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This is where you'll find blog entries to do with general copywriting.the subject of writing brochures.
For earlier entries, see the archive pages below left. For blog entries on other subjects, go back to the main blog menu.
If you're after some freelance copywriting, or if you want to comment on a blog post, please just contact me
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LATEST ENTRIES BELOW
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May 2008
Radio Advertising Copywriting - Part 4
To give yourself the best possible chance of ending up with a terrific radio ad or campaign, you should help your radio copywriter as much as you can.
That means producing a clear brief detailing who you're aiming at and what you've got to say. Remember, you need to make one single point. If you've got several important points to make about your product and service, then it's much better to do separate commercials for them.
Your input is invaluable at all stages. Try and be objective, not subjective. Put yourself in the listener's shoes every time.
Timing is essential. The average thirty second radio commercial has room for roughly 70 - 100 words. That's not a lot. Remember, you have to factor in pauses. Don't cheat by reading it through to yourself as quickly as you can. Read it allowed at the speed you want it to be heard.
Don't forget to allow a second or so of dead time at either end of the commercial as well. Otherwise one radio ad is going to crash straight into the next, with disastrous consequences for both. Very often you have to allow for a URL to be said. Or a phone number repeated.
With some ads, particularly financial ones, you have to allow for terms and conditions as well. (I once had the interesting experience of a client insisting that certain terms and conditions went not just into a 30 second ad, but into the 10 second cut-down as well. They only relented when I pointed out that these actually took up over 10 seconds to say.)
Incidentally, with terms and conditions, it's worth it, if you possibly can, getting someone else to read them out other than the main voiceover, especially if the ad is at all creative. Otherwise, you've got someone playing one role one second, before switching into 'serious' mode the next (and usually speeding up at the same time). It just doesn't sound quite right, so try and get someone else to do it if you can.
That's it for now on radio copywriting. Happy recording!
Freelance copywriting - the importance of good proofreading.
I don't like doing it. I have to make myself do it. But there's no getting away from it. Proofreading is very necessary for a freelance copywriter.
When I'm writing for clients, I do my utmost not to let the typos slip in. That said, even with my own website, the very occasional typo has slipped through.
With this blog, I'm less worried. I do have a quick scan of what I've read. But I simply don't have time to go through every post with a fine toothcomb. To me, a blog is like a conversation (even if it's a one-way process much of the time). As with talking, you're going to make the odd lapse.
Writing articles for republishing should be taken a bit more seriously in my book. The copy should be checked as carefully as any client project.
So I had to smile when I read the following sentence by another copywriter, which seems to have been written in all seriousness (and a certain amount of haste). I'll spare his blushes and won't name him. The article is all about the importance of writing well, and this is one of the author's tips:
'Review the article thoroughly before submitting it. Even best writers hire editors.'
In this author's case, that editor had better be good at adding in words as well as cutting them out.
Anyway, enough from me. I'd better re-read this entry extra carefully before posting it, or I'll be hoist with my own petard.