How do you know when it is time to hire a copywriter, a.k.a one who writes text, or copy, for the purpose of marketing a product, business, person, opinion or idea?

If you’re a recruiter at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, you just know. But what if you’re not in that world? What if you work for a design shop or a Web development firm? What if you work in marketing on the client side? In these cases, the question often becomes a difficult and puzzling one. But it needn’t be that way.

The murkiness, of course, is caused by one overriding reason. Too many people think they can do what copywriters do. Which makes me wonder, do these same wannabe copywriters also think they can perform their own root canal, or defend themselves in a court of law? Perhaps, they can do these things, but unless they’re some kind of real life MacGyver, they’re bound to make a mess of things and cause undue pain.

Because AdPulp is here to help — and carefully crafted lists are helpful constructs — please review these 10 signs that you do, indeed, need to hire a copywriter.

1. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you have no idea what prospective consumers find valuable in your product or service offering.

2. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you lack the tools to express your brand’s singular idea in a concise and memorable way.

3. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you are busy doing the job you were hired to do, versus imitating the job of someone you have yet to hire.

4. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you are ready to earn and hold your audience’s attention.

5. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you realize that without a paid professional on the job, you’re actually wasting all the money you’re putting in to “a new look.”

Perhaps, these logical approaches to the problem aren’t working for you. That’s okay, a nimble copywriter can turn on a dime and head in a new direction.

6. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you start to believe David Ogilvy was born in a French Chateau.

7. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you are done messin’ with Sasquatch.

8. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you don’t want to sell your hair to a wig shop, wake up in a roadside ditch or re-enact scenes from Platoon with Charlie Sheen.

9. It’s time to hire a copywriter when the most interesting man in the world says so.

10. It’s time to hire a copywriter when you are no longer afraid to Just Do It.

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Hire A Copywriter, Or Have No Place To Hang Your Brand’s Hat is a post from: Big Balloons

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Separating fact from opinion ain’t what it used to be. There was a time when the more you read, the more engaged you were with your world. Your city. Your neighborhood. Not some imaginary world you wished could be, but the world as it actually existed outside your door.

Back in these ancient times (otherwise known as “just a few years ago”) being up on Current Events was a thing people aspired to. (See? It was even a proper noun.) The simple act of staying informed separated you from those who lived in a bubble or just couldn’t be bothered.

Part of what made this true was that the main news source for most people was the newspaper, filled with page after page of news items written by professional Writers and double-checked for clarity by professional Editors. Each story began with a simple sentence—the “lead”—that delivered the most important factual information first and ensured that regardless of what happened later (spin, cover-ups, etc—sometimes within the article itself) you at least had some facts to chew on before all the hemming-and-hawing began. Opinions were there too, of course, but they were usually relegated to one clearly labeled page at the back of the paper. Sometimes it was even called The Opinion Page. How cute.

But then came the 24-hour news cycle, niche news channels aimed at specific audiences, online news feeds and aggregators, not to mention email portals and homepages that don’t so much deliver actual news as merely use news-like headlines as filler or decoration, giving people the illusion that they’re being informed before they jump to something more important like checking out a Groupon or updating their relationship status.

Nope, these days if you’re reading about something that has just happened, you’re probably reading about it online. A place where there are many more opinions than facts. Where “What’s Happening” has been replaced by “What’s Trending”—a phrase that couldn’t sound more subjective if it tried.

From Twitter to the Like button, to the scores of Op-Ed pieces from people you’ve never heard of that now grace the front page of every news site and trade publication around, suddenly we readers find ourselves awash in opinion with not nearly enough factual lifeboats to go around. How do we cope? By doing what all desperate drowners do: we start flailing about, eager to grab onto anything that might keep us afloat, which in this case results in people merely clinging to one another for the safety of their shared beliefs. (Which makes things even worse of course, since the only thing more helpless than a world with too many opinions is a world with only one.)

Add in the ubiquitous comments section of most websites and you reach the conclusion that to be an engaged member of the reading public today is to be surrounded by arguments. All of which makes you feel less like a reader and more like a spectator at a shouting match.

I’ve noticed the same thing happening in Advertising. Not the shouting so much (unless you work for a real jerk), but the ever-increasing supply of opinions. Big meetings where small ones used to suffice. Endless comments streaming in throughout the process via email. (FYI: Just because we’re all connected doesn’t mean we should spend all our time connecting.) All of it capped off by the constant inclusion of everyone in everything, regardless of interest, experience, talent or qualification. The more opinions the merrier. And since opinions rule over fact, there are no experts. Which means everyone’s an expert. Hooray! Participation Medals for all! Amateur hour? We call that Crowdsourcing now. A disorganized mess? No, no, no, that’s a Hive. A true buzzword in more ways than one, I suppose. (Speaking of buzzwords, can someone tell me why people stopped calling or emailing and instead started “reaching out?” It’s such a ridiculous term, and one that’s very telling about the conflicted state of the workplace psyche these days. Apparently we’re so afraid of the cutthroat capitalism we claim to love so much that we feel the need to give a cutesy name to even the most mundane workday activities. But does the simple act of rational business communication really need to be described like a rescue attempt or an invitation to join a cult? Bizarre.)

