Writing for the web

I recently wrote a series of text emails for a client with a large customer base that was negatively affected by issues the madness of simultaneous product launches caused. The issues weren’t big enough to put the organization into a tail spin or to render them “in crisis”… but they were significant enough that they required a formal apology.

I wrote V1 of the emails. Seemed to me that the problem, although not a PR issue, required the application of PR principles. Recall “The Page Principles: Seven Proven Principles that Guide Our Actions & Behavior”:

1. Tell the truth. Read more »

What movie posters can teach email marketers

If Hollywood studios are following certain rules in making their posters and, in turn, are making billions, then there must be something email marketing can learn from them, no?

Movie posters work. There’s a formula to them, and that formula can make even the most impossibly dull film come to life – not to mention what it can do for films that are actually good.

Is the same true for emails? Read more »

On the wall beside my computer monitor, I have four words written in black marker on a Post-It: Get to the point. It’s something of a mantra for the working copywriter.

Why? Because “no one reads copy”. You’ve got the first few words and the last few words of a paragraph to catch a user’s eye while she scans the page in the traditional (still relevant?) F-pattern. No one reads because they’re too busy to bother – they just want to get to the point.

That’s what I’ve understood for… oh… since I got serious about copywriting 5 or 6 years ago.

Problem here: I got ‘serious’ about it. Read more »