Copywriting for non-copywriters

Welcome to

Copywriting fornon-copywriters

Alan Barker

I GAVE THIS SESSION AT THIS CONFERENCE:

I RUN THIS CONSULTANCY:

www.kairostraining.co.uk

... AND I WRITE BOOKS.

I’M ASSUMING THAT YOU’RE NOT A COPYWRITER. MAYBE YOU WRITE:

... REPORTS, EMAILS, LETTERS –

THE KIND OF WRITING I CALL

FUNCTIONAL

IT’S A BIT LIKE THE KIND OF WRITING WE WERE TAUGHT AT

SCHOOL.

NEWSLETTERS, MARKETING EMAILS,BROCHURES, LEAFLETS, BLOG POSTINGS- AND EVEN TWEETS AND TEXTS

BUT MAYBE YOU’RE FINDING

YOURSELF WRITING MORE

AND MORE :

... THE KIND OF WRITING THAT’S OFTEN

CALLED:

COPYWRITING

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

I LOOKED AT SOME OF THE GUIDES TO COPYWRITING, AND THEY SAID STUFF LIKE...

Copywriting: received wisdom emotions.

Show definite benefits, and start at once.

Tap the primal emotions.

... AND...

Copywriting: received wisdom #2

gets attention focuses on the target reader stresses benefits differentiates your organisation from

others proves its case establishes credibility and conviction builds value closes with a call to actionALL VERY GOOD, BUT -

HOW DO YOU

ACTUALLY DO

THIS KIND OF

WRITING?

LET’S THINK ABOUT THREE KEY VARIABLES...3

Three variables

functional copy

committed

reader contract

uncommitted

FIRST: THE CONTRACT THE READER MAKES

WITH YOU.

Three variables

functional copy

committed

reader contract

uncommitted

FUNCTIONAL: THE READER WANTS TO

READ

COPY: WE HAVE TO ATTRACT THE

READER’S ATTENTION

committed

reader contract

uncommitted

purposeinform perform

Three variables

functional copy

SO THE PURPOSE OF THE WRITING

DIFFERS...

committed

reader contract

uncommitted

purposeinform perform

styletext voice

Three variables

functional copy

.. AND THE STYLE WILL BE

DIFFERENT, TOO.

style

text voice

THE WORD ‘TEXT’ IS RELATED TO

THE WORD ‘TEXTILE’...

style

text voice

FUNCTIONAL STYLE IS ‘WOVEN’ INTO

COMPLEX PATTERNS...

THE WORD ‘TEXT’ IS RELATED TO

THE WORD ‘TEXTILE’...

Once final decisions are made about the available funding for 2011/12, this strategy will also need to involve making difficult decisions about the level and allocation of money raised from council taxpayers and the Mayor’s revised priorities across the GLA group.

LIKE THIS:

style

text voice

... AND COPYWRITING FOLLOWS THE RHYTHMS AND PATTERNS OF

SPEECH...

Here’s some advice for companies in search of a better bottom line: Send your workers home early.

Sound silly? It certainly does to most executives.

... LIKE THIS!

Three dimensions of copywriting

Sense

Sound

Structure

THIS PRINCIPLE PLAYS OUT IN THREE DIMENSIONS...


Sense

Sound

Structure

THIS PRINCIPLE PLAYS OUT IN THREE DIMENSIONS...

... AND I’VE GOT THREE SUGGESTIONS FOR

EACH...


Sense

Sound

Structure

AND THE FIRST DIMENSION IS:

Sense

Be clear

Be memorable

Use the senses: literally or metaphorically

HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES -

Monkey visits German pizzeria, vandalises toilet

A PRETTY CLEAR

HEADLINE!

Sense: be clear

Sense: be clear

IF YOU’RE BOB THE

BUILDER – SAY SO.

Sense: be memorable

YOU CAN EVEN DRAW ATTENTION

TO HOW CLEAR YOU’RE BEING...

Sense: be memorable

YOU CAN

EVEN DRAW ATTENTION

TO HOW CLEAR YOU’RE BEING...

