christopher copywriter's blog

The Dolt’s Guide To Self-Organization

March 7, 2010 · Leave a Comment

containing-boundary-self-organization

I found this slide share description of the term “self-organization” by @jurgenappelo and how it relates to management (which includes governance and leadership) thought-provoking, informative and fun.

Double click -

The Dolt’s Guide To Self-Organization

And enjoy this interesting slide share format. If you have any other fun and informative power point or slide share format clips concerning marketing, advertising, media publicity, personal development, creativity type themes and subjects – please take a little time to send us an e-mail @ christopher copywriter and include the URL and why you like the clip. Great.
You can view more presentations from Jurgen Appelo.
“The Dolt’s Guide To Self-Organization” is happily shared with you by christophercopywriter.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Leadership · Marketing and Advertising Theory · corporate communications
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Australian retailers laggards in online retailing

March 5, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Australian retailers are failing to capitalise on sales that could be gained from online retailing, while industry experts remain at odds over just how significant the mobile phone will be in the future shopping experience.

The way in which technology will impact how people shop was a key discussion point among the panellists at the Mumbrella Question Time forum.

Peter Bray, The Brand Shop general manager, pointed to the phenomenon of “web-to-store” – a trend which he said is yet to be understood by Australian retailers.

“If someone has done their research online first, chooses your product then goes into the store to buy that product the volume of their purchase, the dollar figure they spend will be higher than if someone has just gone into your store without doing their research first,” Bray said.

“Online retail has not taken off in this country. The few retailers who actually take the lead and really integrate the digital channel as a direct sales channel and take advantage of it will be miles ahead. But for some reason it hasn’t happened.”

Jeremy Nicholas, BMF executive planning director said conversely, another trend is the way in which are consumers going into stores to shop around and then going online to purchase the product at a cheaper price.

He pointed to one case in the UK, where retailer Dicksons last year launched an ad campaign centred around this idea. Its ads, created by M&C Saatchi London, alluded to popular retailers where consumers could visit, such as John Lewis, and then go to its website to purchase it at a cheaper rate.

Dicksons.co.uk-buyit-internet-marketing-sydney

Nicholas said however, while online catalogue shopping has long been popular in markets such as the UK, Australians are “rubbish at it”.

The discussion over technology also brought up the role of the mobile phone within the shopping experience.

Bray conceded that while mobiles will be useful in helping navigate people on where to shop and provide them with locally-based services and information as they are walking past a store, the mobile will not be “the answer to everything”.

Roger Camplisson, Initiative chief executive, added if it can be used to improve the shopper’s experience and save time then mobile “technology has a role”.

Meanwhile, Iain McDonald, Amnesia Razorfish creative director and founder, said the next ten years will see a transformation in the way people shop.

He said the agency has rolled out the Microsoft Surface in AT&T stores in the US. They are multi-touch point tables consumers can use to compare prices of mobile phones, replacing the need for face-to-face interaction with a sales person.

“Not everyone wants to be hassled by a sales guy and we’re starting to get measurement around this and see how we’re uplifting sales by not interrupting with the face-to-face experience,” he said.

In Australia, ANZ is trialling the Microsoft Surface at its sponsored events. It is being rolled out by M&C Saatchi in in conjunction with the developers at Object Consulting.

McDonald added the future will see a more dynamic shopping experience.

“We’re not using technology at the moment to change the pricing dynamically for instance. That’s something theoretically we should be able to click a button and adjust the prices of products – the same way petrol changes its pricing. I think we’ll see more of that in probably among FMCG products, as we know people are more likely to buy washing powder on a Friday for example.”

McDonald predicted: “Ten years from now we’ll probably be having a bit of a laugh at some of the ways we’re shopping today.”

A warm thank you to mumbrella for writing this story.

Regards,

christopher copywriter

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Marketing and Advertising Theory · New advertisments · internet marketing · marketing statistics · new commercials
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Indispensable People In Your Company

February 20, 2010 · Leave a Comment

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Jacqueline Novogratz is founder and CEO of Acumen Fund (acumenfund.org) a fast-growing non-profit that is pioneering the idea of patient capital. Acumen funds entrepreneurs that build significant for-profit companies that do business with the poorest people in the world. Watch Jacqueline on a Vimeo video discuss the kinds of people she finds essential to work with -

@ Jacqueline Novogratz on how to recognize a linchpin.

Thanks to Jacqueline Novogratz and Seth Godin for this.

Presented by christopher copywriter

→ Leave a CommentCategories: In the media right now · Leadership · Marketing and Advertising Theory · corporate communications
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Is Your Business Allowed To Speak?

February 16, 2010 · 1 Comment

company-voices-for-your-business-copywriter

Copy writing the story of your business.

If your brand could speak, what would it say and how would it say it?

Perhaps your company isn’t quite yet a well known brand. You probably have some loyal customers and clients and enjoy working every day.

Your company is a type of living entity. You and your employees keep it alive. There are things that happen within it – in certain ways – day in day out. Your company might always be looking to improve and expand itself.

How do we make things better?

For me, for my employees, for everybody?

There’s things that your business provides in ways that nobody or nothing else does. These things and how you do it, how people feel about what you do, is where we can start to provide a voice for you which becomes unmistakably you.

When we deliver this to people they can feel the difference. They feel good about what you offer.

You might want to take some time now to ask yourself -

1/ What message are you sending to your customers?
2/ Do they understand your brand?
3/ Have you thought about the personality of your product?
4/ If your product could speak, what would it say?

Companies need to write creatively in strategic places to remain competitive and to expand.

You can keep your customers coming back for more by personalising your marketing techniques, your advertising strategy, your copywriting and your media releases.

Your media releases in themselves can run miles for you in helping people feel and think about what you do. About what you can do for them. How you can make their life better.

The Story of Your Business concerns the following crucial story elements -

1. Your Genre
2. Your Viewpoint
3. Your Voice
4. Your Setting
5. Your Scene
6. Your Character
7. Your Market

Using creative writing exercises, and tried and tested copywriting techniques, christopher copywriter provides for you, your unique business voice for various mediums.

