Kate Waddon Copywriting

It’s been a busy old summer so far – a nice mix of new and returning clients, which is perfect for business. I was very happy to get a call from a regular client, Abbas Marquees, to write their new website copy.

I’ve worked with James and Nina Dickson at Abbas Marquees a few times over the years. One of the really great things about having a long-term relationship with a client is seeing how the business develops. Every time I work with them, it feels that they’ve expanded yet further.

Suddenly we have these amazing tipis (tents used by nomadic Norse tribes. Great for packing up and hauling over icy fjords, even better for parties), outdoor kitchens, five-star portable lavatories and permanent outdoor structures.

The tricky thing about this is making sure the copy does not become too crammed. There’s a lot to say; and the trick is to make sure you don’t try to say it all! For example, Abbas offers a huge range of marquee accessories. Chandeliers, lighting-up disco floors, Bedouin-style drapes, braziers – plus all the practical stuff like chairs, tables and lighting. Add to this a range of services (project management, sourcing catering and entertainment, actually putting up the tents), and there’s a lot on offer.

I suppose the style I aim for is “busy but not bombarding”. I want to get across the incredible energy of these people without exhausting the reader! The key is highlighting a diverse range of services without the tedium of lists. Abbas Marquees really do pull rabbits out of hats for their clients, so we emphasise that there is a lot more on offer, and you just need to ask…

What’s the tone for this? James and Nina have always given me a pretty free rein with this, so to be honest this copy is probably closer to my natural voice than many things I write. A lot of their clients are looking for wedding venues or marquees for events so we’re looking for approachability, reassurance and professionalism, plus a sense of fun. For anything to do with weddings it’s essential to build up both rapport and trust.

I really like Teapot Creative’s website – very visual with a nice, clear layout.  I hope it works for Abbas Marquees and that their business continues to grow. And for me it’s always a joy of a job as writing about events and celebrations can’t help but lift the spirits. Trying very hard to come up with an excuse for a Nordic-style tipi party…

I wrote recently about the importance of capturing the right tone for a client. I’ve just finished working on a website for Nicky Rangecroft, a therapist and mentor – a great case study on how to work with a very specific and sensitive voice.

Nicky, a Psychology of Vision-trained coach, works with individuals, families and businesses who have identified a need to change; and through coaching and workshops, Nicky guides them as they work towards these changes.  As you can imagine, this is an interesting tone of voice to get right. It needs to have warmth and understanding, yet mustn’t drift off into vague healing speak which is not what Nicky is about, and could alienate her corporate clients. Like any business website, it needs its calls to action, but these mustn’t jar.

The answer, of course, came from Nicky herself.  Nicky speaks beautifully – you can see why she does the job she does, as her language is very calm, very reassuring, with a lovely rhythm and flow to this. Capturing this simply involved taking notes from our conversations – I haven’t written that much by hand since my finals – and taking down verbatim as much of her own phrases as I could. (Slight digression – I once worked with a wonderful writer, a museum head of interpretation. A highly-qualified woman, she told me that actually, the most useful course she’d ever done was shorthand.) The result, I hope, is copy with integrity that reflects the client’s own idiom, with calls to action delivered in a friendly, inviting way.

The designer on this project was Lena from Biz and Bytes. I’ve known her for years, and she put me in touch with Nicky. We formed a nice, productive triumvirate of Cornish freelancers. Like the copy, the website is cool and uncluttered. Nicky works internationally, but the style has more than a nod to her native Cornwall. Copywriting for Nicky was a joy – there is clearly something calming about writing in this voice. I didn’t even mainline coffee. I hope Nicky’s clients get the same feeling from it.

I write for all sorts of organisations and areas, and as every parent knows, you don’t have a favourite. However, I have to say that after writing lots of technical stuff, it was a joy to sink into the luxurious chaise longue that is the world of interior design.

Kotomski Classic Interiors is a London-based interior design company. I wrote most of the copy for this website, working with Martin Kotomski, whose company offers a bespoke interior design service. He works mainly in the Classical style, timeless and elegant, so that set the tone for the copy…

As the company is very much about Martin and his skills, to have integrity the web copy needs to reflect his own idiom. This sounds fancy, but mainly means writing in my notepad like a mad thing while the client speaks, and trying to capture as many of their own words and phrases as possible. These can then be woven into the main text or occasionally used as headers or captions. When an individual is putting themselves forward as part of the brand, this lexical identity is essential. So, Martin and I chatted a lot, I scribbled lots of notes, and he sent lots of info through on email.

However, the copy here is very much in a supporting role – it’s the pictures that will get the main response from the audience. Me too, to be honest. I am completely captivated by the black claw foot bath on the home page…

“We need some case studies”, I tell my clients. Ever good at ignoring my own advice, it’s about time I started writing some of my own. So following on from my recent piece about Cornish Chicken, my next few blog posts will be about recent projects, starting with the Bandaluza.

It’s lovely to work on a product that is just so, well, happy. The Bandaluza is a two-handled banner which can be customised to show your team’s/country’s/company’s colours/flag/logo, with the fab addition of programmable LED lights in the handle. “Supporter paraphernalia”, I believe is the official term for such merchandise; and the parent company, Euphoria Sports Ltd, has been granted the official licence to sell Bandaluzas at the forthcoming Rugby World Cup . At last, a job to make my rugby-supporting Valleys family proud of me…

What was my role? With a new product like this, the copy has to find a balance between a marketing and descriptive tone. It’s mainly business-to-business, so we focussed on short snippets of text highlighting the different uses of the Bandaluza. As I’ve blogged about in the past, I write catalogue copy, so used this most concise of copy styles to describe the range of Bandaluza uses. As the website is going to be translated into several languages, I also had to stay away from any UK English idioms and keep it simple – which let’s face it, is always the best way to write web copy, translations or no.

