by Neil Hickson | 1 7 March, 2022 | content marketing, Social Media
I’ve proven to myself over and over that video content on social media channels gets more engagement than still images or plain graphics. Here is a small selection of social media graphics that I wrote and edited in January and February 2022 for Instagram and...
by Neil Hickson | 1 18 January, 2021 | content marketing, copywriting, marketing strategy, website
One thing I see business owners do over and over again is to cover their website with the words we, I, and us. Now, as a business owner you’re probably proud of what your company does, it’s natural, you can’t help yourself. If you have a product or service that you...
by Neil Hickson | 1 2 December, 2020 | content marketing, marketing strategy, Video
There is little point in writing content for a blog post, podcast or video if your audience won’t be interested in the subject. The way to being a success is to be useful and provide something that people want. Quite often they want the answers to questions that...
by Neil Hickson | 1 24 July, 2020 | monochrome, photo essay, Reportage
If you’ve looked at my website you’ll see that I really love monochrome photography. This isn’t anything new to me, black and white is where I started all those years ago as a kid, developing Ilford HP5 and FP4 films and printing images on an old enlarger up in my...
by Neil Hickson | 1 5 July, 2020 | landscape, monochrome, photo essay
Whenever I’m photographing for myself these days, I tend to work in Black and White. I love monochrome images, but taking landscapes with no colour takes some work. Without the power and punch of colour you have to work much harder on your composition....
by Neil Hickson | 1 10 June, 2020 | content marketing, marketing strategy
From the other side of an open-plan office, I could hear the frustration in her voice. She explained to her colleague that this blog post had taken up most of the morning, and there was no end in sight yet. I had to see what she was doing. “Angela, what are you...
by Neil Hickson | 1 21 May, 2020 | copywriting
You wouldn’t make a movie like this! Why do it with your website? Imagine a movie set, a professional film crew. The director shouts ‘shoot,’ and the actors stand there motionless. After an uncomfortable pause, the lead turns to the director and asks, “what do...
by Neil Hickson | 1 4 April, 2020 | eCommerce, marketing strategy, website
Setting up an online store has suddenly become a logical step for many businesses suffering in lockdown. If you have a WordPress based website, Barn2’s Multiple Product Page plugin can have you up and running very quickly. Lots of food businesses are now...
by Neil Hickson | 1 2 November, 2019 | copywriting, marketing strategy
Sell the hole, not the drill bit Benefits are the most powerful way of selling online Humans are generally nice. Most are friendly, many generous. But when it comes to buying things, people want to know ‘What’s in it for me?’ To sell with words, you need to make good...
by Neil Hickson | 1 2 November, 2019 | content marketing, copywriting, marketing strategy
If you don’t like selling, try marketing I don’t like it, I always seem to be talking about selling these days. I was the most un-salesperson you could ever meet. The thought of trying to ‘flog’ something to people when they didn’t really want it used to make me...