The effect is a stronger brand affinity for potential clients, greater trust and ultimately a firm desire for what you offer.

You can be in the forefront of customers minds. Customers can talk happily about what you did for them, your referral ratio can grow, your public awareness multiply.

We can show you the way.

If you want to get an idea across, wrap it up in a person.
~ Ralph Bunche

→ 1 CommentCategories: Advertising Process · Marketing and Advertising Theory · Story Telling · Viral Marketing · creative and imaginative theory · publicity
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Before buying new products – Mums place trust in other consumers

February 12, 2010 · Leave a Comment

christopher-copywriter's-mum's-facebook-avatar

christopher-copywriter's-mum's-facebook-avatar

Influencing one another

Consumer reviews are significantly more trusted than manufacturers descriptions, according to a recent survey of internet savvy United States mum’s by US online video review site EXPO.

Online mums doing product research put their faith in descriptions from consumers nearly 12 times more. Most of these descriptions may be found online.

US Mum internet users-brand descriptionTraditional channels such as in-store promotions and newspaper inserts still have significant influence on the purchase decisions of online mums, yet word-of-mouth and consumer information websites and magazines also scored highly. About one-fifth of the 1725 mothers surveyed were influenced by text articles or internet video reviews. Over half of Australian shoppers currently go online before they go and purchase in a shop, according to the latest Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) statistics.

Influencing Sources

The power of internet video reviews was growing, with nearly one-quarter of mums saying video had an increasing influence on their purchase decisions.

Nearly 64% of respondents had watched a user-generated video review, and more than three-quarters of that group said it helped them make a purchase decision—either for or against a product or brand. Far and away consumers’ favorite thing about video reviews was the ability to see the product in action, cited by more 81.3%.

Respondents expressed a marked desire to see user-generated video reviews on a variety of sites, with 40% to 50% seeking them on shopping comparison sites, brand sites, e-commerce sites, Facebook and YouTube.

About one-half of respondents had ever uploaded user-generated videos, and 35.9% of those had uploaded videos about products or brands. Among those who hadn’t, nearly 90% said they would do so.

Video on internet sites in Australia still has a while to go before it’s widely implemented. Yet there is little doubt that the most graphic of all technologies will soon become a new boom industry here. Of course YouTube has been a popular favourite of Aussies young and old for quite a few years. We have seen companies and careers flourish and fall from online video viewing – a single clip can rack up fifty thousand hits in a day!

Informative video scripts shot creatively in an attractive style seems to command internet viewers attention. Many web design and marketing companies highly recommend the use of good creative scripts and video production. Sometimes home videos or action clips at random events, spread wildly across the internet and around Australia. So break out your camera and start shooting your business philosophy! Get christopher copywriter to write your script – scene by scene – for you!

This story is for my lovely mum.

Thank-you mum, for being my mum!

Best wishes,

christophercopywriter

Thank-you to eMarketer.com for the statistics diagrams and to my mum for the cats hugging photograph naughtily slipped from her facebook account.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: In the media right now · Marketing and Advertising Theory · Viral Marketing · internet marketing · marketing statistics
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Google’s “love story in Paris” a huge simplistic hit – with a touching, memorable story

February 10, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Google’s self-created ‘love story in Paris’ commercial generated huge buzz and rated highly by fans and advertising reviewers aired during the Super Bowl XLVI this year.

As in all good advertising it’s the quality of a good idea that counts. Google’s advertisement is a simple, extremely low budget, yet moving and memorable advertisement with the tag line -

“Search on.”

Goooo Google!! Brilliant. Wonderful.

Presented by christopher copywriter

Video by Google aired during the 2010 Superbowl won by The New Orleans Saints defeating the Indianapolis Colts by a score of 31–17.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: In the media right now · new television commercials
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Freelance Writers, Journalists, Broadcasters, Photographers and Artists – Australian 2010 Approved Minimum Pay Rates

February 5, 2010 · Leave a Comment

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Journalists Should Not Work for Free – So Tell Me What They are Paying

One of the most depressing things about the present climate is the number of talented journalists who agree to allow mainstream media to publish their work for no payment.

“But I quite enjoy it,” said one such to me the other day. Well, yes you are allowed to enjoy your work. But letting employers and publishers think they can get quality work for nothing merely speeds the decline of the profession, and undercuts your colleagues.

So it was with interest that I read this post by Silicon Valley blogger and media executive Alan Mutter, whose argument I entirely agree with. Mutter goes one step further and provides a spreadsheet for working out what to charge for a 600 word freelance journalism piece .

The figures are relevant to the US, of course. Depressingly, they come out with a wordage rate of just US $0.35c a word – which even allowing for the exchange rate is low by Australian standards.

Or is it?

I think it would be useful to find out what different freelancers are getting paid by our mainstream publications. Here’s what I know:

Fairfax broadsheets start by offering .60c to.70c a word these days, but can be pushed higher if they want you badly enough. Section editors are adept at getting around the bean counters’ rules.

The Monthly still offers its $1 a word, which was princely when that magazine started, and still handsome.

I hear the RACV magazine pays well for both words and photos.

Responses to this article written by Margaret Simons may be found at The Content Makers

We’re happy to see the 2010 Approved minimums for freelance and casual writers, broadcasters, photographers and artists released by MEAA  (Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance) recently. (These minimums are exclusive of GST and are effective 1st January 2010.)

At christopher copywriter we often don’t charge anywhere near these specified industry pay rates for freelancers. Prospecting clients often come to us wanting everything done on the cheap. There’s a difficult X-factor skill  involved with keeping the clients impression – of the value of our work high – perhaps it’s the “trust” factor. It operates well beyond the actual and very real value of our work. That’s to say – sometimes a  particular clients expectations and understandings of a job, determine the monetary value of what we do. Surprisingly, if you think about it – this is often well within the actual monetary returns (profit) a client gains from our contribution to their business or company.  When there is lots of work on, these expectations are less of a factor. We just get on with turning over the jobs to the best of our ability and everybody is much happier. We always aim to do excellent work and exceed the clients expectations!

