Welcome to our blog
Copywriting for the web isn’t as simple as putting words on a page. In fact, it’s not really about writing at all…
Poetry has its place – but it’s not on your homepage. Writing web content is all about effective communication. Compelling your audience to believe in your products and services. Motivating them to take action.
It’s a skilled art. Engaging prospects on the web is much harder than traditional print media: people tend to only skim read words on the screen – and with so much competition for their attention, precise language is the only way to capture interest.
So, if you’ve been assigned the task of writing for the web, here are some simple tips that could help you optimise your writing and boost conversion rates…
Keep it to the point. That doesn’t necessarily mean keep it short. Your audience requires sufficient detail to make an informed decision, whether that’s 50 words or 500. It means keep concise; every sentence should have a purpose. There’s no room for endless waffle or jargon-filled passages requiring a dictionary to decipher them – which leads to our next point…
Don’t make your audience think. Clever word play and flowery description may leave us with a glow of pride in our own intellectual efforts… but your audience might not be quite so impressed if they have to work out what it is your actually selling. Keep it simple!
Focus on the benefits. So the Widget3000 is now 50% lighter with Bluetooth capability… so what? What’s the positive effect this brand-new or exclusive feature will have on your audience? If your product or service could save them time, save them money… make sure you tell them!
THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD BUY OUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES. Your headline: it needs to be a succinct and powerful motivator explaining what you do and why they should buy from you. So whilst we aren’t all gifted writers, if you want your audience to read the body of your text – you need to make sure it’s right. Finally…
Remember who you’re talking to. Imagine yourself in the shoes of your prospect. How do you want to be spoken to? What kind of personality do you expect the company to have? Although you need to make sure you take SEO into account, text should be written with the end reader in mind. Always check the balance of text is focused on ‘you’… not ‘we’.
With professional copy, every word of every sentence is specially selected, scrutinised and tested – so you can guarantee even the shortest, simplest and most unassuming piece has been carefully crafted to fulfill set objectives. Here at The Energy Cell, our professional copywriters know exactly what it takes to create strong, memorable and unambiguous content… so for a chat about how we could help you, just get in touch! In the meantime, keep an eye out for more blogs on all things design and marketing… and don’t worry, we’ll keep our attempts at poetry strictly offline!
With the recent redesign of a certain iconic blue bird setting many people atwitter, we thought we’d take a look into just how effective company mascots can be, what it takes to make them a success and how to know if they are right for your business.
If your business is targeted at a younger audience, naturally a mascot is likely to be well-received. There’s a reason children’s cereal boxes are adorned with tigers, monkeys and a multitude of other cheery creatures – when it comes to kids, cute characters equals higher sales.
However, the use of mascots isn’t confined to products aimed at the younger generation. Consider the success of Compare the Market’s ‘Aleksandr Orlov’ advertising campaign: the animated Russian meerkat received an overwhelming response by the public – not only does the character have over 800,000 likes on Facebook and 50,000 followers on Twitter, but a range of merchandise in its own right and a dramatic boost in sales for the car insurance company behind it– all by imprinting the name on the minds of people across the UK.
The fashion for mascots in advertising is fairly perpetual. A well-crafted mascot can give your business a tangible and recognizable personality, increasing exposure, memorability and loyalty and – in the case of characters like the Duracell Bunny and Michelin Man – if they capture the hearts of the public, can become an iconic part of your company heritage. However, bear in mind that a character created solely for print purposes will be unlikely to achieve this. To add dimension and personality to your character and traction to your campaign, it’ll need to be accompanied by a whole host of activity (including TV or video) – the whole carefully executed package makes it a success, not the character alone.
It’s impossible to predict how popular a character could become, but understanding your target demographic is key. If your company offers more serious products or services, light-hearted gimmicks and graphics rarely have a place. However, if you’re selling biscuits, cartridges, email marketing services or anything between and beyond, a mascot can add life and light-heartedness to your business. This can be especially useful if your products or services are more everyday, and if things happen to go wrong (like Twitter’s famous ‘Fail Whale’) your client base may be more forgiving of a heartfelt apology with a face than an impersonal e-mail or error message.
So, if it seems a mascot could be beneficial for your business, how do you go about designing one? Consider this example from a recent advertising campaign:
Image: http://beatbots.net/project/zingy/
Do you recognise it? Do you know where from? And most importantly… do you know which company it’s representing?
If the answer to all three of these questions is yes, then it’s doing its job perfectly. If not, consider what may be missing. Is the mascot tied closely enough to the business to make it effective as a sales device, rather than simply amusing the audience? We surveyed our team here in the office with the same questions. Everyone loved the energy flame character but only half knew the company name, and some even confused it with the name of their competitor!
When it comes to creating mascots or implementing any major new marketing activity for your business, its always advisable to get the professionals involved. Here at The Energy Cell, our experienced team understands exactly what it takes to create and implement a successful and comprehensive campaign – so if you have a project you’d like to discuss, just get in touch!
£25-28k (DOE)
The Energy Cell is seeking a talented PHP web developer, who is passionate about user experience to join us full-time in our Lincoln studio.
