Copywriting is not just about making sales. Copywriting is about communication. Thoughtful, relevant, clear communication that relays what your business wants to say to people who need to hear it.

Sales are a natural by-product of doing this well. You’re using words to tell someone who needs something, “Hey, we’re over here, and we’re great!”.

But sales are also a natural by-product of creating close connections to customers when it matters most. Like in times of war or economic uncertainty – when customers become cautious or anxious and start to withdraw.

Sadly though, some businesses also behave the same. They become cautious or anxious and go quiet, waiting for a brighter day to pick up where they left off.

I can tell you without hesitation that this approach is the wrong one. Why? Because I’ve seen this approach, and its opposite, play out in tough times. And there was certainly a clear winner between the two.

Successful businesses stay open

My business was never so busy as it was during COVID. I must have worked 10-hour days for months.

What I noticed during this time was a clear delineation between customer communication strategies. Let me explain…

Business A Communication Strategy

• Double or triple customer communication
• Share insights to help customers get through
• Stay open about changes to products or services and why
• Create fun promotions to lighten the mood
• Innovate or pivot to meet customer needs – then tell them

Business B Communication Strategy

• We don’t know what to say
• We don’t want to appear weak
• It’s better to stay quiet
• This will all blow over in a few weeks

Which businesses do you think emerged from COVID in a stronger position (or at all)?

It can be tempting to blame budget and say, “Well some businesses have to cut expenses in tough times, so that’s why they stopped communicating”.

I don’t believe this and have never seen it to be true. You don’t have to hire a professional writer to maintain open communications with customers – guaranteed there is someone in your office who can put together a decent email. They could even send it to me for a quick review for like $50.

It’s not about budget. It’s about how they chose to respond to a difficult situation – by withdrawing rather than connecting. By not knowing what to say and so believing they should say nothing.

Successful businesses stay open. They show customers they care, they remain transparent about their own challenges, and they invite customers to rally behind them (which they often do).

Will your business succeed by staying open?

We now find ourselves in a time reminiscent of the COVID pandemic, where the future is uncertain and a growing number of businesses are starting to experience genuine financial or operational pain.

I dare say this is only the beginning too, and like the pandemic we may be in for months (if not years) of market volatility.

So what approach is your business going to take?

Will it be like Business B and go quiet? Or will it be like Business A and get closer to customers when it matters most?

If you would like support to develop customer communications during difficult times, please reach out. I’m even happy to look over staff or AI written communications to ensure they are clear and relevant for a minimal fee.

My main concern is that you do this, so your business emerges from whatever comes next, and in the strongest possible position.

As I power through the familiar “content push” that typically falls in the last quarter of the year, I’m reminded of the very real benefits businesses can achieve with forward content planning.

While many copywriters find themselves in a lull period over the December/January break, I’ve always been a big advocate for my clients to use this time wisely.

Any business owner with a vision for the year ahead will know exactly what they want their content to achieve. For example, they may wish to:

• promote a new or underutilised product or service
• increase brand recognition through thought leadership
• have a say about key industry themes
• improve website visibility on search engines
• reignite that all-important customer connection

Whatever the goal, the right content can get you there. But this is rarely achieved by doing it on the fly. The more you can plan ahead, the greater your chances of success.

Why get your content ready now

Content marketing isn’t as simple as it once was. There’s so much noise in every marketplace that it’s almost impossible to cut through with an adhoc approach.

If I wanted to increase brand recognition by posting thought leadership articles on LinkedIn, I’m hardly going to get there by writing one article each month on a random topic. And I certainly won’t get there by pumping generic AI-generated articles out into the content-sphere.

What I would need is:

• weekly articles on pre-planned captivating topics
• 3 LinkedIn posts a week comprising text, graphics, and video
• a quarterly schedule that tracks results

This is all very achievable, but can be difficult to put into play when you’re consumed by the day-to-day running of your business. Forward planning always takes a back seat during busy periods, and it’s not until things slow down that you remember why you wanted the content in the first place.