Online internet based article writing is an invaluable second level search engine optimisation and publicity tool. Obviously, when client comes on board for a long-term relationship – we’re happy to reduce our rates accordingly for the ongoing and continual work. We can also do far more to help a company in these situations. We currently price web based article writing slightly lower than print published journalism even though it can receive much more attention! This really depends on the story itself and how well we craft it.

As standard practice, Freelance business copywriting of promotional material in print and web mediums – is charged slightly lower than print journalism features or publicity mentions rates – because positive pr and publicity can achieve a far greater impact! Yet again, regarding our rates – you’ll find are usually somewhat more cost-effective for our commercial copywriting work than the prices listed below. We’re expanding by completing more work at a slightly reduce price – without any skimping on quality or performance.

Ghostwriting, on the other hand is best priced for us by taking a percentage of the final profits and a smaller retainer upfront – like a business partnership. This way the incentive is on us to create a wonderful work that sits within the current market climate and can sell recouping any of our clients costs. Obviously ghostwritten novels or novellas requires a considerable amount of work – including research – drafts and a full immersion into the subject matter. This somewhat depends on our clients desired out comes and roughly changes on a  job by job basis. We offer a set rate if the book just needs to be written with little concern for it’s outcomes. christopher copywriter has had plenty of offers to write clients books at some extremely ridiculous and unfeasible rates – and interestingly enough – especially from the property development sector – perhaps always existing with an eye to make a quick big buck.

Have a read and please take a special note and respect the industry standard pay rates for the work you need. We’re happy to cut different rates for the different article writing, copywriting, ghostwriting and publicity jobs we perform in our clients best interests – but we would much rather recognise and adhere to the 2010 Australian National Industry Minimum Freelance Rates – this would be a wonderful world for everybody!

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freelance-writers-rates-Australia-2010freelance-proofreaders-rates-Australia-2010

Freelance Rates-Australia-expensives-holiday-pay-2010

Freelance-writers-rates-disclaimer

This document can be downloaded as a .pdf and detailed questions, concerns or membership applications forwarded to MEAA.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: In the media right now · Journalism · Social Media · Viral Marketing · internet marketing · publicity
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3 New Ways to Measure the Social Web

February 3, 2010 · 2 Comments

people-pie-chartWhen most people think of web analytics, they think about page view tracking; basically, measuring which pages on a website are being viewed.

Page view tracking is a well-established technology, but it’s no longer meeting the needs of many of the most well-known companies in social media. Companies like Facebook (Facebook), Zynga, Slide, and RockYou are spending tons of resources building their own internal analytics tools.

There’s a reason for this: Social media is highly competitive, and the biggest advantage you can have is data. To improve and grow, these companies need to gather as much information as they can, and they need more than simple page view tracking.

In the following sections I will cover three of the most important things to measure for social applications.

1. Funnel Analysis: Measuring Conversion Rates

One critical kind of analysis that social apps require is called Funnel Analysis. This is a way of measuring conversion rates, which is the lifeblood of all applications. The term “conversion rate” refers to the total number of visitors who came to a site, compared to the number of visitors who did a desired action (such as creating an account or purchasing an item).

funnel-small

What Funnel Analysis gives you is a more granular way of analyzing conversion rates. Instead of simply looking at signups divided by total visitors, you figure out the steps that have to be taken to get a user to sign up and measure the individual conversion rates between steps. As you can see from the image above, there’s often a pretty steep dropoff between each step, giving you the namesake funnel shape. (Note: the image uses made up stats and is for illustration purposes only.)

This more granular look at conversion rates can have surprising results. Let’s take a look at Twitter’s (Twitter) signup funnel:

1. Hit homepage
2. Go to signup page, fill out registration form
3. Browse suggested topics
4. Add e-mail friends
5. Search for someone

As you can see, the signup process is pretty complicated, and will benefit from detailed analysis. We might find, for example, that there’s a huge dropoff rate (a “dropoff” occurs when many of the people who made it to one step don’t make it to the next) at the “Add e-mail friends” step. Once we’ve discovered a dropoff rate like this, we have to figure out the root cause. The dropoff rate at the “Add e-mail friends” step could mean that users are unsure how to continue, causing them to leave, or they might not want to add their e-mail information. We would have to test to make sure.

Ultimately, Funnel Analysis is about finding and improving trouble spots in a website. With continual analysis, changes can be measured and ideas can be tested over time.

2. Engagement Tracking: Measuring What People Do

sign-up

As I mentioned earlier, pageview tracking is becoming less and less relevant for many web companies. Instead of the basic unit of measurement being the pageview, they are starting to track more directly relevant things, like the actions people are taking. Twitter, for example, may want to know how many tweets the average person sends and what they are searching for, not how many pages they viewed. Pageviews are just a way of approximating the information we really want, and as the web grows more interactive, they become less and less relevant.

Think about this: Sites exist today on which you never actually change the page. These are highly interactive sites, but they are impossible to track with pageviews, so traditional analytics tools are useless.

This will only become more common as time goes on and more companies develop highly interactive applications and adopt AJAX loading techniques.

3. Visitor Retention: How Many People Come Back?

This next technique measures a fairly complex but extremely valuable metric for successful web applications.

You can think of Visitor Retention as a measure of how “sticky” your site is. What we’re really measuring is the percentage of people who come back again and again. The most common way of approaching this is to look at a group of users from a single time period (a week, for example) and track their behavior over time.

Here’s an example of a retention table that should help clarify things:

retention

Each row shows the weekly retention rates for a single group of users (sometimes known as a “cohort”). The first row, for example, is the cohort seen between December 7 and December 13, 2009. We can see that 15.15% of the users in that group came back after 1 week, 13.4% after 2 weeks, and so on.

