Category Archives: Training
Harrods – a lesson in how to give great customer service
It was such a simple thing but it made a deep impression. Saturday saw the 13th anniversary of my son’s birth. After watching Harry Enfield’s ‘Kevin Turns 13’ (compulsory viewing for all early teens), we spent the day in London – shopping, eating and watching giant Dwarves and a supersize Hobbit at the IMAX. We experienced many examples of customer service throughout the day – from friendly efficiency (Top Man) to bored disinterest (IMAX) but the prize has to go […]
What is GOOD copywriting? (Or what makes a good copywriter?)
Why do we worry about the words we use, what we say, what we write? Socially, the way we communicate makes a difference between making friends easily or having a complaint listened to and dealt with effectively or getting a job we want. But it’s as consumers that we are bombarded with messages from every angle – so we close ourselves off to any messages that we think/feel are irrelevant. Good copywriting makes us bypass this shut down mechanism and […]
Speak Easy – how to present with confidence
Mark Twain Whether you’ve got three weeks or three months to prepare, giving a presentation or speaking in public can be daunting. In fact public speaking is right up there with most people’s worst fears: dying, heights, enclosed spaces, spiders. It seems we’d rather face a mob baying for blood than deliver a short 5-minute presentation on the latest sales figures. It’s a little bit bonkers. Ok’ness is a state of mind Getting nervous is not always something you can do […]
In presentations, things don’t go wrong. They go differently.
SatNav has made complete idiots of us all. It’s true. Even though you know you should really come off at the next junction, or keep going straight on, you do as you’re told. You listen to the computerised voice of reason telling you to ‘Take the second exit…’ And you end up going the wrong way. This over reliance on a third party is not just confined to the box of tricks guiding you along the highway and byways. But, […]
Sweet Harmony – The Guide to Good Communication
Depending on your age (and musical tastes) this either reminds you of a particularly lovely early 90s single by The Beloved, or… it doesn’t. But, as I recently found myself in a large room filled with social media experts, all debating the knotty subject of Digital Content, Deep Data and Home Runs, I was reminded of sweet harmony for rather different reasons than a saucy video on Top Of The Pops. The event was Our Social Times, 2013 Social Media […]
8 Ideas For Instant Success (AKA How To Write Headlines)
Now, we all know knowledge is power but that’s just not our way. We like to share. And, as we’ve been thinking about headlines (a lot) we decided to pass on a few pearls of wisdom from our in-house copywriting trainers. So, how do you write headlines that MOTIVATE your audience? Headlines are the first (and possibly only) thing your readers will see. Whether you’re writing an internal sales directive or a major series of ads, they are the most […]
Copywriter’s Craft
Delving deep in our files of ‘Interesting Things’, we discovered this extract from a letter. It was written to ‘The Editor’ and featured in The Independent many moons ago. It is in response to a previous correspondent bemoaning the way advertisements are the reason young people are confused about punctuation… Sir – The craft of copywriting is all about preaching to the indifferent. It is designed to communicate not to educate. There are, I suggest, worse things than a predilection […]
7 Top Tips For Taking A Great Profile Picture
Time for my close up Mr Demille We’ve secured a lovely piece of PR for a client. So far so good. The interview is finished, the exclusivity deal is agreed and all that’s left is to send the profile picture… And that’s where the trouble starts. Other than snaps on their smart phone the client hasn’t got any up-to-date high res photos of themselves. Who does these days? But while those phone snaps might be fine for facebook they won’t cut […]
Making your web copy sing
Who are you? What do you do? How can I find you? Do I trust you? You call them words, we call it copy. Whatever you call it, writing a website in a way that makes people engage with your product or service can be harder than it seems. But worry not. Even if you find it difficult to hit the high notes, the following will at least make your website sound in tune. And it will help ensure your […]
Social media explained…
Right, so I know I need to start twittering but… what is it exactly? We were recently asked to give a 10 minute social media blasterclass for one of our clients. They knew they needed Twitter – at least, they’d been told they did and believed whoever it was they were talking to… They also knew they needed Facebook and had set up a page and then… weren’t really sure what to do with it… So, we held hands, took […]