For this reason and plenty of others, it’s worth maximising quiet periods so you can hit the ground running when things dial up and you’re time-poor once again.

Use your downtime wisely

As we rapidly approach the end of another year, consider getting a jumpstart on your content plan for 2026.

A good copywriter will be able to work with you to develop a “bank” of content that:

• effectively communicates what you want to say
• positions your message so the audience can understand and engage with it
• incorporates SEO and other key elements
• achieves the return on investment you deserve

If you work with the copywriter outside of their regular busy periods (i.e.: from mid-Dec to mid-Jan), they’ll also be able to commit more time to your project so you can have everything done and dusted by the time February rolls around and the new year is in full swing.

To learn more about working with an experienced copywriter on your 2026 content plan, please get in touch.  

Artificial intelligence (AI) responses in search engines are becoming more widespread, and this will impact search engine optimisation (SEO) strategies. Sad, but true.

If you haven’t seen it for yourself yet, let me demonstrate.

I search “How to write an article”, which is exactly the type of search phrase an educational institution or a tutor might try to rank for. They could have spent countless hours refining a blog post just to have a chance to secure a page 1 result in search engines.

But once I type the words in the search, I don’t even think I’ll bother to look further after being given this without a single scroll:

It’s not all searches, but it’s growing

I did test other search terms and found not all generate an AI response. For example, “How do I do my tax return?” promptly serves up the relevant tax office page.

However, this change in search capability is something marketing teams should be paying attention to.

The SEO landscape has evolved relatively quickly, and I still hear people talking about really outdated practices like keyword stuffing or exact matching for searched terms. These have long been superseded by synonym-capable engines that prioritise content quality and authority over all else.

So what’s next?

I have a few ideas on how organisations can shift to keep getting their content in front of a captivated target audience. Of course, the how depends on the type of business and the products and services on offer.

Universally though, it all stems back to good ol’ relevance and engagement.

Every day I am so privileged to hear the stories and insights of people who work in so many sectors, and the information they share IS something that other people would want to know. These are not generic responses. They are genuine wisdom that was hard gained through doing life.

The more we see generic content, the more we crave personality (I hope!).

So even though AI-powered search responses may impact how and where we share the wisdom and personality, the point is that it still needs to be shared – for the one who has it, and the one who needs to hear it.

Sustainability has been a hot topic for many years, and if we look beyond the more corporate themes of ESG and the like, I prefer to think of sustainability in its purest form:

What is the most efficient way to sustain [a thing] so as to have the least impact on that which sustains it?

Becoming truly sustainable requires us to be more efficient and effective, where we are consciously taking actions that give us success now without impeding the possibility of success in the future.

If we look at business content through the sustainability lens, there are a number of interesting overlaps. Instead of constantly producing more and more and more content, we need to be on the lookout for opportunities to do more with less.

In this context, ‘sustainable content’ would be content that is:

Efficient to produce – requiring less time and effort.

Effective – is purposeful and serves to inspire, educate, or engage.

Lasting – reaches a reader on a meaningful level now, and into the future.

Upcycling what you already have

What many established businesses don’t realise is they already have a treasure trove of this content at their disposal.

Likely produced over years of thought leadership or marketing campaigns, scores of content pieces can be re-purposed and re-used by upcycling them with clever editing and slight changes in nuance. This can be a highly efficient, effective, and sustainable way to continue forging an online presence and maintaining connections with customers.

Big brands often miss the nostalgic value of this, with once-popular taglines and commercials constantly shelved for modern styles, when reigniting the old could trigger an affection for the brand long lost as the sea of competition grew over the years. (If you’ve never kicked back and watched an hour of 80s commercials on YouTube, I highly recommend it!)

This is not to say old content can just be pumped out without a second thought, or fed into ChatGPT to be rewritten in new – and likely more dull – wording. Today’s readers are more discerning with their time, so especially older and more content-heavy pieces would need the fat trimmed and the engagement level boosted for this strategy to work.

A place for the old and the new

While there will always be a case to develop new content to promote new people, products and ideas, don’t overlook the possibility of reigniting your existing treasure trove to see what it could do for your business.

