If you’ve ever wondered what niching is, or how to niche your copywriting business, this is the episode for you. Whether you're considering specialising in a specific industry or want to understand the benefits and drawbacks of niching, this episode provides valuable insights and practical advice to help you make an informed decision.

In this episode I talk about:

• Copy vs Content  
• Understanding the critical differences between copywriting (selling and persuasion) and content writing (informing and entertaining)
• What is niching and the kinds of niches available
• Social Media: Posts, videos, ad copy
• Email: Newsletters, sequences, sales campaigns
• Content Marketing: Blogs, case studies, white papers
• SEO: Web pages, blogs, title tags
• Ecommerce: Product descriptions, category pages, sales emails
• Brand Storytelling: Brand narratives, tone of voice, case studies
• Sales Copywriting: Sales pages, landing pages, direct mail copy
• Video: YouTube scripts, webinars, course content
• AI Writing: Emails, product descriptions, technical documents
• Examples of copywriters who have niched
• Learn about those who have successfully niched in various industries, how they did it and why
• Why less glamorous but lucrative industries can be a good source of niche work
• The pros of niches:
• Easier business development
• Reduced time learning new topics
• Enhanced expertise and reputation
• Potential for higher fees
• The cons of niches:
• Limited variety
• Risk of boredom
• Dependence on one customer or industry
• Time required to establish recognition
• How to get started in your niche
• Using the 'hedgehog' concept to identify your niche
• Leveraging platforms like Eventbrite to discover niche opportunities

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This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre. WritersCentre.com.au

Join our community of copywriters at CopyClub.com.au.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adrian Elton is an award-winning creative who has worked for some of the world’s biggest brands including Disney, Sesame Street, Australia Post, Fairfax and many others.  Adrian’s career journey is as eclectic as it is inspiring. He started by studying interior design, transitioned to graphic design, evolved into an art director, became a musician, and finally found his calling as a copywriter. His work spans multiple sectors, and he’s known for his creative strategy and compelling copywriting. Tune in to discover how Adrian’s diverse background shapes his approach to copywriting and learn valuable tips for creating award winning copy.

In this episode, you will learn how to:

1. How to Identify and Develop Your Creative Talents:

• Discover the steps Adrian took to transition from interior design to graphic design, and eventually to copywriting.
• Learn how diverse creative skills can be integrated and leveraged across different mediums.

2. How to Break Into the Copywriting Industry:

• Gain insights into Adrian’s unconventional journey into copywriting and how he turned opportunities into long-term success.
• Understand the importance of taking on different roles and projects to build a robust portfolio.

3. How to Create Impactful Brand Messages:

• Explore Adrian’s approach to balancing design and copywriting to create powerful and cohesive brand narratives.
• Learn the significance of headlines and brand positioning in advertising.

4. How to Leverage Short-Form Content:

• Understand why Adrian prefers short, impactful copy and how to excel in creating concise and compelling messages.
• Get tips on writing effective headlines and brand positioning lines.

5. How to Apply Creative Philosophies:

• Discover the influence of Bauhaus architect Adolf Loos on Adrian’s work and the principle of "God is in the details."
• Learn how meticulousness in creative decisions can elevate the quality of your work.

6. How to Excel in Outdoor Advertising:

• Learn why billboards and outdoor advertising are considered the primary unit of advertising  
• Get tips on how to craft messages that capture attention.

7. How to Use Songwriting to Enhance Copywriting:

• Understand how songwriting helps develop a keen sense for language and rhythm in copywriting.
• Learn the parallels between crafting lyrics and writing compelling ad copy.

8. How to Maintain Creative Momentum:

• Learn the importance of continually practising and developing new ideas, even outside of client briefs.
• Discover how personal projects can keep your creative skills sharp and lead to unexpected opportunities.

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This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre. WritersCentre.com.au

Join our community of copywriters at CopyClub.com.au.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’m the author, ghostwriter and coauthor of 7 books about entrepreneurship. I’ve interviewed some of the biggest names in business. Ruslan Kogan from Kogan. Gabby Leibovich from Catch of the Day. Jane Lu from Show Po. Naomi Simson from Red Balloon. Simon Griffiths from Who Gives a Crap. And many more. 

I’m often asked, ‘What have you learnt by interviewing over 100 of Australia’s top entrepreneurs? Do they have anything in common? And if so, what? Did they all get lucky or did they do something others didn’t?

I’ve learnt a lot from these people about entrepreneurship so I thought I’d dedicate an episode to sharing with you what I have learned from them all.

