100 Great Copywriting Ideas by Andy Maslen
Great copywriting guide for marketers.
These ‘100 Great’ books are a great read because you can dip in and out of them, learning as you go. Packed full of easy to digest copywriting tips, this book is a great source of inspiration when you are feeling a little low on ideas. I love the emphasis on selling and direct mail, this book is practical and doesn’t wash over you with bland metaphors.
Great for:
- Reading on the go as you won’t have to worry about interruptions
- Learning about selling and direct mail
Get it on Amazon here.
Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath
How to make ideas stick? How to get people to talk about you?
Simple questions with complex answers. This book is written by a pair of brothers who both bring their expertise on human behaviour and marketing to the table.
The Heath brothers offer plenty of practical advice on how to spot great ideas and I love their emphasis on observing and listening to the world, downplaying the much lauded creative ability of a single individual to come up with great ideas. They also speak out against the arrogance of the curse of knowledge, emphasising the importance of making things simple and relevant to people’s lives. I especially loved their examples about how corporate communication (both internal and external) can be baffling and full of barriers to understanding. It’s almost like don’t want to be understood- but if you’re not understood, you’re not remembered either!
- Very easy to read, loads of examples to explain key concepts in more detail
- Summary points to help you along & plenty of takeaways
- Insightful real world scenarios
Get the book on Amazon here.
Contagious by Jonah Berger
Want to create more contagious stuff? Want to do things people talk about?
This New York Times bestseller by Jonah Berger explores why we talk about certain products and brands more than others. The book’s subtitle “How to Build Word of Mouth in the Digital Age” plays on the idea that we are all obsessed with what goes viral online, without paying attention to more traditional forms of transmission like the actual we all have conversations at water coolers, on buses and in parties. Turns out, we spend a lot of our time talking about brands and products! Berger covers key concepts (“STEPPS”) you should build into any idea or product to give them more word of mouth potential:
- Social currency– people like to share things that make them look cool or make them seem ‘in the know’
- Triggers– linking your product to something that will be ‘triggered’ on a regular basis
- Emotion- sharing is about caring so get people to care
- Public– visibility is very important for adoption
- Practical value– news and information that is useful gets shared
- Storytelling– people love to share stories, but make sure your product or brand is so central to the story that people can’t share the story without mentioning you (otherwise it’s just a great story)
The idea of triggers was really interesting and useful from a product marketing angle. I loved the fact that mentions of Cheerios on Twitter can be mapped on a daily basis to coincide with people’s breakfasts- mentions of Cheerios peak around 7:30/8 AM! We are such creatures of habit….
Books like these are reassuring and eye-opening; they make you want to go out and come up with some great concepts right away!
Get Berger’s book on Amazon here.
Brilliant Copywriting by Roger Horberry
I love the “Brilliant” series, and this one is no exception. Horberry has a really great way of making the craft of copywriting clear in a hugely inspiring read. I bought this book a long time ago , and it took my awhile to finish, as I was stopping every now and then to really take it in. Definitely a must-read for any budding copywriter! I love the actionable tips and the interviews at the end are full of words of wisdoms from wordsmiths. I found myself feeling very moved and inspired by the end of this book, and I love a professional book that can make you feel like that.
Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works by Janice (Ginny) Redish
This 2nd edition from 2012 is a really thorough book on web content. Full of real life examples from Redish, this book is packed with case studies and copy examples from across the board. Covering conversions, audience, SEO, user experience, jargon, and many other key digital copywriting issues; I found this book hugely useful and would imagine anyone writing online would too. The way that Redish breaks points down makes this book hugely accessible and there is definitely an evergreen angle to a lot of her advice.