Hey friend, I’m out of town for the next couple of weeks chasing a new experience somewhere in Scotland, which means no new Column for a bit. I thought about just going dark, but that felt negligent. So instead, here are 5 columns from the archive I think are worth your time, whether you caught them the first time or not. The One Thing AI Can’t Learn, No Matter How Good Your Prompts Get – I wrote this one knowing it might ruffle some feathers. The short version: skill isn’t the moat. Lived...
13 days ago • 1 min read
issue #246 Hey Reader, New column this week. It's a bit more reflective than usual. I've spent real time building AI skills that write conversion copy. Frameworks, voice, structure, the whole thing. And honestly? It works well. So I couldn't keep telling people that "skill" is the safety net. I've already disproven that myself. This week I wrote about what I think actually separates human copywriters from AI at the conversion layer. It's not frameworks or formulas. It's something no prompt...
20 days ago • 1 min read
The 118th issue of the Weekly Round Up is LIVE – your regular digest filled with copywriting insights, AI tips, must-read articles, pretty cool copy examples, and more! Here's what I've rounded up this week: Copy Tip: Stop trying to write clever copy. AI Tip: Start a fresh chat more than you think you should. Why Consumers Say Yes to the Product (via KnoCommerce) Empowering Women in Marketing: A Leadership Q&A with Lexi Clarke Mining Customer Reviews for Content Creation using a Custom GPT...
26 days ago • 1 min read
issue #245 Hey Reader, Let's start with getting the elephant out of the room – yes, things are a little different here. A new-ish look! Now onto the heart of things... Every spring, the same copy shows up everywhere. "New season, new you." "Fresh starts begin here." You've seen it. You've probably written some version of it. The problem isn't the writing. It's what happens before the writing. Most seasonal copy treats the season like a costume. Swap the logo and the message works for anyone....
27 days ago • 1 min read
The 118th issue of the Weekly Round Up is here – your regular digest filled with copywriting insights, AI tips, must-read articles, pretty cool copy examples, and much more! Copy Tip: Stop apologizing for the em dash AI Tip: Save your best AI outputs Writing is Thinking, But What Happens When You Let AI Do It for You? (via Psychology Meets Writing) Communicating Your Brand Values (via Really Good Emails) Your Prompts are Fine: Context Engineering is Your Next AI Problem (via Animalz) You Can...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
the copy minimalist issue #245 Something I keep seeing in the agency space. Things start growing. More clients, more people, more output. And instead of getting easier, everything gets harder. More rework, more miscommunication, more meetings that exist just because nobody's on the same page. The instinct is to fix operations. Better SOPs. Better project management. Better tools. Those are reasonable moves. But they rarely hold. Not because the systems are bad. But because the systems don't...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey, gang – AND WE'RE BACK! Another Weekly Round Up is ready for your eyeballs. Here's what you can expect in this week: Copy Tip: Stop Writing for the Click. AI Tip: Optimize for “Editor Time,” Not “Generation Time” Claude Cowork for Marketers (via Customer.io) How to Write Alt Text Correctly With Context (via Action Rocket) 5 Creative Tensions That Become Idea Engines (via Copywriter Collective) Why Your Content Strategy Feels Harder Than It Should (via The Copy Minimalist) Podcast Pick:...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
the copy minimalist issue #244 Most content reviews go nowhere. Not because the team doesn't care. Because nobody agrees on what makes a piece worth keeping. So everything stays. The old campaign recap. The trend piece from 2021. The blog post that made sense at the time but doesn't really reflect what the brand does anymore. Here's the shift that helps: stop treating it like an audit and start treating it like an edit. An audit catalogs what you have. An edit makes judgments about what...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey, guys and gals – got a bit of a shorter version of the Weekly Round Up for you this week. Back to regularly scheduled programming next Friday. Here's what you can expect in this shorter issue: Copy Tip: You Can’t Out-Write a Weak POV What Are AI Agents in Marketing & How Are They Actually Being Used Today? (via Iterable) The Ambiguity Effect: Why Unclear Marketing Kills Decisions (via Kath Pay The Future of Brand Creativity Belongs to the Small and Reckless (via Branding Strategy Insider)...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read