Marketing
Clear is Kind
The line between direct and obnoxious is thin, but firm. Your goal is to remain securely on the generous side of the line, avoiding the obnoxious side as much as humanly possible. Often in our attempts to avoid being obnoxious, we overcorrect and become non-committal, evasive, defensive, passive aggressive, and (the worst one) unclear. Making (…)
Pause Before Publishing
About a decade ago everyone and their mom was obsessed with “vulnerability.” Brene Brown gave her now famous TED talk on the topic and popularized the term, leading people to become devout practitioners of vulnerability. What did that mean? No one knows. But what happened was people started oversharing everything private about themselves on the (…)
Write As You Speak
When I first started Writing Professionally (that is to say: being published for free), I worked for a local magazine called INSite Atlanta where I took whatever job they gave me. I wrote the “Hot or Not” column for a while and then graduated to celebrity interviews which was cool because I got to attend (…)
Why People Who Go To Therapy Become Better Copywriters
During the previous run of The Copy Workshop, I thought a live fireside chat with a professional copywriter would help invigorate the classroom, so I invited my friend, Carolynn, to speak to students. And while traditional speakers give tips, tricks, frameworks, and takeaways – Carolynn gave us the opening scene of The Godfather. [To find out (…)
Write Copy You’re Proud Of
There’s a category of businesses I call “cookie-cutter” because they all look the same. You can tell who runs a cookie-cutter business because they’re obsessed with business “formulas” for scaling. And they do it quite well. If you want to run a cookie-cutter business it will probably work, at least for a little while. Books (…)
Sooo easy
In 2017, I wrote a piece on Hustle Guilt where I argued that we’ve put the wrong values on a pedestal when it comes to what we call “hard work” and “sacrifice.” It’s hold hat 🎩now. Once Mrs. Huffington collapsed on her desk and Peterson’s burnout piece went viral the world took a collective, “oh shit.” And (…)
What The Inner Game of Tennis Can Teach You About Copywriting
We recently moved to a new city in which I have approximately two IRL friends. Those two friends thought it would be fun to play tennis. I did not. I do not play tennis nor am I interested in learning tennis. At my spouse’s urging to invest in new relationships (also peer pressure) I accepted (…)
How To Write Cold Emails That Get Opened
The latest bro marketing trend, which you will recognize from your spam folder, is offering business owners a “chance to be featured” in a bogus media outlet for the low low price of $2,500. That pitch isn’t the problem. It’s not my cup of tea, but I’m willing to bet there is a market for (…)