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Copywriting
CW
BMM-Semester-V
BY: M H LAKDAWALA
Revised Notes 2014 for 20 marks test
Edition V
CHAPTER 1.
INTRODUCTION
Syllabus Unit 1:
Copywriting, Introduction, Responsibility of Copy writer.
• Attributes of a good copywriter
• Principles of copywriting
What is Copywriting?
Copywriting is the composition of headings, sub-headings and the body copy of advertisements, catalogues or brochures. Therefore, copywriters help promote businesses, ideas and opinions by writing advertisements for organisations. This is an art of writing and compiling creativity in writing content.
WORDS HAVE THE POWER TO INFLUENCE READERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF MESSAGES
WHAT IS COPY?
In advertising, copy refers to the text, or words, used in an advertisement. The body copy is the actual paragraphs of supporting text adding additional facts and benefits to the headline and greater concept, in the instance of a print ad. Where a television ad is concerned, the body copy would manifest in dialogue, the announcer's script, etc.
A copywriter verbalizes concepts in ways that inform audiences and move them to action. Their words define brands and become part of our cultural language. They play a vital role in all advertising agencies world-wide, creating the language that drives consumerism.
Copywriting is probably the most creative and demanding branch of writing. You start with a blank sheet of paper. You may have only a couple of days to meet the client’s deadline. And your work could be read by millions of people.
Who needs copywriters?
The market is vast. Every business, small and large, has to promote itself. Every company needs leaflets or direct mail letters. And every new product needs a pack that will entice us to buy it.
These days all organizations need to communicate. That includes hospitals, local authorities and charities. So the opportunities for the copywriter are infinite.
Because organizations constantly alter, their literature and ads need regularly changing, too. That keeps copywriters busy.
Attributes of a good copywriter
Distinguishing good copywriters from average copywriters involves looking at more than just the work that he or she produces. You have to take into account the entire copywriting process from receiving the brief, conceptualizing, to the finished product. Attitude and personality to are as important as their writing skill.
These are seven characteristics that make a good copywriter:
1. Creative: They have the ability to approach a copywriting project from many different angles.
2. Smart: They have a distinct curiosity about the world around them and how things work and fit together. They have a hunger for knowledge in any and all its forms.
3. Good Communicators: They are able to express, exactly, the key benefits of a product using only words and pictures. They are intrigued by language and the ability of using words to create an image.
4. Congenial: They understand the needs and struggles in people’s lives and are able to recognise both sides to an argument. They are fascinated by how people’s minds work and what makes them tick.
5. Good Readers: Copywriters are avid readers. They engage in the reading of many subjects and genres. They have a keen interest in the written word.
6. Trendy: They are always on the lookout for the latest trends and happenings in the world, so they can keep up to date.
7. Disciplined: They are experts at multi-tasking. Their ability to think outside the box allows them to take on many projects simultaneously and not miss a deadline.
PRINCIPLES OF COPYWRITING
1. You Vs We: Good copywriters will always focus on what benefits YOU will enjoy as the purchaser, not what features WE, as the company, are providing. So, to create effective advertising copy using the words ‘you’ and ‘your’ a lot and using ‘our’ and ‘we’ or ‘us’ less often is a good rule to employ. It keeps the copywriter focused on the reader rather than switching the focus back to the business. Effective sales copy must always:
• focus on the reader
• play on their hopes and fears and explain how the product or service will address them
• highlight the benefits of the product or service the purchaser will enjoy
2. WAYS: This is the least well-known of the copywriting principles explained here. Its basic premise is that copywriters should Write As You Speak. Most people do not want to be wowed with vocabulary they’ve never heard before, confused by complex sentence construction or amazed by literary style. In most circumstances the best way to approach writing sales copy is to write as you would speak to someone in a friendly, face-to-face conversation.