Anyway, the points I’m trying to make here are these: I think some of us are better than others at certain things, and that’s as it should be. When I pay someone for their expertise, I’d prefer they actually have some, thank you very much. I also think it should be corporate policy that some opinions matter more than others. And I think most people at work are happier knowing not only who’s in charge of a given project but that they’re actually qualified to be. Yes, good ideas can come from anywhere. But anywhere’s an awfully big place. And as such, the bad ideas—much like opinions—will always be in much greater supply.

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Too Many Opinions? Let Me Tell You What I Think About That. is a post from: Big Balloons

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Could you imagine laboring over a piece of copy the way old-timers like Howard Gossage did? And if you did, what would your current clients do to it after you sent a draft to them?

Thanks to these internet tubes, people everywhere are writing, all the time. Or at least, they’re typing. Has all this collective writing ability lowered the grammatical and stylistic standards of the ad industry?

That’s the conundrum for our industry: the quicker and sloppier society gets with language, the more precise we have to be. We know more precisely than ever that the right words impact sales. If you’re writing for e-commerce, mobile, SEO, or if you’re working on some utility-focused website or app, you’ve seen that even mundane phrases like “click here” get tested and altered to achieve the best results.

As a writer, it’s my obligation to mind the words I write for my clients. But I also have to be aware of the overall effect a piece of communication has. Our audience can respond to any aspect of what we do, or none at all.

It’s the subject of my new column on Talent Zoo.

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The Future Of Marketing Words Don’t Look So Purty is a post from: Big Balloons

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We’re both in the brand identity game. So, let’s put our heads together on this. The Internet needs an identity refresh.

Please understand that this is #probono work, since there is no real client and no one to bill. We all own the Internet, right? It’s a community garden and thus our undertaking to improve it is a just cause. Plus, our investment of free labor in the future of the Internet’s brand will be noted by a Wikipedia editor.

I won’t bore you by presenting the brief for the reinvented Internet brand, but I know you need a strategy statement of some kind. Here’s one: THE INTERNET HAS A REPUTATION PROBLEM THAT GREAT ADVERTISING CAN HIDE.

Okay, let’s roll. I prepared a list of five headlines to get us moving down a conceptual path.

1. Wear Clean Underwear — All Your Friends Are Watching
2. We Make Millionaires Like Brooklyn Makes Pizza
3. Let Your Internal Cat Video Out To Play
4. Not Spanish Castle Magic, But Pretty Magical
5. Sorry for All The Noise

My friends on Twitter also suggested a few.

6. Now With More Stuff Than Just A Second Ago. (submitted by @iamjoelwayne)
7. Google or be Googled. (submitted by @A_Trev)
8. The Internet. Capitalized for a Reason. (submitted by @stevejerman)

Perhaps you think a tagline-less Internet is acceptable in today’s marketplace of ideas. No. We must place a modifier on it like a crown.

Footnote: This post was conceived on, and for, Twitter. But it also plays on blog-like things.

THE INTERNET HAS A REPUTATION PROBLEM is a post from: Big Balloons

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If you’ve been paying attention these past few years, you know by now that the world is most definitely your oyster. Thanks to the game changing power of Internet, you can disrupt markets, wear a sarong to work and never answer to a clueless boss again.

Sure, it may sound too good to be true. But trust me when I say that doubt will get you nowhere. On the other hand, the more you believe in yourself, the more others will believe in you.

So without further ado, here are TEN THINGS YOU MUST DO TODAY to UNLEASH THE POWER OF YOUR NETWORK and INSURE YOUR LONG TERM PROSPERITY…

10. Put everything you think and do into a list — if it’s not on a list, it’s not worth your time.

9. Promote yourself incessantly on Facebook and Twitter — how else will people grasp the incredible value of your personal brand?

8. Blog like a baller, using lists to organize your content and social channels to drive people to your content about blogging like a baller.

7. Don’t bother creating original content for your blog or your social channels — the name of the game is aggregation, and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

6. Whenever you arrive in a new place, make sure to check in on Foursquare — if your followers don’t know where you are, you can’t influence their behavior.

5. Harvest every email address in your inbox and send these contacts a free email newsletter once a week that highlights the aggregated content you’ve made into lists.

4. When naysayers question you about your real world experience in social media, remind them that social is a world unto itself.

3. Soar with the eagles by attending conferences with other A-list bloggers and social media superstars — it’s not an echo chamber, it’s an awakening.