The opportunities are really endless – from re-shaping a single article, to turning an article series into an eBook, or generating an array of thought-provoking social media posts.

If you don’t have a treasure trove of existing content, consider working with a copywriter (like me, *shameless plug*) who understands how to produce sustainable content. Through it, we can share the unique and timely insights of your subject matter experts, while building a collection of content that keeps giving well into the future.

For more content ideas, or to find out how I can assist with your next content project, please get in touch.  

Hardly a week goes by that I don’t hear someone exclaim, “Have you seen what ChatGPT can do!?”

While I don’t have the app myself, I’ve seen examples of how it writes. And while it shocks me to say, it’s pretty darn good! The quality of writing and grammar is near perfect. When given clear instructions, the relevance of response is also hard to fault.

As graphic artists across the world grapple with artificial intelligence (AI) applications capable of producing works of art, copywriters must also be asking…is this the end for me?

It doesn’t pain me to say that, for some jobs, it definitely will be. As more people learn to use ChatGPT, and the AI brain behind it grows, its ability to produce generic content will vastly improve.

What is ‘generic content’?

Generic content is content compiled from existing sources that’s essentially re-worded to say the same thing in a different way.

For example, I could write a 1,000 word article on best practice for a certain app. If the client asked me to write the article based on research, I would need to trawl various sources of existing information and collate that knowledge to write the piece.

From what I’ve seen, ChatGPT does this perfectly. It also does it for free and in a split second. Oh the power of a super brain!

As most of my clients know, I’m not a fan of writing generic content. I would even happily refer someone who asked for generic content to a bot if I was sure they’d get a reasonably similar result.

My dislike for generic content is the reason why I write almost all copy after interviewing an expert within a client’s company. The interview helps me learn all about the subject through their eyes. They are the ones who live and breathe it every day, and they’ll be the first to tell you things are very different in practice to the theory you’ll find in a textbook or most online sources.

Be it a thought leadership piece, a web page, case study or anything else – the only way to produce unique content is to share your unique thoughts and experiences.

AI cannot do this. And while my clients could always do it themselves, I find that’s why they hire a copywriter in the first place…they can’t or don’t want to!

Is this the end of all jobs?

While we’re on the subject of AI, why stop at copywriting? Pick a role, in any industry, and see if a bot could do it.

Having interviewed people in the artificial intelligence space, the future potential of AI could indeed leave very little requirement for us humans.

If AI super brains are ingesting every literary work, and every text book on every subject you could study at university, they could essentially do what any of us have been taught to do.

For example, imagine an AI veterinarian. It has all the knowledge taught in textbooks, all the data from animal studies, and the diagnostic capability of advanced tech. You take your ailing pooch to the “vet hub” and the AI bot diagnoses it before dispensing either:

• homecare advice
• medication
• a referral for surgery

While it seems impossible, time is quickly proving it’s not.

Ultimately, if artists and copywriters will eventually be rendered useless in the face of AI then we have to ask…who won’t be?

If you like the idea of working with a (human) copywriter to develop unique content for your business, please get in touch.

When I first started writing this article, I realised it’s been over a year since I posted the last one. Pretty slack, given it’s my profession!

To put it simply, 2020 was a crazy busy year for me. When COVID hit, organisations shifted their event budgets to content which meant a lot of work for copywriters.

With all industries experiencing rapid acceleration of their digital transformation strategies, content is playing a crucial role in:

• reaching potential customers
• driving customer intimacy
• enhancing company culture

With this in mind, a much higher portion of my clients are now viewing content for the strategic advantage it provides. Where they may once have done a few articles or case studies, they’re now looking to leverage and repurpose content across the board for whitepapers, lead generation pieces, videos, and more.

Where has this left me? Extremely busy to say the least! And I know this is the case for many fellow copywriters.

If you’ve been struggling to find an experienced copywriter, there are a few things you can do to maximise your chances of securing one…

Don’t wait until the last minute

Content is ever-changing, so I know it’s hard to plan for what you’ll need months in advance.

