Hot Copy Christmas Special!
Hot Copy
Hello and welcome to this special festive episode of the Hot Copy Podcast. Belinda and I have come back together to roast some chestnuts, neck some egg nog and talk all things copy. So if you’re ready to put up your stockings with us and wait for Father Christmas to slip down your copy chimney, this is the episode for you.
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End of Series 1! Series 2 coming in 2021.
Hot Copy
Did you know we've been creating this podcast since 2015 -- never missing an episode? Well, not until 2020. 2020 has been the year of "the surge" for us both. In this special episode, we go through how we've handled working through the pandemic and what's happening with the Hot Copy podcast. Spoiler alert: we're mixing things up in 2021!
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Regional Copywriting: Marketing to a Rural Audience with Sarah Walkerden
Hot Copy
Have you ever felt cooped up in a corporate office, staring outside at the trees, wishing you could leave the hustle and bustle of city life behind? Waking up mid-morning, taking a coffee onto the veranda, and staring out at wide-open pastures with birds chirping? While it’s a nice daydream to have, many of us stick it out and stay put. Others, like our guest today, put in the tough hours to make it a reality. It’s not all lazy sleep-ins and fresh country air, but it IS freedom from the constraints of the city, and as far as copywriting goes - it’s a whole new demographic. We’re...
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Crinkly Copywriting: Can you still write great copy when you're 60+? with Mary Cameron
Hot Copy
Figuring out what makes you unique is a tough but essential part of marketing your copywriting services. What if you’ve written for every type of business? What if you’ve seen it all and written the copy? Can oodles of experience be your USP? The answer is yes and we’re excited to talk to a copywriter who celebrates not only her age and experience but her knack for reinvention… and how that’s shaped her copywriting business. Tune in to learn: Life and writing experience – when you’ve seen it, done it, made it work (even when ‘it didn’t’) The process of reinvention and how...
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Creating content that connects for SaaS businesses with Kat Ambrose
Hot Copy
SaaS copy, is it a super sexy sassy form of copywriting? No! It’s Software as a Service copy. Huh? Well you know big brands like Stripe, ConvertKit, Slack - well yes they need copy. And a particular type of copy. When we write for SaaS companies we’re writing easy to understand words for potentially highly technical products. We need to write copy that shows that this software, that you've never heard of, is absolutely essential for your life. We’re digging deep into the world of SaaS today. Tune in to learn: How Kat got started in copywriting When and why she decided to niche into SaaS...
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The secret to authority-boosting podcast pitches with Mai-Kee Tsang
Hot Copy
Being a guest on a podcast is a fantastic way to increase your reach and boost your visibility and skyrocket that authority. Right? You're a really important person who knows what they're talking about when you're been on a pod. But getting on a podcast is not quite as easy as just asking the podcast host. Today's guest is a podcast guesting specialist and we're digging into how to get on podcasts but so much more. Tune in to learn: How Mai-Kee niched into podcasting pitching How podcasts rank against other means to boost visibility and authority How to get over your own fear of being a...
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The Ultimate Guide to Magazine Pitching with Rachel Smith
Hot Copy
Do you want to know a secret? Kate never actually wanted to be a copywriter. Her dream was to be a magazine writer. In fact, she was voted “Girl Most Likely To Write For Smash Hits” when she was at school. But there's more. She was also a feature editor for her uni newspaper interviewing Blur and Bob Monkhouse. She interned at several sexy music mags in London. And she was accepted onto a prestigious magazine journalism course. Whaaaat? But she couldn’t afford it. So she didn’t go. So she spent the next 10 years wandering in the wilderness of digital production... until she found...
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Why You Need a Personal Brand (and How to Create it) with Mike Kim
Hot Copy
As copywriters, we get to hide behind our keyboards – writing the words that put our clients in the spotlight. And for many of us, it’s just where we want to be. But are we doing ourselves a disservice? Today we’re going to be talking to Mike Kim about building a personal brand and what it can mean for us as copywriters and business owners. His own podcast is where he talks about all those things and more.. But today, he’s all ours. Tune in to learn: The surprising start to Mike’s career Whether having a personal brand means we have to be a celebrity The...
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Human Centred Branding with Anita Siek
Hot Copy
Human-centered design is an approach to interactive systems development that aims to make systems usable and useful by focusing on the users, their needs and requirements, and by applying human factors and usability knowledge and techniques. The point? To create a better experienced for real-life people. On today’s podcast, we have a veritable whizz at all things human-centered, Anita Siek. She’s going to explain what Human-Centred design is, how it applies to content and copywriting, and how we can use it to help our clients. Thank goodness! Tune in to learn: Anita’s journey to where...
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Copywriting for the arts with Ali Strachan
Hot Copy
We are surrounded by art every day. And artists struggle with many of the challenges that us copywriters do… How to create a sense of perceived value around their work. How to market their work to audiences who will not only appreciate it but pay for it too. How to create a successful business without disrupting their creative process. That’s where today’s guest comes in. We’re talking to Ali Strachan, digging into how artists can create a successful business and how copywriters can be successful in this niche. Tune in to learn: What an Arts Advocate does The big struggles artists...
info_outlineTo swear (in copy) or not to swear (in copy) that is the question.
As copywriters, we’re always having to change the way we write to adapt to the times. And these days everyone seems to love to eff and blind like a mofo, right? What once packed a punch, is now old school. And some things that seem edgy are not as great as they’re cracked up to be - or make you sound like a try-hard teen.
Today, we look at the pros and cons of writing sweary copy. Is it a good tactic to add to your belt or is it putting readers off? We’ve even got some fancy psychology and stats around copy with swear words.
Is writing sweary copy something to try or try-hard? Let’s dig in and find out.
Tune in to learn:
- Different types of swearing
- Belinda and Kate's tolerance levels for swearing (one is a sailor, one is not)
- What happened when Kate swore, once
- The vocabulary payoff for swear-bears
- How to respond to a client who asks for swearing
- Different ways you can add swearing to your copy, without swearing in your copy
What do you think?
What do you think when you see swearing in copywriting? Do you love it or hate? Have you written sweary copy before? Let us know on our Facebook page or on Twitter.
Share the pod love
If you like what you’re hearing on Hot Copy, the best way to support the show is to take just a few seconds to leave a rating and / or comment over on iTunes or Stitcher. Thanks!
Oh and big hugs to Mandy Yoxall from Australia for her lovely testimonial.
Useful links:
- Kate’s infamous Instagram post
- Tone of Voice Template (Clever Copywriting School)
- Science Says That People Who Curse a Lot Have Better Vocabularies Than Those Who Don't
- BA_Dissertation_What_the_F*ck
- 5 brands using profanity-based wordplay to stir up attention
- 5 F*cking Awesome Examples of Brands Swearing in their Marketing