Have you ever found yourself struggling to write something at work? You might have all the empirical data you need to write a persuasive case study, or a great idea for a blog post. But when you sit down to write, you just spin your wheels and get stuck. I knew this feeling well when…
Virginia (as in, Woolf) was totally right. For writers, sometimes nothing but a room of our own will do. However, there is a huge difference between having our own space and writing in a vacuum. This is especially true in the professional world, where writers are part of a team that is often charged with…
Whether you want a parcel of cyberspace to plant your thoughts in, or need to share your business model with the world, blogs are the du jour communication channel. But the sheer number of platforms available makes the decision to blog harder than it needs to be. Here are some thoughts to help you weigh…
The recent suspension of anchor Brian Williams from the NBC Nightly News offers a valuable lesson about the importance of safeguarding your brand. And make no mistake, Williams is—or at least was—a very valuable TV brand. The anchor’s sin was embellishing his participation in various news stories. According to a Washington Post article, people in the…
One little comma can create a whole lot of havoc. Whether to use the serial comma—a.k.a. the Oxford comma—before “and” to separate three or more items in text is a hotly debated copyediting topic. Do you prefer apples, oranges, and pears? Or apples, oranges and pears? Proponents say the series comma makes things clearer, while…
Wordsmithie works internationally, which also means we’re much more widely scattered than many agencies our size. We have ’smithies not only all across the United States, but also in Europe (Madrid) and Asia (Singapore). We routinely collaborate on projects that have us talking and collaborating with people all across the globe—from Norway to New Zealand,…
When you’re fully immersed in a topic or activity, you’re transported to another state. You’re also more likely to file facts in your internal database, remember key messages and recall more readily. It’s no surprise that the most interesting, engaging content gets absorbed first, most and best. We get invested in core content when there’s…
Creating a strong case study, white paper or website requires a good working relationship between the client and agency. Communication must be honest and open. And, as in any relationship, there are a few things that you as the client absolutely don’t want to say. Utter them at your peril. “I’ll know it when I…
Your plan has a hole in it. It doesn’t matter what sort of plan it is. A launch plan. A marketing plan. A communications plan. Whatever it is, it has a vulnerability that you don’t know about yet. How can you be sure there’s a hole? Because there’s a plan. You might know the old…
We know that some agencies keep a wall between you and your copywriter. Everything passes through your account exec, with no direct interaction between you and the person banging out your copy. Some clients probably prefer things that way. That’s not how we work at Wordsmithie, however. Oh, you’ll still have a good deal of…