Founded in 1999, The Energy Cell is a multi-disciplinary studio, combining big agency process and reliability with all the flexibility and personal values of a small team. Providing experience and passion to all of our client projects ensures that we are committed to delivering results.
Our process involves working together with our clients and over the last 15 years, The Energy Cell has worked with clients such as – AVG, Berol, Elle, Flavia, Kafevend, Klix, Laithwaites, Mars Drinks, Nestle, Virgin and Visit Lincoln.
Ideally you will be stacked with experience in back-end development and have strong front-end skills, with a keen eye for design.
Working alongside our other designers and developers, you will work on projects from the ground up. This will involve developing websites with both the ExpressionEngine CMS and Magento e-commerce platform.
To qualify:
– Coding in PHP, MySQL, jQuery and HTML5/CSS3
– A passion for both development and user experience
– A thirst for applying knowledge of industry trends and developments
– Working with CMS platforms such as ExpressionEngine, Magento and WordPress
– A love for Test-Driven Development
– MVC and DRY coding patterns
Extra points for:
– Experience working with RESTful APIs, such as Google Maps
– Mobile First and Responsive Design
– Experience working with Version Control, such as Git
Skills required:
– PHP, MySQL, jQuery, HTML5, CSS3, ExpressionEngine, Magento, User Experience, Information Architecture
Interested? Email jobs@energycell.co.uk with your CV and links to current examples of your work / projects you have delivered as part of a team
Who are HH Global?
HH Global are global leaders in brand campaign management, with dedicated professionals in over 29 offices around the world serving clients and their agencies in more than 50 locations, across the US, Latin America, Europe, India & Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
What did they need?
A new website to maximise their online potential, building upon their new brand launch and reflecting their growing success, by providing a more content rich site to connect more effectively with target audiences.
What did we provide?
Working in partnership with HH Global’s lead brand and marketing agency brandthing, we delivered a fully content managed site designed to be vibrant, modern and promote the company’s new branding – with a variety of flexible templates to allow for a range of unique pages for different sections of the site.
The Content Management System we implemented gives administrators the flexibility to easily add, modify and delete the site’s content and can be locked down so individual administrators only have access to update specific sections. Every element of the site can be changed by HH Global’s web administrators – so the website can change, develop and grow with the company.
The functionality of the site is engineered to provide the greatest possible experience for users. Fully browser tested and mobile friendly, the site is accessible from any device and any location. Interactivity is key, so the homepage slideshow is not only visually exciting, it provides visitors with the option to click through to a variety of different pages.
HHGlobal.com is visually rich throughout, with videos utilised across the site and eye-catching images used in page banners, body content, news articles and in slideshow format – giving users plenty of reasons to keep browsing the copy.
HH Global required a high quality website to reflect the high quality work and services they provide for their clients – and we worked closely together to deliver a site that HH Global, The Energy Cell and brandthing can be proud of.
If you’d like to get in touch, we’re always ready to talk if you’d like to share an idea, discuss a challenge or review a brief.
Email us hello@energycell.co.uk
Phone us +44 (0)1652 682 900
A creative XHTML / HTML CSS Web Design and Front End Developer is required as an digital web design specialist.
Location: Lincolnshire
The Energy Cell is seeking new front-end web designers to undertake the creative tasks of designing, optimising and maintaining our new and existing client websites, creating imaginative online solutions based on strategic thinking and inspired creative ideas.
You’ll be making sites as accessible and appealing as possible, you may also specialise in a certain development area, such as e-commerce operations or website structure, user experience optimisation or mobile accessibility.
We are looking for strong team players with good communication skills, working in a highly skilled design and development team – communicating ideas is an important aspect of the job. First class HTML, CSS, and javascript is essential, and although this is not a development role, a good knowledge of PHP, JAVA and AJAX is also important.
At least 3 years commercial experience and a certificate or associate’s degree in graphic or web design is required.
You’ll be required to design new sites and individual campaigns, web pages and applications. You’ll need to be able to demonstrate and strong end-user focus and turn those user needs and into attractive and capable web applications. You’ll be designing and presenting the best recommendations of our team and following the decisions and guidance of our demanding client base.
Due to the continued growth the new members of the team will be committed to designing and developing attractive and functional websites for a number of large global brands as well as many of the most desirable regional clients. The successful designer will utilise their creative skills in Photoshop / XHTML / CSS / JavaScript with JQuery.
This is an ideal role for a talented designer to further their career, and to show what they can do with an established and hugely ambitious agency.
Required Skills:
Creative skills and experience in Adobe using Photoshop, Illustrator.
Strong knowledge using JavaScript, JQuery, XHTML, HTML, CSS.
Commercial experience in online brand development and evolution, e-Commerce and lead generation
A first class web design portfolio demonstrating your creative work is a must.
We are looking to fill a number of roles in the coming months.
Salary: Based on experience and skill set (from £23k plus performance based bonuses).
Apply by email to jobs@energycell.co.uk, include a link or PDF of your CV and portfolio.