This is crucial information, particularly for social applications, because most of the value lies in the size of the community. An application with low retention is like an empty shell — many installs but few active users — and you don’t want to build an empty shell. You want a thriving, vibrant community.

Retention is a huge factor in building a strong community for a few reasons: You don’t have much of a community if everyone is a newcomer (so more old users is a good thing), and the nature of retention is such that you get disproportionate returns on any increases you make. Without going into too much detail, an example would be that increasing retention by 33% might give you 50% more users in the long run.

Twitter is again a good example for us, as the network has been plagued by low retention rates. Twitter may seem successful now, but their low retention rate is troubling. In the past, companies that seemed to be extremely successful (think early Facebook apps) ultimately lost their edge because they couldn’t retain their users.

It’s entirely possible that Twitter itself could be a fad. With such low retention, I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised — but it is still too early to tell.

Conclusion.

There’s a lot to learn about analytics from the frontrunners in social media. The intense competition has resulted in many new and innovative ways to track and analyze visitor data.

We covered three such concepts in detail today: Funnel analysis, which lets you track conversion rates across whole parts of your site, engagement tracking, which is becoming more relevant than pageviews, and visitor retention analysis, which helps you understand and optimize the number of repeat visitors you get.

Written by Tim Trefren. One of the founders of Mixpanel, Inc. a real-time analytics service that helps companies understand how users behave with web applications.

Presented by christopher copywriter.

→ 2 CommentsCategories: Social Media · Viral Marketing · internet marketing · marketing statistics · search engine optimization
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Australians – world’s biggest users of social media

February 1, 2010 · Leave a Comment

social-media-prism-copywriter

Australians are the world’s most prolific users of social media according to new data from the Nielsen Company.

From statistics published recently via social media release (SMR) on nielsenwire.  Nielsen, the global marketing statistics firm carried out an international comparison which resulted in suggestions that Australians spend an average of six hours and 52 minutes per month on social media sites – well ahead of the US, which has the next largest social media usage at six hours and nine minutes per month.

The reach of social media in Australia is also large, with Nielsen estimating a unique reach of 9.9m Australians per month use social media. Although that figure should be treated with caution as double counting of users at home and at work is an issue with these current surveys – it still signals that a large proportion of our country’s 22m population is engaging with social media.

Average time spend (h:m:s) on social media each month:

  1. Australia – 6:52:28
  2. United States -6:09:13
  3. United Kingdom – 6:07:54
  4. Italy – 6:00:07
  5. Spain – 5:30:55
  6. Brazil – 4:33:10
  7. Germany – 4:11:45
  8. France – 4:04:39
  9. Switzerland – 3:54:34
  10. Japan – 2:50:21

A year ago, According to Nielsen, in December 2009  the global average in the countries it surveyed was five and a half hours per consumer using social media, making it the single most consuming online category, followed by online games and instant messaging. Social media’s usage was up 82% on the same time a year previously again in 2008, with more than 300m social media users worldwide. Facebook was the biggest driver, followed by Twitter, Nielsen said.

When narrowed by individual country – with 142.1 million unique visitors – the United States had the largest number of social media and blog users in December 2009, followed by Japan, which had 46.6 million unique visitors during the month. Australia led in average time per person spent, with the average Australian spending nearly 7 hours on social media sites in December. The United States and the United Kingdom came in a close second and third, with 6 hours and 9 minutes and 6 hours and 8 minutes, respectively.

Go Australia goooo – the social media!! It’s fun after all and every bodies doing it!

International-social-media-statistics

** Global data takes into account the following countries: U.S., U.K., Australia, Brazil, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain and Italy

By christopher dusseldorp

director | christopher copywriter

→ Leave a CommentCategories: In the media right now · Social Media · internet marketing · marketing statistics
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Digg: Five Years in 5 Minutes

January 28, 2010 · Leave a Comment

www.digg.com is a popular internet based social media communications tool which takes votes from it’s 35 million users on various pieces of content and websites that are available on the web.

Digg is an excellent way to track stories that go viral (attracting thousands and thousands of hits and reads) across the internet and really worth using to find fresh, interesting, up to date material and content published by a huge variety of sources.

Diggs web masters supports the dissemination of available  information freely without censorship. Kevin Rose, digg’s founder, clearly states he would rather “go down fighting, than destroy” the open sharing and freedom of information members of the digg community enjoy and expect.

He would and has fought against any libel cases regarding the 14 million stories digg has published rather than remove content to avoid complaints.

The digg communities users share and comment on the stories they publish. It’s a great way to gauge users reaction to a plethora of subject matters both factual, fun and opinionated..

Let’s get digging! christopher copywriter writes articles which can be dugg and submitted all over the internet. It’s an essential element of high end Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (placing you at the top of google’s search engine) work and brings you loads of respect and valuable hits.

Check it out, have a play, digg some of christopher copywriter’s articles and find out about if for yourself.

Check out more of digg’s own videos on digg’s youtube video site.

christopher copywriter high fives digg for this video and for providing a great free and open access imformation site!

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What does christopher copywriter do for you?

September 28, 2008 · 1 Comment

copywriting - publicity - seo - ghostwriting

copywriting - publicity - seo - ghostwriting

New clients often come to us,

knowing what form of media they want us to write something for, but they often don’t usually know what else we could do to “most effectively” (the crucial term here) promote them.

Ok. Now in saying that, cutting out the abundance of  empty spin which exists in the advertising and marketing industry, a very large sense of what christopher copywriter does provide for clients may be distilled and refined down to – We tell the stories of things. Your things. For You. That’s a big part of what we do. Stories… which truly sell.

“Advertising, marketing, internet marketing, social media marketing, public relations, publicity, marketing strategy, ghostwriting, blogs and e-books – all require and provide for the client, the clients story communicated attractively and seductively to the buying public.

It’s the easiest way to share what our industry actually does for it’s clients. Done well, it really trooly works too.

