Tom Pearson's blog

Well, actually, there may be 3 or 4, according to Roy H. Williams, author of the Wizard of Ads books.

Is it me or does the marketing war between Apple and Microsoft give you high school flashbacks? I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when advertising giant TBWA came up with the Mac and PC characters for Apple’s “Get a Mac” ad campaign.

In 1972, the Moody Blues’ saccharine “Nights in White Satin” was knocked off the pop music charts by Elvis Presley’s “Burning Love.”

Think about this dethroning the next time you write a B2B marketing e-mail. Is your copy self-important, over-the-top, and fluffy, or is it a simple, to-the-point message?

Radio listeners in 1972 opted for Elvis’ concise, vibrant message over long-winded bombast.

Your readers will make the same choice when it comes to reading e-mail messaging.

I recently saw a blurb on EmailStatCenter.com that usability guru Jakob Nielsen said that readers only allot 51 seconds to e-mail newsletters.

51 seconds?

51 seconds is an eternity.

As a copywriter, there’s a certain amount of salesmanship that goes along with getting your words approved by the client. While I think it’s a mark of a good writer to be able to instantly jettison your copy (and ego) and start from scratch, I think it’s also important to be able to pitch your ideas skillfully (and defend your messaging, if you feel like it’s rock solid).

Lately I’ve been noticing an unlikely contender for New Business Buzz Word: around. Like a bodysnatcher, this little word has been subtly taking the place of most other prepositions.