Blogs are one of the fastest ways to increase your thought leadership, get your website on page one of google and convert casual web visitors into paying clients. Can a little blog do all that? Yes it can. But how do blogs work? Why are they so powerful? Why does everyone say ‘you need a blog’ and more importantly, how can you write one quickly even if you’re not a professional copywriter? That’s what this episode is all about. In this episode we cover: 3 reasons why you should write a blog How ...
Jan 30, 2022•25 min
Discover the secrets of making your email campaigns work. Is email dead? Not by a long shot according to Shaun Ernst, the founder of one of Australia’s most successful email marketing companies. He should know. His clients include JB Hi-Fi, General Pants, Swisse Vitamins and many more. In today’s episode we talk about something very specific that anyone who sends even one marketing email needs to know about – how to prevent your emails from landing in the spam filter. We also talk about the cons...
Jan 16, 2022•53 min
To niche or not to niche? That is the question for many copywriters starting out. Ryan Wallman was a medical doctor who discovered that he preferred writing copy instead of writing scripts. Discover how he made the transition to becoming a healthcare copywriter, and how to decide if niching is for you. Dr Ryan Wallman was a medical doctor but after he discovered his passion for words and writing, he decided to follow his intuition and become a medical and healthcare copywriter. He is now the Cre...
Jan 02, 2022•28 min
Often it’s the people with the least confidence who have the most talent. Imagine how powerful you’d be if you could combine your inherent ability with the confidence to talk about it. You’d be unstoppable. When Oprah Winfrey came to Australia, she could have picked anyone to handle her PR. She picked Karen Eck, founder of Eckfactor, one of Australia’s premier PR agencies, and the campaign generated over $190 million in media exposure. Karen has worked with some of the biggest brands on the plan...
Dec 19, 2021•50 min
Even if you have zero knowledge about copywriting, you can reinvent yourself and land the job of your dreams. Discover how Louis Lucente did just that by doing a copywriting course at the Australian Writers' Centre. One year on, he’s working with some of Australia’s biggest brands. Louis Lucente is one of Australia’s finest musical theatre stars. The lure of creating a side hustle to supplement his acting work had been niggling Louis for years so when lockdown came along and he had time to stop ...
Dec 05, 2021•38 min
Copywriting careers start anywhere – even on Nepalese hiking trips! Gabi Pasztor shares her story of transitioning from a career in teaching to become a full time freelance copywriter. Gabi Pasztor loved her job as a teacher but when a tour guide on a Nepalese hiking trip asked her to write the copy for his tour website, she thought, maybe others could use my services too! With zero experience in business, or networking, or client development, she is now the owner of a very successful copywritin...
Nov 21, 2021•38 min
Discover how copywriting can help you turn your passion into profit. Donna Webeck’s dream was to earn money by writing about real estate but with no experience in the sector, no background in writing, no contacts in the real estate industry, that dream seemed just that. Until she took the plunge, did a short course in copywriting and now here she is 6 years later with a flourishing, thriving business writing real estate copy for some of the country’s top real estate agents, earning a six-figure ...
Nov 07, 2021•39 min
A once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity that turned toxic was the catalyst for leading journalist Kate Halfpenny to turn her hand to content writing. And what a journey she’s been on ever since. She shares the highs and lows and lessons learnt here. Bad mothers. Boogie boarding. Bad jobs that make us question our worth and ability. Making a sea change. Life. Death. Empty nesting. What’s all this got to do with copywriting? Well, a lot actually because my guest today is Kate Halfpenny, one of Austra...
Oct 24, 2021•48 min
Instagram is a powerful tool to add to your self-promotion strategy, and in this episode you’ll learn exactly how to use Instagram to be your authentic self and find new clients. Emily Osmond is an Instagram expert. She is the founder of the Modern Marketing Collective program and is skilled at helping small businesses use Instagram to build their following. In this episode we talk about how to: use Instagram to gain new clients use a four-step process for creating great Instagram content create...
Oct 10, 2021•37 min
If you’re interested in learning how to set up, structure and launch your brand spanking new copywriting business, this is the episode for you. I have trained over 9000 people in the art of copywriting and I know that the one thing that trips most people up when starting out, is how to set up the copywriting business in the first place. Whether you want to launch your side hustle or maybe take it to the next step and give your current job the flick and become a full time copywriting, there are l...
