From email, direct mail and landing pages to telemarketing scripts, videos, print ads, presentations and more, I've written for many channels and for organizations of all sizes!
Gain a sense of my writing styles, range and approach to projects through the following video vignettes and PDF files.
Feel free to expand each video to full screen and then pause at your convenience to review the copywriting for individual elements of each featured project.
Service type: writing that connects
Category: video script
The assignment: a national non-profit labour market resource website, Workinfornet.ca needed an online and marketing trade show video outlining the audiences they served and their range of services. Voice talent was not an option due to the very low project budget.
The approach: pursue a copywriting style featuring a caption-based script that merged key words in each sentence with new key words in the next. And use onscreen animations to create a sense of motion and momentum.
Video length: 1:51 minutes
Service Type: writing that gets results
Category: direct Mail (B2C)
The assignment: periodically the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) releases special general circulation coins — commemorating a historical or milestone event, as 25 cent, $1 or $2 coins — and encourages Canadians to find them in their pocket change. To spark coin collecting as a hobby, the RCM also makes introductory collector packs of the same commemorative coins available to purchase directly from the Mint. This assignment was to create an unaddressed direct mail piece promoting the Sir Isaac Brock 25 cent commemorative coin collector pack.
The approach: serious coin collectors form just a sliver of the general population. However, people are open to the idea of collecting coins if the theme and price are right. No doubt the price was right for this collector pack: $2.50 for ten 25 cent coins. So the copy focus here was on exploring the coin's theme, emphasizing the drama underpinning its historical context and calling out the design and manufacturing features that make the coin so unique — key reasons to collect it!
A standalone bilingual back-to-back multi-fold brochure was chosen to control the piece's messaging sequence as the brochure unfolds.
Video length: 1:22 seconds
Service type: writing that connects
Category: Social Media - LinkedIn Profile Refresh
The assignment: Update the 'About' and 'Experience' sections of my client's LinkedIn Profile. Wanting their profile to better reflect the full range of their IT Project Management and consulting expertise, my client planned to use the Profile as a component in new business development activities.
The approach:
The 'About' and 'Experience' sections of the previous LinkedIn Profile were developed in consultation with a third-party. However, my client felt the information could be expressed in more direct language. My analysis suggested the sections used too many buzzwords and lacked clarity. I chose to set the client's experience and skill set in a context their potential customers would understand and relate to, positioning my client as a highly experienced and credible authority on IT Project Management and Change Management.
The downloadable file below, in 8.5" x 14" format, shows side-by-side Before and After comparisons for each Profile section. Note: some information has been redacted to preserve privacy.
LinkedIn Profile Refresh (pdf)
DownloadService type: writing that gets results
Category: direct mail (B2B)
The assignment: the International Sales Team at Canada Post Corporation (CPC) wanted to target select US companies with a unique message: expand to Canada as a new market, instead of overseas. The Team wanted to position CPC as the source for information about Canada — and as a key marketing resource. The end goal? Generate leads for regional CPC International Sales Executives to secure in-person meeting presentations.
The approach: I wanted the campaign to showcase a highly relevant CPC premium product while the copywriting emphasized the Team as credible experts on the Canadian market. The problem, though, was to breakthrough the 'mail clutter' at targeted organizations while also grabbing busy Executives' attention.
The solution: use CPC's Purolater Courier to hand deliver signature-required CPC Dimensional Admail packages. As an incentive to secure meetings, targeted Executives were offered a chance to win a free trip to Canada (the Seeing is Believing Getaway Contest) just for completing a short paper-based or online survey. Each Dimensional Addressed Admail package included a custom-branded utility knife, a personalized letter, backgrounders with market information about Canada, product descriptions for select CPC products and inserts personalized with the names/photos of the appropriate CPC regional Sales Executives. The survey responses yielded high value data the CPC Team used to qualify the quality of subsequent leads.
Results: the campaign garnered a 10.8% response rate and a 54% Lead-to-Sales Meeting conversion rate.
