Write for Marketing

• Copywriting for Advertising
• Print, electronic and broadcast media
• Improve your ability to produce concise, clear, compelling marketing messages

Copywriting is distinct from other forms of writing in that the end goal is focussed on sales. It draws on the elements of others genres and writing practices – narrative, creative technique, and research – and brings them together to create materials that elicit a response in the reader. This response is specifically designed by the writer and the rest of their team (i.e. other advertising professionals).

Course Content

There are 10 lessons in this course:

Lesson 1.  Scope and Nature of Copywriting

• What is copywriting?
• Types of copy and copywriting
• Difference between advertising and marketing
• Elements of an advert
• Buyer psychology
• Buyer profiles

Lesson 2. Mastering Conciseness

• Preparation
• Lateral thinking
• Creative problem solving (CPS)
• In conclusion
• Using a dictionary
• Researching specific product information
• Improving conciseness
• Enhancing clarity

Lesson 3. Creating Engaging Copy

• Creating targeted marketing materials
• Who is the market?
• What motivates a buyer?
• Narrowing the target/niche promotions
• Customer segmentation models
• Creating compelling reasons to buy
• Products as solutions
• Know the competitive landscape
• Nurturing inspiration
• Power of communication
• Making use of feedback
• Connecting copy with the buyer’s emotions
• Descriptive writing and engagement

Lesson 4. Clarity, Structure and Headings

• Ogilvy – The father of advertising
• The Hero/Heroine
• Writing advertising materials
• Structure of copy
• How to make a statement more engaging
• Headlines
• Using subheadings
• Enhancing credibility
• Different approaches to copywriting structure
• Direct approach
• Indirect approach
• Techniques to enhance structure
• Bold, italics, callouts, and other emphasis
• Altering or disregarding convention
• Accessibility
• Different focuses = Different copy outcomes

Lesson 5. Writing for Print Advertising

• Points to consider
• Size matters
• The elements of print media advertising
• Components explained
• White space/ negative space
• Advertorials

Lesson 6. Writing for Direct Mail and Email

• Why is direct mail useful?
• Challenges for writing direct mail content
• Evaluating the impact of direct mail

Lesson 7. Writing Media Releases

• Why media releases Are important
• Structure of a media release
• Writing a media release
• Selecting the right publications and journalists
• Press release structure
• Introduction
• Quotes and statistics
• Challenges with writing press releases

Lesson 8. Writing for Broadcast Media

• Designing an ad
• Writing radio ads
• Writing online ads
• Writing verbal ads
• Writing a script
• What to be aware of in writing, publishing and photography

Lesson 9. Writing for the Internet

• Unpaid advertising
• Paid advertising
• Influencers
• Influencer content
• Using smartphone reading habits to create engaging copy
• Creating online content
• Website copy
• Social media content

Lesson 10 Reviewing, Editing and Improving Advertising Copy

• Reviewing your work
• Focus on Headlines
• Editing your work
• Evaluating the success of advertising copy
• Plagiarism and self-plagiarism
• Intellectual property and ethics
• Market Success
• Conduct your research and analysis
• Evaluation and adjustment of a marketing campaign

COURSE DURATION - 100 hours, self paced.

WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT COPYWRITING?

The aim of copywriting is to sell a product or good, whereas communicating information about a product is simply conveying information. For example, if you want to buy a new kettle, you can find information about how much water it holds, its energy consumption, what colour it is .. This is simply information about the kettle. But if you read an advert, you will be told how great it is, what is wonderful about it ..The writing involved is different. It is not necessarily simple facts. 

Copywriters, at base, write copy. Copy is the text that is used for advertising or some forms of publishing (magazines, newspapers). In the context of this course, copy will refer specifically to advertising and marketing materials unless otherwise stated.

The type of response will vary according to the purpose of the copy. There are varying purposes for copy, including:

• Incitement to purchase 
• Introducing a brand or product
• Sharing a brand theme and message - Themes help us tie together our brand messaging and ensure that everything we create is tied together underneath the one banner. Without an overall theme, it becomes very easy to split our messaging and end up overextending ourselves – which can quickly end in disaster.
• Brand messaging refers to how a company communicates with your customer base. This is how they establish their worth to the customer – after all, if they cannot see value or worth in their product/service, they are not going to buy their products or services.
• Understanding who the organisation is as a brand – i.e., their brand identity – starts with understanding the central theme of their identity. For Nike, that theme is overcoming adversity. For a big stock market trader, that theme might be power, while a local grocer might be focussed on loyalty. It is possible to have more than one underlying theme, though if this is the case, the themes are generally related.
• Improving brand awareness/product awareness
• Sharing information (e.g. annual reports, updates, newsletters, customer retention work)
• Damage control/controlling a narrative (e.g. when a scandal touches the brand/company, stock price falls, etc.).

The end goal is always to make a sale, i.e. to sell the company’s product or service. For example, the organisation may want copy written about how they have done financially in their end of year reports, or writing newsletters for customers, not specifically selling, but telling a customer about their goods and services.  Yet is important to note that this is an end goal – it is not always the primary goal of a given piece of copy. So writing a newsletter telling people that you have taken on a new staff member is not directly selling, but it reminds the customer that you are still there, it puts the name of your organisation in their head again, it tells them about the staff.

HOW MUCH DEMAND IS THERE FOR COPYWRITERS?

The demand for effective copywriters is and always has been very high.  Most people (even excellent writers) cannot craft short, powerful statements that convince people to part with their money. Those who can are like gold for business owners.   If this is where you want to be, the path starts with learning. This course is designed to set you on the path to be better at copywriting whether fo improve your own business, or work with others to improve theirs.