When writing a marketing or publicity piece, such as a landing page or press release, you have to know the ins and outs of the product you're writing about. That's a given. However, it is equally important -- if not more so -- to thoroughly understand the target audience as well. That's not always easy.  Continue reading...

Marty Cooke is the chief creative officer of an agency called SS+K in New York City-but don't call it an ad agency. Marty's firm brings together a wide range of communications disciplines to provide what he calls "asymmetric communications." How does this work? We called Marty to talk about his agency's approach, and how language comes into play. Here's our conversation:  Continue reading...

One of the toughest jobs in marketing and PR communications is getting your target audience to read what you have written. After all, if your press release, brochure, web page, sales letter or newsletter article isn't read, it fails totally.  Continue reading...

Almost 400 years after the death of William Shakespeare, theaters still regularly perform his plays, children study his work in school and we are still moved by the complexity of his stories and the beauty of his language. But what's less well known is that Shakespeare also provided superb advice for copywriters and corporate communicators. Here are five of his best tips:  Continue reading...

Visual Thesaurus subscriber Sarah Williams runs a busy copywriting company called Wordsmith, based near Oxford, England. When we spoke to her recently, she quipped that "copywriting is a bit like method acting." Hmm, that got us curious. So we asked Sarah to tell us more about her approach to developing her clients' communications. Here's our conversation:

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I'm often approached by small businesses or organizations that can't afford professional name-development fees. And, frankly, a comprehensive name-development process, from creative brief through extensive legal review, may be more than they need. Entrepreneurs, mom-and-pop stores, and small nonprofit organizations often already have some name ideas. They just need some way to confirm that their hunches are on target.  Continue reading...

When my client, a Boston cosmetic dentist, asked me to produce podcasts promoting her dental practice, I said sure. I'm always game to learn new things. Although I was vaguely aware of podcasts, I really had no idea how they were put together or why a company would use them.  Continue reading...