So, the copywriter should concentrate on:
• keeping it simple
• giving the facts needed to make an informed decision
• keeping the prospect’s question ‘What’s in it for me?’ in mind
• showing the benefits
• engaging his emotions
• creating an image in the prospect’s mind
• addressing his concerns
3. Use Attention Getting Headlines: For example – print ad for DHL uses only one word as it’s headline – “URGENT”, which is underlined in red, and is enough to attract anyone’s attention.
Star TV print ad for The Big Fight does not use words, but uses a pair of boxing gloves as headline.
4. Expand Headline with Lead Paragraph: Follow up the headline immediately with the first paragraph. If you ask a question, answer it. If you propose a thought, explain it. Don't leave them hanging too long; you may end up hanging yourself.
The ad for Maruti N2N fleet solutions uses the headline “ Who says managing a huge fleet of company cars is hard work? This is followed by the lead paragraph which explains how Maruti N2N works
5. Focus on the Reader, not the Product: Of course your copy must contain information and facts about your product or service, but that is not your focal point. You must focus the reader. Use their needs, wants, desires, fears, weaknesses, concerns, and even fantasies to sell your product or service.
The ad for Lakme Deep Pore Cleansing begins with the headline “There's a lot that shows on your face”.
The body copy includes - Now, one-and-a-half minutes is all it takes to uncover the real you. Presenting the complete Deep Pore Cleansing Regimen from Lakme. Simply because your face says it all.
6. Be Sincere: What's the number one fallback for sales on the web? Fear! Fear of being scammed or ripped-off. The more sincere you are the better your chance of building a "selling" relationship. The sincerity and genuineness of Air Sahara comes across in its ad where the body copy says – as hard as we may try at this time of the year (winter), there are chances of flight delays due to weather conditions. Every step is taken to help passengers get to their destinations on time. To make this process easier, we need your help too.
7. Make Your Product Irresistible: Dress it up. Your product should sound like the cream of the crop. Focus on your selling point (price, quality, etc) and make it impossible for the reader to imagine another in comparison.
8. Use Fear as Motivation: Fear is both a weakness and strength, but also a powerful selling tool. Fear of injury, death or missed opportunity. If you sell a safety product you would use this fear to your advantage. If you're offering an opportunity, the fear of missing their chance is a strong seller. Many ads for financial services use fear to motivate their target.For example in the ad for New India Assurance – Shop Owners Policy, a shop owner imagines a riot occurring near his shop, which causes damage to his shop I.e. the physical property. Thus fear is used to motivate shop owners to get their shops insured under the policy offered by NIA.
9. Be Personable: Let them know that there is a kind, honest and real person behind the page. People would rather deal with people, not companies, corporations or conglomerates. Add the "Human Touch" to your copy. Ex: the institutional ad for Eureka Forbes which shows model Aditi Gowatrikar with her child has a human touch to it, what with the body copy saying – “…times have changed. Yet your dreams remain the same. So open up. Say ‘yes’ to life…”
Use "Power"ful Words: "Power" words are words that move a buyer by enhancing and reinforcing your presented idea. Certain words have proven to be movers and shakers in the advertising world.
Examples of persuasive and attention-grabbing words
Easy Convenient Exclusive Indulge
Genuine Advantages Comfortable Dependable
Immediate Instant WANTED WARNING
More Biggest Oldest Original
10. Check Your Spelling : Take the time and spell-check your work. Finding misspelled words in copy leaves the reader wondering how competent your product or service could be, if you cannot take the time to be sure you spelled the words in your web copy correctly.
11. Use Photo's to Demonstrate: Use photos to demonstrate your product or service. If used correctly a picture really is worth a thousand words. Ads for cosmetics generally use photographs to demonstrate the benefits of using the product – smooth skin, fairness, etc.
12. Use Graphics to get Attention: Using buttons, icons and arrows can help direct the reader's attention to important details. If organized correctly they can also help sort facts or messages into categories. The ad for Toyota Qualis uses arrows to draw the readers’ attention to the unique features of the vehicle such as integrated bumper; wood finishes paneling, captain seats, etc.
