When Bad Punctuation, Spelling and Grammar Happen to Good People I’m delighted for these students but to paraphrase the words of Inigo Montoya, “I do not think this headline means what they think it means.”For heaven’s sake, where was the copy editor? Managing editor? Reporter? Anyone? What ever happened to reading your work before hitting “send” or going to print? …
Caryn Starr: Queen Of Copywriting
The Deep Voice Man Show Podcast On his The Deep Voice Man Show, Luke Jean-Louis has guests share their expertise and life lessons. Listeners can learn valuable information and add to their networks by being introduced to “Centers of Influence” to easily connect with. This is his gift to the guests and listeners. In this podcast, Caryn Starr-Gates shares tips …
Advertising vs. PR – or is it Advertising and PR?
Many people confuse these two disciplines, which are used to promote a brand or company and position it in the best light possible. When they work together, they can create marketing magic for your business. In short, advertising sells and public relations tells. Here’s the lowdown on advertising and PR from a copywriter’s standpoint. Advertising or PR Advertising is paid …
The Art of the Quality Referral
I am fortunate that in my work as a copywriter and marketing communications practitioner, I get to collaborate with and provide outsourced writing services to many people. They are agency owners who run advertising, marketing, and public relations firms; branding experts; marketing strategists and implementers of marketing campaigns; art directors and graphic designers; videographers and photographers. With all those connections, …
Hashing out the Hashtags in Your Social Media Copy
Hashtags. They’re everywhere, like rabbits that reproduced with abandon and hopped from Twitter (where they originated in 2007) to LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram (forgive me if I overlooked a hashtag-laden social network). Hashtags help group topics and trends for social media users and make content searchable. Marketers can use them to create brand awareness and connect with their …
How Social are Your Social Media Posts? (Posting in the Age of COVID-19 and Beyond)
It seems that every person involved in advertising and marketing is reminding businesses that during an extensive shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is not the time to shut down their marketing activities. I totally agree. When this is all over, the companies that will remain top of mind among their target audiences will be those who stayed the …
The Age of Incivility: the Loss of Civil Communication on Social Media
The hashtag #civility has been popping up on Facebook and I’m sure, on other social media platforms, and for good reason. The divisive political climate (and equally divisive rhetoric), coupled with the incessant social media chatter around us, has given rise to increasingly gross, distasteful, and hateful attacks across the digital space. Why all the hate? Can’t we all just …