Marketing Writing Resources for Creative Copywriters

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Have you ever reached for a brownie when you were trying to lose weight? Or stayed in bed when you intended to go to the gym? Or put off paying bills because it was "too much of a hassle"? There are lots of different ways in which we sabotage ourselves. This is true of life in general and also true of the writing life.

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If you're marketing in a highly competitive keyword space or providing products and services with little or no name recognition, you should consider creating branded keywords and driving their search demand with buzz.

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Generating quality leads is a growing challenge for many marketing professionals. More than ever before, legions of marketing materials are competing for the attention of prospects. How can you be sure to stand out from the crowd?

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Every time the tradeshow season rolls around, marketers ask themselves the same old question: how can I tap into the special sales markets without using last year's hats, bags, Frisbees, pens, and other boring gimmicks? The solution is so simple and effective—good old-fashioned books.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: Writing

For marketers, technologically sophisticated products and services pose a special problem—translating the technical talk that engineers love into the plain talk customers need and will act upon. From the depths of my experience with bits, bytes, high-voltage devices and semi-toxic chemical compounds, we offer a few suggestions that will help you turn good science into compelling marketing copy.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: Writing

Done well, e-books deliver authentic thought leadership, branding an organization as one to do business with. Here are some examples of successful e-books to get your creative energy flowing....

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If your visitors like your Web site, there is a very good likelihood that the search engines will, too. With this in mind, the following 10 tips focus on how to develop your site with your visitors in mind, and also effectively conduct search engine optimization.

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Blog advertising expenditures have exploded in the past year. Companies can make a really big brand splash for relatively little money, meaning that blogs provide advertisers an excellent opportunity to reach a devoted audience niche. But blog numbers, until recently, have been little more than curiosities to big brands.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: Writing

In a classic "New Yorker" cartoon, a man approaches the pearly gates. Saint Peter, greeting the new arrival, gestures to a sign saying "Birth, Death & Beyond" and comments, "Actually, I preferred 'Heaven,' too, but then the marketing guys got hold of it." Ah, the dreaded "m" word. Instead of inspiring awe and admiration, it's now more likely to prompt contempt and eye-rolling.

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Selling intangibles is hard work. Putting together a successful Web site that peddles intangibles is even harder. Here's a look at the top sins that many professional services sites—maybe most—commit... along with some suggestions on what can be done about them.

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Sometimes, copywriters and content writers write in clichés. They say things like, "Company X offers an integrated end-to-end solution." To a reader, the line has barely any meaning, and certainly no impact. Why not? Because it is too familiar. Because he or she has read the same phrase too many times before, in too many other places.

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Google recently launched Google Trends, a tool that allows you to view keyword search trends by year and month. You can also view trends by news mentions and by region/country of searchers performing searches. Here are some real-world ways marketers can use the data in this truly useful tool to help get a jump on competitors and assess their search penetration.

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At a recent marketing association event about landing big company clients, one of the participants asked the speaker, "How do we find the watering holes where the decision makers meet?" The room burst into discussion. Some people said golf courses. Some said nonprofit boards. But I couldn't help thinking of a better alternative: Build your own watering hole. Load your Web site with so much fresh, valuable, and compelling information that it becomes the center of your industry's discussions. Here's how.

CONTENT TYPE: Article | TOPIC: Writing

Are you confident that the tactics you, your web designer, and your SEO all employ won't get you slapped by the search engines? If you can't say with absolutely certainty that you're squeaky clean, then you'd better study the following list of black hat tactics to avoid.

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Most CEOs and even VPs of marketing think messaging is about a good tagline. That's partially true, but a tagline is only a small portion of smart messaging work.

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We've all read about Web 2.0 and the impact it will have on businesses. Some find the principles life-altering, others say it's pure hype. Whichever camp you are in, you can't ignore the fact that business is changing—especially online. Here are five categories that managers need to consider now to keep in step with Web 2.0 changes.

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Blogging is one of the hottest trends on the Web. Whether yours is an individual blog, a group blog, a character blog, or a CEO blog, there's no doubt that, done right, a blog can position you as a thought leader, bring your Web presence to life, and help you engage with your customers. But with over 75,000 new blogs created every single day, and tens of millions of blogs already in the blogosphere, it's not a given that you'll get found by your target audience and develop a loyal following of readers. What can you do to pull in the crowds and to rise in the rankings? Here Stephan shares his secrets.

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Relationships. Trust. Delivery of superb value. These are core ingredients of a successful service firm. Talk to 100 service firm marketers and leaders, and they'll all tell you (and most of them believe it) that their firm is at the top of their industry in each of these categories. Why, then, do service firms typically do such a poor job of bringing relationships, trust, and value into their marketing mixes?