Writing for the Web

Use simple anecdotes as a tool to sell your clients on the power of stories.

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(What follows is the outline I wrote in advance of recording the video. They’re my talking points. Not a regular post or article. Just an outline.)

This is about collecting small stories or anecdotes, and then using them as a way to sell your clients or colleagues on the power of stories in marketing.

So… imagine you are trying to pitch a group of marketers on your idea for an upcoming campaign.

You want to use the company’s origin story. But first you have to persuade the marketing group this is a good idea.

Once again… stories to the rescue.

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Traditional versus conversational copywriting. One guy thinks traditional wins.

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(What follows is the outline I wrote for myself in advance of recording the video. This is just an outline. Not a regular post or article.)

A while back I was sent a bit of a challenge by a reader who didn’t agree with much of what I have been writing about the thrust of my course, Conversational Copywriting.

Fair enough.

Here’s what he wrote… slightly edited for brevity…

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Start new conversations by inviting your visitors to ask questions.

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(What follows is the outline I wrote for myself in advance of recording the video. This is just an outline. Not a regular post or article.)

This isn’t one of my Q&A videos.

Nobody asked me this question.

So I’ll ask it myself.

“What do I think is the most powerful way to get conversational with a website’s audience?”

In my course, Conversational Copywriting, I talk about a few different ways to get your clients started.

But if I had to choose one, and only one way… it would be this…

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Conversational copywriting is about removing the layer of mistrust between a company and its customers.

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adversarial car sales man in coversation

When you walk into a car dealership and a sales person walks towards you, you can feel a change take place in your body.

There’s some kind of chemical adjustment happening in your brain. You feel a sudden tension in your muscles. Not relaxed at all.

You feel ready to fight. Or at least, to negotiate.

This is a little weird. It’s not like you’re walking down a dark alley at night, twitching at every sound, preparing to fight or run for your life.

But the symptoms are the same, even if not quite as elevated.

How come?

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The rise of ad blockers is a warning about the future of selling online.

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Ad blockers and bricked up windows

According to a recent report from PageFair, the use of ad blockers grew by 30% in 2016 alone.

By the end of 2016, there were over 615 million devices with ad blockers installed worldwide. 62% of those devices were mobile.

A couple of years ago it was only the nerds who were blocking ads. Now it’s gone mainstream. And it’s not just younger people who are doing this. The spread across age groups is surprisingly even.

This spells big trouble for both advertisers and the media sites that carry their ads.

The advertisers sense, quite rightly, that their ads are being viewed by fewer and fewer people.

And the websites that carry advertising as a core part of their revenue stream are facing an uncertain future.

So what’s happening here? Why the sudden surge in the use of ad blockers?

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My 19-year romance with conversational copywriting explained.

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sunset message in bottle

I’m going to be writing quite a bit about conversational copywriting over the next few weeks.

So I thought it might be a good idea to first define what I mean, and give the term a little history and context.

I first began writing and talking about conversational copywriting way back in the late 1990s. In 1998 to be exact. Hence the 19-year romance.

I made the simple point that as the web is a two-way communications medium, shouldn’t we adjust our marketing and promotional language accordingly?

Traditional media, like TV, are one way. The advertiser gets to speak at you, but you can’t talk back to the advertiser through your TV.

The language of advertising developed accordingly. Advertising spoke at you, through TV, radio, magazine ads, bill boards and so on.

Then along came the web… a two-way communications medium. Huge change.

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