Lois McKenzie

Up Club

In May, I’ll finally be opening the doors to a course which will be a live teaching & coaching of a curriculum I’ve been developing for, literally, 5 years (not one to rush things 🤣).

My deepest desire is that this will be the least wanky and most practical course you could ever possibly take for your writing. Yes, it will be a copywriting course. But more than that, I want to help you really rebuild your relationship to writing and the written word.

The curriculum has been developing for 5 years, yes. But it’s also based on an almost 17 year (!!) career flinging ink for everyone from Fortune 500s to best selling authors. From writing taglines for $500 hairbrushes to defining the most important thought leadership of industry-shifting personal brands. We going deep (we just will not be diving). 

We’re going to activate fresh thinking, cultivate your breakthrough ideas and learn how to express them, all through your writing.

Sweet Talk is an 8 week copywriting, messaging & writing course that will teach you how to write copy so good that brands, clients and customers will be tripping over themselves to sell their ideas TO YOU.

Because when you know how to write really, really good copy it feels less like selling people and more like offering an invitation into a world they already want to be a part of.

This course is perfect for you if

❤️‍🔥 You're a creative, entrepreneur, founder, service pro, coach, marketer who wants to master copywriting for your own business...

❤️‍🔥 You love writing but struggle with wrangling that creative energy for long enough to write copy that you really cannot wait to share.

I’m not claiming to be some gate-keeping, untold-secret-holding, answer-to-all-of-your-prayers, genius word guru (although that does have a ring to it). But I will teach you the tools I've learned to generate $10m in sales & $4m in capital as a top conversion copywriter over a decade.

Send me a DM if this tickles your fancy. Spaces are extremely limited.

Copy & Messaging Consultant & Copywriter

Elaina Ray International

Content Coach

Marketing Director

Do It Marketing

Sales Director

Copywriter

Various

I didn't always want to be a copywriter. I just wanted to write.

I would be nose-deep in books, fantasising about one day toiling away at a desk in dungarees with a pencil in my hair (I was an Enid Blyton fan, OK) and writing things that people would be utterly enamoured by. 

Life happened. 

And over the years, I heard things like, 'starving artist', 'nobody makes any money writing books anymore' and 'you can write, but you also need to make money'. 

So, I did what any self-respecting creative would do. I went into advertising 😬

I started writing headlines for a daily print news cycle, moved on to writing website copy for restaurants at a local 'digital marketing' agency, when nobody even really knew what that word meant. 

Then I started writing taglines and headlines and product names for startups for an agency in New York. From $500 hairbrushes to Beef Jerky, my job was making things sound good. 

I honestly thought I'd hit peak career and imagined myself moving to New York and swanning about in cafes, this time the vision was a little more refined. Perhaps a pencil behind the ear. 

But, life happened again. 

When I got pregnant with my daughter I knew I didn't want to live as a slave to fast-paced advertising agency life... so I set out on my own (lol why did nobody tell me that would be even worse).

Since then, I've ghostwritten two best-selling books, I've written sales pages that have sold 7 figures. I once wrote an email that got a 66.2% Click Through Rate and generated 6 figures in revenue overnight (true story).

In all of this time I've done everything possible to only work with brands who's values I can get behind. While, I am aware copywriting is hardly the Lord's work, I try to make an honest living. 

Now, I spend most of my time educating business owners on how to do these kinds of things with their own words. Through coaching & workshops, and now a new course I'm launching in May 2024.

If you read all of this, come say hi.

Freelance Writer

Bolt Digital Agency

From working with every possible different brand as a freelance writer to becoming the Head Copywriter at Bolt Digital Agency, my career evolved significantly over the years. 

With Bolt I had the pleasure of being back in real, fast-moving, digital agency life. It was exciting. Every brand something new and different. 

My role was to write high-converting stories for our high profile clients -- lots of VC backed start ups that secured multi-millions in funding after we were done: dating apps, luxury hotels, global fintech startups, and even granola bars. 

Each assignment was a masterclass in articulating unique brand messages, appealing to diverse audiences, and launching or scaling businesses effectively. 

As Head Copywriter at Bolt, I also hired and mentored other writers, and if you've ever taught a subject, you'll know that's the real key to deepening your expertise. Figuring out how to help someone else articulate something, and then letting go of the reins was a whole new education in copywriting. 

It was also amazing to be hiring writers from earlier on in my career -- I have such a good idea of the market on both sides of the coin that has helped me serve clients immensely.

Head Copywriter

Blackpool Gazette, Johnston Press

As a fresh-faced 17 year old who had life-long dreams of becoming a writer, a decidedly green idea of what that might actually take but filled with ambition, I found my start at the Blackpool Gazette as a junior advertising copywriter. 

I caught two buses to get to their head office and asked to speak to the editor -- if I could go back and speak to myself now! The receptionist was a little amused and didn't expect her to let me in. But, for some reason, she did. She appreciated my tenacity and instead of giving me some spicy hot story to get out and report on (which is how I'd imagined it would go in my head) she suggested I join the advertising team writing headlines. 

