A running thread of my favorite quotes on copywriting, advertising, and marketing:
The written word is the strongest source of power in the entire universe.
– Gary Halbert on writing
If you can’t reduce your argument to a few crisp words and phrases, there’s something wrong with your argument.
– Maurice Saatchi on writing
Your job is not to write copy.
Your job is to know your visitors, customers, and prospects so well, you understand the situation they’re in right now, where they’d like to be, and exactly how your solution can and will get them to their ideal self.
– Joanna Wiebe on writing
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But schools and employers do a horrible job teaching people to write.
In 1981, two advertising executives wrote a timeless guide for how to write in the business world.
And here are 12 of their tips you should staple to your desktop:
The goal of your writing is effective communication - writing that *works*
Busy people read what you write.
So you are more useful to them when your writing takes up less of their time.
The goal: invest the time to write well now to save others time in the future.
The golden rule of business writing: don't mumble.
While it is generally desirable to communicate your thoughts in a forthright manner, toning down your point and tiptoeing around it may tempt the reader to tune out and allow his mind to wander.
The most valuable Twitter feature you aren't using:
Advanced search.
Knowing how to use it will help you find the hidden gems of the Twitter archives and 10x your Twitter experience.
Here's the step-by-step guide:
Most Twitter users know nothing about advanced search.
And the few that do think you have to access it this way: by clicking the three dots in the search bar, then clicking advanced search, then using these fields.
This is painfully inefficient.
Luckily, there is a better way.
You can leverage the power of advanced search right in the search bar using text.
And there are six different things you can create filters for:
• Date
• Keywords
• Number of likes
• Number of replies
• Number of retweets