Marketing Writing Resources for Creative Copywriters

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Everyone has heard the common complaint that America is becoming less literate, but the onus for this alleged circumstance is nearly always placed on the reader (or, rather, non-reader) instead of where it often belongs: the writer. Many professional writers seem to have lost the ability to write clear, comprehensible copy that instantly communicates its point. That's especially worrisome in advertising, which depends on quick communication for its effectiveness.

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PR success isn't mysterious. It comes down to a mix of old-fashioned research, savvy trend-watching and good people skills. It is the age-old talent of telling a good story. That's really the essential difference between PR and advertising. Here's the "secret recipe" for telling your business story through public relations.

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Customer case stories are a powerful way to communicate the value of a company, product, or service. Nobody speaks more loudly for you than your customers. But if that's the case, why do so many customer success stories and case studies fall short? Here are 10 things that blunt case study effectiveness... and what you can do to avoid each.

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Brands that deliver general interest newsletters filled with tips, tools, and advice—but not unique, brand-differentiating content—should re-think their approach. Progressive brands are making advances in their approach, tightening the focus of their relationship marketing, and now filling newsletters with more unique-to-the-brand content.

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Podcasts are an excellent way to share your latest findings and juiciest developments in a medium that's engaging, fun, and portable. If you're thinking about podcasting, here's the second installment of an insider's peek at the creation of a podcast series, complete with professional tips from a talented audio team.

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The major problem with blogs is that they are a relatively new—albeit rapidly growing—Web phenomenon. As a result, they constitute a more or less uncharted realm for companies, with few official policies or guidelines.

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Numerous people have studied the process that creative people go through to develop their ideas. Most of these students of creativity agree that ideas come from a subconscious process that takes two relatively unassociated thoughts and combines them together to produce a new thought—a new idea.

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It's no longer the world of work you knew when you graduated from college. The tried and true career management techniques you've been using just don't work in today's marketplace. Working hard, writing a compelling resume, staying connected to head hunters are all so... 20th century. To achieve the highest level of success and fulfillment today, you must immerse yourself in the Web 2.0 frame of mind. That means developing a new set of career management habits.

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This MarketingProfs Classic, originally published January 8, 2002, remains as relevant today as ever. As Nick Usborne writes, some words really can make a difference on your site. They are not "powerful" in isolation but, in the right context, can make an important difference.

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If your business targets a local region, the trick is connecting with those in your own back yard. It's wonderful to rank well in search engines for a competitive search phrase, but if your product is only available to a small subset, how much time and bandwidth can you afford to waste dealing with visitors from too far afield? By taking the right steps early you can get better search rankings from your SEO campaign and, more importantly, attract an audience from the right locale.

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With spring comes not only a new season but a "sticky" new segment. Book Club is back for "Round Three" with the hottest book of the year, "Made To Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath. "Made To Stick" analyzes why some ideas survive while many others die. But that's not all; the authors have deconstructed why ideas that didn't have revenue incentives, like urban legends and fables, have amplified across social groups and through many generations. Here, they discuss this plus more of the book's concepts.

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Many businesses and individuals have leaped blindly into the blog pool. Countless bloggers have found the water a bit too chilly and have abandoned blogging altogether. Still others are barely keeping their heads above water as they grapple with the challenges of blogging. Perhaps you are contemplating blogging? Leading bloggers have some important warnings for you.

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When most marketers think about humor, it's typically in the context of television and print ads. But humor can be an effective communication tool across a range of print and interactive media, whether you're talking to a B2B or B2C audience. No kidding...

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There are an ever growing number of opportunities for PR people to take advantage of the next generation web. More efficient, more effective, more creative means of launching products and services have to be implemented beyond the tired old standby—the static press release.

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Now that YouTube is more popular than all the sites of the TV networks combined, some wonder whether broadcast TV's days are numbered. It may well become more important for your brand or company to be on YouTube than to be advertised on TV. Undoubtedly for some, that day has already arrived.

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There are a number of rich places to find content for your newsletter. Some of it takes the form of free articles. Some of it you pay for, and you can request any kind of content you like. Whatever your industry and the focus of your e-newsletter, there are plenty of places to get good content for every issue you send.

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After hearing all the buzz about blogs and how popular they are becoming, your company decided to dive into the blogging waters. But that was months ago, and even though you've posted a few times, your blog has gotten little or no comments, and only a handful of visitors a day! Before you give up and decide to pull the plug on your blogging experience, let's look at some ideas for revitalizing you blog into a place that both you and your customers can benefit from. Here are eight points to consider.

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Building Web sites involves three very different kinds of skill—technical, visual, and editorial—and the three must work together, which is why the task is so daunting. Here are 10 tips for smoothing the process.

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In his keynotes and recordings, world-class motivational speaker and sales trainer Zig Ziglar often talks about the importance of having meaningful, specific goals. And he'll drive home his point with the rhetorical question, "What would you rather be in life, a meaningful specific or a wandering generality?" As marketers and business owners, if we want our sales copy to produce profitable results we would do well to heed Zig's admonition. Because nothing will hold the attention of your reader and advance your selling proposition as well as specific and meaningful benefit-oriented copy.

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There are two distinct ways to approach the writing of a Web page... at least, according to this author. Here they are.