However if you have a month up your sleeve, you’ll greatly increase your chances of securing the copywriter you really want to work with.

Ask for a referral

If you can’t wait, reach out to your favourite copywriter anyway and ask for a referral. I only refer new clients to excellent writers and editors who I know will do a great job and for one reason or another are able to accept new work.

When I can’t take on a job, my first referral is to Sharon Phillips at Ginger Up Communications. Sharon has worked off referrals as a freelancer for 20 years because she is incredible at what she does, and the feedback certainly confirms it.

If Sharon is booked solid too, I can always recommend another copywriter depending on a client’s unique needs.

Build a relationship

If you have engaged a copywriter and they’ve delivered content you really like, let them know in advance that you want to work with them in the future. This may allow them to carve out time in their calendar that is reserved exclusively for you.

For example, I know my regular clients require X amount of hours from me each month so I pre-schedule time for them. If they don’t need me there’s no hard feelings – I can easily fill the spot. But if they do need me then they are already booked in, and that gives us both peace of mind.

I hate to say no and I never like to turn clients away. But I have to be honest about availability so I can meet deadlines, and I find clients appreciate this too.

Where to from here

If you need a copywriter, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. When I can’t meet the deadline, I will refer you to another copywriter you can trust. And if I can, I look forward to working with you!

 

As a copywriter, I often find myself fascinated by what certain words actually mean and where they come from. 

How many times have you said or thought to yourself, I just want to be happy! Or, I just want to make other people happy!

Society, in general, seems obsessed with the idea of happiness – and the pursuit of it. And I dare say, the fact that we can never seem to achieve a constant state of “happiness” actually makes us sad. After all, why can’t we be “happy” all the time?

But what does the word “happy” actually mean? And what does it mean to say I want to be happy?

Well, you may be surprised to learn that the word “happy” actually originates from the word “hap” which means “good luck”. 

Happy is from the Middle English word hap, meaning “good luck“. Many early European words for happy actually mean good luck, not joy. 

My brother, who is a psychologist, calls it a social construct. This is where we, as a society, take an idea and apply our own meaning to it. 

And I find it fascinating that we’ve managed to construct an idea that is so far removed from the original intent of the word, while being near impossible to attain because:

• we use it to describe a feeling
• feelings always change
• yet we aspire to be “happy” all of the time

We do not aspire to be “well” or “glad” because these words have a somewhat mellow connotation. They simply don’t feel powerful enough. 

We do not aspire to stay “excited” because we know excited is a transient emotion – it comes and goes as things change. 

We rarely use the word “joy” anymore, which could be a more accurate way to describe what we want to say (and is another great word to look up!). 

When we replace “happy” with “joy” we may recognise that we can’t always feel joy, and we’re OK with that. We may also think of “joy” as something we create on the inside – not something we feel because of what’s happening on the outside. 

Before I get too philosophical I’ll stop there. But with all of this in mind, what would it mean for you to take the word “happy” out of your vocabulary for a day…unless you mean good luck?

Where is your organisation in the fight for plain English?

Do you still value complex words packed like sardines into shudderingly-long paragraphs? Or have you transformed all of your content (internal and external) so it’s easy to read, follow and relate to?

Although the idea of plain English has been around for centuries (aka “Layman’s terms”), most companies were happy to ignore it in favour of technical language…until the internet changed everything.

A letter in the mail became 100 emails in the inbox. A good book branched into millions of “how to” websites and videos. 34 shop fronts at the local shopping centre morphed into countless online retailers across the globe.

As content expanded, reader attention spans plummeted. People simply got really clever at developing shortcuts to absorb maximum info in minimum time.

They’ve become experts on how to scroll, skim and scan. And they use these shortcuts when they read just about anything: internet and intranet content, policies, procedures, letters, emails, reports, brochures, and more!

Research tells us this applies to technical experts too. The general public want plain English so they understand what they read. Technical experts want it because they’re time poor and need to digest info fast. 

