How we’re using AI to offer new copywriting services

In 2024, we’ll start to offer new Writer-Operated AI services for smaller projects. Read more about how and why we’re offering AI copywriting services.

Generative AI will reduce demand for freelance copywriters in the coming years. It can already do a few simple tasks and it’s likely to get better with time.

The quality of AI’s output isn’t great at the moment, but that isn’t really important. The fact is businesses want it, and they’re willing to pay for it – so long as they believe it’s more efficient than engaging a person. The hype around AI today also means businesses want to show they’re keeping up.

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Showing some love to the old blog as we celebrate 15 years of copywriting

It’s really been 15 years since I went full time as a freelance copywriter, and things have never been better!

I wonder what percentage of the posts on this neglected website are celebrating some anniversary or other?

Well, who cares because here comes another!

All the way back in July 2008, I took the plunge and went full time as a freelance copywriter. It was risky, exciting, extremely difficult, and poverty inducing… but 15 years, a wife and two kids, and hundreds of lovely clients later, life and work have never been better.

It’s busy here at Wheatleys. I feel very lucky to be able to say that.

We work with a fairly small group of regular clients, mostly on IT, video game, and charity-related projects. And it’s still me writing most of the copy, with help from a few trusted colleagues where needed. I prefer it that way, for now – I still want to be writing, rather than managing people.

But that means we don’t have a lot of room for new clients at the moment, or time to do things like update the website.

Is it important to change that? Probably. Lately I feel like I have more to say. I’ve been writing professionally for 15 years, and I’m starting to feel like my experience could be worth sharing. Stay tuned to find out whether that’s really the case.

Are we open to helping with your marketing project? Yes – if you have a goal, if you believe in what you’re doing, and if you need someone with knowledge of gaming or computing. The best way to get in touch is with a friendly message via our contact page.

Thank you to everyone who’s supported Wheatleys over the past 15 years. Here’s to many more.

My favourite time-saving tricks for Microsoft Word on Mac

For the past 11 years I have used Microsoft Word for most of every workday.

It’s been a rocky relationship. The Word of a few years ago was not a streamlined experience. It was missing some convenience features that even Google Docs offered.

I even attempted to switch to Google Docs around 2012, but that solution was (and still is) missing lots of features that I need. Plus, having to export everything to a Word doc to meet clients’ expectations was a pain.

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We are TBT Marketing’s Supplier of the Year

Wheatleys has won an award – and not just for fancy writing, but for the overall quality and value of our service.

And I even got to bring home a trophy!

The award is from TBT Marketing, a full-service agency with top B2B IT accounts like IBM, Lenovo and HPE. We’ve been one of their trusted content partners for 7 years now.

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How to be persuasive with disruptive copywriting

What is disruption?

It’s breaking the normal rules. Like when ads find a different way to engage us (Compare the Meerkat is the now-classic example), set out to shock us, or make deliberate mistakes like the Snickers example below.

It’s creating something new that changes the rules. Like how the first iPhone, which looked and worked completely differently to anything before it, changed the phone market overnight.

Disruption works by challenging our usual thought processes. It gets our attention by raising lots of questions – What is going on here? Is this better or worse than the standard way of doing things? Continue reading “How to be persuasive with disruptive copywriting”