed that our problem was impossible. Instead, we skip straight to the breakthrough. We tell the happy ending first. ‘The danger of this scenario is that the act of feeling frustrated is an essential part of the […]
Drayton Bird wants me shot… I’m not sure if he’s aiming for a fatal wound or if he just wants to ‘see me dance’ as per the poker scene in Goodfellas. Either way, it’s not every day that a legend of the copywriting industry issues a bounty on your head. So, what happened? Well, as usual, […]
Apologies to those who missed the June reading list. Due to me travelling so much last month, I wasn’t able to put one together. But I’ve taken this opportunity to slightly change the angle of my reading lists. Whereas before I was telling you what I’ll be reading over the next month, from now on […]