When I look inside myself, at my job as a copywriter and truly care for my clients and their products, services and company, I see a very real passion, a purpose – let’s call it my drive. A very real passion and purpose to help you “simply” sell what you do, in the best possible and cost effective ways. That’s my sole mission for you.

In doing this,

looking from a big picture perspective, – we are doing what we do best and what you the client, has come to us to do for you anyway.  It’s here though - I find I face a challenging choice…

Now do I take the easy road? By giving you only what you asked for. For example – 5 pages of web copy,  a short internet film script and a couple of promo publicity pieces in a relevant magazine - within an acceptable time frame…

Which - (taking a short turn to make a couple of quick dot points) - usually consists of…

1) Researching and Empathising With You – The Client – and Your Target Market.

Getting to know and understand the client, their company and products as if they are a best friend.  We like to know how your buyers feel about what you do. We can market you in many different ways and in different spaces - to cause you and your products to rip and buzz! We prefer to use the products we write about because it places us in a position to best understand their best real assets, short comings, emotional sales value, technical benefit value and a whole bunch of other things. We can come to have a relationship with the products and services we are selling - like the buyers will. We can go to great lengths to understand your customers, clients and buyers. This helps us create top quality copy writing and marketing communications strategy to move your product.

2) Researching Your Competition.

Making mental , emotional, rational, scribbled or drawn notes on the rest of the industry and the products or services they belong to, so we can bring this back to writing your campaign in a thoroughly informed way.

3) The Creative Investigation and Exploratory Phase.

Brainstorming. Mind mapping. Intuition. (Possibly only an amalgamation of past experiences with great work assimilated through our feelings, rational and imagination.) Various Starts. Middles. Finishes. Unique Sales Propositions. Technical selling propositions. Emotional Selling propositions. Tag Lines. Targeting the main potential client base. Other methods of persuasion. Following hunches. (Summoning the creative gods onto the page, so to speak.) Weighing all this up against each other. Hiding this potentially confusing process from the client and simply delivering the results.

4) Finally, Making the Tough Decisions and Finalising the Writing.

Completing the job you asked for, to the very word of the brief, for the media at hand, targeted to your clientele, with our freshly found creative ideas, as inventively and persuasively as we possibly can and get it all in by our agreed reasonable deadline.

You’re probably saying, wow, I never knew it took all that!

Well yes, to do it right, it does, but it’s our job. To give you our best possible work. Which is what you should want to make the most sales with the work we do for you. Else we could simply give you anything, most people don’t understand the difference between quality work and work, but the end results are somewhat telling.

OR


While doing processes 1 to 4 above for you…

We often get to know your product even better than you know it yourself (amazingly enough). So now, do I also reveal to you these creative something extras we discover? Those other stories (short or long) we know would sell and sell big after weighing everything up in certain different forms of media?

Isn’t that our job as well? Isn’t that what any client would want? For us to serve them, by selling them, as best we can. One would hope so.

This is all pretty much a condensed report of big picture thinking stuff. It’s what marketing strategy is all about and it’s a very valuable tool for any highly successful business marketing.

“It’s about getting from A to B in the most economical time and cost.”

Sooo…

for example we discover a load of Public Relations (PR) angles… Say, enough for an entire campaign. Do we tell you? Of course we do. Or for example -  if you and what you do seems perfectly suited to something else we know would produce extra sales, an increased awareness and ultimately greater desire for your product and services? Would you want us to tell you?

Perhaps a monthly electronic direct mail out (e-dm) is the best place to advertise your wares? Or revamped brochure text and maybe even design, with the aims of making it a better and much harder sell or steeped in a cleverer, more memorable angle or concept? Or an absolutely fantastic and undeniable tag line? And a million other valuable written things. Of course we need to tell you, but there’s also an extra cost for completing those extra discoveries but you then get the full confidence that you have received top shelf quality work. While we love to serve you and what you do or produce, we obviously have to make a living too. We have our costs.

We always consider the potential ROI (Return On Investment) for clients and I’m always very interested in how well our writing works for you, otherwise we wouldn’t even bother.

christopher copywriter gets right off on doing a truly fantastic job!!

…but yes,

it’s true, quality creative copywriting in the right places makes a huge difference to effectively Connecting People To Your Business and how people perceive your business. We creatively advertise and market a huge range of different products and services daily. We want to make every job the best copywriting job we can possibly do. We do this by making sure no stone is left unturned.

We investigate “into” as many ways “towards” what you do as possible, just to make certain we get this right. We wouldn’t try to do your job, so we think it’s best for all concerned, for the “bigger picture” you work with us as helpfully as possible, so we can do our best job, for you…

This degree of creative proficiency checking we undertake, is what makes christopher copywriter your smartest choice in marketing and advertising writing, no matter what you’re trying to sell.

It’s our quality assurance guarantee to you.

Love and kisses,

happy selling,

Christopher Copywriter.  xx

p.s. It’s how the greatest brands, which we have come to love, became loved.

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Advertising And Marketing Communications – Breaking Down The Problems.

January 22, 2009 · 1 Comment

the advertising and marketing project problem illustrated

the advertising and marketing project problem illustrated

The Potential Project Problems Illustrated.

This hilarious and valuable illustration bumped into on stumbleupon, was initially drawn to depict the process of creating a specialised business software application, “The Project.” christopher copywriter thinks  it works almost equally well for the business advertising and marketing communications equation. It’s helpful for those first time marketing and advertising clients to understand that we understand what sorts or issues can present themselves and that we know how to best avoid them. It makes helping you and your business all the merrier for everybody concerned.

The illustration runs miles for us to put into light relief, the potential issues, thoughts or hang ups which can sometimes arise through trying to communicate, evaluate, formulate and create on certain strategically envisioned projects. Christopher copywriter understands how important business messages can be forgotten or misconstrued. KISS. Keep It Short and Simple.

We make business communications as easy as ABC123. We’re always looking for easier ways of working. We don’t wish to enter into the abundant marketing sales hype, we strive to deliver very real solutions.

christopher copywriter writes your best possible sales stories for the best possible, cost effective mediums, time and time again.


