Blog: Wordsmithery
News and views from me, Charlie Hobson, about all things Wordsmithy-related.
From copywriting and comms trends to grammar pedantry, things I’ve learned from our latest client projects to inspiring people and resources, I’ll share it here in my fairly frequent, shortish blog posts. I hope they help you get to know me better.
2025 update: Will AI put me out of my copywriting job?
A year on, I review the way AI has changed what I do Updated from 2024 article... things are moving fast! So many conversations in the marketing and comms teams where I work are about AI and how it's changing what we do. How best should we defend ourselves against it?...
My RLD stack: books I’ve Read, Learned from, Digested
The professional benefits of reading for pleasure Copywriters often deploy a toolkit of resources and reference materials. It might include a subscription to a professional journal, a readability scoring app, an online thesaurus or a style guide. My copywriter toolkit...
A word about Waitrose
Shout out to my observant associate Fiona, who sent me a link last month to an interesting role advertised on LinkedIn. The job summary read, "Ready to define the voice of a brand loved by millions? Waitrose is hiring a Copywriting and Tone of Voice Lead to shape how...
Horses, hammers and anvils: how The Wordsmithy got its name
Launching a business is a major life event. Naming it is a big decision - I'd say it's almost as big as choosing a name for a child. If all goes well, you will be living with your business name and building a brand behind it for years to come. One of my concerns when...
Can you spot AI generated text? Six key tells to look out for
Exciting times: AI is producing more coherent and human-style copy, saving everyone time and effort! In just three years, tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and specialised marketing platforms have put power in everyone's hands to create media from simple texts to...
Meet my brilliant client #3… Cambridge Judge Business School
Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education delivers world-class programmes to some of the world’s leading brands and organisations, through a team of academics, research specialists and subject matter experts. I've worked with the team to develop brochures,...
Why ten-year olds can’t write well for business… but George Orwell can
When my children were finishing primary school (year 6 in the UK) they took a series of national tests called SATs to measure their progress. Teachers encouraged them to use ambitious 'wow' words to score highly on the writing task. My daughter embraced the challenge...
Meet my brilliant client #2… pdhsports.com
Derbyshire-based pdhsports.com is a fast-growing racket sports retailer founded by a former England squash professional over 20 years ago. It sells an unrivalled range of top-notch sports equipment through its high-spec website and engages its many loyal customers...
Tips from the Wordsmith: writing a CV
Though it's not my specialist area, people often ask me for advice about writing a compelling CV. With so much competition in today’s job market, your CV is a crucial starting point to help you stand out against hundreds of applicants. For youngsters looking for...