The blog
If brands need to be transparent, why pretend about who you are?
17th September 2012 | Posted in Branding
Social media is making business honest, whether it wants to be or not. There are far fewer places to hide. Anyone in any way associated with your brand – customers, employees, partners, competitors, leaders – all have something to say. Disaffected stakeholders can blow the whistle on a company about anything, any time. From a […]
Preserving brand voices in a multi-authored book
30th August 2012 | Posted in Editing
A few months ago, I edited an e-book bringing together the knowledge and skills of networking colleagues to give advice to anyone setting up a small business. Our contributors could talk from experience and training about finance, marketing, creating content, time management and how to still take time for yourself as an entrepreneur. In a […]
What you need to check on your web copy
28th August 2012 | Posted in Web content
There are still plenty of people in the world who will think less of you and your business if your web site doesn’t read well. So here are a few things to check before you press publish – and again after you have. Are you a “we” or an “I”? Tricky one for anyone who’s […]
Creating high-quality content
16th August 2012 | Posted in Content creation
SEO will bring traffic to your site. Images will attract attention. Yet it’s words that explain what you do, what you can do for your customers, and why people should buy from you. Whether you’re planning to hire a professional copywriter or create content of your own, this guide offers a wealth of advice on […]
Cold-calling business to business
11th July 2012 | Posted in Marketing communications
I’ve just walked in the door from by Women in Business Network meeting. The phone rang so I answered and gave my name. After a pause, a hard-to-distinguish voice asked if I was Mrs Lawrence. Sigh. Yes, I said. “And how are you today?” asked the voice. Sigh. It just so happens I’d just been taking part […]
What do you need from your articles?
10th July 2012 | Posted in Content creation
I have just received such a depressing email. It’s from someone I’ve been following for a couple of years, who really knows his stuff when it comes to SEO. In this message, though, he’s promoting the use of an article writing firm that can deliver articles for as little as one dollar 50, and within […]
Celebrated literature and copywriting
5th July 2012 | Posted in Content creation
If you’re an avid – or even an occasional – listener to BBC Radio 4, the UK national speech channel, you’ll have noticed that it recently celebrated a James Joyce anniversary. (Other anniversaries are available – especially on the BBC.) It was the 90th anniversary of Joyce’s famous Ulysses novel, and Radio 4 spent the day broadcasting […]
Marketing e-mails: what do they look like and what do they say?
6th June 2012 | Posted in Marketing communications
I prefer signing up for email alerts and newsletters to following someone on Twitter. Emails can be saved for quiet times. Tweets are gone in a flash and you might miss something useful. So as something of an email addict, despite the protestations from the social media crowd, I know how fast they can fill […]
Writing newsletters that people want to read
10th April 2012 | Posted in Marketing communications
Have just spent an enjoyable couple of hours advising a small business on taking their newsletter to another level. It read well enough, but it just wasn’t being opened, read or acted upon. Bit of a problem. So let’s go through some of the advice I offered. Make the open tempting. Write a subject line […]
Lessons in e-book writing
20th March 2012 | Posted in Marketing communications
So a group of us with small business skills have got together to write an e-book. (See my previous post on why and how.) I volunteered for role of editor. Why? Because I used to be the editor of a magazine way back when print was king, and I know about project managing collections of articles and […]