Don't forget the quiz on Wednesday - 1/23

The quiz will cover the first two chapters of The Elements of Copywriting. It will be essay and fill in the blank. For the first quiz, I thought it would be helpful to you to have a study guide. See below.

Chapter One: The Fundamentals of Persuasive Writing

Copywriting is at its core persuasive writing. When you construct an ad or a pitch, you are trying to sell a person, a product – an idea etc. In short you are trying to hook your audience and motivate them to DO something – buy, vote, go to church, donate to a charity etc.

A successful ad contains the following 8 elements:

1. Gets attention

Sex appeal

Appealing Pictures – proven ones that work are puppies, babies – think hallmark

Ads that are specific stand out because so many ads are NOT specific

Free, low price

Bold lettering – 60% off TODAY like on retail signs

Ask a question – “why is Mrs. Stewart smiling?”

Inject news into your ad – or say a product is new and improved

2. Focuses on the customer

Always remember your product or service is secondary to your audience. In order for your pitch – whatever it is to be successful, you must get inside the head of your audience – understand their preferences, quirks and needs. One of the reasons there was so much ballyhoo about the iPhone was that in the cell phone market, the general consensus was that people did not like their cell phone. Apple found out why – exactly what was it about cell phones people didn’t like and moved forward to design a phone people would like.

Another good way to focus on your customer is to address them directly – like in a mail campaign Dear Home Owner or Dear Mrs. Smith –

TO understand the prospective customer – go to where THEY live. Like if you have been hired to write a brochure on fire extinguishers go to some trade shows, read some magazines about fire safety – build a focus group or study focus groups findings – subscribe to pertinent newsletters.

3. Stresses benefits

It is never enough to only stress features; benefits must be spelled out as well – what is the difference between a feature and a benefit – a benefit is saving money, looking better feeling fitter, being happy – a feature is a design element that may help to bring about a benefit for the customer.

4. Differentiates your product from the competition

Some famous examples:

“the breakfast of champions” – what does this advertise?

“melts in your mouth not in your hand” M&Ms --  Go to this link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%26M%27s) and be prepared to explain how this branding slogan came about.

-- the maytag repair man campaign –

“dr. pepper”  - I drink dr. pepper cause I’m proud – I’m part of the original crowd

lexus automobiles

5. Proves its case

Back up your claims with evidence the customer can understand

State your track record if it’s good – case histories or testimonials – I’ve always thought testimonials were a little cheesy --  they work better in my opinion if the “testifier” allows potential customers to contact them for verification – in a way this is a core concept of eBay –

6. Establishes credibility

As far as convincing a customer that you have the product or service they want, your company’s story is of little importance to them – they simply want to know if you can deliver on your promise – sometimes when a brand is firmly established – the brand of the product does become a factor – apple, ford, levis, Gibson guitars, kraft – are all examples of companies that have firmly established brand loyalty.

Some commonly used credentials include: year founded, number of locations, number of units sold, awards, seals of approval, media coverage, number of customers.

7. Builds value

Convince the customer that what you are selling is worth more than what they are paying for it. If the initial cost of your product is higher – for instance for a pair of shoes, explain that the shoe comes with sole replacement for life – this builds value AND establishes credibility AND differentiates from competition.

8. Closes with a call to action

All successful copy in ads has an element that spurs the customer to DO something – and once again clarity plays an important role because you have to be specific about what you’re asking the prospective customer to do. A few examples:

Early bird special

Moonlight madness

Rebates

Sign up for newsletters

Other good examples of campaigns that frequently employ “calls to action” are political groups such as MoveOn – go to the site look around and be prepared to explain at least one “call to action” strategy used by MoveOn.

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Chapter Two: Headlines

Just like when you first meet a person, your initial impression of an ad, a commercial, a brochure etc. packs a punch. In many ways, this first impression will determine if the ad is a success or a failure. With an ad, the first impression is usually made with the headline and the visual. We will focus on the headline.

A Good Headline will:

1. Get inside the head of a customer and appeal to the interests of its target audience – Basically, potential customers want to know WHAT a product or service will do for THEM and how much they will have to pay for it or even better HOW much money will it SAVE them. Benefits should be stressed FIRST and features explained later. Headlines should REWARD the reader in some way and guide them into reading the body copy. Though it may be tempting to exaggerate benefits, beware of over promising in headlines. This will make your audience suspicious.

2. Get attention – remember to think about what your customer wants – and state what the product does using positive language like – “the perfect mate” – “we have the solution” – Another way to get attention is to use words like new and improve – design the headline like an announcement – something that generates excitement – a discovery. Other attention getting words are: free; bargain; easy; guarantee; proven –

3. Steer clear of gimmicks – look 10 years younger in 10 minutes, make a million with our cold calling techniques – etc. The Dermitage ad is a prime example of a gimmicky headline.

4. Appeal to its target audience. For example don’t try to sell underwire bras to men – don’t send Viagra coupons to women. Don’t be redundant: Penile enlargement for men – maternity clothes for pregnant women

5. Deliver a meaningful message – most people only skim the headlines of ads – so it is crucial to  hook your customer here – the headline is the crux of what the product or service does – this valuable  piece of advertising space is where you want to be clear and concise – and informative – it’s the place where you want to spell out in the simplest terms what the product is and why the customer wants it.

6. Lead the customer into the body copy – the most effective way to accomplish this is to arouse curiosity.

7. Strike the reader as compelling

8. Be creative but not at the expense of making your pitch unclear – if you have to choose between cleverness and clarity – choose clarity.

9. Work well with visual components – the headline and the visual components are the most important elements of an ad – they should work together and they should stand alone in getting your message across – a good way to remember this: when assessing the effectiveness of your ad, ask yourself if the headline and the visual could work all by themselves as a poster.