Blog - Coastal Content - Page 3 of 10

the writer i was trying to sound like

The writer I was trying to sound like (and when I stopped)

There was a period in my early thirties when every sentence I wrote had a slight lean to it. Not my lean. Someone else’s. I’d been reading Nick Hornby obsessively, the way you read someone when you’re young and think…

writing for an internet that's already annoyed before you've finished the sentence

Writing for an internet that’s already annoyed before you’ve finished the sentence

Let me set the scene. You’ve written something. It’s good. Balanced, considered, reasonably well-punctuated. You’ve made a point without being aggressive about it. You’ve acknowledged nuance exists. You’ve even, at one stage, written a sentence that starts with “to be…

what a content strategy actually looks like

What a content strategy actually looks like

I spent part of this week with a startup that had been told, in no uncertain terms, that they needed a content strategy. The person who told them this was a marketer. A confident one. The kind who uses phrases…

that moment a client says make it pop and what happens next

That moment a client says “make it pop” and what happens next

I want to tell you about a phrase. It’s not a long phrase. It’s not demanding. It arrives softly, wedged between “we love the direction” and “could you just,” like a tiny grenade wearing a cardigan. “Make it pop.” I’ve…

a corporate carol

A corporate Carol: Three ghosts, one warning and a company that should have known better

I’m going to tell you a story. The names have been changed to protect the guilty, the oblivious and the middle managers who genuinely believe that a town hall with a slide deck counts as communication. It starts, as most…

so you want to go into marketing

So you want to get into marketing?

I was asked the other day, “What advice would you give someone thinking of entering marketing straight from university?” I paused. Not because I think marketing is doomed. It isn’t. It’s very alive. Loud. Busy. Slightly deranged at times. I…

i was asked if i could create a fully automated ai blog posting system

I was asked if I could create a fully automated AI blog posting system

Yes. I could. Next question. Oh, you want more than that. Fine. A few weeks ago, someone asked me, with the bright-eyed energy of a person who has just discovered that technology exists, whether I could set up a system…

adapt or die

Adapt or die: The uncomfortable future of the general marketer

I tried to write this gently, I really did. I started with something soothing like, “Marketing is evolving.” Then I deleted it because that sounds like a corporate meditation app. Let’s say it plainly. Marketing is alive and kicking. It’s…

why marketing still needs people who have been around the block

Experience is not outdated: Why marketing still needs people who have been around the block

I hesitated before writing this. Not because I don’t believe it. I absolutely do. But because the internet has a way of turning “experience matters” into “old man yells at algorithm.” That’s not what this is. This is a love…

ai content hallucinations vs human bias

AI content hallucinations vs human bias: An editor’s double challenge

Let me tell you a secret. Editing used to be much simpler. Not easier. Simpler. A human wrote something. A human had blind spots. You corrected the blind spots. Everyone went home with their ego slightly bruised but intact. Now…

the invisible signals that make writing feel trustworthy

The invisible signals that make writing feel trustworthy

Let’s talk about trust. Not the dramatic kind. Not the “I would hand you my life savings” kind. I mean the quieter version. The one where you’re halfway through an article and you realise you’ve stopped evaluating it. You’re not…

the hidden costs of ai content quality debt

The hidden costs of AI content: Quality debt and how to avoid it

Let’s talk about AI content quality debt. Not the shiny demo version. Not the LinkedIn carousel where someone claims they replaced their entire content team with a prompt that starts “Act as a world-class copywriter.” I mean the quiet bill…