It was great fun to write about such a lively subject, and Leonardo at Bandaluza and the team at Creative Steam London were a pleasure to work with. I shall be watching the crowd as well as the players at RWC15…

As from last month, working from home has got a lot easier. Yes, I am still plagued by cats and distracted by housework. But – Superfast Broadband has reached our corner of Cornwall, and I am surprised by how much difference it’s made.

I’m afraid that my initial shallow response was “Ooh, Netflix!” But – to be more serious – the benefits for a copywriter that works from home have been fantastic.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog, like many freelance people in rural West Cornwall I mostly work remotely. The ability to chat through websites without long, uncomfortable silences as the website creaks to life, and upload documents to Dropbox to share with clients is brilliant. Skype now works. OK, I still panic about how tidy the shelves behind me look and always wish I’d remembered to brush my hair first, but I don’t have the embarrassment of suddenly dropping out of the conversation.

It’s also increased my potential working hours to beyond the school run, as I can continue to work without losing connection speed as my kids download various random and huge things. Online research doesn’t grind to a halt because My Little Pony games are happening at the other end of the room.

Productivity and efficiency are increased, thanks to a little green cabinet by the hedge, next to a farm.

And to be honest, I just feel less out-on-a-limb.

This has been a joy of a job. The Cornish Chicken Company‘s first website is now live, and I’ve had a lovely time working with farmer Louise Wilson, chatting about all things chicken.

I’ve known Louise for years; and have to admit I was surprised when she announced she’d become a free-range chicken farmer. Then I was less surprised – she’s a fantastic chef, and she lives on the family farm. It all made sense. Louise had spotted a gap in the market for free-range chicken reared in Cornwall (there wasn’t any), and in real entrepreneurial style, went about filling it. Now she supplies some of Cornwall’s best restaurants, as well as running stalls at local farmers’ markets and selling at farm shops.

Why has copywriting about Cornish chickens been such fun? Well, lots of reasons really. I rarely work with friends or family, so when I do, I thoroughly enjoy it. Then there were the trips down the stunning coast road to Louise’s farm in remote West Cornwall to see the chicks in situ. I also had the opportunity to work with the marvellous ­Meor Design in St Ives. I’ve admired their stuff for ages, mainly as they kitted out one of my favourite lurk-spots, The Hub.

Above all, it was great to write about a product I really believe in. As well as tasting superb (the slow-growing breed Louise uses has a lovely, gamey flavour, thanks to its robust lifestyle on the cliffs), it’s so wonderful to see such considered animal husbandry in action. What I’ve rather euphemistically called “the whole process” is carried out on site, removing that stressful final journey for the mature chickens. If you care about the provenance of your food, watching these chooks in action in their beautiful meadow is a really marvellous sight. There should be a category of chicken called “Extremely Free Range”.

Have a look at the website and enjoy Ruaraidh Monies’ evocative photography. The design, images and words have worked together to capture both the wildness of the Cornish coast and the fun of Louise’s young family down on the farm. As I said, a total joy.

Having banged on about the importance of looking after your blog, I have pretty much neglected mine during March. To return to my original analogy, if it were a plant, I would now be standing it in a shallow bath, feeding it panicked overdoses of Baby Bio and pleading with it, out loud. Happily, blogs are more forgiving.

I wish we weren’t all so fond of declaring people “passive aggressive” these days – it makes it hard to offer a genuine explanation about anything. I’ve had a real rush of work in the last two weeks and during these busy periods, my clients always have to come first (although the strategic marketing mob would shake their heads at my task-focused approach).  Here’s a quick update of what I’m currently working on.

It’s quite unusual and rather nice that most of my copywriting work is for Cornwall-based businesses at the moment. That means I have occasionally (gasp) met up with my clients. I’ve dragged myself out of my usual old-rugby-shirt-and-baggy-leggings work combo, put on, well, tidier leggings, and had the pleasure of work and coffee with some splendid and talented people.

Because as ever, it’s the entrepreneurial spirit of my Cornish copywriting clients that impresses me. This week I met up with a local farmer – a young woman who has set up her own business in a farm so beautiful and windswept, it could be straight out of Poldark*. It is going to be a stunning website, and I’ll write more about it when it’s live.

I’m also writing for a “glampsite” (there’s a smashing portmanteau word for you) which is seriously making me want to chuck everything in the car and head up to North Cornwall for a bit of comfort-under-canvas. The very lovely hotel I’m working with is also making me feel that there’s a serious lack of glamour in my own life (see the old rugby shirt reference again), as I encourage others to relax in the pool and enjoy a glass of something chilled on the balcony… These are two projects that highlight the county’s growing reputation as a high-end destination.

Then I roll my sleeves up and crack on with an engineering website that’s nearing completion. This is for a Cornwall-based company that now works internationally, so we’ll be looking at working with translators shortly. In a completely different sector, I’m about to start a project with a therapist, which will be an interesting exercise in getting the tone just right.

So that (plus a couple of copywriting projects north of Cornwall) is why my blog has dried up and needs a bit of extra watering (although it’s not as dead as this metaphor). Again, my recent work has made me feel very privileged to work with such a group of imaginative, hardworking people who are really making a go of their diverse range of businesses down here in Cornwall. Links to websites and more updates to follow when everything goes live.

*It is obligatory to mention Poldark in every conversation at the moment if you are Cornish and female.