The first illustration depicts what the client usually wants. Triple value work quantity and quality, for a reduced price. Even if the product and services provided don’t really suit the clients best requirements.

The second illustration, our job, shows us building a swing that doesn’t even work. Yes it looks good, but in practice it doesn’t achieve the required results. christopher copywriter copywriters, pride themselves on doing a good job, that truly sells, every single time, for every single client we take on and every single page that we write for them. That’s the foundation our business is building upon. Not some ricketly adhoc and misunderstood formula. We’re most happy to let our positive results speak for themselves. Being motivated by doing our best possible job. Not by other possible other motivations. We understand this will always show our “true value” in the big picture. It makes sense.

The third illustration. Sometimes the various in depth specialists and so called experts and extra researchers can analyse a problem to its own detriment.  Crafting a solid written story and delivering it in the correct mediums, not just any old place, and in the correct manor, not just any old how – gets the marketing communications message most effectively across.

The sixth illustration shows our desire to PUT IT ALL IN WRITING. When working with us, feel completely free to send us all or any of your thoughts about the job in an email. We will send the same back to you. It helps us understand more about how you see the job. Or perhaps you’ll be happier if we simply deliver for you. Communicating with clients is always more helpful, for you and us.

The last illustration shows what was truly needed when everything extra was moved out of the equation. I might seem strange that this is often different from what people think is needed. The successful equation is both an art and science afterall.

christophercopywriter truly understands the marketing and advertising project process and gets on with giving you the top quality job you want and deserve.

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56 Social Media Websites Every Business Needs To Be On.

October 3, 2008 · 7 Comments

christopher-copywriter-connecting-people-to-your-businessThese websites help your company network, advertise, learn, grow, recruit and more. christophercopywriter gets loads of hits everyday from our social media optimisation strategy and websites. These hits convert into work, valuable feedback, networking, sources of fresh marketing communications information and much much more.

(Please Note: If we’ve missed your favorite social media site or you know of others you love, we appreciate you letting us know. We will add it to this list.)

If your business limits its online presence to blogging, posting articles on article websites, advertising banners and search engine marketing it’s missing out. The Internet provides powerful networking opportunities that allow users to effectively target their audience by logging onto social media sites like LinkedIn, Digg, Facebook, Twitter and more. Take advantage of these tools by asserting your company’s presence online and reaching more potential customers, business partners, employees, likeminded peers and friends. With a little bit of copywriting and some ongoing maintanence you can reap the rewards for our diligence.

linking people to your business, christophercopywriter

Social Media/Social Bookmarking Sites.

Share your favorite Websites and newsworthy articles with your business partners. They can comment and upload their own favorite articles and Websites. You can also create a member profile that directs traffic back to your company’s Web site. It also helps with your Websites rankings.

1. StumbleUpon: Open your online presence up to a whole new audience just by adding the StumbleUpon toolbar to your browser and “channel surfing” the Web. You’ll connect with friends and share your new Website discoveries,” as well as “meet people who have similar interests.” Fun. Fun. Fun.

2. Reddit: Upload stories and articles on Reddit to drive traffic to your site or blog. Submit items often so that you’ll gain a more loyal following and increase your online presence.

3. Del.icio.us: Social bookmark your way to better business with sites like del.icio.us, which invite users to organize and publicize interesting items through tagging and networking.

4. Digg: Digg has a massive following online because of its optimum usability. Visitors can submit and browse articles in categories like technology, business, entertainment, sports and more.

5. Technorati: If you want to increase your blog’s readership, consider registering it with Technorati, a network of blogs and writers that lists top stories in categories like Entertainment, Business and Technology.

6. Myspace: MySpace is a place for friends, for personal expression, for connecting with the world. You can alert all your friends at once with any length of blog entry. Now very popular for businesses too.

7. Ning: After hanging around the same social networks for a while, you may feel inspired to create your own, where you can bring together clients, vendors, customers and co-workers in a confidential, secure corner of the Web. Ning lets users design free social networks that they can share with anyone.

8. Squidoo: According to Squidoo, “everyone’s an expert on something. Share your knowledge!” Share your industry’s secrets by answering questions and designing a profile page to help other members.

9. Furl: Make Furl “your personal Web file” by bookmarking great sites and sharing them with other users by recommending links, commenting on articles and utilizing other fantastic features.

10. Tubearoo: This video network works like other social-bookmarking sites, except that it focuses on uploaded videos. Businesses can create and upload tutorials, commentaries and interviews with industry insiders to promote their own services.

11. WikiHow: Create a how-to guide or tutorial on wikiHow to share your company’s services with the public for free.

12. YouTube: From subjects like, “How to dribble a basketball,” to naughty party boy “Corey Delainey,” everyone has a video floating around on YouTube. Shoot a behind-the-scenes video from your company’s latest commercial or event to give customers and clients an idea of what you do each day and how you like to do it.

13. Ma.gnolia: Share your favorite sites with friends, colleagues and clients by organizing your bookmarks with Ma.gnolia. Clients will appreciate both your Internet-savviness and your ability to stay current and organized.

14. Propeller: A fun source of information on pretty much everything. Add your articles. Promote and demote others articles.

15. Kirsty: A colourful website for articles, features and information on life, the universe and everything.

16. Urlesque: A internet themed, video clip, article posting and sharing website.

17. Netvouz: Netvouz is a social bookmarking service that allows you to save your favorite links online and access them from any computer, wherever you are.

Professional Social Networking Sites.

Join these online networking communities as a company or individual and take full advantage of recruiting and client opportunities, cross-promotional events, the chance to help out and more.

18. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a popular networking site where alumni, business associates, recent graduates and other professionals connect online.

19. Facebook: Facebook is no longer just for college kids who want to post their party pics. Businesses vie for advertising opportunities, event promotion and more on this social-networking site.

20. MEETin.org: Once you’ve acquired a group of contacts in your city by networking on MEETin.org, organize an event so that you can meet face-to-face.

