Creating a Conversational Brand with Nick Usborne
b'\\u201cBad writing can undermine everything you\\u2019re trying to do.\\u201d As someone who started out as a marketing copywriter and who still spends a lot of time today teaching business writing and writing books, I couldn\\u2019t wait to talk to copywriting and web writing expert Nick Usborne about how the words we use help us build better brands. We discussed this and much more this week on the On Brand podcast.\\nAbout Nick Usborne\\nNick Usborne\\xa0is an online copywriter and trainer who wrote his first website in 1995. When his book,\\xa0Net Words, was published by McGraw-Hill in 2002, it was one of the very first to address the new profession of writing for the web. After writing web copy for nearly two decades, Nick began teaching companies and organizations how to write better websites. A few years later, he began converting his corporate training materials into courses and programs for freelance writers and copywriters. Today, Nick continues to immerse himself in teaching the craft of conversational copywriting.\\nHaving worked with clients like Citibank, Apple, Reuters, WebEx, and New York Times, Nick has seen it all in the world of copywriting \\u2014 and he knows what works. He\\u2019s earned 15 awards in direct response marketing \\u2014 both in Europe and North America \\u2014 and he\\u2019s worked as an advisor and consultant to various startups \\u2014 primarily in online consumer product sales. He\\u2019s spoken at numerous online marketing conferences, as well as conducted in-house seminars and training sessions for companies like Yahoo!, Novartis Pharma, John Deere, Walt Disney Attractions, and more.\\nNick lives in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he\\u2019s not always sitting in front of a keyboard. When he\\u2019s not working, and if the weather is being kind, he can often be seen enjoying the outdoors via kayak or bike. In the winter he\\u2019s out on his cross-country skis most days.\\nEpisode Highlights\\n\\u201cA lot of writing is unnecessarily clever.\\u201d\\xa0Especially in marketing. Nick notes that when you make your marketing copy too complex and clever, you put distance between your brand and your customer. \\u201cCustomers connect with brands that sound accessible.\\u201d\\nWhy is clear and concise writing so hard?\\xa0\\u201cWe\\u2019ve had it educated out of us in grammar school, university, and god help you if you\\u2019ve been to a business school. You end up writing in a way no one can understand.\\u201d\\nHow has writing for the web changed brand building?\\xa0\\u201cBefore, companies had more control of the brand,\\u201d says Nick. \\u201cToday the brand is the experience people have with the brand.\\u201d But, because of the web, we can also listen to our customers more than we could before.\\nWhat brand has made Nick smile recently?\\xa0Nick shared the story of\\xa0Ernest Packaging Solutions. In spite of their use of the word \\u2018solutions\\u2019 (\\u201cIt should be banned in marketing other than for chemical companies\\u201d), the company makes their customers smile by making unconventional things like surfboards out of cardboard boxes. If a cardboard box company can make their customers smile, you can too!\\nTo learn more,\\xa0check out the special page Nick made for listeners of the show at\\xa0conversationalcopywriting.com/onbrand.\\n\\nUntil next week, I\\u2019ll see you on the Internet!\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'