Author: Sara Barton
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The Writers’ Room Playlist: October Edition
Some people welcome October with pumpkins on the porch. I prefer a new soundtrack. This month’s Writers’ Room playlist leans into the season—moody enough for gray mornings, sly enough for late-night drafting, and just restless enough to keep you chasing down an idea when it wants to run. Call it creative fuel with a side…
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Editing and Revising: Turning Good Copy into Great Copy
Editing often feels like the unglamorous part of writing, but it’s where the transformation happens. Drafting is about getting everything out of your head and onto the page, and then sculpting it into something worth keeping. It’s about seeing the potential in your first draft and then taking it to a much higher level.
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The Secret Sauce of Great Copy: CTAs That Convert
Writers obsess over headlines, subject lines, and hooks, and rightly so. But a brilliant headline without a strong CTA is like a beautifully plated meal that no one tries. Your CTA is where you turn interest into action. It removes friction by making the next step obvious and guides behavior by answering the unspoken question,…
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How to Write Headlines That Actually Work
Years ago, I wrote what I thought was the perfect ad: smart copy, clean design, and a headline I was proud of. When the results came back, though, the numbers told a different story: almost no one read past the headline. That was the day I learned the hard truth about copywriting: the headline isn’t…
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The Writers’ Room Playlist: September Edition
Just like the creative process, this month’s playlist is a little messy and impulsive. Enjoy!
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Understanding Your Audience: The Key to Effective Copy
When I first started as a copywriter, I thought my job was to write the perfect words. Polished. Clever. Tight. But the longer I’ve been in this business, the clearer it’s become: the words themselves matter less than who they’re written for. You can write the cleverest line in the world, but if it doesn’t…
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The Basics of Copywriting: What Every Writer Should Know
People often ask me what copywriting actually is. Much to the chagrin of my relatives who still think I deal with copyrights, my answer is always: it’s writing with a purpose. Copy isn’t poetry. It isn’t your journal. It’s not even content, exactly. Copy is writing that persuades, informs, and moves people to act—whether that’s…
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How to Know When It’s Time to Rebrand
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When Cracker Barrel unveiled its recent rebrand, the internet had thoughts—lots of them. From memes to outrage to measured applause, the reaction proved one thing: people feel deeply about the brands they’ve grown up with. But here’s the truth: backlash doesn’t necessarily mean the rebrand was a mistake. In fact, it can signal that a…
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From Lyrics to Launch: How Taylor Swift Turns Storytelling into a Marketing Masterclass
When Taylor Swift releases a new album, it’s never just music—it’s a cultural moment that’s carefully orchestrated, deeply personal, and nearly impossible to ignore. That’s not luck. It’s strategy. And it’s one of the clearest demonstrations of how storytelling can drive loyalty, conversation, and cultural relevance.
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Behind the Portfolio: The Story Behind My Most Impactful Campaign
When embecta—an injection technology leader with over a century of commitment to people living with diabetes—asked our team to create a storytelling campaign, the challenge was clear: How do you connect with more than half a billion people worldwide who share a diagnosis, but live in different countries, cultures, and circumstances? The answer was obvious:…
Sara Barton 