...IN FACT, THIS TAGLINE HAS BECOME

SO MEMORABLE, IT’S NOW LIKE A PROVERB.

Sense: be memorable

PROVERBS ARE INTERESTING.

Sense: be memorable

THEIR MEANING IS ‘OPEN’...

Sense: be memorable

...WE HAVE TO ADD SOMETHING FROM OUR OWN EXPERIENCE TO

MAKE SENSE OF THEM.

Sense: be memorable

NOBODY IS THE ‘AUTHOR’ OF A PROVERB;

PROVERBS BELONG TO ALL OF US.

Sense: be memorable

GREAT THINKERS CAN CREATE NEW

PROVERBS...

Sense: be memorable

... AND SO CAN GREAT COPYWRITERS.

Sense: use the senses (literally)

ANOTHER WAY TO MAKE OUR WRITING MEMORABLE IS TO APPEAL TO THE

SENSES...


FROM TASTE TO SOUND...


IN THIS EARLIER VERSION, THE COPYWRITER

HAD TO TELL US WHAT TO DO!

WE CAN FIND

OTHER EXAMPLES OF THESE

EFFECTS IN SIX-WORD STORIES...

...OTHERWISE KNOWN AS

FLASH FICTION...

Sense: use the senses (literally or metaphorically)

Window box, modest lawn, wildflower meadow.

HERE’S A SIX-WORD STORY THAT USES

THE SENSES REALLY WELL...

www.smithmag.net

(LOTS MORE SIX-

WORD STORIES HERE.)

Sense: use the senses (metaphorically)

METAPHOR IS A GOOD WAY OF

CONVEYING AN IDEA BY USING THE

SENSES...

Sense: use the senses (metaphorically)

AND WE CAN PLAY WITH

METAPHORS BY MAKING

THEM LITERAL.

Sound

Keep it simple

Give it rhythm

Play with patterns

THIS IS THE SECOND

DIMENSION OF COPYWRITING...

Sound: keep it simple

A BRILLIANTLY

SIMPLE BRAND NAME...


A BRILLIANTLY SIMPLE BRAND

NAME...

... REGULAR ALTERNATION

OF CONSONANTS AND VOWELS.


THIS COMBINATION OF VOWELS SEEMS TO

BE PROBLEMATIC...


WHEN SONIC SIMPLICITY WORKS, IT REALLY FLIES...

Sound: keep it simple... AND WHEN IT DOESN’T

WORK...WHO REMEMBERS IT?

Sound: keep it simple(and give it rhythm)

THE SIMPLICITY (AND DOUBLE MEANINGS) MAKE THIS SLOGAN SO MEMORABLE...

Sound: keep it simple(and give it rhythm)

... THAT IT’S BEEN STOLEN FOR ANOTHER CAMPAIGN!

Sound: give it rhythm

WHY NOT ‘PEPPER

AND SALT’?


WHY NOT

‘PEPPER AND

SALT’?BECAUSE

WE PREFER

REGULAR RHYTHM.


WHY NOT

‘PEPPER AND

SALT’? BECAUSE WE PREFER REGULAR RHYTHM.

STRONG – WEAK – STRONG - WEAK


THE SAME EFFECT CROPS

UP IN ALL SORTS OF

PLACES – EVEN GREAT

LITERATURE...

Sound: playing with rhythmic patterns

... AND WE CAN PLAY WITH

THESE EFFECTS TOO, JUST AS WE CAN PLAY WITH

SENSE AND METAPHOR...

/troch/ ee/

iamb trochee

RHYTHM IS ALL ABOUT ALTERNATING STRONG AND WEAK STRESSES...



APPARENTLY, MANY ‘FEMININE’ BRANDS HAVE

IAMBIC NAMES...

APPARENTLY, MANY ‘FEMININE’ BRANDS HAVE

IAMBIC NAMES...


... AND MANY ‘MASCULINE’ BRANDS

ARE TROCHAIC... APPARENTLY...

Sound: play with patterns

WE CAN ALSO PLAY WITH

VOWEL SOUNDS (IT’S CALLED

ASSONANCE...)