13. Offer Testimonials : Offer short, reputable testimonials. People want to hear what others have to say about your product or service. Diana Hayden – Miss World 1996 offers testimonial for Loreal Hair color.
14. Create a Memorable Logo: Create a simple, but memorable logo or custom graphic that your visitor can easily relate to your product or service. Examples: McDonald Golden Arches
15. Create an Unforgettable Slogan: Use a short, easy to remember slogan that a reader will walk away with on his or her lips.
Nike – Just Do It.
Visa – Go get it
Pepsi – Yeh Dil Maange More
Asian Paints – Merawalla….
16. Get a response : There are many techniques for getting a prospect to respond. Spell it out for them. Tell them to respond. Tell them why they should respond. Give them a reason they should respond now. Offer a bonus or freebie if they respond. This can be done by using words like – order now, order today, for a short time only, last chance, etc. Ex: Service – ICICI Bank – Two Wheeler Loans,
Marketing Brief or Marketing Communications Brief:
Def:
Marketing brief is a document outlining the expectations by a company's marketing team regarding a finished project. The marketing team can clearly define what they want the creative team to create. Follow these tips to create a marketing brief so all parties involved will know what work is expected of them.
The purpose of marketing brief:
a. To help assess client’s current situation, both internally and relative to its competition. It’s the starting point for any work agency do for their customers.
b. Marketing brief provide the foundation for refining clients marketing message and revising and updating their marketing and advertising program.
c. To clearly lay out a framework for the creative team. The process can be driven by either side - creative or marketing - but both sides need to agree on the brief before the work can commence.
a) Where are we? (Situational analysis - the market, trends, competitive analysis, etc.)
b) Where are we going? (opportunities, objectives & strategy)
c) How are we going to get there? (actions, plans & controls)
The process begins with the benefit of a client brief advertising brief or Agency Brief, over the phone, via email or at a face-to-face meeting. The aim of the first briefing is to get to know the marketing objectives, to confirm the budget and establish the critical timings.
There are many different ways of creating a written briefing format for marketing brief. The format should reflect the company’s beliefs about how communications work and therefore what is important enough to be included in the brief. Some advertisers may use versions of their agencies’ creative brief formats as a basis for their own. Whilst this may initially look as if it is encouraging a collaborative way of working, it does demonstrate a lack of belief in the company’s own practices. An agency’s internal creative brief usually serves the fundamentally different purpose of inspiring their own creative people. A client marketing communications brief needs to inspire the whole agency team to deliver the best communications. Most marcoms briefs also act as a business process document to initiate a job start – in effect it’s a purchase order and since large sums of money will be involved in both time and resources it needs to be taken very seriously.
The most marketing communications briefs have three broad areas of heading:
1. Those that describe the background,
2. The brief itself, and an implementation and
3. Process section.
Format of a Marketing Brief
The background headers might include
1. Background Background: Usually covers the business and marketing context and why the task is important
2. Marketing or Sales Objectives: This sometimes includes the business case for the activity
3. Brand:
Remarkably this is often overlooked. It might include brand identity/brand capsule/brand vision/brand architecture/brand status/brand values/brand personality
4. Previous Learning: Again a section which is only used occasionally, but may have wider potential
The main communications brief section headers might include
5. Communications objectives: Sometimes they might be expressed as communications imperatives/ challenges/barriers
6. Target audience: Usually this section asks for more than simple demographics and specifically prompts for attitudes or other motivators
7. Consumer insights: Sometimes specifically linked to the objective
8. Key message/proposition: Often phrased as the single-minded proposition/the one thing we want to say
9. Consumer takeout: Or consumer take away/what they will think or do
10. Tone of voice: As distinct from brand personality
The implementation and process headers might include
11. Timings/key dates: May include project timelines as well as timing for response
12. Budget: May specify if production is included or not
13. Evaluation/success criteria: A critical element for most disciplines
14. Mandatories /guidelines: May include what must be included and executional considerations
15. Approvals: Signatures of both those issuing/approving the brief and the agency
I. Understanding the psychographics of target audience
Psychographics are a way to measure consumers’ beliefs, opinions, and buying habits. Rather than demographics which use age, income, gender and other quantitative data, psychographics provide a way to understand more qualitative data. Psychographics can be extremely helpful to predict differences in buying patterns and stimulating ideas for communicating with the target group.