We’ll cover how to:

• build a culture 
• use language to shape the mindset of a company
• make your own luck – there is a 3-step formulas
• use your weaknesses to create a super power strength
• compete with the big firms even when you’re on a tiny budget
• level the management hierarchy so you are seen as being ‘one of the team’
• start a meeting and break the ice
• write a cultural statement that sets your company up for success – with examples from Swisse Vitamins that saw them win “Best Employer” over multiple years
• give feedback 
• create a content machine that delivers outstanding results

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This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre. WritersCentre.com.au

Join our community of copywriters at CopyClub.com.au.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’d like to launch your own podcast to promote your copywriting business, this is the podcast for you.

Lyndal Harris is one of Australia’s top podcasting consultants. She’s launched hundreds of podcasts for a huge range of businesses and she’s here today to share her knowledge about how copywriters and any other small business owner - can start, launch and market their podcast.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How a podcast can build your business
• What a podcast is and how it differs from other audio and video mediums
• Why an audio podcast often trumps a video podcast
• The best duration and publishing schedule for a podcast
• How to invite high-profile guests onto your podcast (even if you don’t have any listeners)
• How to build an audience for your podcast using email and social media
• Why evergreen content of a few episodes can be as powerful as creating ongoing episodes
• The technical elements of launching a podcast – hosting, editing, formats, platforms, software etc.
• How to find the right statistics to measure the success of your podcast
• How to find paid sponsors who can fund the production of your podcast

About Lyndal:

Lyndal Harris is a Podcast Consultant and is passionate about simplifying your podcasting journey and getting your message out to the world.

She is the founder and creative force behind Podcast VA, who have launched hundreds of podcasts for both Australian and international clients, who collectively captivate millions of listeners worldwide. And quite a number of these shows have hit #1 in the charts! 

Lyndal and the team reduce the stress and make your podcasting journey simple by offering a variety of launch and management done-for-support services, online training, as well as coaching and audits.

She started supporting clients with podcasting in 2015 and niched her VA business back in 2016 and was the first Australian VA to provide podcast-only support.  

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This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre. WritersCentre.com.au

Join our community of copywriters at CopyClub.com.au.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you like to land a copywriting job in an advertising agency working with blue chip clients? How about working in New York in the heart of advertising land? What about using your copywriting skills to write a bestselling novel?

If you like to learn how to do any of these, then you need to listen to Philip Taffs. He has worked as a Senior Writer and Creative Director in both Melbourne and Manhattan. He’s worked with major players like Menulog and Playstation and helped launch the Honda CR-V & Odyssey into Australia. 

He has taught copywriting at AWARD School, Strategic Communications at LaTrobe University, Public Relations at Deakin University, and Advertising, Media and Social at Swinburne, and his bestselling novel, Bubby, was recently re-released in the U.S. to great acclaim. 

You’ll hear how he did it all and some important lessons on how you can get your foot in the door to launch your copywriting career even if you don’t have any experience.

Here’s what else you’ll learn:

• The connection between copywriting and novel writing
• How to market a novel and find an agent
• Advice for copywriters looking to write a novel
• How he’d market his novel differently if he had the time over again
• How he got his foot in the door of the advertising industry
• How to connect with Creative Directors of leading advertising agencies, even if you don’t know them
• How he launched the Honda CR-V into Australia; the highlights, the low-lights and everything in between
• The importance of being ‘nice’ in business and why it will win you work
• How he landed a job in New York
• How to network and find the right people to speak to
• What advertising life in NY was like and the differences in writing copy for the United States
• How novice copywriters can get noticed and find work even if they don’t have any experience
• What he thinks of AI and how it is being used in copy and branding
• Insights/techniques/formulas/processes he teaches that resonate most with the students

About Philip:

Philip Taffs has worked as a Senior Writer and Creative Director in both Melbourne and Manhattan.  He still has a client out of London and handled recent projects for Menulog and Playstation.

Major brand experience includes Honda (helped launch the Honda CR-V & Odyssey into Australia), Esanda Finance (headed up the account at Publicis Mojo), Australia Post (Joint Creative Director), and Cabrini Health (Creative Director). 

As well as running his own creative consultancy, he has taught copywriting at RMIT and AWARD, Strategic Communications at LaTrobe University, Public Relations at Deakin University, and Advertising, Media and Social at Swinburne.

Philip’s novel, The Evil Inside, was published by Quercus London in 2014.  (Same publishers as Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.)  In February 2024, it was re-released in the U.S. under the new title, Bubby.

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This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre. WritersCentre.com.au

Join our community of copywriters at CopyClub.com.au.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Greg Baker knows more than most about AI and where it's headed. As an AI futurist and lecturer in Computational Linguistics at Macquarie University, Greg educates students on the intricacies of Artificial Intelligence for Text and Vision, and blends his theoretical insights with practical applications. 

