25 Jun 11 4 Essentials of Advertisement Copywriting
Advertisements are informative, amusing, entertaining, creative, thoughtful and a brand’s face before the world. The man behind conceptualizing and making an advertisement is known as the copywriter. A copywriter writes destiny of an advertisement. This art of writing is much different from other forms of commercial writing. It calls for different sets of aptitude, skills and expertise. Here are some essential skills a good copywriter must possess.
Good hold on vocabulary
If you are an aspirant copywriter, your command over the language has to be excellent. You just can’t afford to mess with your language skill. Learn new words, expand your vocabulary. You may read lot. Don’t get too choosy. Read everything – journals, novels, blogs, dailies, articles. The more you read, better will be your vocabulary. Keep a dictionary handy. Refer to it whenever you find a new word. You should know as many words as possible, then only you can use them effectively. Learn multiple languages if you can.
Sense of humor
A good copywriter needs to possess great sense of humor. If one is not born with it, he or she can cultivate it with time. If one has a good grasp of humor it is easily reflected in his advertisements, as advertising needs to be entertaining and catchy. It calls for wit, humor. Sense of humor helps in twisting and turning words, creating pun and arresting concept. See humorous films, shows.
Understanding of art
Well, a copywriter doesn’t write only. He conceptualizes and writes. And many times a concept has no copy, is just art driven. So copywriter needs a good understanding of art. Even an advertisement with copy needs to relate to the image. If copywriter doesn’t understand art, an advertisement can be complete clueless and mismatch.
Understanding of the viewer
Copywriter needs to understand the market, customers, audiences’ psyche and competition. Without understanding the trend, societal outlook, audiences’ psyche a copywriter can’t create a good advertisement or connect to the audience. A copywriter can be fatal for the brand, if tries to remain firm with his own style and doesn’t consider the brand or its target people.
You should not overlook any of the above-given tips when writing copy for an ad campaign.
Tags: Advertisements, Aptitude, Art Of Writing, Aspirant, Audiences, Clueless, Copywriter, Copywriting, Dailies, Destiny, Dictionary, Good Understanding, Grasp, Language Skill, Market Customers, Mismatch, Psyche, Pun, Vocabulary, Wit
19 Jun 11 What Are the Different Types of Headlines?
Headline of advertising commercial or a book or marketing collateral is supposed to be the most important and attention grabbing part of the same. A headline is supposed to make the thing stand out from the clutter, draw immediate attention of the viewer. The copywriter can grab attention of the viewer with a wide variety of headlines. There can be several types of headlines as given below.
Questioning
There can be headlines that put forth questions like – ‘Did you know 80% of women love our shampoo?’ or ‘How often do you need to de-tan your skin?’, ‘Are you spending too much in Insurance?’ These questions not only grab attention fast, but also stir interest and provoke thoughts. People soon relate to such questioning headline and move on to the next segment of the advertisement to find out the solution.
Testimonials
There are many advertisements that put forth its customers’ words to sell the products or services. This trick always works, as people consider it as a proof of the brand’s credibility. Not all provide testimonials of real customers, but when used such strategy can be effective. It may go like this ‘This oil has lessened 70% of our health problems’. Put name, location, age of the customer speaking to make it appear more credible. You may take permission of that particular customer.
Straight on face
There are headlines talking straight to the viewer, in a direct tone. These are effective at times. Special offers, heavy discounts, inauguration – such announcement oriented advertisements adopt straight on face tone. Examples, ‘Grab last few days of 50% discount’, ’50 free laptops with Bike purchase’.
News headline
Then there are headlines, which announce some news like ‘Finally, A detergent is here which actually works’. Such announcement of news – like something new has come up always works.
Commanding headline
There are headlines, which ask you to do something. Such headlines are strong and are developed to encourage the action towards some benefit. They mostly start with a verb. Like, ‘Say no to plastic’, ‘stop drinking while driving’, ‘Stop abusing the minor’.
Let me know which one is your favorite.
Tags: Advertisement, Advertisements, Advertising, Bike Purchase, Clutter, Copywriter, Credibility, Detergent, Few Days, Free Laptops, Headlines, Health Problems, Inauguration, Marketing Collateral, News Headline, Proof, Segment, Shampoo, Special Offers, Testimonials
