Copywriting

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Published: Thursday, 04 September 2008 12:23

In advertising, we write like we talk. It's conversational. Brief. To the point.

That's copywriting.

I hope I make it look easy. But with 350,000 words published as a copywriter, I've had a lot of practice.

I've written for some 380 products and more than 100 corporations, including 150 brochures and catalogs, dozens of posters, 77 TV spots and 87 websites. If you'd like to see a sample of my work as a writer, you don't have far to go. I've written everything on this website to serve as an example, of course. And came up with all the concepts behind those words such as how I position myself so you can more easily understand what I do.

Concept, not words

A copywriter is an advertising writer. But the toughest job of a copywriter is not writing: it's coming up with the concept. The "big idea." Traditionally, the copywriter was the person who came up with the concept for any ad campaign. The reason for that was when modern print advertising really got going in the late 1800s, newspapers couldn't yet reproduce photographs or graphics. It was just type. So the writers did everything connected with an ad.

Today the art director is just as likely to be the one who comes up with the concept. In most agencies, a copywriter and art director work together as a team.

Origin of the term "copywriter"

The reason an advertising writer is called a copywriter also comes from the same period. Again in those days, lead type was wedged into wooden trays, inked and used to print newspapers. It was common for the writer to check the first copy for errors. Hence, dialog began to frame itself around the word copy. "Who wrote this copy?" "Hopkins did. He's the copywriter." So in advertising, copy means "the words of an advertisement."

The horrible truth

Ads begin with a concept or "creative strategy." Then comes a headline. It's not too hard to write a good headline.

But good is not what we want! We want GREAT. And so we come to the horrible truth which separates the real copywriters from the fakes: How many headlines do you have to write to get one great one? Sometimes, maybe 200. Sometimes less. Amateurs often say, "Well, if you're good, it shouldn't take 200 versions." Tisk. Tisk. Writing a vast number of headlines is exactly how the pros do it. And we do it that way, because it works. We take pride in doing the best we can do. And we are not lasy.

Personally, I'd rather be underpaid than lend my name to anything that was less than spectacular.

The Ideal Logo to Establish Your Brand

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Published: Thursday, 04 September 2008 13:02

There is only one way to create a logo that resonates with who you are.

Step 1. We have to find out who you are.

Or who your company is.

It requires work. Specifically, it's called homework.

Step 2. Doing great logos takes exploration down all the potential avenues that could produce a logo gold.

There isn't some other way to do great work. There's only one way.

Do you know how long it takes to come up with a logo? Many designers can think up an "idea" in 60 seconds. Note, I said how long it takes to come with a logo. Not a great logo.

A logo that is not derived from dilligent homework, that isn't explored for variations or better ways to do it, will not be of high quality. The only kind of work I care to do starts at great and goes up from there to spectacular.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

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Published: Thursday, 04 September 2008 13:19

Sponsored Campaigns using Google Adwords

When you do a search on Google, the ads on the right side plus the yellow toned ads at the top are sponsored ads.

Running a sponsored campaign is an excellent way to drive in new customers. You budget a certain amount monthly, then set a bid amount on search terms so that your ad shows up when someone searches for “asbestos lab work” or whatever we find as your best search terms. You only have to pay when someone clicks on your ad and that can be as little as 5 cents a click (however, this varies by region and industry). The campaign is checked daily and adjusted using new approaches to establish by trial and error what ads pull best. Note: an ad that doesn’t pull doesn’t cost anything either.

Meanwhile you should be getting new customers!

But here’s the real point: sponsored ads compete in their own category on the right side of the results page. In the organic listing, for “asbestos lab work” there are 269,00 results you must compete with. In the sponsored list, there are only five. So the question is which would you rather compete with? Five or 269,000? Of course, it’s is easier to compete against five.

That is why sponsored ads are some of the best advertising money you can spend. The ads do not just lead to your website. They go to a special page called a “landing page” specially built to utilize the same search terms as were used in the ad. You will need as many landing pages as you have different ads since each different search term must be consistent across your Google ad and it's landing page. The correct term is relevant.

If each paired ad and landing page is matched carefully, Google will consider your payment campaign to be relevant. If the landing page does not seem relevant to the subject of the search term, Google may shut off the ad after a few days. With Google, it’s relevance, relevance, relevance.