2. Appear in as many photos as possible that help showcase your commitment to social, and religiously share them on Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest and Flickr.

1. Never use the term “social media douchebag” in public — those who need a bit of guidance (and an intro to best practices) are your best prospects and future bread and butter.

Well there you have it. Commit these simple steps to memory, or better yet print this page and tape it to your mirror. You have nothing to lose but your self respect.

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10 Easy Steps You Can Take Today To Achieve Social Media Stardom And Make Buckets of Money is a post from: Big Balloons

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My recent post where I discussed kicking my blogging habit lacked clarity. Ergo, I’ve got some explaining to do.

I thought this line from the post would carry weight: “By blogging I refer to the light- to medium-weight updates that often refer to a primary source.” But it didn’t.

I also thought this line would also make things clear: “To be clear, I’m not walking away from AdPulp, I’m changing my daily routine.” But it didn’t.

If I simply followed the example set by other well read bloggers, I would have written a post titled, “Blogging Is Dead.” I would have also made a list giving you reasons one through ten to support my claim. But, I prefer to run against the grain, here and elsewhere. And that my friends is the root of the problem. By relying on the stack of press releases in my inbox and MarCom articles posted elsewhere to find something to write about, I lost my way. This kind of blogging is reactive, and I want to be proactive.

When you’re reactive, as just about every ad blog is, there’s a tendency to become a promoter, not a critic. I don’t want to be a promoter. So, I stepped off for a month plus, in order to reevaluate and chart a new path. The new path is this: AdPulp is a side-project, and must be treated as such (so I can focus on making a living). When I do post here, I want the content to be exclusive. And I want every post to be carefully crafted, so it builds our brand and offers you real value.

We’ve moved through many phases in seven and half years on this project. There was a time when I put up four, five even six posts a day. There are ad blogs that do this today. Lord knows, there’s a glut of material to work with. But I don’t want to provide comprehensive coverage of our industry. I want to offer you thought nuggets.

Jim Schmidt of Downtown Partners in Chicago asked the other day: “Why can’t the ad press cover the ad world nearly as well as Gawker or Daily Beast? Too busy blowing smoke up the asses of their favorite New York ad execs?”

I replied: “Great question. I’d say fear. Like White House reporters, no one wants to lose access. The problem with that is there is no access to begin with. Just PR. What advertising pro wants a real journalist up in their grill? When we prop up shitty products, we set ourselves up for the hard questions, but there’s no one there to ask them. Is there?”

I’ve struggled with the idea of being this real reporter and filling this void. This was especially true when I held a staff job, because I didn’t want my work here to come back to bite my agency in the ass. Now, that I’ve been out on my own for three and a half years, these concerns have waned.

To sum up, AdPulp is headed in a new direction. There will be less content, but the content we do offer will be well worth reading. The rush to post is over. This isn’t a race, and buying in to the notion that we must post every day to remain relevant is wrong.

By the way, we will be introducing a series of Sponsored Posts, where we will cover various topics each week — like Search, or Social — and pay experts in the field to produce these original articles (something Ad Age does not do). If you want to write these articles, or pay for them, please let me know.

When You Replace Bad Habits, You Make Room For Better Ones is a post from: Big Balloons

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Here’s an interesting use of Facebook in the retail space. A Brazilian retailer lets you see exactly how many people “like” a particular item of clothing.

According to Springwise, C&A’s new “Fashion Like” initiative uses special hooks on the racks in its bricks-and-mortar store to display Facebook “likes” in real time, giving in-store shoppers a clear indication of each item’s online popularity.

Now, here’s my question to all you AdPulp fashion lovers: If many people like a piece of clothing, would you be more inclined or less inclined to buy it? Sure, you want to wear what’s trendy but do you want to wear what everyone else is wearing?

The wisdom of the crowd meets the specter of conformity. It’s a weird intersection.

If you’re so inclined, and know a little Portuguese, you can visit C&A’s Facebook page and check it out.

I Like Your Jacket. And I “Like” Your Jacket. is a post from: Big Balloons

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Blogging is a freaking narcotic. Once you get the taste of an audience, you have to have it every day, preferably several times a day.

Yet, we all know where narcotics lead, when abused. To laziness, sloppiness, poor health, bad decisions and so on.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve recently kicked my blogging habit. I shuttered my music blog, my wine/beer blog, and more significantly, I stopped “blogging” on AdPulp on April 7, 2012.

By blogging I refer to the light- to medium-weight updates that often refer to a primary source. Clearly, there are other ways to conduct oneself online. No one is forcing me to aggregate or to reformulate the day’s ad news. Truth be told, no one is encouraging me either. I’ve always enjoyed producing content for this site, regardless. But now, with repeated use the narcotic has weakened.