When you know all of this, you never ask “Do I write in Plain English?”. But “How far can I go with plain English?”.

The value in editing…twice

Every writer has their own style. Some are great at humour, others are talented story tellers.

But not every writer understands plain English, and how to apply the rules of plain English to meet the needs of scrollers, skimmers and scanners. (When I say “rules” I mean best practice conventions shared by writers across the world, backed by extensive user research.)

Even writers who understand plain English don’t always get it right. There is always benefit in editing multiple times because every edit makes content better.

The better it is, the more chance that people will read it. 

Check out this example…

I made it up, and the “not plain English” version is way more common than you might think – I’ve seen much worse!

Not plain English

Complex text is to be written by a skilled, experienced and where applicable qualified individual and that person is responsible for making it long and convoluted so it appears intelligent and confusing to the person who needs to read it. This is called “bureaucratese” and it is a widespread issue for a large number of companies that make the decision to write in this language style as they are of the opinion that it makes them sound more intelligent. They should instead be worrying about writing comprehensible content so the person who reads it understands the information that is being communicated.

Plain English version 1

Only a skilled, experienced and (if applicable) qualified person can write complex text.

They must make it long and complicated so it sounds intelligent and confuses the person who reads it.

It is called “gobbledygook” and it is a common problem for lots of companies that write this way because they believe it makes them sound more intelligent.

They should instead worry about writing clear content so the reader understands what they wish to communicate.

Plain English version 2

You can only write complex content if you are:

• skilled
• experienced
• qualified (if it applies)

You must make it long and complicated. This makes it sound clever so the reader gets confused.

We call this “gobbledygook” and it’s a common problem for many companies. They write this way because they think it makes them look smarter.

Instead, they should write clear content so the reader understands it.

My # 1 rule for plain English edits

I probably have about 30 rules in my plain English playbook, but this is my #1 rule:

People decide if they will read something at first sight. If it looks too long or complex, they won’t even give it a chance.  

With this in mind, the perfect layout + the perfect content = perfection. 

Make it real 

Plain English is not art. It’s not creative, and it’s not clever. It’s REAL. 

Leave behind almost every English class you sat in at school and write real words, for real people. Destroy anything that doesn’t add value to their experience, and your content will thrive. 

As a copywriter, I certainly don’t consider myself a “creative”. That’s your job, in your field of expertise. 

My job is to take your information and ideas, and apply what I know to your content so your customers:

• read it
• understand it
• relate to it
• act on it

Plain English follows a simple set of principles. Even your customers’ buying journey can be distilled to a simple set of principles (don’t believe me? Read anything from renowned psychologist and author Robert Cialdini). 

Combine those principles and you’ve got a recipe for success.

Last month, Google announced that BERT will be joining their team. 

Short for something long and complicated, BERT is basically artificial intelligence (AI) integrated into Google’s search algorithm.

If you’re not familiar with AI or how it works, it’s simply a term to describe the intelligence of machines. Programmed with certain algorithms, a computer system can “learn” by analysing mass amounts of data.

In Google’s case, BERT can analyse how people search and “learn” the words people use to describe a topic.

BERT is still in testing phase, but it won’t be long before it (he?) rules the search domain.  

What this change means for you

How many times have you heard the word “keyword” when it comes to content?

For years, keywords have been the primary focus of search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts, because that’s how Google’s search algorithm worked.

Let’s use a law firm in Canberra as an example. The managing partner calls me and says they’re re-doing their website and want to “rank well on search engines”.

I start by researching what words (aka keywords) people use when they search online for a law firm in Canberra. I might find:

• law firm Canberra
• Canberra law firms
• lawyers Canberra
• Canberra lawyers
• Best lawyers in Canberra
• Legal firms Canberra
• I want to find a lawyer in Canberra
• I need a lawyer in the ACT
• Who is the best lawyer in the ACT?

And probably many more. But we’d choose the keywords that give us the best value (highest number of searches relative to the amount of competition for the keyword) and then use those keywords on select pages.

Ideally each page would maximise 1-2 keywords by including them in the title tag, meta description, headings and content.

