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
04 Jun 10 Essentials of Effective Advertisement Copy
Advertising profession aspirants often blindly jump into copywriting and then find themselves misfit for the same. Good writing skill, command on language and vocabulary are just not enough for it. Advertising copywriting seeks really different aptitudes. It seeks sense of humor, understanding of the consumer insight, and understanding of the market, playful attitude, sense of music, understanding of art and guts to experiment.
An effective advertisement copy is the one which successfully draws attention of its target audience, creates a favorable attitude towards the product and induces action. A good copy should have the following basic requisites.
It should be brief
Most important criteria for copywriting is the ability to craft short, crisp yet extremely interesting lines. That’s one major quality that copywriters often boast upon the content writers. Since our attention span is getting shorter day by day and readers prefer short, crisp advertisements it’s always recommended to keep the copy short and compact.
It should be simple and clear
Advertisements are means of communication and not means of confusion. So avoid the temptation of writing big, mouthful heavy words for the sake of showing your words prowess. Advertisements should be easily comprehensible, self-explanatory. Avoid ambiguous, incorrect words.
It should be apt
Copy should never be irrelevant to the target audience or the product category. Often the copywriter overlooks consumers or the product and get obsessed with the ambition of crafting award winning lines. An effective ad carries copy which matches with its consumers’ insight, product features and adds panache of creativity. Objective of the advertisement is not to be forgotten.
It should be personal
An effective ad is the one which portrays that it’s just talking to you. It carries personal touch. Words like ‘you’, ‘yours’ instead of a general message addressing all definitely works better.
It should be honest
Often advertising is accused of being manipulative and deceptive. But to remain in the business for a long run companies should always put forth honest and truthful communication. Communication can be wise and playful but not deceptive. It should not leave consumers with a false or wrong idea.
It should conform to the norms
All advertisements are supposed to conform to the standards, rules and regulations set by the advertising council of the country. Morally offending, community or religion humiliating, distasteful advertisement copies are banned all over.
An effective and nicely crafted copy is the backbone of any advertising communication.
Tags: Advertisement Copy, Aptitudes, Attention Span, Big Mouthful, Consumer Insight, Content Writers, Copywriter, Copywriting, Effective Advertisement, Favorable Attitude, Good Writing, Hone, Insight Product, Means Of Communication, Personal Touch, Playful Attitude, Requisites, Sense Of Humor, Target Audience, Writing Skill
