Blog - it's dead good
An interview with me
Why did you choose a career in copywriting and how did you get into it? I’ve worked in marketing and communications roles since graduating in 1992. I went freelance in 2010 in a partnership doing social media, PR, marketing and comms but over time I realised that...
Writing for humans
I write for humans. I always say this to anyone who asks, some that don't and basically anyone who will listen. This is why I'm thrilled to hear about BERT. BERT is not my marketing persona. It's not a fictional human I write for. BERT stands for Bidirectional Encoder...
What holiday cottage owners should be including in their web copy and why
Here’s my take on what holiday cottage owners should be including in their web copy and why.
#grabbag – a competition to win a giant bag of crisps?
On Sunday (8 September) tweets started to appear using #grabbag. A competition to win a giant bag of crisps? Nope.
My thoughts on The Great Hack
Hands up if you’ve watched The Great Hack on Netflix? I wasn’t going to watch it as I felt I knew the bones of the story from following the revelations, in real-time, as they came to light on Twitter, and reading the many Guardian and Observer articles but I succumbed...
Communicating about mental health – inspired by #commschat
Unusually for me I joined in a Twitter chat last night (15 July). I say unusually as I’m quite strict about my working hours and my screen time, because I feel it’s important for my mental wellbeing and work/life balance. It was #commschat, a weekly Twitter chat on a...
What the *ux* is UX
Do you keep seeing UX everywhere and wondering what the *UX* it is? Yep me too. So I did some research. There isn’t a single recognised definition of UX but it stands for user experience and is about making things better for the user. In...
Getting the best results through constructive feedback (in copywriting and dog training)
Most dog owners know that one of the principles of basic canine training is rewarding good behaviour and correcting undesirable (bad) behaviour. If you aren’t clear with your dog about what is right and wrong he/she won’t have a clue what to do. Waiting patiently for...
Informed consent
Some months ago I heard about a company that places reps in maternity wards of some hospitals and said reps approach new mums offering up a bag full of freebies and a free bedside photo shoot. Say what? I was genuinely taken aback and assumed this was a new thing, but...
Money back guaranteed
I’ve got a bee in my bonnet about litter picks. I think it’s totally the wrong message to send out i.e. ‘we’ll pick up after you”. No. Change the record. Change the message. I wouldn’t dream of dropping litter and I think part of that is the way I was brought up, but...