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.
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Client News – Indiana Jones film locks in Scaramanga’s reputation as a go-to movie supplier for vintage items
The UK release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny on Wednesday [June 28] will lock in Scots firm Scaramanga’s place as a go-to supplier of vintage lifestyle items to Hollywood movies – as it’ll be the fifth Tinseltown flick with its products released in just...
read moreClient News – Public sector projects performance helps Horisk win Best Small Business at 2023 Fife Business Awards
An excellent record of delivering easy-to-use, secure and accessible online platforms for high-profile public sector projects has helped Fife web consultancy Horisk Leslie Development win the Small Business award at the 2023 Fife Business Awards. The Fife web...
read moreHow to ensure you pick the most effective ideas from your brainstorming session
This blog was prompted by a recent tweet by Professor Ethan Mollick highlighting this 2019 paper by Justin M. Berg which found participants asked to ranked the potential creativity of their initial ideas before developing them into final ideas “tended to under-rank...
read moreWhy the new AI tools will make your people’s communication skills vital for Sustainable Competitive Advantage
The rapid influx of the new wave of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools – from ChatGPT and DALL-E to Google Bard and New Bing Chat AI Chat – have brought predictions of job losses as processes currently done by people will in future be processed by AI-driven IT. Many...
read moreMicrosoft Designer – how everyday useful is it for PR & Comms?
Microsoft recently launched what it’s branding as a “preview” of a free (for now at least) social media graphics design tool called Designer. You can read about its features here. The thing which is innovative about this is how it’s using the Dall-E AI tool to attack...
read moreClient News – Award-winning Angus rugby charity seeking its next Chair
Strathmore Community Rugby Trust is searching for a new chairperson to lead the development of the award-winning Angus charity. The trust was founded in 2017 by current Chair, Stuart Gray, to increase public participation in sport in the Forfar, Kirriemuir and Brechin...
read moreTop 10 things I’ve learned in 20 years with an MBA
It’s 20 years this week since I completed my OUBS MBA. Here are the Top 10 things I’ve learned since. Letters after your name are only as valuable as how much you use the knowledge & skills which resulted in them. Every day is a CPD Day, if you pay attention. Don’t...
read moreAI in PR & Comms – Using AI to Brief a Photographer
A use for AI Image Generation in the PR & Comms Process: briefing photographers for a PR shot if you can't be there. I've used the free New Bing AI Image Generator to generate what I want a client and his retained photographer to get for an upcoming story. Can't share...
read morePR Explained – Cheque presentations are boring. Show what you did, not a big cheque.
Cheque presentation photos - who wants to see another? Not Editors. Instead, in just an hour you can make a short video of how you raised the money for them to share on their Web & Social. Something active, not static. And communicate more messages. Enabling more...
read moreHow ‘real-world useful’ are the free & cheap new AI Search and image-making tools?
If you read the technology or business sections of major media, you can’t help but have noticed the legions of articles about the new generation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools recently launched. There have been many expert reviews written about them. For the...
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