Will Lake

Helping brands win hearts and minds
by helping them sound human.

I’m a freelance copywriter based in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, working directly for clients as well as with some of the UK’s best creative agencies. 

Since the year 2000 I’ve been bringing brands to life with words and ideas that people act on.  From attention grabbing adverts and sales blurb that sells through to websites and brochures they actually read and respond to – that’s what I do. 

Many of my clients are loyal long-termers using me year after year: the kind of organisations that value a smooth working relationship almost as much as the work itself. 

See who I’ve helped and read what they say.  

Services

Company/product names and straplines

Brand narrative/development 

Brochure and website copy

Advertising concepts

Brand guidelines 

Editorial and PR

Internal comms

Scripts

“Will always manages to understand exactly what our clients are about and precisely where they’re trying to go with their brand. Then he produces the kind of original concepts and great copy that fit with the brand vision, communicate the brand personality and leave our clients smiling.”

Jill Peel

Creative Director

10 Associates

Why you need a copywriter

Many of my clients are start-ups who've struggled with copy, or SMEs who used Rob in marketing to mess theirs up for them.  I help undo the damage. 

The thing is, great copy isn’t about using corporate clichés or industry jargon.  It’s not about sweating over hyphens or swallowing a dictionary either.  And it’s definitely not about sticking to rules that say sentences can never start with and.

Instead, any copywriter worth their salt will start by getting to know your business and audience inside out.  Next, they’ll articulate your messaging in ways other writers can’t. Ultimately, they’ll help you sound like a human, so the people you want to reach will engage with the things you want to say. 

Big businesses know all this already.  That’s how they got big. 

Commercial clients

Mars Foods, cottages.com, Marks & Spencer, ao.com, Halfords, Arla Foods, Hallmark Cards, G4S, Graham & Brown, Pure Gym, Yorkshire Building Society, Xscape, Ramsay Health Care, William Jackson Food Group, Vanquis Bank, Company Shop Group, Liverpool University, Rullion Group, Leeds Building Society, Skipton Financial Services, Speedy Hire, Associated British Foods, Boost Drinks, English Country Cottages, Royal Worcester, IDNS, Armitage Opticians, Hesper, Green Building Store

Charities and public sector

City & Guilds, Calderdale Council, Careers Bradford, Halifax BID, Bedspace, Northpoint Wellbeing, Leeds Women’s Counselling and Therapy Service, West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, National Heritage Training Group, National Speedway Stadium, Visible

Local clients 

Suma Foods, Piece Hall, Wood & Wire, Orange Bikes, Friendly Soap, Calderdale College, Hebdenbridge.org, Thornber Properties, Kate-over.com, Weighsted, Atiresh, Upper Calder Valley Renaissance

Brand, design and creative agencies 

Propaganda, 10 Associates, Brand Nursery, Fun Agency, Tall, Creative Concern, Engine Room Design, Northlight, Enjoy Digital, Fluid Creative Media, Fed Up Studio Lab, Dulay Seymour

Practicalities

Full rebrands

Sometimes a client wants everything: copy, web build, graphic design and photography. For certain jobs I can pull together and project manage a whole team of talented local creatives - people I've worked with before and trust 100%. The rebrand I delivered for bedspace.co.uk is a good example.  

Briefing

I take briefs in emails, over the phone or face-to-face, and I have clients I see regularly as well as ones I’ve never even met. I usually write from scratch, but I also edit or rewrite existing copy, which occasionally includes redoing work by other ‘copywriters’. 

Location

Usually I work from my own office in Hebden Bridge town centre, but I can work from yours if you’re happy to cover any significant travel time and costs.  I can also host meetings here at my workplace. 

Deadlines

Simple: I never miss them. I only accept projects I know I can deliver on time, but that doesn’t mean I won’t agree to those urgent who-the-heck-is-going-to-write-the-copy jobs. It depends on my workload.

Technical writing

I’ve written for clients in virtually every industry and I deliberately don’t specialise. That’s because I think the principles of great copywriting are the same for every sector.  Also, for me at least, specialisation flies in the face of creativity, and I’d quickly get bored writing about just one thing. Occasionally I get asked to work on something too technical for me to be confident of doing a good job. When this happens, I’ll do you a favour and turn the work down. 

Costs

Costs depend on the job and are influenced by a number of variables, but I’ll happily give you a quote in advance. Please email or call for more info.