Sep 26, 2021•54 min
Wouldn’t it be great if you could get one copywriting client and turn that one job into an ongoing series of jobs without any extra effort? If you’re interested in learning how to secure monthly retainers so that you don’t have to constantly seek new work, this is the podcast for you. In this episode we talk to Ami-Leigh O’Donnell. Ami is a leading digital marketer, social media manager and copywriter. Her superpower is turning one off copywriting jobs into long term retainer contracts. Read the...
Sep 12, 2021•38 min
In this episode, Bernadette chats to Matthew Farmer. He is the Content Team Manager at StudioHawk SEO agency. His firm was named as ‘Best Global SEO Agency’ in 2021 and count blue chip companies like Envato, Officeworks, Amart, Petstock and New Balance as their clients. Matthew manages a team of 15 SEO copywriters and works closely with the clients to create SEO content that gets them on page one of Google. In this episode, Bernadette talks to Matthew about: how he got started as a copywriter an...
Aug 29, 2021•59 min
Glenn Peters started out as a music journalist, turned to copywriting in his mid-thirties and has never looked back. He is now one of Australia’s busiest copywriters and is consistently rated by the top creative directors as their copywriter of choice. He’s worked with Jeep, Crikey, ANZ, Telstra, Coles and writes for almost every medium – long copy, short copy, online, print, TV, radio, direct response and more. There’s not much he hasn’t done in his long and illustrious copywriting career. In t...
Aug 15, 2021•45 min
Presenting copywriting work to a client strikes fear into the hearts of even the most confident copywriters. Why? Because we’re afraid of the response we’re going to get back. Will they like it? What if they don’t? Will I get paid? Will I ever work again? The temptation is to just email it, hope they read it and pray that they like it. But is that the best way to present our copy to the client? Is that the best way to get our work approved? The best way to showcase our considered thinking that u...
Aug 01, 2021•49 min
You can’t get a job without work experience - but you can’t get work experience without a job. This age-old chicken-or-the-egg scenario stops talented copywriters from getting started. But there is a way around it. In this podcast Bernadette talks to us about: finding your first client creating the marketing collateral clients need to see to hire you starting small and use online events to start networking elegantly overcoming imposter syndrome believing that what you have is useful and of value...
Jul 18, 2021•35 min
For many copywriters, finding paid work is problematic. You need to find the clients, do the negotiation, get the brief, do the invoicing, and much more. But what if you could have someone do it all for you? Someone who could find the clients, place you in the role, take care of the negotiations, organise the finance, so that you just turn up and write! You’ll never have to source work for yourself again, and you’ll get to work with high profile clients too, which will look great on your portfol...
Jul 04, 2021•39 min
Adil Amarsi is a copywriter, business consultant, and podcaster best known for his ability to write story-based, direct response copy for sales pages, email sequences, websites and more. Between late 2007 and the end of 2020, Adil has made his clients over $821 million in sales and revenue using his advice, copy, and strategies. His clients have included Jay Abraham, Dov Baron, Tony Grebmeier, and many more. With 17 years of copywriting experience under his belt, Adil is known as one of the grea...
Jun 20, 2021•45 min
Artificial intelligence is changing the way we live, but it’s also changing the way we write copy. In this episode we talk to Suzette Bailey who is an expert at the building AI platforms that help us write copy – and lots of it. If you fancy writing a 500-word article on a specific topic of your choice, in under 30 seconds, or writing a LinkedIn article that makes you look like an expert at the same time, this podcast is for you. In this episode you discover how: AI can be used to write professi...
Jun 06, 2021•26 min
LinkedIn is one of the most affordable ways to find new copywriting clients but for many of us, we don’t leverage a fraction of its power. Why is that and if we did, what could we gain? Adam Franklin is one of Australia’s most successful LinkedIn Coaches and in this podcast he’ll share with us the secrets of how copywriter and marketers – in fact, anyone in business - can use the platform to simply and elegantly convert those casual connections into new clients. Adam is a professional speaker, u...
May 23, 2021•32 min
Would you like to hear from a marketing expert who has been responsible for sending out more than 200 million emails? …who works with people like Tony Robbins and the world’s best-known authors, speakers and thought leaders… …who understands the digital content funnel (and upends it)… …who knows how to create hooks, lead magnets, buyer journeys and every other little detail associated with email marketing success? If so, Michelle Falzon is the guest you have been waiting for. Michelle Falzon is ...
