This year we’ve had some fantastic projects to work on, and right up there at the top is Cheeky Wipes (launched last week). We’ve written web copy and ads that will appear in national parenting magazines.

And here’s what it’s all about…

Cheeky Wipes – making a bum job better

A squidgy baby bottom is a beautiful thing…changing their stinky nappy isn’t…

What if you could clean that botty, protect your baby, the future of the planet and save money?

Cheeky Wipes Washable Baby Wipes are leading a bottom cleaning revolution – for DISPOSABLE or WASHABLE nappy users…

Save money - at least £200 against disposable wipes

Do your bit for the environment - less landfill

Gentle on bottoms - no harsh chemicals, just fragrant essential oils

Hassle free – all in one kit, no extra wash loads or drying required

It’s fast approaching. My 21st birthday (cough, erm, splutter). On 24th September I’ll be consoling myself at Selfridges in Manchester at their Big Beauty Bash.

I’ve been invited by Rickie Josen of Miss Jones Concierge - time saving angels. They offer a range of membership packages to help you take care of tasks from gift wrapping all those chrimbo pressies to organising VIP events.

Come down and join me, I’ll be the one searching for the best wrinkle cream out there…

Here at All Words Towers, we like to think that we treat all our clients fairly. In fact, it’s something that we pride ourselves on.

Prices quoted up-front, with no nasty surprises; regular contact with customers, so they always know where we’re up to on their projects; honest opinions on marketing, so we’re giving customers what they need, rather than just what they want; client testimonials that tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, etc. That’s the way we work - and the way that we know most of you do, too.

Sadly, there are those who favour more dishonest working practices, making false claims about their business, services or products; faking credentials; using scare tactics to manipulate the unwary into making unnecessary purchases, and much more.

However, recent steps have been taken to clamp down on such behaviour, with new regulations designed to make various unfair sales and marketing tactics illegal.

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) has published new guidelines following the implementation of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, which took place on 26 May this year.

From an advertising perspective, some of the practices being clamped down on include:

• Being honest in advertorials. If you have paid for editorial to appear in the media in order to promote your business, it must be clear that this is advertising, not general editorial. For example, a magazine advertorial should have the words “advertising feature” marked clearly above the piece - or similar wording.
• Not being who you claim to be. Posing as a satisfied customer praising your company on a reviews website, or even on your own website, or blog, will not be tolerated.
• Advertising to children. Addressing kids directly with a plea for them to buy your product, or coerce an adult into buying it for them, is now officially a no-no.
• Pestering. No-one likes to be harangued by unwanted emails, letters, phone calls, faxes, etc. Don’t become a nuisance.

There are many more. A leaflet explaining all the new regulations has been published online:

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations: A Basic Guide for Businesses.

I started writing an article last week about shunning grammar conventions. Language is constantly changing, it’s a flexible jungle full of interesting words, expressions, punctuation and idioms. All at our disposal to have fun with. Or so you’d think. I used to get told off at school for starting sentences with conjunctions. And now I do it all the time.

Tesco have recently had a little language guidance from the Plain English Campaign which sparked off a grammar debate on the BBC website.

Makes interesting reading.

This week we’ve been featured in the Manchester Digital newsletter with our manifesto (that’s a polite word for a mini-rant) on SEO and brand language…

We all know what good SEO can do for a company’s visibility on the web. So it must be a key part of branding, right? What if you’ve grown a business and created a brand which uses a very specific tone or has a certain brand language? Can you marry this with the idea of getting certain key phrases into a particular page, especially if they have to appear in specific places on a webpage (for example, headlines)?

Businesses need to move towards full integration of SEO into their branding, and stop treating it as a separate entity. Tone of voice or verbal identity guidelines should consider the use of brand and generic key phrases. The final part of the puzzle is to find creative writers who both understand SEO techniques and can create the unique voice a company needs to stand out from the competition.

Sometimes it’s hard for people to understand the value of using a copywriter - after all, we can all write can’t we? I suppose most copywriters would say they do more than simply bash out a few words on a keyboard.

One of the most important skills is the ability to see how powerful a message can become by making the most simple of changes.

I love insane advertising. I love advertising that makes no sense. I love advertising that makes me laugh.

I love this advert.

I’ve never really understood the attraction of getting suited and booted to go to the office (and I did it for long enough). See, I’m more of a PJs girl, which is part of the reason I love working from home. We don’t have swanky offices in the centre of Manchester as we’ve never quite figured out what the point would be (other than to be closer to Hotel Chocolat and Starbucks). And it seems an increasing number of people agree with us - a recent article in the Telegraph reckons around 60% of small businesses are considering ditching their office or industrial spaces by the end of the year.

With advances in mobile technology and the escalating costs associated with running an office, working from home is an ideal solution. Need more evidence about the growth of home based businesses? Enterprise Nation is a website dedicated to people who run companies from their spare rooms/kitchen tables/garden sheds/full on posh garden offices.

So until someone develops a suit that’s as comfy as my pyjamas and a desk that I like working in as much as my bed I’ll stay right here, saving money, in my home office.

Continuing on our theme of ranting writers, check out this chap (those of a delicate nature watch out - he uses a naughty word or two). You’ll be glad to know we’re a little more reasonable about fees.

Last week I went to the Brookfield networking event at Innospace in Manchester. As I was leaving the organiser cornered me to do a quick video testimonial. Little did I know this beautiful piece of film, with me looking like I’ve been dragged through a bush backwards, would end up on You Tube. Yikes.

But it did get me thinking about the power of videos and what they can do for a business. Several years ago I had an in-depth conversation with a nice video chappie about the future of the net and use of video to engage customers. At the time video took up huge amounts of bandwidth and slowed down websites so much that I couldn’t ever see it working. But technology has moved so fast you can now have a small video on your website (or host it on somewhere like You Tube) to really bring your business to life. Rather than having a list of written testimonials you’ve got a real person telling you exactly what they think of an event as it happens (and the same principle could well apply to a product or service). It’s more real than staged advertising and in a world of changing media it has real power and potential.