Improve Your Copywriting with the Red Pen Rule

In my book, Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps, I write about how a little trick I call the Red Pen Rule can help you make your marketing copy more effective and more successful.

This week, I wrote an overview of the Red Pen Rule on Entrepreneur.com.  Here’s a snippet to give you an idea of what’s included in the article and discussed in greater detail in my book.

“You don’t ever want consumers to read or listen to your ad or marketing piece and think, “Hurry up and get to the point.” Instead, keep your messages short, sweet and succinct, and your results will prove that the red pen rule works.”

You can follow the link to read the complete article, called The Red Pen Rule for Marketing Copy.

How to Create a Sense of Urgency in Marketing Messages

I write about the topic of creating a sense of urgency and motivating consumers to action through your copywriting extensively in my book for small business owners and beginner copywriters, Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps, where I explain that crafting effective calls to action is a talent that you can learn.

My newest article on Entrepreneur.com gives 3 useful tips to help you create a sense of urgency in your marketing messages.  You can follow the link to get all the details: 3 Ways to Move Customers to Action.

10 Common and Effective Emotional Triggers to Boost Your Copywriting

My latest article for Entrepreneur.com has been published.  This time, I explain how appealing to consumers’ emotional triggers can make your copywriting more effective, which is something I go into in greater detail in my book, Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps.

You can follow the link to read my article on the Entrepreneur website: 10 Common and Effective Emotional Triggers.

10 Reasons Your Marketing Messages Stink

My latest article is live on Entrepreneur.com.  It’s called 10 Reasons Your Marketing Messages Stink, and I look at the craft of writing effective copy from a different perspective than you might be used to.

You can check it out here.

What do you think is the main reason marketing copy is ineffective?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts!

5 Myths that Can Kill Your Marketing Copy

Do you know the 5 myths that can destroy your advertising or marketing messages?  Find out what they are and how to avoid them in my new article on Entrepreneur.com.  Follow the link to read the 5 Myths that Can Kill Your Marketing Copy.

Are there any other myths you’d add to the list?

Read an Excerpt of ‘Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps’ by Susan Gunelius

An excerpt of Susan Gunelius’ book, Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps, is now available on Entrepreneur.com. 

You can read the excerpt by following the link to Entrepreneur.com or open the PDF.

10 Advertising Words to Avoid in 2009 on Today Show Website

KeySplash Creative President and CEO Susan Gunelius recently wrote an article about the 10 Advertising Words to Avoid in 2009. 

First published on Entrepreneur.com earlier this month, the article has been picked up by another of other websites including the Today Show, MSNBC, Washington Post, Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Small Business. 

Follow the links to read the article to make sure you know which words to steer clear of in the coming year.

Image: Today Show

10 Advertising Words to Avoid in 2009

My latest copywriting article was published on Entrepreneur.com yesterday.  This article talks about 10 Advertising Words to Avoid in 2009. 

While the article is written with an eye to marketing in 2009, the list is actually an evergreen one, meaning most of the words on the list are words that you should always try to avoid in your copywriting.  For example, words like “that” and “really” are just a waste of space when it comes to copywriting.  That’s true anytime, not just in 2009.

You can read the full article here. 

What do you think?  What words do you hope to never see in advertising again?

Buy my copywriting book, Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps, with a foreward by Brian Clark of Copyblogger.com.

Grammar Rules It’s Okay to Break in Copywriting

This week, I published an article on Entrepreneur.com about grammar rules that are ok to break in copywriting. In the article, I identify five specific rules that copywriters can break, but I also mention that you must write copy that speaks to your audience in terms they’ll respond to.

You can follow the link above to read the complete article, and of course, you can learn more in my book, Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps.

Image: Entrepreneur.com

Susan Gunelius Interviewed on Business Profits Radio

Business Profits Radio is a satellite radio show hosted by business expert, Robert Skrob. 

This week, Robert interviewed Susan Gunelius, author of Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps, to learn more about how to build your business and the buzz around it using simple techniques for creating compelling marketing messages.

Some of what Robert and Susan discussed included:

• How to identify what advertising is working.
• The first thing to do whenever you’re creating a new advertising piece.
• Seeing your ad in the eyes of your customer, so you can predict what will move them to action.
• Easy ways to create advertising that doesn’t take a lot of time or money.
• Making sure you clearly outline exactly the action you want your prospect to take as a result of reading your ad.

To listen to Susan’s interview with Robert on Business Profits Radio visit www.robertskrob.com/BPR and select the “Selling Your Way Out of a Recession” headline.