Copywriting

From the obvious tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini to the less obvious like Perplexity, Pi, Poe and more!

As you'll know, 'GenAI' rose to prominence with the launch of ChatGPT from OpenAI in late 2022. Since then, many other less well-known tools have been released that have some advantages over ChatGPT, so should be considered by any 'AI-assisted marketer'. In this article, I will recommend 10 plus tools to consider, looking in particular at how marketers can use them for writing marketing plans, such as annual marketing plans or campaign plans. We will also look at how many marketers are using generative AI for writing plans and caution against being overly dependant on AI for planning. To be the 'devil's advocate', I will ask should we be using these tools at all?! How widely is generative AI and ChatGPT used in marketing?

ChatGPT has been widely adopted…

Custom landing page examples and best practice advice. Always use your data to inform your digital marketing strategy

Discussion of web design in companies who don't know the power of a strong landing page still often focuses on the homepage. But savvy companies who are effective in their traffic building know that many visitors reach the site on other landing pages. These include both standard website page templates like category or product pages and custom landing pages dedicated to maximizing the conversion of leads when using inbound marketing techniques like SEO, Google Ads, and social media to drive visitors to a site. Whether you use standard page templates or dedicated landing pages will depend on your sector. For retailers or travel companies, it's impractical to create bespoke landing pages for each category and product. However, for business-to-business service and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) businesses, dedicated pages are still commonly used to maximize conversion. In other…

A tutorial with examples and ideas of what to test

Prominently displaying why users should buy from you rather than a competitor is extremely important for any business look to increases online sales, particularly in retail, but it applies across many other sites. As Bryan Eisenberg, author of Always Be Testing can Call To Action explains in this punchy clip, testing value propositions can have a massive impact on conversion. [youtubevideoembedder id="ps7bB9-ksMY"] Bryan Eisenberg On Unique Value Propositions (1m45s) >> As Bryan says: "If you're not doing this, you're wasting your time" Given this, value propositions are something that I love to test. Smart Insights have covered the importance and examples of value propositions in other posts on their hub page, here I'm going to focus on testing, looking at retail Ecommerce examples.  I will looking at testing and optimisation point of view, starting with a review of…

Guidance and examples for Buying Guides relevant for other sectors too

‘Buying Guide’ or 'Buyer's Guide' content are a common SEO tactic particularly amongst retailer ecommerce sites, but they can be used in other types of site too such as financial services. They're popular since they tick many of the boxes for effective on page SEO. They're naturally rich in keywords, dense in character count and recognisably original, it’s an easy target to hit on your SEO checklist. They also enable you to link to your main target category and popular product pages with relevant anchor text, so boosting their effectiveness.

Potential customers also love Buying Guides, since, done well, they’re a great research resource in the early ‘information gathering’ stages of the purchasing decision process.

If they provide great advice and a good experience in navigating them,…

Do magic words exist or are they a copywriting myth?

I recently received a copywriting advice email  from Yale University describing the ‘the most powerful words in the English Language’. Here they are: 1. You 2. Results 3. Health 4. Guarantee 5. Discover 6. Love 7. Proven 8. Safety 9. Save 10. New Although I agree that these are powerful words, I doubt Yale really conducted any rigorous research – and if they did, it’s certainly not something that the University chooses to share on its official website. What is interesting is how long these types of list have been "doing the rounds". It taps into the insatiable demand for instant solutions. Human nature finds the notion very appealing that all you need do is sprinkle a few magic words into your writing like fairy dust and, Hey Presto, an instant increase in sales pops out of the hat. Using magic words in the right place in your copy and in the right order…