21. YorZ: This networking site doubles as a job site. Members can post openings for free to attract quality candidates.

22. Xing: An account with networking site Xing can “open doors to thousands of companies.” Use the professional contact manager to organize your new friends and colleagues, and take advantage of the Business Accelerator application to “find experts at the click of a button, market yourself in a professional context [and] open up new sales channels.”

23. Ecademy: Ecademy prides itself on “connecting business people” through its online network, blog and message-board chats, as well as its premier BlackStar membership program, which awards exclusive benefits.

24. Care2: Care2 isn’t just a networking community for professionals: It’s touted as “the global network for organizations and people who Care2 make a difference.” If your business is making efforts to go green, let others know by becoming a presence on this site.

25. Gather: This networking community is made up of members who think. Browse categories concerning books, health, money, news and more to ignite discussions on politics, business and entertainment. This will help your company tap into its target audience and find out what they want.

26. Ryze: Ryze lets members organize contacts and friends; upcoming events; and even job, real-estate and roommate classifieds.

27. Tribe: Cities like Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, New York and Chicago have unique online communities on tribe. Users can search for favorite restaurants, events, clubs and more.

28. Ziggs: Ziggs is “organizing and connecting people in a professional way.” Join groups and make contacts through your Ziggs account to increase your company’s presence online and further your own personal career.

29. Plaxo: Join Plaxo to organize your contacts and stay updated with feeds from Digg, Amazon.com, del.icio.us and more.

30. NetParty: If you want to attract young professionals in cities like Boston, Dallas, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Orlando Fla., create an account with the networking site NetParty. You’ll be able to connect with qualified, up-and-coming professionals online, then meet them at a real-life happy-hour event where you can pass out business cards, pitch new job openings and more.

31. Networking For Professionals: Networking For Professionals is another online community that combines the Internet with special events in the real world. Post photos, videos, résumés and clips on your online profile while you meet new business contacts.

32. Naymz: A search engine optimised professional networking site which ranks out of ten, ones professional reputation amongst reviews from ones peers and those who know you.

Niche Social Media Sites.

Consider linking up with one of these Social Media Websites to narrow down your business’s target audience. You’ll find other professionals, enthusiasts and consumers who are most likely already interested in what your company has to offer.

33. SEO TAGG: Stay on top of news from the Web marketing and SEO (search-engine optimization) industries by becoming an active member of this online community.

34. Pixel Groovy: Web workers will love Pixel Groovy, an open-source site that lets members submit and rate tutorials for Web 2.0, email and online-marketing issues.

35. Mixx: Mixx prides itself on being “your link to the Web content that really matters.” Submit and rate stories, photos and news to drive traffic to your own site. You’ll also meet others with similar interests.

36. Small Business Brief: When members post entrepreneur-related articles, a photo and a link to their profile appear, gaining you valuable exposure and legitimacy online.

37. Sphinn:Sphinn: Sphinn is an online forum and networking site for the Internet marketing crowd. Upload articles and guides from your blog to create interest in your own company or connect with other professionals for form new contacts.

38. BuzzFlash.net: This one-stop news resource is great for businesses that want to contribute articles on a variety of subjects, from the environment to politics to health.

39. HubSpot: HubSpot is another news site aimed at connecting business professionals.

40. Tweako: Gadget-minded computer geeks can network with each other on Tweako, a site that promotes information sharing for the technologically savvy.

General Social Media Sites.

The following social media Websites provide excellent opportunities for businesses to advertise; promote specials, events or services; and tend to feature published and knowledgeable employees.

41. Wikipedia: Besides creating your own business reference page on Wikipedia, you can connect with other users on Wikipedia’s Community Portal and at the village pump, where you’ll find conscientious professionals enthusiastic about news, business, research and more. Get creative.

42. Newsvine: Feature top employees by uploading their articles, studies or other news-related items to this site. A free account will also get you your own column and access to the Newsvine community.

43. 43 Things: This site bills itself as “the world’s most popular online goal setting community.” By publicizing your company’s goals and ambitions, you’ll gain a following of customers, investors and promoters who cheer you on as you achieve success.

44. Wetpaint: If you’re tired of blogs and generic Web sites, create your own wiki with Wetpaint to reach your audience and increase your company’s presence online. You can easily organize articles, contact information, photos and other information to promote your business.

45. Frappr: Embed a Frappr map and guestbook into your company’s Web page so that you can pinpoint exactly how users find your site, discover in real-time what they have to say about your company profile and services, and create an “interactive, fun and engaging” spot for visitors.

46. Yahoo! Answers: Start fielding Yahoo! users’ questions with this social-media Q&A service. Search for questions in your particular areas of expertise by clicking categories like Business & Finance, Health, News & Events and more. If you continue to dole out useful advice and link your answer to your company’s Web page, you’ll quickly gain a new following of curious customers.

Job Sites.

If you want to secure high-quality talent during your company’s next hiring spree, you’ll need to maintain a strong presence on popular job sites like the ones we’ve listed below.

47. Mycareer: A popular source of jobs for the job hunter in Australia. Owned by Fairfax media who bring us the Sydney Morning Herald everyday. Post your CV for recruiters to find. Get detailed personality type information.

48. SEEK: Australia’s #1 recruitment, career and employment site. It has special sections for 100k plus executives and offers helpful tools and job hunting sector statistics.

49. CollegeRecruiter.com: If your firm wants to hire promising entry-level employees, check CollegeRecuriter.com for candidates with college degrees.

50. Monster: Post often to separate your business from all the other big companies that use this site to advertise job openings.

51. Sologig: Top freelancers and contractors post résumés and look for work on this popular site.

52. AllFreelance.com: This site “offers self-employed small business owners links to freelance & work at home job boards, self-promotion tips” and more.

53. Freelance Switch Job Listings: Freelance Switch is the freelancer’s online mecca and boasts articles, resource toolboxes, valuable tips and a job board.

