A swipe file is where copywriters, designers, and marketers go to find ideas that drive profitable outcomes.

When you depend on creativity to perform specific actions ― like attracting visitors, nurturing relationships and increasing sales ― how do you choose the right creative direction? And how do you know if they will work?

The fact is, we only see the performance of creativity AFTER we publish a campaign, share a blog post, or update a website.

• If your ideas DO work ― stakeholders praise you, employers promote you, and clients are happy to continue working with you because your ideas created an uptick in profit, congrats!
• If your ideas DO NOT work ― everyone (including yourself) asks, "What the f*ck went wrong?"

It's painful to watch our best ideas fail but that's why copywriters, designers, and marketers have a swipe file ― a collection of real world ideas that work.

A swipe file is commonly used by:

• Copywriters to overcome and conquer writer's block
• Designers to learn and implement the latest trends
• Marketers to study and improve marketing tactics

Ultimately, a swipe file helps you to make creativity more effective by allowing you to learn, integrate, and innovate from examples of great copywriting, design, and marketing that works for people.

by Jef van de Graaf