Long Copy Archives - Stephen Marsh Copywriter

This Is What’s Wrong With Your Copywriting

Posted 11 Oct 2021 by Stephen Marsh in Audience, Blog, Copywriters, Digital, Long Copy, Writing

Busy?
This is a 4 minute read.

Thousands of words. Hundreds of pages.

Every week, I write a lot of copy. And I see a lot of copy, too – from research to work from seasoned pros and brand new copywriters.

I like every bit of copy I see. There’s always something positive to take away, to learn, to adopt as your own.

But I’m also learning from the traps that others fall into. Those common pitfalls that sit just after the starting line. They’re things that are hard to see, but easy to avoid.

So, in the spirit of stopping you from doing the same stupid shit I do, here are the five most common issues I see. Formatted into a nice list post because who has the time to read paragraphs?

A Great Website is a Russian Doll of Messages

Posted 31 Mar 2021 by Stephen Marsh in Audience, Blog, Digital, Long Copy, Writing

Busy?
This is a 3 minute read.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on a beast of a website.

With dozens of pages and very little existing copy to speak of, it’s a been a big undertaking. I was reluctant.

“It’s okay, we’ve planned the messaging,” said the client. “We’ve gone through and decided what you need to say on every page. So it shouldn’t take too long.”

Alarm bells, right?

If you’re a copywriter, you know that deciding what to say is where the magic happens. For all your stylish execution, if the messaging isn’t on point, you’re screwed.

And that’s exactly where so many website projects seem to go wrong.

Swiped: Skoda’s Bland Background

Posted 14 Aug 2013 by Stephen Marsh in Branding, Long Copy, Swiped

Busy?
This is a 4 minute read.

Freelance copywriters love long copy.

But we would, wouldn’t we?

In terms of work, we like projects we can sink our teeth into. Excuses to get creative, to go deeper, and to be clever. Long copy lets a copywriter show off. We also like to read them, because we’re the type of people that read. We’re interested in advertising, and how a writer can hold attention beyond a strapline.

But what about customers and prospects, the people that really matter? Have time-short consumers really got time to read all that copy?

In this Swiped post, I’ve chosen a long copy example that’s uniquely aware of the debate. It doesn’t expect anything from its audience.

But it persuades prospects effectively, whether they go long or short.

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