Video length: 3:30 minutes
Service type: writing that connects
Category: telephone sales script with follow-up email (B2C)
The assignment: To stimulate sales of a special low mintage gold coin amongst select high value customers, the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) offered a free book, on the same coin theme, as a purchase incentive through an outbound telephone campaign.
The approach:
The phone script begins by discussing the book's theme and content, emphasizing how it explores a major milestone in Canada's development as a country — the War of 1812. By emphasizing the book's historical subject matter before linking to the coin offer, customers could appreciate the true value of the incentive and see how it would deepen their understanding of the coin's theme. Customers would then be armed with interesting, detailed information they could share with others when discussing their coin and what made it unique — over and above the low mintage. The script offers RCM staff suggested responses to several anticipated purchase objections. It also includes text for a reminder email RCM representatives could send to customers as a follow-up marketing tactic.
RCM 1812 Gold Coin & Book Offer - Telephone script (pdf)
DownloadService type: writing that connects
Category: documentary trailer (B2B)
The assignment: create a trailer for an independently produced documentary called 'Bill & Susan Go to The Summit'.
In April 2001 40,000 ordinary citizens, and over 6,000 police, gathered in Quebec City for the Free Trade Area of the America's Summit. Citizens were there to protest against some aspects of the expansive trade agreement and the police were there to maintain order.
The approach: produced to help secure post-production financing in pursuit of a broadcast and distribution deal, I created this trailer to sketch out the documentary's broad themes and intercut the copywriting with original footage shot on location in Ottawa and Quebec City.
Video length: 4:25 minutes
Service type: writing that explains data
Category: Presentation development & writing
The assignment: being a featured guest speaker at the Canadian Marketing Association's Annual Conference in Toronto was a highlight of my career. "Marketing in an environment of speed" was the conference theme. I was invited to share how my Team and I at the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) used the Prizm C2 Cluster Segmentation System, from Environics Analytics, to create high performance new customer acquisition campaigns.
The approach:
The Prizm C2 Cluster Segmentation System is expansive, data rich and offers great insights for marketing planning. However, it's reasonably complex to explain, even to marketers. To address that, I chose to set it in a context most marketers would relate to and understand — acquiring new customers. I created conversational Speaker Notes, relied on plenty of graphics and a few data tables to create a case study on how we tested Prizm to see if using the system would improve campaign performance.
The PDF file is an extract from the full presentation; some content has been redacted. It includes the Speaker Notes I used to layout the overall storyline, elaborate on some slide content and provide additional context.
Canadian Marketing Assoc Conference - Right On The Money-RCM [Presentaton Extract] (pdf)
DownloadService type: writing that gets results & writing that connects
Category: online content creation and direct mail (B2C and B2B)
The assignment: a group of RCMP officers and employees came together to raise money — $75,000 — to build a house for Habitat for Humanity (National Capital Region) in Ottawa. A committee of volunteer professionals was assembled and a Gala Evening, featuring a silent auction, big band music and a comedy headliner, was created to achieve the goal.
The approach: I created an online content marketing strategy and wrote all copy for a purpose-built website, display ads, fundraising emails and a B2B direct mail package to sell individual and group tickets to the event. I was also responsible for ongoing content management and for creating the 'Mountie House Beaver', a plush stuffed toy in red serge that raised $20,000 on its own.
Results: over 600 people attended the Gala and net proceeds of $134,000 was raised — surpassing the goal and enough to green light breaking ground on a second Habitat for Humanity home.
Video length: 1:57 minutes
Service type: writing that gets results
Category: direct mail (B2B)
The assignment: to help direct marketers stand out in a crowded mailbox, and have a unique option to online channels, Canada Post Corporation (CPC) created the Dimensional Addressed Admail product.
The approach: create a dimensional addressed admail package promoting the new service. To emphasize the service's uniqueness, and acknowledging an era when mailed packages meant something special, the main brochure in this project took a tongue-in-cheek 'old school' copywriting tone, with a related graphic treatment.
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