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Howdy <<Name>>

 

Now I know that since summer is officially over, all Brits are supposed to immediately begin bemoaning the slow yet inexorable decline into the mizzling depths of winter... but I can’t do that just yet, as I’m too excited about the imminent arrival of wonderful autumn 🍁 

I love the vivid colours on the trees. The growing crispness of the air. And of course the fact that although I’ve long since left the classroom I continue to experience that exhilarating and hope-filled back-to-school feeling of new beginnings (which also allows me to justify an expedition to Paperchase to buy beautiful but entirely unnecessary new stationery). 

So happy post-summer loveliness to you all 😁 I hope you can find a way through your Britishness to enjoy it as much as me!

P.S. Are you pumped up for a fresh term, or just exhausted after the lengthy school holidays? Tap reply and let me know how you’re feeling about this new season 😊
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This month we’re learning lessons from the back of a bakery bag:

'Everyone deserves a treat! All our delicious treats are designed with you in mind. Our unique recipes combine quality ingredients and baking expertise to bring you something we’re sure you’ll enjoy. So why deny yourself?’


I know, I know - I can’t even switch my wordnerdery brain off when I’m just picking up a pastry! I need to get a life. But as I walked away from the service station where I’d stopped to hastily pick up some breakfast, I couldn’t help but notice their poorly-worded packaging. So what can we learn from my pit stop?

  1. Your tone has to fit your brand 👌Language like ‘deserves a treat’ and ‘why deny yourself’ is often used with luxury products. So it feels over the top and out of place on a pastry from a petrol station! You need to know who you are as a business (and who you’re not) and make sure your language reflects that.

  2. Don’t force a connection 🤝‘Designed with you in mind’ simply can’t be true. They don’t know me, so they can’t possibly have been thinking about my particular tastes and preferences when they baked the croissant. Instead of building a connection with me, it actually distances me by sounding fake and forced.

  3. Be confident about the right things 🙌I’m all for believing in your business and writing confidently, but I think they take it too far. ‘We’re sure you’ll enjoy it’ just seems like they’re telling me how to feel about their product. It’s one thing to be sure of your own skills, or the quality of your product - but you can’t be sure of how people will react. Don't let your confidence tip over into being arrogant or making assumptions.
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SHENANIGATOR


Just like you hope it will be, this is a word that describes a person who initiates shenanigans! And here it is, presented to you just at the time when many of you will be looking for a term to describe how your children behaved over most of the summer holidays 😆


Unboxed 2019 | October 16th, 1-6pm


I’m mega excited to be helping out with Oxford’s FIRST digital marketing conference next month ✊✊✊No more having to travel to bigger cities to get awesome marketing insights - the insights are coming to us!

Speakers include Gisele Navarro from NeoMam Studios and Lisa Myers from Verve Search, and they’ll be offering tried-and-tested, you-can-put-them-into-action-right-away tips on things like how to get higher up in search results, know good from bad UX research, and build links using content. And because it’s happening at the Curzon cinema (in the Westgate) you can drink in all these super-practical marketing tips in the comfiest seats you'll ever get at a conference, popcorn in hand 🍿

If you book before September 16th and use the code BethJoy10 you’ll not only get the earlybird price but an extra discount just for Joy Junkies - making your ticket a crazily-good-value £89! (They go up to £139 after that.) Are you in?
Find out more >
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⭐ Get some tips on how to write a contact page that gives people a flavour of who you are as a business. 

⭐ See what hilarious shaving brand Harry’s has to teach us about the importance of showing your customers what you’re like rather than telling them.

⭐ Want to know the no.1 misunderstanding about brand voice I really don’t want your business to suffer from? Of course you do! 

⭐ Find out why I don’t agree with the common wisdom that "people have rubbish attention spans, so you need to keep your copy short".
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TALK: Stand out on social with a unique brand voice

 

Bristol – 25 September 2019, 6.30-8pm

Connecting with your audience on social media isn’t just about sounding ‘human’ and ‘conversational’ – you’ve actually got to communicate something about your brand’s personality. So come join me at Bristol’s premier social media meetup, Rules of Engagement, to find out how you can stand apart from the masses online with a clear and compelling brand voice.

Find out more >


WORKSHOP: How to find your brand voice

 

Oxford – 22 October 2019, 10am-4pm

Struggling to write content for your website? Don’t quite know how to talk to people about your business on social media? At a bit of a loss to simply and clearly describe what you do and what you offer? This workshop will help you nail down the key messages, the personality, and the voice of your business – in other words both what to say and how to say it.

Find out more >
SEE MORE EVENTS I'M SPEAKING AT >
joy-junkies
The perfect antidote to the consumerism that surrounds us, this creative article offers up five fab ideas for how to get more joy out of things you already have in your home 🏠
 
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Have a read >
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“One of the best business decisions we have made was to have a brand voice workshop with Bethany! A great investment in time and money, it continues to pay dividends every day in so many ways.”

Lynda Oliver
Head of HR, Marketing, and Media with home eyecare specialists The Outside Clinic


*Just to be clear, this is a figure of speech. My clients aren’t horses. They’re people.

Want to be gettable and irresistible?

Just shoot me a message at beth@bethanyjoy.org
and we’ll chat about how I can help.

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