Who else wants to write better – or knows people who do? Friday’s response thrilled me to bits (with a couple of surprises)

If you follow all these disjointed ramblings you know I vented a little spleen last week about an e-mail I got, and said I would run a series of webinars on better writing.


Three things happened. First, a surprising number of people said they’d be interested, including one of the best copywriters I know. Second, the man whose firm ran the copy sent a very temperate comment whilst lolling in his second home in Italy – paid for by such seminars. And third, one of my heroes, Denny Hatch, sent a congratulatory note

Well, thank you to everyone who replied – and what can we learn from this?

1. Many people realise that bad writing holds back careers, plays havoc and bedevils business.

2. The people who want to improve are often the people who are good already. The useless carry on regardless. So, the good get better and the bad fall further behind.

3. Quality matters more than technique. If what you offer is appealing even bad writing, within reason, won’t kill it as long as the benefits are clearly described, which they were in this case.

A delightful story was told by the great cartoonist and writer Thurber about the eccentric editor of the New Yorker magazine, Harold Ross.

Ross was a gloomy nit-picker, hardly ever satisfied, and with little apparent sense of humour. On the rare occasion when he saw a contribution he liked he would murmur, “I am encouraged to go on.”

Well, I am encouraged to go on – I have a few other subjects that may interest you like positioning, fund-raising, briefing, research and testing, brand building, how to present, how to be a good creative director, creative analysis and so on.

Let me know if any of those sound interesting, please – or if you have any other suggestions.

I will now prepare the better writing webinars. They will chiefly be concerned with writing to persuade – but cover everything from what to do before you write and how to manage your time to how to get ideas, with advice on better writing from George Orwell and much more.

So if more of you are interested, let me know that too.

About the Author

In 2003, the Chartered Institute of Marketing named Drayton one of 50 living individuals who have shaped today’s marketing.

He has worked in 55 countries with many of the world’s greatest brands. These include American Express, Audi, Bentley, British Airways, Cisco, Columbia Business School, Deutsche Post, Ford, IBM, McKinsey, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nestle, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Unilever, Visa and Volkswagen.

Drayton has helped sell everything from Airbus planes to Peppa Pig. His book, Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing, out in 17 languages, has been the UK’s best seller on the subject every year since 1982. He has also run his own businesses in the U.K., Portugal and Malaysia.

He was a main board member of the Ogilvy Group, a founding member of the Superbrands Organisation, one of the first eight Honorary Fellows of the Institute of Direct Marketing and one of the first three people named to the Hall of Fame of the Direct Marketing Association of India. He has also been given Lifetime Achievement Awards by the Caples Organisation in New York and Early To Rise in Florida.

4 Comments

  1. Louise Fenwick

    Thank you for the chuckle on a gloomy day, Drayton! Alas, your words are true; that the good are those who want to improve. How do we rally those who don't know they need to improve? Too frequently, I return direct mail with red pen marks through the copy. Funnily enough, it has never achieved any business, but nor have I been bothered again!

    I am interested in your webinar, please.
    Louise

    Reply
  2. Jimmy Cook

    Sir,

    I enjoy the rambles. I'm not going to tell you that I am a rambler myself – that would make me an extinct car.

    I will say that I would like very much to hear your voice via webinar. Well, not just your voice but the marketing wisdom that it conveys.

    looking forward to them.

    Reply
  3. Tony Richardson

    I had a similar experience providing basic advertising workshops to a financial client.

    The youngsters were keen. Their superiors, middle ranking marketers, who were the real problem, couldn't be bothered.

    Reply
  4. JK

    Sadly, missed last week's webinar. Would like to dial in for future ones.

    Reply

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