It wasn't quite my Vogue fantasy, but it was a start. So I took it and jumped in. 

Turns out coming up with headlines under 10 words for high-pressure advertising sales reps is a good education – a proper crash course in advertising and copywriting and I was fortunately quite good at it. 

Learning the art of writing sticky 10-word headlines for high-stake clients, I discovered the heart-thumping pressure and invaluable advertising lessons of a daily print news cycle. These experiences sparked my lifelong love for concise, persuasive copy that remains both my arch nemesis and my best friend.

Junior advertising copywriter

Million-dollar verbal carpentry | Copywriting & messaging strategy that has earned our clients $8M+ in sales and $4M+ in capital.

Growing up my Mum had books everywhere.

All over the house.

Instead of a bedside table she had a leaning tower of books.

Cups of half-drunk tea perched perilously on the edge of whichever one had landed on top.

One slight wrong move or sharp turn with the bedcovers, and cold, long-forgotten tea would spill everywhere.

Which, of course, happened often.

Because she was always lost in one of three or four or five books she was reading at any given moment (she likes to start a few at once, so "you never finish one too soon").

We had two huge bookshelves that still weren’t even enough to house all of the books

-- and of all of the furniture we bought and sold and lost and broke over the years, those two, gargantuan wooden beasts survived until the day she moved to live on a boat (that’s a whole other story but thankfully the Kindle was invented).

There were piles of books on top of the shelves, beside the shelves, next to the couch.

Even in the kitchen.

My childhood friends still to this day remember our book-furniture house.

This all-consuming love-of-stories is something I got from her. I never realised it at the time. But, this is one of the greatest gifts my Mum ever gave me.

We didn’t have loads of money growing up. But we had stories.

We had whole other worlds to escape to.

The perfect medicine for any kind of affliction of the soul.

And this is what stories do.

This is what good narrative has the power to do. They are medicine. A literary apothecary.

You can transform someone's life, heartache, dreams.
You can help people change their mind about love, about pain, about money, about potential.

All with a well told story.

How does the world ever change?
How do you get people to pay attention?
How do you connect with the right people?

It starts with stories. It always starts with stories.

Storytelling has become such a huge part of my life and my work and my way of thinking. I've helped people & brands make millions of dollars telling stories.

No matter what your business is, if you can get better at one thing -- let it be telling stories. Let the most important conversations you were put here to lead be the thing that everyone loves about you.

If you need help, I can do that in 3 ways:

🔥 1:1 copy coaching
🔥 Hire me to write your web copy
🔥 Copy Club: like a private members lounge for creative founders & storytellers
🔥 Sweet Talk: a copywriting course that will teach you to write in a way that feels like art and sells like hot cakes

If you love stories as much as I do, drop me a DM and share one with me :)

Founder

We’re known for creating content that looks, feels and sounds like you. Content that builds authority, brings more eyes to your work and shines a light on your mission. Content that positions you as the expert that you are and gives you the platform you need to drive change.

In short: content that positions you as the obvious choice.
 
We're the secret ingredient to leveraging your expertise so that you can increase your impact, visibility and authority without needing to increase the time you spend online.
 
...and without your message losing its authenticity and integrity.

What we do: ghostwritten authority and thought leadership content, web copy, copywriting & strategy and LinkedIn VIP days.

Luke Matthews

Co-Founder | Lifestyle Blogger |  Content Marketer | Storyteller 

I teach you how to write with AI (and win LinkedIn)

Building in public on LinkedIn™ is risky for you. 

You aren't a 20-something Instagram model or a 33-year-old drop shipping bro bragging about 6 figures from Bali. 

You have a real business and a real reputation to uphold. 

You want to take advantage of more opportunities through visibility on social media, but you know there are privacy risks that come with that.... 

Most AI models take your data and sell it. 
Most social media platforms take your data and sell it.
Most marketers don't understand this, which can expose your company.

That's where I come in. 

I've been marketing for over 10 years on social media, built over 250k followers across all platforms, and I've ghostwritten for some of the biggest personal brands in the world. 

But beyond that, I value privacy and staying hidden. 

It takes skill to build a personal brand that not only generates revenue for your company but also remains secure and private. 

I help you build on social media and maintain your privacy using secure AI systems and world-class ghostwriting. 

Sound interesting?

Don't message here on LinkedIn.

Email me instead and use subject "𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆"

luke@wizardofoddmarketing.com

--

Want to learn how to use AI safely?

Follow me and subscribe to my email list to learn how to use AI tools safely and securely without exposing your data and private life to the world. You can subscribe by clicking any link in my profile as they all go to my newsletter on Substack.

Founder - Lead Wizard & Ghostwriter

Linkedin & Twitter Ghostwriting Services for CEOs, Influencers, and Tech companies. 
Reach your audience with a sprinkle of magic, the power of explosive copywriting, and let the WIZARD OF odd MARKETING help make your biz a LOT  less boring.

I have been banned over 10x on LinkedIn. 

The brutal truth is the system ain’t fair…

In business and in life those willing to cater to the system (and exploit you) end up profiting from it. 

