For an Inc500 catalog retailer of audiovisual electronic equipment and media, I drove significant new sales volume with a brand launch centered on a 3-day workshop event.

Supported by editorial catalog content (not shown here), the SoundBasics brand campaigns and content were all designed to train a customer base to more effectively use the company's products. Results: all workshop attendees measurably increased in lifetime value as customers, many of them had double-digit growth... and the $600/head event revenue was pure gravy. Slurp.

For a Wisconsin-based publisher of educational support software, I wrote this two-page sales letter in a traditional style. As part of a large collateral split-test, this letter was strong enough to result in a full-time job offer... Happily, I was already with a fabulous company in a much milder climate!

A web retailer wanted to launch a line of sixty-odd "learning development" toys for kids age 0-4 years. For them, I designed and wrote a mailer and web landing page based on grouping the line into a "continuity" series of packages that sorted the toys by age.

The web page was compacted offer content from the mailer. The mailer design was what got their attention: a double fold-out that revealed deeper copy in layers... the reverse was a mini-poster "board game" that illustrated the continuity and offer at once.

This company did launch the line (we actually did a full website and several additional landing/squeeze pages), but they never produced the mailer. I still think that's a shame, so I share my original proposal with you here!

As a professional writer, I got excited about this one... my employer, a homeschool curriculum publisher, launched a partnership with a Writing Coach service for students. They wanted a landing page in the form of a classic, long-copy sales letter. As of this posting, you can find the landing page "live" at:

https://www.sonlight.com/writeathome.html

http://kenbgrindall.wordpress.com

The link above takes you to my own blog. Let's elevate our work together as we research relevant books, tackle "practice" projects, goof on our swipe files, clear the mental slate with fun writing, and more...

I also blog on the copywriting profession for Denver Examiner. I rotate these two blogs in the feed you'll see here on my BrightFuse profile, in the right sidebar.

Here are a few two-page samples of editorial content I wrote every month for a catalog that reached 200,000+ faith-based B2B customers. The magazine cover goes with an article I by-lined into a trade pub for the same company... you can read the full article at:

http://www.tfwm.com/ChildrenGoWhereISendThee

(note: they've set that page up weird, so you'll have to scroll down a bit to start reading.)

For the last 2-3 years, I've spent probably 80% of my time creating email marketing like the samples below. Product launches, patnership promotions, sales events, transactional customer relations... email works for everything now!

Note: I created these PDFs from the original HTML emails, which did not contain the page breaks you'll see.

Cutting-edge graphic design is NOT my thing, so don't hire me for THAT, please. Where my visual design sense really holds value is when you want to layout a piece of collateral to max out your leverage on the CONTENT that piece contains.

Or, as in this case, a client who just launched a small multimedia production studio to create short docu-drama videos to wrestle touchy subjects into clear everyday terms, wanted me to get that concept across in the LOOK of his name logo for "Simply Said Studios."

There's a fair amount of "perception theory" rolling around in this simple graphic, including a weighted emphasis on each word by size and the "black-and-white" ideas of contrasting views, balanced perspective and strong opinion (with a bit of drop shadow grey to remind us that life is rarely one or the other). And on the smallest word, I didn't want "studios" to get lost but also didn't want to go any larger... so I injected the strong color to give it a whole 'nuther realm of standing out on its own, to be sure a casual glance said this was, in fact, a studio.

Client LOVED it. Of course, he has a very hi-rez 3D final version...

Don't ask me to tell you about the performance on this piece... at least, not yet. It's brand-spanking new!

Well, performance so far: client loves it.

This is a large (11x17 tri-fold) mailer to "warm leads" for a training workshop product featuring the business owner, a successful options trader. I had almost nothing to do with the layout and design; my job was to take a rough draft of the pitch and turn it into strong-as-could-be motivation for reader to register for the workshop. I've asked for updates on how that works, but I can already tell you...

I talked myself into it. :)

I was intensely busy writing copy for my company, when the owner decided to write a book for our faith-based market niche. In fact, we collected years of educational content we'd written and helped him craft a narrative around it. There was a lot of production sweat, too (244 pages worth)... but this was the first time my name appeared in book credits. Won't be the last!

Amazon does not stock the book, but they do list it with full description and several 5-star customer reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/Comprehensive-Guide-Cassette-Ministry/dp/1883906121

For the AMA chapter in Colorado, I've written several space ads and (so far) one editorial piece to run in Advertising & Marketing Review Magazine...

FYI: Sadly, the magazine ran some horrible typos in their print version of the 50th Anniv. piece! I include it here as a convenience for some, but I hope (if you really want to read my writing) that you'll check out the typo-free online version here:

http://www.ad-mkt-review.com/public_html/docs/fs179.html

Shortly after I wrote my first magazine space ad for COAMA, they asked me to manage their social media channels. My current responsibilities include the organization's groups on Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as its Twitter account.

This PDF is a sample of several days postings on Twitter (output only; DMs not included).

If you're not using Twitter for its (arguably still not fully understood) marketing value, I recommend you try it, simply as a strong copy/response testing platform... practice crafting lots of headlines!