Psychographics of various audiences and writing Copy for them
1. Writing copy for Youth
Youth Marketing is a term used in the marketing and advertising industry to describe activities to communicate with young people, typically in the age range of 12 to 34. More specifically, there is the Tween Marketing, targeting people in the 8 to 12 year-old range, Teen Marketing, targeting people age 13 to 19, College Marketing, targeting college-age consumers, typically ages 18 to 21, Young Adult Marketing, targeting young professionals, typically ages 22 and above.
The youth market is critical because of the demographic's buying power and its members' influence on the spending of family members. In addition, teens and young adults often set trends that are adopted by other demographic groups. Nonetheless, many brands market to youth by offering relevant products and services while communicating a brand message in an appropriate voice and tone. Successful brands marketing to youth have a foundation in or association with key interests and drivers among youth: music, sports, fashion, video gaming and technology, among others.
Today young people expect to be able to learn about, interact and be entertained by with brands or services targeting them online. Other common youth marketing tactics include entertainment marketing, music marketing, sports marketing, event marketing, viral marketing, school and college programs, product sampling and influencer marketing.
Youth don’t want better content—more memes—they want a better social experience. Developing successful youth copy depends on this. It isn’t enough to speak to youth; they must be engaged in a way that allows them to share and to contribute—with your brand and with each other
The essentials of writing a good copy for writing copy for youth:
1. EXCLUSIVE ATTENTION: The most important factor is the never-ending desire to be accepted, to belong. For many members of Generation Y (now aged around 12–20 years), this is by far one of the most pressing issues confronting them in daily life. Thus the copy should not focus on the product, instead copy place the young buyer in a position of exclusive attention during conversations. For instance, a growing number of iPhone users are beginning to purchase unique applications, despite the availability of many free ones.
2. CONNECT: At the end of the day, youth don’t want a dialogue with the brand and they don’t want to be your friend on Facebook. All they want is that the brand help them connect with each other. Copy should not interrupt their conversations, but support them.
3. CONNECT WITH THEIR PARENTS: Younger generations (both Z and their older counterparts, Y) tend to be very close to their parents and often consult them on life decisions, large and small
4. CONTEXT: It’s not just about content—context matters, too. Content is the product—the “what” we buy. Context is the feeling we get when. We buy something—the “why” we buy. Content is driven by logic while context is driven by emotion. Content is advertising, sponsorship, thought leadership, emails, blog posts, public relations. Context is community, contribution, events, crowd-sourced projects. Companies create content. Customers create context.
5. DETAILED COPY: To fulfill youth need to enhance and continuously update an online presence through website, multimedia, content and social networks.
6. PERSONALIZATION: The copy should focus on personalization and relationships as opposed to sales pitches.
7. UTILITY: The copy should highlight the products and features long-term utility, particularly when it comes to high-end purchases.
8. SUBSTANCE: Yes, enticing packaging is no longer enough. Youngsters today have evolved and place a higher currency on the content. It might not glitter, but it better be gold!
9. CONVERSATIONS: At the point of sale, the youth make a choice easily if prior conversations about the brand have taken place within their friends/peer group. The copy should include references of peer groups.
10. ENGAGEMENT: Given the high level of clutter, young people's choices tend to tilt towards brands that engage them in a sustained manner. The target group also responds more positively on activations. For instance, games/events in college festivals where the product is strategically embedded in their environment stand a better chance of achieving higher brand recall.