Social media has made this reality worse. 

It’s not about how skilled you are.
It’s about how skilled you can talk. 

(& it’s about who u know aka how good you are at kissing up to leaders and using errr befriending them on your climb to a seat at the table)

I decided this rat race wasn’t for me. 

So I’m playing a different game now. 

Rebuilding in the shadows. 
Learning new skills. 
Making new friends…

Friends that are hackers, rebels and the anonymous geniuses defending digital freedom…

Because look, complaining about broken systems accomplished nothing…

Action wins. 

PS Hi LinkedIn. Who’s still here?

2 posts in a week whoa 🤓

Luke M

It's easy to get 1000 likes a post (like I used too)

Here's how to be a LinkedIn influencer: 

1. Talk about LinkedIn. 
2. Be good looking and post pictures.
3. Write short, broad content. 
4. Spend all day commenting. 
5. Do this for 90 days. 

OR 

69. Pay a team to do it all for you. 

But here's the truth about this blueprint. 

You missed the window when this was possible for anyone. It's too late now on LinkedIn to do this organically. The market has changed, agencies don't work as well, organic is dying and this actually isn't the best strategy unless you want to pretend the old system still works. 

The better way? 

Cut the dopamine. Pick a niche. Speak to that niche. 
Accept less reach. Accept slower growth. 

But reach a very targetd audience. 

In summary...

You need a real skill and a real niche to focus on.

The generic LinkedIn growth expert is playing an old game to take your hard earned money by fooling you with cheap dopamine. 

You will never become them. 

You don't need a personal brand.

You just need to be an expert with a real skill and a specific niche.

PS Who bought cool AI tools for Black Friday?

I risk making moves too early. 

In early 2023 I went all in on AI writing... 

I fired my human writers and learned ChatGPT. 

Dove deep into the world of AI. 

For 6 months I shared content written by AI without telling anyone. Then I started sharing guides, tutorials and even launched an AI course to help people learn to use these tools. 

But as I started learning more I started seeing concerns. 

1. LLM writing stalled and hasn't improved in 12 months.
2. I started to question how they were training models..
3. I realized the cost for using these tools was...

Handing over your data and personal privacy.

The more I learned the more I started losing trust in the big models.

So this summer I made moves. 

I shut down my ai writing course. I started closing down accounts and cutting ai subscription tools...

The rabbithole is deep. 

But I'm now a huge believer in open sourced tools and AI tools that are privacy focused... 

So yeah I still use AI but you most likely wouldn't recognize any of the tools that I use now. 

Exiting 99% of big tech has a cost....

Personally I decided the cost was worth it. 

If you are curious to learn more about private AI and are interested in following along I shared an update on Substack. 

I'm not sharing daily or even weekly anymore as I'm focused on clients and exisiting mostly in the shadows now...

But you can click the link to go check it out. 

https://lnkd.in/gwn2VEyS

PS Hello.

Open article: Why smart people are deleting ChatGPT by substack.com

I only log in to LinkedIn on Windows. 

I use Linux for my personal data and files...

Running more than one operating system on your computer is called multi-booting. 

This summer as I began to purge myself of big tech I realized that I couldn't full exit the system yet... 

Even though I concluded that:

Using Google search is a privacy risk.

Using ChatGPT is a privacy risk.

Using Cloud AI is a risk...

Publishing content connected to your full name, actual face, phone number and home IP address is also a privacy risk…

I also realized I couldn't cut the last 1% of these data stealing big tech tools and programs...

This is where taking back your privacy requires effort.

So I decided to learn how to sandbox my work/private life online environments.

Sandboxing is when you run apps/programs in a secure, isolated framework to restrict those tools access to the rest of your systems files and resources.

Basically I wanted to figure out how to isolate tools like LinkedIn so they don't have access to my other files and life.

This takes some skill, but deleting 100% of everything just wasn't possible for me yet. 

It's a constant game of learning but I think it's worth learning how to shield your personal data and sandbox your work life, personal life and daily life environments from each other.

Otherwise you are at the mercy of data leaks, hackers, corrupt big tech and government policies…

Personally I think it’s worth the effort to learn and seperate tools, systems and resources.

What about u?

PS Yes I know Windows is getting worse... But Mac? EW

Transparency is important to OpenAI.

So this security incident shouldn't trouble u.....

It was just some irrelevant data don't worry.
Some analytics data related to ur account. 
It's VERY safe for you to share info with ChatGPT....

Rest assured this was not a breach of OpenAI’s systems. No chat, API requests, API usage data, passwords, credentials, API keys, payment details, or government IDs were compromised or exposed.....

(lol if u believe that)

Truth is peasants....

It's never been more important to sandbox your personal data and your businesses data and your social media tools access to your data...

Your personal data has never been more at risk thanks to AI.

When's the last time you audited your passwords, tools and emails?

taplio

The Battle

Lois McKenzie

Luke Matthews

Followers

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Performance ScoreLuke Matthews's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Lois McKenzie

Luke Matthews

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Luke Matthews's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreLuke Matthews's LinkedIn Performance