January is known for its grey skies, chilly evenings and general gloominess. However many marketers captialise on consumers’ “January blues” by introducing time limited deals, discounts and a sense of exclusivity to stretch their wallets that little bit further during the post-holiday season. This is what we call “scarcity marketing,” and if used effectively it not only acts as great Call To Action, but also increases consumer engagement and dramatically boosts sales conversions.

Handwriting is as unique as our fingerprints; no two are ever the same. How you dot your i’s and cross your t’s may convey a lot more about you than you realise. Recent research indicates our writing can reveal more than 5,000 personality traits. The shapes of letters, spacing between words and even writing pressure all reflect different aspects of our characters. Today, handwriting analysis can be used for understanding health, solving criminal investigations and even screening employee compatibility. Curious to know what secrets your penmanship is leaking?

It’s happened to all of us. That “Dear [insert name]” introduction, promising you the personalized deal of a lifetime... But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

Impersonal, robotic emails should be relegated to the virtual trashbin because they make your customers feel they’re just another faceless number. You value your customers, don’t you? Then show it! Make them feel enterained, informed and unique – and they might just take notice of your products and services. 

Your corporate website is probably your most valuable piece of online real estate. However, quanitfying that value by calculating the web traffic that converts to actual sales is easier said than done. By optimising and funneling your virtual storefront, you can maximize your probability of transforming vistors into buyers. Follow these 5 quick steps to start increasing your online ROI today!

Storytelling is a dynamic form of persuasive jujitsu that copywriters use on a daily basis. In a market of highly competitive black belt storytellers, budding copywriters better start training…

Expert copywriters purposely fill us to the brim with emotion so we’ll lose track of the logical, abandon our anti-marketing defenses and listen to what they have to say. People are hard-wired to be receptive to stories – so when you’re trying to get a point across, a story is an excellent place to start.

With Ebay research suggesting that consumers think about their Christmas shopping as early as May, your marketing content during the festive season is more important than ever before. But what can Saint Nick teach us about content, consumer quirks and Christmas shopper mentalities?

“It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it…” 

Your tone of voice can make or break a conversation, and the same holds true for your brand. 

Our tone of voice lies in our choice of words, the way we construct phrases and the personality that shines through. Different tones can drastically impact consumers’ perceptions of a brand. Tone of voice is quickly becoming a top priority for savvy communications and marketing professionals as it promotes uniformity across channels and brings a sense of life and humanity to their brands. 

It’s no secret that in a world of instant gratification and quick fixes, people’s attention spans are shrinking. In fact, statistics now lead us to believe that our average attention span is now lower than a goldfish’s – but luckily we’ve got a couple of insider tricks to keep audiences glued to your content...

All great advertisers are born that way...or are they? David Ogilvy was a man known for his colourful temperament, formidable wisdom, but most of all for his lasting impression on the advertising world. He transformed advertising and copywriting from a disreputable business into a fast-paced industry full of passionate and powerfully creative minds. But even people at the top can have humble beginnings and they don’t come as far fetched as Ogilvy’s!

The first time you hear an annoying advertising jingle you say to yourself, “Argh… I hate these ads!” Second time, “How can anyone actually like this?” But after the fifth time, you suddenly catch yourself humming along during your daily commute. 

Whether we like it or not, people are hardwired to fall for repetition in advertising copy. While the age of mobile Internet has introduced countless new channels for reaching consumers, the fundamentals of good copy haven’t changed. The more we see or hear something, the more we like it.

When it comes to advertising and content marketing, copywriters are faced with a daily conundrum: short or long copy? No matter what the length, copy should resonate with your audiences.  Don’t allow yourself to make decisions based around the mantra ‘the shorter the better’, because time and time again statistics prove otherwise. Did you stop to think perhaps your target audience might not want “big pictures” with ambiguous copy? There are times when short copy can result in miscommunication, misunderstanding and to put it quite simply, may miss the mark completely.  

From a copywriter’s perspective we’re conditioned to love words. It’s built into our DNA -  so of course we’re going to vouch for long copy! Take a gander at some of Wordsmith’s favourite long copy ads:

We may not be wearing costumes or handing out candy in the office, but that doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate Halloween in our own wordy way. Creep down Wordsmith’s spine-tingling wordlist...if you dare...

Every writer has a unique ritual for finding inspiration. For Benjamin Franklin it was "air bathing" in the nude; British author VS Pritchett favoured midday cocktails; and countless others swear by the power of an afternoon snooze. For those of us who don’t enjoy the luxuries of booze, naptimes or clothing-optional policies at the workplace, it may be worth your while to consider another effective option: music. 

We all know that music soothes the savage beast, but how does it fare in the workplace? Plug in your earphones and try a few tunes from Wordsmith’s carefully curated playlist. The right music might be more beneficial than you realise…

Daydreaming. Even the word itself encourages our minds to drift off. In a world where we’ve been conditioned to believe that daydreaming is for the lazy, bored and unproductive it’s understandable to think that it has no place in the working environment. Think again. Recent research shows that daydreaming increases creativity, stimulates your working memory and is an essential element for a healthy satisfying life, but what does this mean for writers?

Every writer has their favourite font. Some edit with one and publish with another, while others remain dedicated to one font throughout their entire career. Like handwriting, people attribute certain personalities to fonts: Times New Roman (traditional), Helvetica (artsy) and Papyrus (new agey). Whereas despised fonts like Comic Sans and Curlz draw nothing but sneers. Choosing the right font to compel audiences may be trickier than you think, so let Wordsmith quell your doubts on the matter once and for all.

With the boom in content marketing, online copywriting and microcopy, grammar mistakes are creating more negative impact than ever - costing companies money, and even more importantly, clients. Once you click that tweet button, your mistakes are out in the wild… whether you like it or not.

No need to fret, we’ve got you covered with tips to avoid common grammatical blunders. Apostrophe misusage is a pet peeve here at Wordsmith HQ (we don’t get out much), so let’s take a closer look at the English language’s most horridly abused punctuation mark…

As far back as 300BC Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle gave interesting insight into how to persuade audiences, and his lessons still stand true today.  

Your voice is quivering, you can’t deliver a joke to save your life and you’re on stage in 5 minutes. Before you pull that fire alarm, take a breather and remember that you’re not alone. According to studies, public speaking is people’s number one fear – surpassing even death. Even though gaining confidence is half the battle in public speaking, what’s to be said about the actual speech itself? Even the most  successful orator’s words would fall flat without a compelling story or an interesting premise. 

This is where we step in. Take a gander at Wordsmith’s top tips to make your speech stand out from the crowd.

With people being bombarded by thousands of sales pitches every day, consumers are beginning to take writers’ claims with a pinch of salt. Audiences are becoming less inclined to believe every monotonous marketing jingle or call-to-action pop up ad. To be a skillful persuader you need to slip your messages beneath the radar of your readers.

According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary, a copywriter is “someone whose job is to write the words for advertisements.” But we don’t just write advertisements – we also draft press releases, corporate communications, reports, speeches, video scripts, websites and copy for content marketing. 

Whatever you do, please don’t confuse us with copyrighters – the legal types who charge princely fees to help you stamp © on everything. It’s a common mistake that even our closest friends and family make. So we thought it best to clear up a couple of misconceptions...