11. HUMOUR: Young adult consumers feel less threatened by the brand as its motives appear more sincere and less commercially charged on the surface. It is no wonder that youth respond positively to advertisements that amuse them. Highly attuned to entertainment and popular culture, youth are familiar with the puffery i.e. exaggerated or false praise, that is in circulation and distrust it. Longing for authenticity, they seek refuge in humor and straight talk, the powerful tools they implement to communicate with their friends. Therefore, advertisers tap into this avenue acting as consumers’ confidantes to regain this group’s trust.
12. VALUES: If the brand can successfully channel the values praised by the youth, the brand is believed to have deserved their loyalty. “Entertaining copy, produced on the youth own terms, proved to be the olive branch marketers needed to gain legitimacy. Youth are willing to strike a pact with the brands, and that pact is, if creative humor and entertaining copy is design then the youth will stay, watch, and even actively engage with the ad.
13. TALKING WITH: The copy approach should be oriented towards “talking with” as opposed to “talking at” the youth.
14. NEW 'MARKETING ECOSYSTEM: Youth of all ages now find themselves in what the Berkeley Media Studies Group and the Center for Digital Democracy call "a new 'marketing ecosystem' that encompasses cell phones, mobile music devices, broadband video, instant messaging, video games and virtual three-dimensional worlds," all of which provide the knowledge and information that young people use to navigate their place in families, schools and communities. Thus the copy should be customized for these new marketing ecosystems.
The copy should be written after understanding the needs, desires, tastes, preferences, social relations and networks that characterize youth as a potential market.
2. Copy for Women- Home makers, modern women
Women are the world’s most powerful consumers. They are the big spenders, whether
you’re talking about households, corporate purchasing, or small businesses. Their purchase decision process is radically different. And they respond differently to marketing media and messages, language, and visuals. Any marketer who wants to capture a substantial share of a woman’s wallet has some gender learning to do in order to understand this previously overlooked consumer.
Men’s Marketing Doesn’t Work with Women:
Gender-based differences in perceptions, attitudes, and communication styles generate
Gender-differentiated responses in priorities, decision processes, and purchase outcomes.
We can address these differences in our marketing to great advantage, or we can ignore them at our peril. Two dimensions of the women’s buying process make them more profitable customers than men in the long run: loyalty and referrals. First, because women are more demanding in making the initial purchase in a category, they recoup their time investment by staying more loyal to the brand they’ve chosen in subsequent purchase cycles. Second, because word of mouth is more prevalent among women, they are more likely to recommend to others those brands or salespeople that impress them favorably.
It's no secret that men and women have different communication and decision making styles as well as different priorities and preferences.
Factors to keep in mind while writing copy for women
1. Few themes for writing for women:
a. Unity and safety of family
b. Care , concern and Upbringing children
c. Marriage
d. Sacrifice
2. Women pick up on details and nuances: In study after study, women pick up on details and nuances better than men. It seems that men notice or care about only the big important things, while women notice and care about the big important things and the details. To men, the smaller differentiating details either don’t register or don’t make as much difference as they do to the women. For example, women are more sensitive to interpersonal nuances – tone of voice, facial expression, and similar details then men are. Details, details. Provide plenty of specific information in various long-format media. Although credit card companies like MasterCard and American Express focus their TV ads on a single benefit, they always back them up with detailed newspaper ads and fairly lengthy direct mail contacts.
3. Men are Soloists, Women are Ensemble Players: Men look at the world from the perspective of the individual. Their core unit is “me”; and it’s important that the othe “me’s” recognize that this “me” is different, special. They take pride in self-reliance and self- determination. Women look at the world from the perspective of the group. Their core unit is “we” and the best feeling in the world is being with people with whom you have a lot in common. They take pride in their caring, consideration, and loyalty, and one way they demonstrate that is by looking out for the others in their informal tribe – family, neighbors, friends, and coworkers. One of women’s highest values is a feeling of closeness and connection with another person. As far as women are concerned, when two people are really close, they want to know everything about each other. Instead of assuming that super-clean, streamlined copy and visuals are by definition the best way to engage and motivate her, consider and test richer, more involving executions.
