Copywriting

4 Ways to earn and maintain the trust of your audience.

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Young boy expressing trust by holding man's hand

Edelman is a communications agency, well known for what it calls its “trust barometer”.

They track the public’s levels of trust when it comes to business, the media, institutions and government.

As you can imagine, the results over the last few years don’t paint a pretty picture. Trust levels overall are down.

Even while people are looking to inform themselves with the latest news, Edelman reports that 73 percent are worried about fake news being used as a weapon.

And we need look no further than companies like VW and Facebook to understand why our trust in companies and large corporations is being eroded.

So… what is one to do?

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My main focus is now on a whole new project and website…

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conversational copywriting

I’ve been writing posts for this site for over 15 years now… and I’ll continue to do so… occasionally.

But for two or three years now I have been spending most of my time on a whole new project and website.

This is a real passion project for me. It’s something I’ve been leading up to for decades.

And it comes with a full-length course.

What’s this new project of mine?

It’s about Conversational Copywriting… check it out…

How Dangerous Dave and Big Brian drive conversations for this artist.

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Big Brian pain brushes

I write and talk a lot about the power and benefits of conversational copywriting.

Today I want to share an example of how the power of conversation extends way beyond just the words we write as copywriters.

Let me introduce you to Dangerous Dave, Big Brian, Flat Phil and Miss Rigger.

As you may have already noticed from the photo above, these are the names of four different paint brushes.

These four brushes arrived in the mail because my wife is an accomplished watercolor artist, but still likes to take classes. And one of the instructors she likes to follow is Andrew Geeson, from Wales. Andrew, as well as being an artist and instructor, clearly has smart marketing skills coded into his DNA.

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English may be his second language, but his copy rocks.

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Online copywriter in English

It’s tempting to think the quality of the copy we write is determined in large part by our ability to write a decent sentence.

We’re wordsmiths, right? That’s the foundation of what we do. We have to be able to put together a sentence that works and makes good sense. We need to understand the basics of grammar.

So my heart sank when I was reading a homework assignment that came across my desk last week. (I’m running a training program right now, and the students submit assignments.)

From the very first sentence it was clear that English was not this writer’s first language.

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No new web page exists in isolation.

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Write new web pages in context

Back in the old days, when I was young and writing print ads and direct mail. Before the web. Before everything was connected.

Back then, I could write each piece as a standalone element.

If I wrote a piece of direct mail, what came before and after someone read that package was simple and clear.

The “before” part involved a letter carrier delivering the letter to a prospect’s home.

The “after” part involved 1) The recipient dropping the letter and its contents in the garbage, 2) The recipient completing an order form and mailing it back or 3) The recipient calling a 1-800 number.

That was pretty much it. Easy. Simple.

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