One recent piece of copywriting I did was described as ‘driving a new era of growth’ in Scotland’s food and drink sector; another as a ‘transformational roadmap’ for its sector.
Flattering words about two strategy documents I’ve written, mapping a route for two major Scottish sectors to grow sustainably. The first was Scottish aquaculture’s Aquaculture Growth to 2030 strategy, the second Scotland Food & Drink’s Ambition 2030 vision.
Both have involved sitting in with industry and public-sector leaders and turning their thinking into inspiring and ambitious plans. Both have been endorsed by the Scottish Government. And both could make a real difference to communities and career prospects across Scotland.
The copywriting angle
While both strategy documents involve food, 2030 and beautiful images (including my hair-netted daughter in a mussel processing factory), they take different copywriting approaches.
The Scotland Food and Drink strategy is a call to arms, the writing designed to rally the food & drink troops to achieve even greater growth than they have done already. It’s punchy (for a strategy document) and people-focused.
In contrast, the aquaculture 2030 strategy is weightier, packed with detailed recommendations for achieving growth.
The difference between the two documents’ format, writing style and content was deliberate: I wrote them to suit different audiences and goals. This ability to hit different registers is central to what I do, and how I work with clients.
Satisfied customers
Stewart Graham, Managing Director of the Gael Force Group, and Co-chair of the aquaculture Industry Leadership Group, kindly commented on my input to the aquaculture strategy:
“We recruited Sarah to perform the function of report writer for our Vision 2030 working group. At the outset, this seemed to us like an almost impossible task for anyone as the skill-set required was way beyond that of a professional report writer – which Sarah clearly is.
“The position required Sarah to regularly find wording and positioning which represented the sometimes-diverse opinions in the group; understand where the general consensus and thrust of opinion lay; and turn that into a form of words which always captured the essence of what was key to communicate and what was peripheral messaging.
“Her understanding of how to present with clarity and punch was a huge addition and value-add to our working group, and in addition the ability to manage multiple feed-ins was a task very few could manage. Sarah worked regularly under pressure at short notice and did so flexibly according to the demanding timetable which we had.
“The result was the Strategic Document “Aquaculture Growth to 2030″ which from conception to publication took under 10 months – this simply could not have been achieved without Sarah’s exceptional input and professionalism.”
Do you need your own strategy written?
Sadly, given the 2030 horizons, neither group will need a new strategy for a while – a shame since they were lovely clients and interesting commissions.
But I’d be delighted to help other sectors and businesses set out their growth maps for the next decade and beyond. If you’d like to discuss plans, ideas and how I work, please get in touch.
