Hi, I’m John Otis
Your Change-Driven Copywriter, living in Melbourne, Australia
Trust me, I’m a lot better at writing these for clients than I am writing about myself!
I absolutely HATE the humble brag…
But since you’re here, you obviously want to know a bit about me, so here we go :
I’m a former corporate type who has transitioned over to creative marketing services.
And I LOVE doing what I do now.
While I did have a successful career across Banking, Finance and Consulting, I felt my creative side wasn’t being nurtured.
Sure, you can be creative in your approach to problem solving and finding creative solutions (which is something I still love doing) but strategy in that sense was a little dull for me…
My undergraduate degree was in English Literature, and for a second I envisaged myself as a beret-wearing writer, pipe perched on my lips and furiously writing the next great literary masterpiece 😂
What actually happened is I kind of fell into the world of banking, finance and technology instead. And while being extremely grateful for that experience, it just wasn’t my calling.
Through my work as a Communications and Change Management consultant, I found my talent was in the people side of business, understanding their needs, fears, desires and motivations.
This fascinated me!
Fast-forward a few life changes and decisions later, I decided that I could reach people on a 1-on-1 basis, use my strategic, comms and change experience from my corporate experience, and deliver real results, all while being easy to work with (so I’m told!)
PROVEN COPYWRITING RESULTS
⚡ I’ve written EDMs for clients who achieved an open rate of 34% which is incredible feedback to hear – you know that email open rates are a measure of how engaged your audience is with your content and your brand, and what is considered a “good” industry average is currently around 21.3 %, right? ⚡
➪ I’ve written SEO and blog content where engagement and followers increased by a massive over 25% in 6 months for clients, helping drive sales and brand authority. 🔥
🙌 One client reported that a single email marketing promotional campaign I developed landed her a 7x increase in her first week of sales alone! 💰💰💰
THE PATH TO TODAY
(and WHY IT IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO KNOW)
As I already mentioned, I wasn’t always a copywriter.
In a past life working in Banking and Finance, I’ve managed investment portfolio of projects over $400m.
Sounds impressive, right?
Managing other people’s money within a massive organisation is easy – putting your money where your mouth is and managing yours, is hard.
So I get what it’s like to be a small business with realistic budgets and operating costs, thin margins and income fluctuations. I respect you and your business, and never take for granted if you decide to work with me at Verb & Noun.
Working as a Communications and Change Manager for a major international consulting firm allowed me to understand psychological triggers on human behaviour and motivations. After all, no one really likes change, we’ve pretty much got change-resistance hard wired in our DNA (it’s a caveman/survival thing…read more about it here in my blog article).
As a marketer and copywriter, I see most things through a “change lens”.
Everything I write aims to answer the “so what” factor, and address what change in action or behaviour my clients need from their customers/clients.
POINT OF DIFFERENCE – CONSIDER THIS
I am proof that writing and strategising with a “change mindset” is the number 1 skillset that other copywriters or marketing agencies you may have considered or previously worked with do not have, and it shows in the results you’ll get working with me.
With 20 years Project Management, Comms, Change Management and Consulting experience may not be the traditional path for a strategic copywriter…then again, perhaps traditional isn’t what modern businesses like yours need…
HEY 👋 BEFORE YOU GO…I WANT TO SHARE A BIT MORE ABOUT MY PERSONAL SIDE
I have a creative soul – in my “spare” time I write songs and play music live, I love it.
I have 2 wonderful teenage daughters who I love watching grow into the mini-adults they’re becoming.
I co-parent 2 Cavalier King Charles spaniels (the best dogs ever), and my 2 cats (Monkey and Handsome) will probably blur out our next online call at some stage, knock over my camera while we’re talking, or step on my keyboard creating a shortcut I can never figure out.
But they’re so worth it – they make me smile many times a day. They bring 90% joy and 10% frustration, so lucky for them the odds stack in their favour!
Personal Values:
✔ Fairness
✔ Integrity
✔ Education for all
✔ Gender equality
✔ Fair treatment of the disadvantaged
Oh, and a fresh bagel is always a tasty way to get my attention…now I’m hungry all of a sudden..