I do see a path forward, one where I push the old blogging habit aside and focus instead on original reporting and essay writing. I still enjoy writing thoughtful pieces on MarCom’s most pressing topics, and I believe there’s a good reason to do so.

The thing is, there has to be a direct line from these so-called “thought leadership” pieces to a paid offering. And there is, on Bonehook.com. On Bonehook, there’s no marketplace confusion about who I am or why I’m sharing. There’s also no confusion about my priorities.

AdPulp has always been a side project, but I have not always treated it as such. Hanging up my blogging boots for a month has helped me to see the blog for the trees.

Of course, AdPulp isn’t done by any stretch. Shawn, Wade and Dan all continue to invest their time and efforts in the site, and I’m working behind the scenes to pull some AdPulp-branded eBooks from our archive, to recruit more voices to these pages and I remain active on AdPulp’s Facebook page (which is better suited to lightweight updates like featuring new work).

AdPulp is also different from a favorite campaign that one points to forevermore in a portfolio — this is a living, breathing media brand and it continues to evolve day by day. So, to be clear, I’m not walking away from AdPulp, I’m changing my daily routine.

Finally, I want to thank new and longtime readers for your interest. The great majority of you are silent, but I’m willing to entertain the possibility that your silence is a sign that you’re listening.

Kickin’ the Habit is a post from: Big Balloons

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I’ve got three new books sitting here that I’d like to briefly mention. Interestingly, we see a pattern emerge, at least among the titles:

Social TV: How Marketers Can Reach And Engage Audiences By Connecting Television To The Web, Social Media, And Mobile by Mike Proulx and Stacey Shepatin. While this book is full of new media buzzword bingo (“content,” “curation,” “backchannel”), there are quite a number of really good examples of TV networks and shows expanding their reach and influence with online extensions. There are fewer examples of offline brands leveraging these new methods than I was expecting, but Social TV provides a very detailed view of where television’s heading and where the possibilities lay.

Mobilized Marketing: How to Drive Sales, Engagement and Loyalty Through Mobile Devices by Jeff Hasen. While this book reads like a self-promo piece for Hasen’s firm Hipcricket, the book does provide a basic overview of all the different ways marketers can use mobile, from apps to video to text message-based promotions.

Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media and Content Marketing by Lee Odden. This is the most clinical of the three, because Odden goes into broad strokes on a number of topics, including setting objectives, research, customer profiling, content strategy, and measurement. It’s probably best suited for marketing managers who need a methodical roadmap to developing the more basic components of interactive marketing. Plus, it seems particularly helpful for B2B marketers who have specific audiences they need to reach.

My standard warning for all three books: Get them now. They’ll be outdated by this time next year.

Special thanks to Wiley for providing me with review copies.

Social TV, Optimize, and Mobilized Marketing: A Triplet Of How-To Books is a post from: Big Balloons

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Advertising inflatables will make sure that your business never goes unnoticed.

Advertising inflatables are a fun, yet highly cost effective method of getting your message across to people.

Advertising Inflatables For Sale

Getting the attention of potential customers
If you have your own business – big, medium or small – to be able to sustain that business in today’s highly competitive environment, you need customers. Now, that is easier said than done. People have no time and so they get by with what they already know. If they are stuck to one brand – they will continue sticking to it for XYZ number of reasons.
So, if you want people to make a shift and buy what you are selling – you first have to bring their attention to whatever it is that you are selling. And that then is the BIG problem. We have advertising inflatables for sale in the USA.
How do you get people to know what it is that you are selling?
The best way of doing that is by advertising – but not by the normal means like done on TV radio, magazines, etc. But by advertising in a unique way – advertising in a way in which people can see what you are saying from miles away
By doing this, you will be ensuring that you are making your business stand apart from the competition. So, how do you advertise in a way that your ad can be seen by people from miles around?

You make use of Advertising inflatables

These huge balloons can mean a big difference to the success of your business, more so if you are a small or medium sized business owner who has little or no money to spend on advertising. This is a great way of letting people know what you are selling and the best part is – these balloons can be seen for miles around – so you are definitely going to be attracting a great many eyeballs.
This form of advertising is also good as it offers you a way of personalizing your business, as much as you want to. Whatever your message, people will be able to see it from miles away as you can personalize these gigantic blimps and make them in any size and shape that you desire – even in the shape of your company logo, if you so wish. If you need advertising inflatables for sale in the USA please contact us.
Tailor-made inflatables
Depending upon the nature of your business, you can get these huge balloons to suit your need accordingly. For example, if you were selling sports shoes, you could get a gigantic ad balloon made in the form of a sports shoe. You can make this in any color that you wish and the best part – you can have your company logo on it. Thus, with such powerful Advertising inflatables, it is quite unlikely that your business wil go unnoticed!

Advertising Inflatables For Sale is a post from: Advertising Balloons

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Advertising Inflatables For Sale is a post from: Big Balloons

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