He helps the C-suite understand the future of labour, how to maximise AI productivity gains and how to gain a deep technical understanding of what is possible. He is a director at the Institute for Open Systems Technologies and has worked at Google and CSIRO and is a leading voice in how to understand the opportunities that AI offers us today and into the future.

If you’re looking to discover how AI is impacting copywriters and the writing industry, this is the episode you have been waiting for.   

You’ll learn how to:

• Take advantage of the opportunities (and understand the threats) in the evolving landscape of AI
• Explore new developments relevant to copywriters, including changes in platforms like Upwork
• Understand, access and create your own Custom GPT to help clients create better copy
• Monetise Custom GPTs for your own purposes
• Examine niche applications of Custom GPTs and understand the relevance of large language models for copywriters
• Compare the emerging competitors to ChatGPT and use the right ones for your needs
• Get the most from models like Anthropic’s Claude Opus  
• Use speech recognition programs to write your copy
• Get a job as a copywriter or screenwriter for computer games (and get paid more than ever before)
• Take advantage of the errors that ChatGPT makes when ‘hallucinating’ and turn that into a money-making opportunity (as a fact checker or sub editor)
• Understand the role Chat plays in Search Engine Optimisation (and why Google is in danger of becoming irrelevant).
• Create your own Chat Bot 
• Assess how the ‘helpful, harmful or honest’ used my language models skews the results we get

About Greg:

Greg is a lecturer in computational linguistics at Macquarie University, an author of 7 books and an award-winning music composer. His client list is a who’s-who of top businesses, governments and not-for-profits in Australia and around the world. His is also famous for his work preserving and restoring endangered and extinct languages.

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This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre. WritersCentre.com.au

Join our community of copywriters at CopyClub.com.au.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Would you like to add copy editing, project editing and proofing to your suite of services?

If so, then this is the episode for you.

Matt Davies is a leading copy editor. He specialises in the health care and government sectors and has created a thriving business that lets him work on his terms so that he has the time and space to pursue his true passion – writing novels. He’s already written three and he is just going from strength to strength.

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This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre. WritersCentre.com.au

Join our community of copywriters at CopyClub.com.au.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever considered adding ghostwriting of business memoirs to your suite of services?

In today's episode, we explore the riveting tale behind the meteoric rise of Swisse Wellness, as recounted in the new book, "How to Build a Billion-Dollar Business" by Radek Sali, the visionary entrepreneur and former Swisse CEO. I happened to be his co-author on this project so I thought it’d be interesting to have a chat with Radek about the ghost-writing process and to share some hints and tips on how you too can add ghostwriting to your suite of services.

The book details how Radek and his team turned a company that had $15 million in revenue and 30 employees, into a colossal $2.1 billion empire with over 1000 employees. He openly shares the highs and lows of his incredible journey, from teetering on personal bankruptcy, to engaging the world’s top celebrities as ambassadors. The book also covers how he steered Swisse from the brink of collapse and spearheaded the sale of Swisse to the Hong Kong based Biostime, which became one of Australia’s largest ever private business transactions.

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This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre. WritersCentre.com.au

Join our community of copywriters at CopyClub.com.au.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a leading journalist with The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, there’s not a lot that Jewel Topsfield hasn’t written about. Social affairs, politics, immigration, education, and global affairs are just a few of her specialty areas.

Beyond journalism, Jewel is a sought-after speaker, lecturer at universities and schools, and has led a team that won a Walkley Award and served as a Walkley Awards judge.  

I’m talking to Jewel today about her life as a journalist and how her writing life has changed over the years in response to the changing media landscape, in response to the ways that we consume media, and in response to the way in which the success or otherwise of a story is measured and much more.

If you’d like a masterclass in how to research a topic quickly, and come up with world class content quickly that you know is going to be read by thousands of people, that has the potential to spark Senate enquiries – as her story on people smuggling did - you could take a leaf out of Jewel’s writing life.  

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This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre. WritersCentre.com.au

Join our community of copywriters at CopyClub.com.au.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you have a passion for a topic and would like to turn that passion into profit, you may want to build an online course so you can teach it.

Amber Renae is many things. She started out as an engineer and then pivoted, seamlessly into becoming a celebrity stylist. It’s a logical next step, isn’t it?  

She quickly realised she has a talent for not just making people look good, but helping their content look good too and so she created a course that helped others monetise their expertise. She is now a leading specialist in helping entrepreneurs and influencers create online courses so they can live their dream life. 

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This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers' Centre. WritersCentre.com.au

Join our community of copywriters at CopyClub.com.au.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.