...AND CONSONANT

SOUNDS (WHICH IS

ALLITERATION)


OR BOTH!


Pickles, pregnancy, puking, pain, premature. Priceless.

HERE’S A LOVELY

ALLITERATIVE SIX-WORD

STORY.

Structure

Inform or perform

Shape your sentences

Be unusual

INTO THE THIRD DIMENSION...

Structure: inform

A VERY EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONAL

STRUCTURE ISTHE PYRAMID:

Structure: inform

Say it first, then

support it.

... LIKE THIS.

BUT PYRAMIDS SIT STILL; THEY DON’T PERFORM...

A written agenda acts as:

a plan of the meeting;an objective control of the meeting;

anda measure of the meeting's

success.

Structure: perform

For sale: baby shoes, never used.

...LIKE THIS DOES!

Structure: perform

Every sentence takes you on a little journey somewhere.

[Susan Bernovsky]

Structure: perform

In the beginning God created heaven and earth.

And the earth was void and empty,and darkness was on the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the

waters.And God said …

WRITING THAT PERFORMS OFTEN MAKES STRUCTURES BY

ADDING...

Structure: perform

HERE’S AN EXAMPLE FROM A

(RATHER OLD) AD...

Structure: shape your sentencesOne day you’re in, the next day

you’re out.

THIS SHAPE – CREATING A

CONTRAST – IS CALLED

ANTITHESIS.

Summarise: shape your sentences

My fellow citizens: I stand here today...humbled by the task before us;

grateful for the trust you have bestowed;mindful of the sacrifices borne by our

ancestors.

AND THIS...

...IS CALLED A TRICOLON: A SET OF THREE

(HUMBLED...GRATEFUL...MINDFUL)

My fellow citizens: I stand here today...

humbled by the task before us;

grateful for the trust you have bestowed;

mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.

...MUCH USED BY THIS MAN:

My fellow citizens: I stand here today...

humbled by the task before us;

grateful for the trust you have bestowed;

mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.

TAKE A LOOK AT THE WRITING ON THE NEXT

SLIDE. HOW WELL STRUCTURED IS IT?

Structure: shape your sentencesSo what is it that has made this festival

the gem that it clearly is? I think the answer is quite simple. Great music played by some of the most wonderful musicians, surroundings which offer the audience the opportunity to feel directly involved in the experience, while at the same time giving the performers the chance to be inspired and energised by the intense concentration of those listening.



IT STARTS WELL: A GOOD RHETORICAL QUESTION AND

A SIMPLE STATEMENT.

BUT THEN IT GETS HORRIBLY LOST...



AND THE GRAMMAR GOES WRONG.

Structure: be unusual

WE CAN PLAY WITH

GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES,

TOO...


(IT SHOULD BE

‘DIFFERENTLY’

OF COURSE...)

Bald. Unreliable. Easily distracte

HERE’S A FUNNY SIX-WORD STORY THAT PLAYS WITH

SPELLING ...


... COPYWRITING OFTEN PLAYS FAST AND LOOSE

WITH GRAMMAR.


(WHICH FUNCTIONAL WRITING SHOULD NEVER

DO!)


BUT IT HAS TO LOOK DELIBERATE – NOT LIKE A

SIMPLE MISTAKE.


I CAN’T HELP THINKING THAT THIS NEXT

EXAMPLE IS ACTUALLY A MISTAKE -




THERE SHOULD BE AN APOSTROPHE:

FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE

FOR ME, THIS IS ONE OF THE MURKIEST ASPECTS

OF COPYWRITING:

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO BE

GRAMMATICALLY ‘CORRECT’?

TRICKY!

MEANWHILE, HERE’S A SUMMARY OF ALL MY

SUGGESTIONS:


Sense Be clear Be memorable Use the senses,

literally or metaphorically

Sound Keep it simple Give it rhythm Play with

patterns

Structure Inform or

perform Shape your

sentences Be unusual

BUSINESS WITH CONFIDENCE icaew.com

Alan Barker

www.kairostraining.co.uk

Copywriting fornon-copywriters

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Copywriting for non-copywriters