How we work

 inksmiths is billed as an “intelligent business copywriting service.

  • That means we talk to MDs, at their level, in their language
  • We don’t simply dress up messages: we help them transcribe their ideas and thoughts
  • We challenge the content of the message and the assumptions behind that message, and once these make the grade, we create an impressive treatment of the company’s unique offer. 

 inksmiths dares to challenge for two reasons:

First, it’s tough love – the client will go into the most brutal of customer conversations knowing what the buyer is going to ask: and knowing how they’ll reply. The client will be completely clear about what makes the product distinctive; about who the target customer is; why it’s bigger, better, faster, more…in a few well chosen sentences. When the meeting is with the bank manager, the questions and answers will be different, but just as firm and distinctive.

Second, we dare to make the client uncomfortable because we’re not looking for a cosy long-term relationship. We only want to have a short or irregular relationship.  We get involved only when the client needs to get a bit of clarity to their thinking: or redefinition for their communications as their marketplace shifts.

Once the client has thought through their ideas and has chosen the best way forward, we create the story and key messages.

All our draft text comes with a full explanation of why we chose to include or exclude items, giving an insight into the marketing know-how behind the writer’s decisions. Non-marketers love to see the rationale and always find it helps clarify their thinking.

So, for MDs feeling universally challenged, we recommend just one more round of challenging questions….