"It's all in the writing"

That's what every successful actor says.

So I don't know what Glade were thinking when they approved the script for "I want to have a poo at Paul's house".

Poor Paul.

Best advert ever?

You decide.

Viral marketing (3)

Corporate viral marketing doesn't always work. But when it does...

Watch world record mattress dominos

That darned squirrel!

Mr & Mrs Brandt were posing for a photo in front of a lake in Banff National Park, Canada, and a ground squirrel popped up just as the camera clicked. They submitted the picture to the National Geographic magazine website, which led to a rash of imitations.

Here's the story in the Telegraph.

Here are the Top 10 crasher squirrel pics on Mashable.

And here's the print ad that Jessops put in the Daily Mail this weekend.



Tip: If you see an opportunity, take it!

World's worst jingle?

Competitions are a great way to encourage customer interaction with your brand.

Microsoft recently ran a competition for a jingle to launch Bing, their new search engine.

Here's the winner: Bing goes the Internet.

Tech-Point thinks it's the worse jingle in the world, ever.

What do you think?

To tweet or not to tweet, that is the question

I've been conducting a little experiment over the past month. I 'tweeted' about some of my recent blog posts on Twitter* and posted the rest without tweeting.

I've linked Twitter to my Facebook status updates, so my FB friends can see my tweets as well as my Twitter followers (admittedly, there may be some overlap).

One day, nearly 4% of my total audience clicked through to read my blog. I think that's a phenomenal response rate for online marketing!

On average, the blog posts I tweeted about got 47% more readers (according to Google Analytics).

So will I be tweeting about this post? You betcha!

* via Tweetdeck

I'm gonna live forever!

"I'm gonna learn how to fly. High!"

I went to the cinema* last week and saw a trailer for the new version of Fame, to be released on 25 September.

Hoorah!

I started jazz dance in 1981 and haven't stopped since! In those days, there were plenty of classes to choose from, thanks to the original movie (and the TV series that followed). These days, it's tricky to find an intermediate level class that isn't full of teenagers. Selfishly, I hope the new film prompts a revival of interest so there will be more local classes for me to attend.

Have you got an old product that you can resurrect with a new face?

* To see the latest Harry Potter film, since you ask.

Why your website MUST provide added value

I offer a free sales letter template on mine. Google Analytics tells me more people find me through searching for ‘sales letter template’ than anything else. I know not many people search for ‘copywriter’ because they don’t know that’s what writing for print and web is called!

The idea of ‘giving it away free’ is not that so people can go off and do it themselves (although I don’t mind if they do). It’s to prove that I know what I’m talking about.

I’ve made sure the template links to my contact details. And, sure enough, this week I had a call from someone who’s spent 6 months (6 months!) trying to get his sales letter right. I wrote it for him in 3 days.

What can you give away on YOUR website?

In the pink

Walking past a High Street hairdresser I notice a sign 'Pink GHDs now available'. Trouble is, I don't know what they are and why I might want them.

Hope their target market do.

Tip: Only use jargon your audience understands.

If it's true...

...that people choose a car based on the salesman in the showroom, then I wonder how many people will buy a Seat Leon based on this ad?

Technology to get ex..
Watch the ad...

I was put off ever buying a Lexus by a salesman who treated me as though I didn't deserve to own one:

(a) because I was not a middle-aged man
(b) because the car would be parked on the road not in a garage
(c) because I was wearing casual clothes on one of the hottest days of the year while he was grumpy and sweltering in a suit

The lesson is to always always treat potential customers with respect, because you just never know who they are or how much money they are likely to spend with you.