Fighting Six

Jim wrote a good post about designers thinking they can copywrite: http://www.storiesthatsell.co.uk/blog/2012/07/why-designers-need-copywriters-a-cautionary-tale/ @ markmapstone Hi Mark, your reply is live...many thanks — Jim O'Connor (@whitecottage1) August 29, 2012 Here's my reply: A great tale Jim. The problem is: - crappy designers thinking they can to do it all (badly) - crappy designers not even knowing that copywriters should be doing it - crappy designers not budgeting a copywriter into the project Then we have the client: - bad clients believing they can provide the messages themselves - bad clients not prepared to pay for a copywriter - bad clients not prepared to allow the time for a copywriter to do their job So, the problem is bad clients and crappy designers and no-one believes (or realises) they are the problem, unless enough people tell them. What is the solution? Educating clients & designers as much as possible, but even then, ther...

This comment was logged on  http://workshopconsultant.co.uk/running-workshops-equals-more-competition/#comment-17  : This is my reply: Great post again, Eva. This has brought a few things to mind: - they (creative people) need to be reminded that the market (global, local & on-line) is big enough for them and their competitors. - they will already be further down the line of 'delivery', than a fresh faced 'competitor' - so keep going! - they make the course look easy - however that only comes from years of training and experience. A competitor won't realise this initially... therefore... - ... if a competitor has as much passion and dedication as they have to work as hard, then wish them luck! And.. - ... they may create an ally in their industry - someone to share the trials of business and may even be able to work together if one or the other gets involved in big projects. - ultimately, people buy people. Their personality and methodology wil...

A comment written in response to Brian Solis and his look at the future of Facebook: http://briansolis.posterous.com/infographic-a-look-into-the-future-of-faceboo I do love a great exercise in creative thinking. All the above is certainly possible, however if Facebook wants to focus on scraping our data, then why the move into defense? I don't believe that their vision of the (shareholder driven) future includes such topics, not now and not ever. What this theory isn't taking in to account is someone else - with more grip on the public than FB - will step in and pull the rug out from under their feet. Remember, there was a time when we thought that nothing could chase and overtake MySpace. I realise that FB is the only digital network to have fully 'tipped', (my gran will confirm that) however, now that people (my gran) has embraced the idea of communicating online, even she will shift loyalties if something easier, prettier and more intuitive comes along! May I...

As Tim O'Reilly puts it, 'the enemy is not privacy, it's obscurity'. Most people I know that have written and want to promote, fail, because they don't understand that one needs to give away the book, and create an audience off the back of the love and attention for it. Too many people consider giving away a sample, is OK. Too many people think putting a price on it, will help them grow. It doesn't. It just means, I, (as a new reader and possibly fan of everything you ever write in future) has a reason to stop and think and choose someone else's book over yours. The only time I would ever recommend putting a price on a first book, is if the writer has a traditional publishing deal already, or only ever plans on writing one book. If the later is the case, then I wouldn't really call them a writer. (originally answered and shared on the LinkedIn Books And Writers Group  from a question by  @catarinaalexon )

My comment on Interpreting Twitter infographics into Business actions. http://bit.ly/ozehWl — Mark Mapstone (@markmapstone) July 11, 2011

My response to Good.is 'Could Google's New Social Network Actually Improve Our Social Lives?': http://www.good.is/post/could-google-s-new-social-network-actually-improve-our-social-lives/ Great article. I am yet to get a Google+ invite... however I'm hearing lots of good things about it. I am also skeptical of it's long term success because the people that are important to me (family and close friends) are all over FB and are not early adopters or swayed by new trends in anyway. As much as I hate FB, my usage of it, is because my beloved network is all over it. FB pulled me in, because of this network, not for it's design, features, coolness or anything else. I view FB as a really crappy party that's full of thousands of people I know and hang out, rather than G+ being a brand new party which is so cool and feature packed and knocks the socks off everyone else... however, it's not got my family there... and my family have no-intention of leaving. At ...