54. GoFreelance: Employers looking to boost their vendor base should check GoFreelance for professionals in the writing, design, editing and Web industries.

55. CareerBuilder.com: Reach millions of candidates by posting jobs on this must-visit site.

56. Career Journal: The Wall Street Journal’s Career Journal attracts well-educated professionals who are at the top of their game. Post a job or search résumés here.

Link Picture: Open Source.

Presented by christopher copywriter

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Thinking about social media.

October 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Check out and enjoy this great little video full of social media statistics.

Make sure you don’t get left behind in the social media stakes.

Social media is a fabulous tool redefining the ways we communicate in the world today.

There’s some snazzy copywriting and strategy tricks to making social media work best for your particular business.

SEE:

http://www.christophercopywriter.com/social-media-smo-sydney.html

for more details.

Have a great day!

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christopher copywriter on Facebook

October 22, 2009 · 2 Comments

christophercopywriter_public_relations_seo_webcopy_internet_marketing_stories_sydney

christophercopywriter_public_relations_seo_webcopy_internet_marketing_stories_sydney

Join christopher copywriter on facebook @

http://bit.ly/1fl8IM

Interact with the marketing and copywriting experts themselves,

ask questions, engage in debates and get free quotes on your marketing,

and anything else you may need…

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How many people buy online? Australian internet marketing statistics.

October 26, 2009 · 3 Comments

Australian Interactive Media Industry Association

Australian Interactive Media Industry Association

I’m happy to note and share for you the latest statistics highlighting the importance of internet marketing through shear online sales revenue throughout Australia. Nobody needs to point out the bargains, information and fun of shopping online. That’s obvious.

  • Internet marketing is definitely a fresh and cost effective marketing strategy whereby customers come to you.
  • Online shops can sell while you’re sleeping.
  • The global market is now only a simple click away.
  • Remaining effectively competitive in the minds of your potential clients requires a strong, strategic online presence.
  • It generates word of mouth excitement and raises revenue where it counts.

Published according to Mathew Pailthorpe, on a facebook groups page for the major Australian internet marketing and web design regulation body, the
Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) -

  • Around 6.7 million (37.9% of all Australians) bought a product or service online in the last 12 months
  • They spent a total of $23 billion
  • Online sales are expected to grow 9% annually by 2012
  • This is faster than sales from traditional stores
  • Research also shows half of Australian shoppers are going online before they go into a shop

If these statistics don’t convince you beyond all doubt to spruce up your internet marketing presence immediately, then I suppose it’s safe to conclude, good sense or solid statistics can’t help you or your business make real profits!!

Get the internet working for you today.

Looking forward to your email brief and to working together with you in the very very near future.

The internet sells and sells big.

Warm regards,

Christopher Dusseldorp
creative director | copywriter
christopher copywriter

→ 3 CommentsCategories: Social Media · internet marketing · marketing statistics
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Tony Robbins, Frank Kern and John Reese – Internet Marketing and Life Guru Video

November 12, 2009 · 6 Comments

Tony-Robbins

Tony-Robbins-Life-Coach-Business-Guru

Self-made man and big business life coach Anthony Robbins, interviews Frank Kern and John Reese, also self-made men – all who built their wealth by selling products on the Internet. What is particularly interesting about them all is that none of them had any formal education. Neither one finished college and they both went from being broke and having a messy life to becoming incredibly wealthy.

WATCH THIS MOVIE : http://tonyrobbinstraining.com/320/interview-with-frank-kern-and-john-reese/

Does this mean that the internet has little value? Or is it rather that good quality content and this comes in many different forms, rises to the surface online? I learned a lot of healthy “reality thinking” when I was Tony Robbins‘ marketing copywriter at Empowernet in Sydney, Australia. I got to watch a tonne of Tony’s videos and digested a stack of his books.  I went and attended Robbins own positive motivational seminars along with thousands of other people who seriously felt and believed they wanted more out of life. While I had read a dozen brilliant, self help books, by an assortment of writers – from Napoleon Hill to Steve Pavlina.; like a lot of people and for different reasons, I held a small amount of skepticism about what I saw as a New Age type of super proactive American style “corporate thinking.”

After all, I wanted to be a creative fiction writer. I had a professional background in acting. I saw myself as a “creative artist,” not a corporate  robotic slave. In retrospect, I see this as a silly way to think. I now know that this kind of thinking actually made my acting career more difficult.

Since then, because of pro-active self-help gurus like Tony Robbins and a bunch of other wealthy friends, with a story to tell, I learned the value of setting solid dreams and going indefatigably after them. I learned the real value of constant personal change and personal fulfillment. Now, change inside myself and outside myself is one of the greatest certainties in my life. I have goals that I love, that I work towards solidly and I’m happy jumping every hoop I have to, in order to make these things happen.  When things get tough, I get creative. I leverage my artistic creativity in story telling, gained from years of creative acting and writing to create great sales marketing opportunities for you and your company. I think completely differently and enjoy the work I put into personal change.

Enjoy this video featuring Anthony Robbins interviewing Frank Kern and John Reese.

Don’t be afraid to make those necessary changes to your life and implement new effective marketing strategies. christophercopywriter is solving your marketing needs in some of the best ways possible for your companies given circumstances. We’re changing in line with our vision and dreams and we’re helping our clients make profitable changes towards their dreams as well.

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Visual Thinking – Lessons on creativity and imagination by Kermit the Frog

December 5, 2009 · 4 Comments

Kermit the Frog gives away a creative’s secret. It takes a little more practice than 3 minutes and 48 seconds to get all those random, seemingly magic, targeted and purposeful creative juices flowing in a way that does something that hasn’t been done yet or achieves something old in a new way. Or simply targets new clients through a practiced formula to a new business marketing medium. Nice one Kermy, we get your drrrriiifffft maaannn and we love you, all the same! Now time for us to go send off our accounting.

Presented by christopher copywriter

→ 4 CommentsCategories: Marketing and Advertising Theory · Story Telling · creative and imaginative theory
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