May 09, 2021•55 min
What do Nicole Kidman, Baz Luhrmann, Neil Armfield, Louis Nowra and Fran Kelly all have in common? Alison Dunn has worked with them all. As one of Australia’s foremost arts publicists, she’s been instrumental in promoting some of the world’s most prestigious artists, shows and festivals. She was the head of business development and marketing for the Sydney Festival, marketing manager for the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, director of marketing for the Adelaide Festival, and much more. Now, in...
Apr 25, 2021•30 min
Did you know that artificial intelligence can now write copy, and really good copy, at that. Yes, that technology is here and it’s either an opportunity for us copywriters, or it’s a threat – you be the judge. And the man to tell us more about that is Mark Baartse, former Chief Marketing Officer at Showpo, the online fashion retailer, and digital marketer extraordinaire. Nominated in the top 50 CMOs in Australia, in the top 50 people in ecommerce retailing and credited with increasing Showpo’s r...
Apr 11, 2021•48 min
Airbnb, Snickers, Lexus, Libra, World Health Organisation - these are just some of the blue-chip copywriting clients Shannon Crowe has worked with during her illustrious advertising career. Recently ranked at #8 on the list for the World’s Most Awarded copywriters, Shannon kicked off her career studying graphic design and photography and at the ‘ancient’ age (in ad agency land) of 29 she landed her first copywriting job with Grey Advertising. The rest, as they say, is history. Now, as a single m...
Mar 29, 2021•42 min
Redbubble is a massive disruptor in the art and design market (in a good way) because for a change, the artists get paid for their work! It’s a true-blue Melbourne success story and the man behind the awesome copy that has made the website such a success is Jason Toon. With over 450,000 active artists on the site creating original artwork, 10 million site visits per month, and over 7,000,000 people buying from the site, Jason is the man who writes the copy that makes people buy. In this episode,...
Mar 14, 2021•50 min
It’s everyone’s dream, isn’t it? To chuck in your job, say ‘bye bye’ to the rat race, hit the road in your campervan and drive around Australia indefinitely. For most of us, it’s just that - a dream. But for one lady, Tanya Enright, she turned that dream into a reality. After a workplace injury left her unable to teach again, she turned to copywriting as a new career. It delivered in spades. 4 months after completing our short course, she packed up her bags, hit the road with her partner and thr...
Feb 28, 2021•40 min
How good would it be if others could find your copywriting clients for you? What about getting paid to write your own book? What about generating thousands of new subscribers without spending a cent? All this and more is possible with partnerships - but not your average partnerships. We’re talking about strategic partnerships and how copywriters like you – new and experienced - can leverage partnerships to build your copywriting business quickly. In this episode, partnership expert and marketing...
Feb 20, 2021•39 min
How do two Israeli brothers with no money, basic tech skills and patchy English build some of Australia’s most successful online businesses, with a combined exit valued of more than $1 billion? You may not know their faces but you’ll certainly know the brands they build – Catch.com.au, Menulog, Scoopon and Luxury Escapes. What’s more, they did it on a budget and spent virtually zero on marketing. How did they do it? With great copywriting, an entrepreneurial mindset and a passion to create a suc...
Feb 20, 2021•33 min
People love being a copywriter for lots of reasons – it’s portable, you can write from anywhere, you don’t need a degree in writing and it doesn’t matter how old you are. But the real reason why people like writing copy is because it’s so well paid, especially when compared to traditional writing work like journalism, creative writing and feature writing. And that’s what I’ll be talking about today – money, and how to make lots of it from copywriting. Make no mistake, the way you charge for your...
Feb 20, 2021•32 min
Ben Keenan is one of Australia’s leading brand strategists, creative directors and copywriters. He also happens to have got his start in advertising by completing my copywriting short course over 15 years ago! Which just goes to show what can happen if you hang in there and persist! He called it ‘the gateway drug’ to a life in advertising. That’s one way of looking at it! He is the former head of Award School Melbourne, the former Interactive Creative Director of Clemenger Advertising, the Digit...
Feb 20, 2021•41 min
What is copywriting? Why are so many people interested in becoming one? What does it take to become a successful copywriter? Is it possible to make a living from copywriting? How can you get started as a freelance or ad agency copywriter? In this episode, Valerie Khoo, CEO of the Australian Writers’ Centre chats to Bernadette Schwerdt, founder of the Australian School of Copywriting about: Why copywriting is a great occupation for creative people Where you can find copywriting work The qualities...
Feb 20, 2021•40 min
