Words

My journey in storytelling started at school with an essay assignment to write about my life.
It got a high mark and, combined with the results of a careers assessment of my abilities which showed I was good at writing, brought encouragement that I could make a career from writing. Spurred by that, I set myself the goal of becoming a journalist. Nine years later I had achieved that after graduating from Britain’s top journalism school.
I’ve been a professional writer – first a journalist and editor, then a Public Relations practitioner – since 1988, so finding the right words to tell your story is something I have a lot of experience of doing. I’ve written everything from news and features to advertorial and technical features for B2B titles as well as scores of press releases.
So you can be sure your story is being told using the most effective words to communicate your key marketing messages.
If you’d like to see examples of copywriting I’ve done for clients, contact me by email. Meantime, check out my blog.
BLOG

How can PR bring you new business?
When it comes to talking to any potential commercial client about why they should consider using PR, it always comes that moment where they ask me the same ‘$64,000’ question – how will this bring me new business? It’s a very fair question and one which you deserve a...
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What is Public Relations?
Public Relations, in one form or another, is all around us every day. It’s used to influence changes in behaviour and beliefs in target publics (stakeholders) by most organisations. But how much do those who use it, and those influenced by it, understand what it...
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From the Archive – How we can all learn from how guerilla marketing was used to disarm real guerillas
This month’s print edition of Wired UK has a great piece in the Ideas Bank section about how marketer Jose Miguel Sokoloff and his team at Lowe-SSP3 in Colombia helped the struggle against the FARC guerilla movement there by using clever marketing techniques. Careful...
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Client News – Second success in days for Royal-backed Angus sports charity
An Angus sports charity is enjoying a second high-profile recognition of its work promoting community health and wellbeing through rugby just days after HRH The Earl of Forfar became its Royal Patron. Last week, on August 3, The Strathmore Community Rugby Trust (SCRT)...
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Client News – Scottish software consultancy Horisk’s new platform for Scottish Procurement helping public bodies kickstart Covid-19 economy response
A new platform developed by Scots software consultancy Horisk Leslie Development for Scottish Procurement is helping Scotland’s public bodies embed sustainability requirements in their procurement, kickstarting the national economic recovery post-Covid-19. The...
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Client News – HRH Earl of Forfar so impressed by Angus sports charity’s work he becomes its Royal Patron
A visit to see the work of an Angus sports charity so impressed HRH the Earl of Forfar last July that he’s become its Royal Patron, sent a video message of support and is planning another visit. On July 1 last year Their Royal Highnesses the Earl and Countess of...
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How to get your target customer to act NOW!
In last week’s blog, I wrote about the third step in the AIDA model of advertising, Desire. This week it’s the turn of the final step – Action! By this point you’ve honked the car horn at your target customer, they’ve turned their head, you’ve got their interest in...
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How to prompt Desire for your product or service NOW
In last week’s blog, I wrote about the second step in the AIDA model of advertising, Interest. This week it’s the turn of Desire. By this point you’ve honked the car horn at your target person, they’ve turned their head and you’ve got them interested in the idea of...
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Client News – Caltech Lifts success shows Scotland’s best SMEs should aim to grow straight out of lockdown
The first UK-wide tendering success for leading Scottish independent lift firm Caltech Lifts shows how Scotland’s best SMEs should aim to grow straight from lockdown by focussed excellence on service and training. It’s one of just 27 UK SMEs to have won the right to...
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How to get your target audience’s interest
In last week’s blog, I wrote about how the many ways to increase brand awareness among your target audience. This week I’m going to take that a step further by talking about how to get their interest. The reason is that getting their attention, one of the things you...
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