Unfortunately up till now, the choice and placement of each word mattered a lot. You may rank first for “law firm Canberra” but on page 2 for “Canberra lawyers”.

This level of specificity has been a thorn in the backside of SEO companies for years, as they attempted to get their clients to page 1 for every keyword variation – usually with keyword-specific landing pages. These are pages that may not even be visible from a website’s navigation, but hone in on specific keywords so they turn up in search.

This approach is also expensive for clients, because they need to pay for all these extra web pages (and the content to go on them).   

The list of law firm search terms is also just a drop in the ocean. When you add suburbs to target location-specific search, or people use ACT instead of Canberra, or (worse) the company has a national presence, it gets ridiculously complex.

How BERT removes keyword obsession

BERT uses machine learning to understand the intent behind a user’s search.

So if I say “law firm Canberra” I could also mean “lawyers Canberra”, “ACT lawyers”, or even “legal help Canberra”. BERT understands this. It understands synonyms.

This is a huge leap forward and a big change to how many websites should approach their digital marketing.

Gone are the days when keywords reign supreme.

It’s all about topics now.

To stay relevant and be chosen in the new AI-powered search world, you must build valuable content around topics that align with your services.

The only time we want to use the word “keyword” is when we mean “the natural words my customers use to describe my service”. There will always be value in understanding these because when you use them in your content, your audience knows they’re in the right place at the right time. They can see that you offer what they need, which is essential to keeping them on the page long enough to learn your story.

The transition to BERT will also mean the way you write web copy is incredibly important.

Want to know why?

Contact me to learn more or find out how I can help your business in a post-BERT world.

Next year marks 15 years that I’ve worked almost entirely remotely. 

As a freelance copywriter, I run my business out of my home office (grant it the home has changed a couple of times over the past decade). I have a great set up, which makes it easy to work through the variety of copywriting projects I tackle each day.

I’m a huge advocate for remote working, because technology means we no longer need bums on seats to get a job done well. In fact, remote working means a company anywhere in the world can hire a specialist, without ever having to meet the person in person.

While most of my client base is in Canberra, I’ve also worked with companies in Sydney and Melbourne, and as far afield as New Zealand and the United States.

Have I ever experienced any drawbacks? No.

Yes, my inbox is flooded with emails every day and I’m on the phone a lot, but remote working has never stopped me from building strong relationships with clients. In fact, it has enabled it.

How tech helps

While phone and email is my “go to”, I’m also a big fan of online platforms such as:

• Basecamp
• Trello
• Slack
• GatherContent
• Slickplan

These tools make it easy to keep track of projects, and work with subject matter experts or teams who are all invested in achieving the same high quality outcome.

Do I ever meet with clients?

Of course. If my clients are in Canberra, we make a point to grab a coffee at least once a year. If I’m working on a larger project, I might head into a client’s office for several meetings as it moves through various stages.

It’s always nice to meet face to face. But as someone who dedicates their day to delivering for clients, I need to be at my desk.

You’ll almost never see me at a networking event, or shopping at midday. And the same goes for many other freelancers I know. We work ridiculously hard, and often much longer hours than we would in an office.

But we love it. Why? Because flexibility and freedom come at a price, and those who get to work on their own terms are usually all too happy to pay it.

Do I ever work while I’m standing in a pool or lying on a beach?

No. Any serious freelancer knows there are 2 essentials to get a job done right:

1. A strong internet connection
2. Quiet (so you can answer the phone and speak with clients)

Don’t believe those YouTube videos where someone casually floats through a pool with their laptop perched on the edge as they try to sell you on the “enviable freelancer life”.

I don’t think my laptop would last long if I subjected it to a day in the sand, either.

Remote working is great, but it’s not all lattes and cocktails. A home office is just another place to hang your hat while you do what you do best. 

Want to know what it’s like to work with an experienced freelance copywriter? Call me on 0449 242 042.

If you’re keen to make your workplace more flexible and let your employees work remotely, there are some great articles that show how innovative companies are making it work for them.