Blog: Wordsmithery
News and views from me, Charlie Hobson, about all things Wordsmithy-related.
From copywriting and comms trends to grammar pedantry, things I’ve learned from our latest client projects to inspiring people and resources, I’ll share it here in my fairly frequent, shortish blog posts. I hope they help you get to know me better.
Iterative copy drafting: tearing a straw man apart
When you need to get something down on a web page or on paper, it's hard to know where to begin. As a professional writer, I'm not immune to that problem! It's easy to become paralysed with the fear of not getting it right first time, or worse, of getting it very...
Thinking out loud – keep it to yourself
A great coaching and development session today left me with as much food for thought as my client. Looking at someone else's communication habits and challenges always helps me refresh my own approach and remember how useful tools and techniques are. For example,...
Putting a price on words: the true value of verbal identity for business
BT has saved £6m by rewriting its call centre scripts, with the help of copy experts at agency The Writer. I was delighted to read Marketing Week's excellent feature headlining on the substantial tangible value that has been calculated by BT's Head of Brand Language,...
Paper beats digital for browsing
I had an interesting conversation the other day about why the print press continues to be popular, despite the proliferation of online feeds and sites. Whatever my favourites (in my case, Red magazine, The Times and the Metro) do to enhance their user interface and...
Better get a newsletter…
Social media is where it’s at with customer communication and relationship-building these days, right? Blogs, vlogs, tweets and instagram and all the rest of the trending social gang are hogging the marketing comms limelight, for sure. But the word is that...
Starting a Riut! One startup’s communication strategy: genuine, positive, easy + social
In the final post of this trio featuring successful Kickstarter entrepreneur Sarah Giblin, I talked to her about her approach to communications. She single-handedly communicates with over 1000 customers via email updates, blogs and social media. Her exemplary use of...
The Riut way of communicating #ipredictariut
Here's Kickstarter entrepreneur Sarah Giblin sharing her top 8 practical tips on making best use of social media. Her way with words has really impressed me on her journey from the germ of her idea to the successful global launch of her innovative backwards commuter...
Starting a Riut – with words
I was lucky enough to grab an hour or two with successful Kickstarter entrepreneur Sarah Giblin recently. I have been following her journey with great interest as she has conceived, developed and launched her revolutionary new RiutBag rucksack for calm city travel. My...
Fifty shades of cliche on paper?
Ah, Valentine’s Day is upon us and with it the cunningly timed release of the new 50 Shades film. Of course it’s been ripped to shreds by reviewers (apart from, notably, The Telegraph) and of course it’s going to be one of the biggest grossing hits of the year. The...