http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/?utm_source=rss Ad and marketing creatives Copyright 2008, Thinkmap Inc. All Rights Reserved. en Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/images/common/logo_on_white.gif http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/?utm_source=rss Search for a word in the Visual Thesaurus word http://www.visualthesaurus.com Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1381?utm_source=rss As an SEO copywriter and marketing consultant, I look at a lot of Websites. When I'm asked to assess a company's site, the first question that often crosses my mind when I review it is, "Hmmm... what exactly do you do?" Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1381 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1380?utm_source=rss With this column, we introduce the Visual Thesaurus' newest columnists, Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner of Editorial Emergency! Read our recent interview with Simon here. We brand ourselves. It's what human beings do. Whether we wish to conform to some social or cultural norm (the traditional blue button-down worn by generations of IBM programmers) or stand out as rugged individualists (the prescription bottle in the earlobe hole of a kid I saw on a Los Angeles sidewalk), we are forever distinguishing ourselves. Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1380 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1377?utm_source=rss Who are you going to call? To answer the cry for copywriting help, husband and wife team Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner set up an agency called, semi-tongue-in-cheek, Editorial Emergency! What kind of emergencies? "Everything from creating content from scratch to putting the polish on it," says Simon. We had a fascinating conversation with him about copywriting and branding-and pitfalls to avoid. Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1377 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1359?utm_source=rss A few weeks ago I received a call from a marketing manager of an event planning company. She was obviously frustrated. Her email promotion of a leadership seminar had failed miserably. Time was running out before the event date. She needed answers fast. So she asked if I would review the piece and get back to her with recommendations. Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1359 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1337?utm_source=rss Here's the latest case study of real-life copywriting in action graciously sent to us by Sarah Williams, the head of Wordsmith in England. Thanks, Sarah! (Check out our interview with her here.) The project: Bizlinx International, a business networking organization (though, for reasons that you'll learn below, business networking is really not the term I should use here) was looking to re-brand and re-position itself after four or five years of successful trading in Australia and New Zealand. (They also have a small presence in the UK.) Wordsmith was appointed to write all the new material for web and print, as well as re-write and re-brand all the existing material. We were also tasked to project manage the whole undertaking, liaising with branding specialists, designers and web developers to deliver a finished product to the client. Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1337 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1318?utm_source=rss "A corporate brand is meant to be an organizing principle and filter for all actions, behavior and product development of an organization," explains author and veteran branding expert Scott Lerman. The former president of Siegel & Gale and CEO of Enterprise IG, Americas, Scott founded the consultancy Lucid Brands in 2005 to help organizations shape and develop their "brand story." We had a fascinating conversation with Scott about his work: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1318 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1310?utm_source=rss How do you effectively communicate -- sell -- your ideas in the marketplace? Anne Miller, a speaker, author and corporate trainer, answers this way: Think in metaphors. Metaphors? Review a speech by Ronald Reagan, Jack Welch or Steve Jobs -- or other legendary communicators -- and you'll read prose laced with imagery and analogies that drive their points home. As the author of Metaphorically Selling, Anne teaches businesspeople to put metaphors to work in their own communication. We spoke to her about her approach: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1310 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1324?utm_source=rss According to David Meerman Scott, author of the bestselling book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, the old rules of PR no longer apply. Thanks to the Internet, marketing and PR professionals shouldn't write press releases for journalists in the hope of getting ink. Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1324 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1301?utm_source=rss Read a thriller novel and the style is fast-paced and loaded with action. Cozy up with a romance and you're spellbound by a budding relationship that struggles to grow and blossom. Review an academic paper and you expect to find an intelligent argument based on solid research and analytical thinking. Every writing genre has its own style, and marketing writing is no different. Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1301 Candlepower http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1268?utm_source=rss In Part One and Part Two of this series I shared six tools that professional name developers use to turn words into business and product names. In this final installment I'll describe three more-advanced strategies. Don't worry: you don't need special training to use them. Just be aware that implementing them successfully is often trickier than you might think. Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/candlepwr/1268