Beyond Blah, Blah, Blah
… writing people respond to
Bart ButlerBart Butler CommunicationsEmail: [email protected]: @bartbutler
Today’s Session1. Our common challenges2. Approaching a writing assignment
– one principle3. Advertising: Lessons from master
copywriters… and from you4. Writing tips & resources5. Exercise: A headline for your
product or service
Our Common ChallengesGetting people’s attentionGetting them to read/listenGetting them to understand & believeGetting them to take actionEarning their trust & loyalty, long-term
The 8 “Cs” of Captivating Customer Communication
The 8 “Cs”Getting people’s attentionCATCHY & CREATIVEGetting them to read/listenCONCISEGetting them to understand & believeCLEAR & CREDIBLEGetting them to take actionCOMPELLINGEarning their trust & loyaltyCHARISMATIC
CUM
ULAT
IVE
CUM
ULAT
IVE
Approaching a Writing Assignment
Listening is more important than writing!Listen to everyone involved
Approaching a Writing Assignment
Help Desk & Customer ServiceGoogle is your audience, too
Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“If you can’t turn yourself into your customer, you probably shouldn’t be in the ad writing business at all.”
Leo Burnett
Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters
Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“You can say the right thing about a product, and nobody will listen. You’ve got to say it in such a way that people will feel it in their gut. Because if they don’t feel it, nothing will happen”
Bill Bernbach, DDB
Phyllis Robinson
Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“If nobody notices your ad, everything else is ‘freaking’academic!”
Bill Bernbach, DDB
Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“If you don’t get noticed, you don’t have anything. You just have to get noticed, but the art is in getting noticed naturally, without screaming.”
Leo Burnett
Leo Burnett
Copywriting with staying power
You’re in Good Hands with Allstate
The Best to You Each Morning
Fly the Friendly Skies
Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“Advertising is the ability to sense, interpret, to put the very heart throbs of a business into type, paper and ink.”
Leo Burnett
Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.”
Leo Burnett
David Ogilvy
American ExpressShellSearsMaxwell HouseRolls RoyceDove
The Man in the Hathaway Shirt
Schweppes Tonic Water
Rolls Royce Ad Copy
At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in the new Rolls Royce comes from the electric clock.
Dove Soap
Only Dove is ¼ moisturizing cream.
Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“Every advertisement is part of the long-term investment in the personality of the brand.”
David Ogilvy, Ogilvy & Mather
Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters
“…the best ads come from personal experience. Some of the good ones I’ve done have come out of the real experience of my life, and somehow this has come over as true and valid and persuasive”
David Ogilvy,
Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“On the average, five times as many people will read the headline as read the body copy. When you’ve written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
David Ogilvy
Ad Effectiveness: Your Take
Ad Effectiveness: Your Take
Ad Effectiveness: Your Take
Ad Effectiveness: Your Take
Ad Effectiveness: Your Take
Ad Effectiveness: Your Take
Ad Effectiveness: Your Take
Ad Effectiveness: Your Take
Writing Tips & Resources1. Know your purpose
Writing Tips & Resources2. Get right to the point
Writing Tips & Resources3. Tell people what you
want them to do
Writing Tips & Resources4. Keep it simple
--Write like you talk
Writing Tips & Resources
“If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think.”
David Ogilvy,
Writing Tips & Resources
“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
Elmore Leonard, Author
Writing Tips & Resources4. Keep it simple
--Write like you talk--Read it aloud--Write like other
people talk
Writing Tips & Resources5. Use Quotes
Writing Tips & Resources5. Use Quotes
“We were as nervous as whores in church.”
Writing Tips & Resources5. Use Quotes
“Now I don’t have to go around playing ‘Nancy Drew…”
Writing Tips & Resources5. Use Quotes
Only REAL quotes from REAL people
Writing Tips & Resources6. Be Brief
6a. Use Active v. PassiveVoice
6b. Minimize PrepositionalPhrases
Writing Tips & Resources7. Eliminate/explain
company jargon & weird acronyms…people don’t get it.
Writing Tips & Resources8. Avoid Clichés
Let your ideas percolate ‘til you’ve got something newSee @TheOnion on
Writing Tips & Resources9. Edit…rewrite…re-
edit…repeat as needed
Writing Tips & Resources10. Proofread
everything before hitting the send button!--Get proofing help if you need it
Writing Tips & ResourcesBonus Tip: It’s not all
about the words.
--Collaborate with graphics, video & web specialists
Writing Resources
Basic Tools:DictionaryThesaurusStyle/Usage GuideSpell/Grammar check
Writing Resources
Grammar Classes:Community CollegeUniversity Life-Long Learning Programs
The 8 “Cs”Getting people’s attentionCATCHY & CREATIVEGetting them to read/listenCONCISEGetting them to understand & believeCLEAR & CREDIBLEGetting them to take actionCOMPELLINGEarning their trust & loyaltyCHARISMATIC & CUMULATIVE
Approaching a Writing Assignment
Listening is more important than writing!
Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.”
Leo Burnett
Beyond Blah, Blah, Blah
… writing people respond to
Bart ButlerBart Butler CommunicationsEmail: [email protected]: @bartbutler
Headline Writing Exercise
Invent Something
ImmigrantsDesignerSeattle
Job Success
IrrelevanceTea Party Activist
Scottsdale65 plusFameRejectionPolicemanNew Delhi45
Self Improvem’t
SicknessLandscaperGuadalajara35FitnessLonelinessNurseDubuque25WealthPovertySmall BizNYC15Hopeful forFearful ofOccupationFromAge
E.D.C.B.A.
Beyond Blah, Blah, Blah
… writing people respond to
Bart ButlerBart Butler CommunicationsEmail: [email protected]: @bartbutler