 Why the world still needs human copywritersHave you heard the one about the chocolate record player? It sounds pretty sweet.
Ah, the dad joke. The bedrock of human comedic interaction. And, as yet, largely beyond the capacity of artificial intelligence. But you’d be forgiven for wondering why on earth that matters, given the fact that we’re clearly in the middle of a content-writing revolution of sorts, and making full use of the humble pun is not necessarily the top priority when it comes to crafting the words that connect you to your ideal customers. Do dad jokes make sales? Well, no. Not necessarily. (Except where they do, of course, which is where brand voice comes into its own.) But this isn’t about the dad joke, not at its heart. This is about the limits of what AI can do. And why, as a copywriter, I’m not worried about being automated out of existence. Quite the contrary, in fact.
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 Get the most bang for your buck with social media advertisingSocial media ads... love them or hate them, they're still a solid part of any online marketing strategy. But with so many platforms available, it can be overwhelming to work out where to even start, let alone how to create effective ad campaigns. Plus, with only so many hours in a day – and an actual business to run – how do you find the time? And is it even worth it?
The short answers are (a) bring in the professionals and (b) yes, absolutely. For the long answer – how to make them boost your business without wrecking your sanity – read on…  Bring in a professional writer to help your business thriveSo, it’s time to launch your company website. You want to put your best foot forward in the online world, so you’ve found a web designer to make sure it zings and you’ve chosen the platinum hosting service for all the additional bells and whistles that make the customer experience so satisfying. A brilliant graphic designer has brought your organisation’s logo to life and you’ve had a professional photographer show your products in their very best light. Now all you need to do is add a bit of text and you’re ready to go. And who knows more about who you are and what you do than the person who’s lived and breathed it for the past eighteen months? Do you really need to pay someone to write about the business you’ve built with your own two hands?
The simple answer is yes. While it might look like an unnecessary extra expense, bypassing the professionals at this crucial stage can very quickly negate the serious money you’ve already spent – and the same goes for newsletters, blog content, email marketing, online advertising, and just about any written content you put out into the world. Here’s why.  Get ready to make 2023 your most successful year yetAs we prepare to say goodbye to 2022, it’s a great time to look ahead to the new year and take stock of the many ways that digital marketing has evolved over the past twelve months. 2022 has seen the real world continue to re-open, with most businesses and consumers returning to pre-Covid operating practices. That said, the trend towards online shopping (and marketing) continues to grow, and that’s going to continue for the foreseeable future, with spending on digital advertising expected to hit $870 billion by the end of 2026 (it’s sitting at $600+ billion at the time of writing).
So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at three areas to consider as you look towards making 2023 your most profitable year to date.  Careful word choice builds trust among your ideal customersOne of the companies I write for is in the process of rebranding at the moment, and part of that process involves a reworking of the tone of voice principles they apply to customer communication. It’s a large company with an international presence, so this is no small undertaking – and yet an objective observer might conclude that the tone-of-voice change they’re implementing, which involves changing just one adjective in the keywords they use to describe the kind of copy they want us to write, is minimal.
An objective observer might conclude as much, but they’d be wrong. This one tiny tweak represents a seismic shift for the copy I’ll be writing. That’s how important it is to make sure you’ve got your tone of voice principles absolutely on point. Whether you’re considering a TOV re-think, starting from scratch, or worrying that you haven’t given yours enough thought, read on for some key principles that you can apply to help move you in the right direction.  Why your word choice might be costing you salesOne thing you will never find me doing is making blanket statements about the passive voice. In addition to copywriting, I’m a published novelist, and I know perfectly well that the passive voice is a respectable, functional and necessary element of the English language. There are some sentences that simply don’t work as intended in the active voice (“She was elected by over 50% of voters,” for example, transposes inelegantly from the passive), and I have little time for the kind of advice that suggests this particular construction should be avoided (see what I did there?) at all costs.
However. Copywriting is not like novel writing. There are crossover points, for sure – both involve telling a story, both strive to activate the reader’s imagination, and both involve evoking the reader’s senses in the service of an overall goal. But the key difference is that the goal of copywriting is to sell: an item, a service, a company, an idea. That’s where the passive voice makes things more complicated. Here’s why.  Five key things to avoid when writing product descriptions that convert“If you build it, they will come,” might be true of baseball pitches and long-dead sporting legends, but this far into the twenty-first century it certainly doesn’t apply to websites. And even when you’ve got your potential customers as far as your sales page, you’ve got a tiny window to shift them from “potential” to “actual.” When it comes to online retail, your sales page needs to be working hard if you’re going to make it convert, and a poorly thought out product description can actively harm your bottom line – according to Nielson Norman Group, a massive 20% of lost sales are down to lack of product information.
If you’re doing any of the following, it’s probably costing you money. Here’s why.  4 ways in which a great brochure can support your businessNo matter what you might have heard, print is not dead when it comes to modern marketing. You’d be forgiven for thinking so, given the ease – and prevalence – of digital advertising in the twenty-first century, but if you’re wondering whether your business ought to invest some of its marketing budget into producing a sales brochure, the answer is probably yes. Here’s why.
 SEO – or Search Engine Optimization – is huge: both in importance to your online business and in complexity. For a business to find its online market, it’s got to rank highly on a search engine page, but in a crowded marketplace, that’s increasingly difficult. And with the algorithms behind SEO constantly evolving, it can feel like an absolute nightmare for the technically disinclined to keep up with the dos and don’ts of optimization. Fortunately, help is at hand, and it’s plentiful, accessible, and a lot of it is free. So, read on if you’re searching for resources to help you get to grips with the constantly changing world of SEO – there are some absolute blinders out there, and I’m going to list a few of my favourites below.
 A very happy new year from Fabula Copy! May your business thrive, your customer base grow, and your brand shine in 2022.
The new year is a time for evaluation and goal setting for the months ahead. The past few years have certainly had their challenges, and consumer behaviour and expectations have changed as a result, but the great news is that there are some easy, cost-effective steps you can take this year to make your company stand out from the crowd. Read on for 5 ways you can make your copy work harder for you in 2022. |
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