the chemistry between strategy & creativity
persuasive copy that inspires sales and loyalty
When the strategy is right, it may only take one (poetic, playful, seductive, clever, or even plain) sentence to cause a positive emotional reaction and influence an action. It’s all about clearly defining the audience, shaping a personality, and telling a story with the right words and the right feeling. It’s a formula that blends strategy with creativity, educates and entertains, and appeals to both emotions and rationale.
“Brain scans are revealing what happens in our heads when we read a detailed description, an evocative metaphor, or an emotional exchange between characters. Stories, this research is showing, stimulate the brain and even change how we act in life.” — Annie Murphy Paul, “Your Brain on Fiction”; The New York Times; March 17, 2012
i’ll help you speak to & seduce your audience with consistency & clarity.
here’s how…
This strategy is the foundation of your brand — a guide before launching into visual and verbal identities. Here, your brand is defined by a combination of factors, including audience, competitors, values, key stories, personality, positioning, and theme. The strategy will inform marketing campaigns, guest experience, and internal culture. And it’s an essential element in building a strong, cohesive brand. I begin this process by distributing preliminary questionnaires, followed by a discovery session and creative exercises with your team, and my own research.
Your name is typically the first impression of your brand — it should be memorable, relevant, and emotive. Once a strategy is complete, I research, brainstorm, and propose several naming selections, along with a rationale for each. This ensures the overarching theme for your brand is unified across all touchpoints. Like the strategy, this occurs prior to visual design.
Your messaging framework, or verbal identity, stems from the brand strategy. It features tone of voice guidelines, language use, taglines, key messages, and a manifesto or brand story. While the brand strategy directs both visual and verbal identities, this framework directly connects to copy. In addition to completing overarching brand messaging, I also strategize frameworks tied to specific marketing and launch campaigns.
Details on the way…
These are the words you use to sell your product. The conversation. The seduction. When writing copy, I achieve a balance between selling, educating, connecting, and entertaining — copy that evokes emotion and inspires action. This includes copy for websites, signage, ads, emails, packaging, or brochures.
Your content supports and grows your brand. This language doesn’t necessarily ask your audience to buy. Rather, it does the essential job of building loyalty and reputation through entertaining and/or informative storytelling. This may be a blog, newsletter, magazine, or creative intro in a menu. I’m also available to guide editorial direction.
As your brand evolves, it’s important to review its relevance, cohesion, and effectiveness. After an in-depth review of your brand, I provide clear and actionable suggestions on where there may be gaps and where enhancements may be made.
Let’s chat about your brand’s story, and how you can better connect with your audience.
