Category: Creative Strategy
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Branding Lessons from Holiday Ads
Every year, holiday ads show up with the same goal: create something people remember. Some succeed, but most don’t. The holidays are one of the rare moments when audiences lower their defenses, expecting sentiment and a healthy dose of nostalgia. They’re open to feeling something, but only if the story earns it. That makes December…
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Why Copywriters Should Think Like Editors
Copywriters are storytellers, while editors are truth-hunters. Sometimes cleverness gets in the way of truth. Thinking like an editor shifts your default from: “Does this sound good?” to “Does this make sense?” Clever copy sparks attention, but clear copy earns trust. The best work does both, but clarity always wins.
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Words That Work: The Psychology Behind Persuasive Copy
Persuasive copy isn’t a magic trick—it’s psychology applied with care. It’s understanding what motivates people, what reassures them, and what helps them make confident decisions. And when you combine that psychology with clean writing, strong structure, and a genuine respect for your audience? You get words that don’t just work. They connect. They convert. They…
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Why Your Brand Voice Isn’t Sticking (And How to Fix It)
Brand voice is one of those things that everyone nods about in meetings. Yes, yes, we have guidelines. We have a tone. We even have a PDF to prove it. But then you look at the work, and it doesn’t sound like anyone, let alone your brand. If your brand voice isn’t sticking, it’s not…
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From Freelance to Fractional: Rethinking the Future of Creative Work
Freelance is a word everyone knows. It conjures images of coffee shops, pajama pants, and the occasional “Hey, can you turn this around by tomorrow?” email at 9:47 p.m. It’s flexible, it’s scrappy, and for a lot of creatives, it’s been the way to balance passion with a paycheck. But lately, there’s a new word…
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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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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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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…
Sara Barton 