4. Headline versus Body Copy: Consistent with men’s inclination to simplify and strip away extraneous detail, they believe in starting with the main point and supplying specific detail only if the listener asks for it. Conversely, women will often start with a lengthy background and build up to the summary conclusion – an approach consistent with their belief in context and richness of detail. To women, the details are the good part. The guys are patient up to a point. But a woman wants the full story and “making a long story short” is not usually the best way to get and keep her attention. To engage her with your message in the first place, she needs some specifics to work with. And to serve her in her search for the Perfect Answer, she’ll require a lot of product and service information to compare against her longer list.
5. “Report Talk” versus “Rapport Talk:” Sociolinguist Dr. Deborah Tannen characterizes men’s conversation as “report talk,” whose role is to transmit information, solve problems, and establish or defend individual status. She calls women’s conversation “rapport talk,” whose purpose is to transmit information, solve problems, and create connections among individuals. If you want to have a good conversation with a woman customer, either face-to-face or via your marketing materials, you need to build in some rapport. Both genders have their own “social currency.” For men – it’s facts and figures. For women – it’s stories and personal details.
6. Personalize the communications: Use anecdotes and personal details to introduce a person or convey a situation or highlight a set of values your female audience can identify with. Use everyday language; stay away from corporate-speak and abstractions. Instead, use a lot of first-person and second-person language.
7. Focus on human benefits, not facts and features: Even the most high-tech, rational product translates into human situations with human benefits. Facts and features may be important to the final sale, but that won’t be relevant to your brand unless you capture a woman’s attention favorably first.
8. Show some emotion: Showing that somebody cares one way or another is always going to be more powerful – and memorable – to women than a sterile, high-tech presentation.
9. Things Women Don’t Want / Don’t Do / Don’t Care About:
a. Isolation, loneliness – Nobody wants isolation and loneliness, however, women don’t like it more than men. Remember, for women, freedom almost always takes a back seat to friendship. Many marketers who think they’re expressing independence and self-sufficiency need to check their communications explicitly to make sure they’re not casting shadows of solitude and distance.
b. Gloating – Women may be resigned to men’s self-reinforcing statements and carefulness to claim credit where credit is due, but they are quite uncomfortable with this behavior from themselves or from another woman. They may feel boastful inside, but strutting around shouting their virtues to the world is definitely not their style.
c. Facts and Features – Women’s people-first orientation causes them to see life problems and purchasing solutions in terms of how they impact people; facts and features are strictly secondary.
a. How the thing works – You can give women all the wonderful mechanical drawings and blueprints you want; just don’t get your hopes up that they will ever look at them. Their interest is in what benefits the products deliver, not how they work
10. BE SENSITIVE: The copy should be need to be sensitive to them. Your services need to reassure a woman that you will be around in a predictable way when she needs help.
11. Small things matter to women. These could be matching of colors, co-ordination of accessories, a texture, or a pretty hairclip. Take care of those small things, and they will shower you with their favors.
3. Writing copy for children
Young children are increasingly the target of advertising and marketing because of the amount of money they spend themselves, the influence they have on their parents spending (the nag factor) and because of the money they will spend when they grow up. Whilst this child-targetted marketing used to concentrate on sweets and toys, it now includes clothes, shoes, a range of fast foods, sports equipment, computer products and toiletries as well as adult products such as cars and credit cards. Marketers pay special attention to children, who are considered as the most vulnerable audiences because they enjoy advertisement to the maximum extent.
Children initially take advertisement as entertainment and having soft heart; force their parents for product purchase. This is called as a ‘Nag Factor’.
Industry spending on advertising to children has exploded in the past decade. Parents today are willing to buy more for their kids because trends such as smaller family size, dual incomes and postponing children until later in life mean that families have more disposable income. As well, guilt can play a role in spending decisions as time-stressed parents substitute material goods for time spent with their kids. Children represent an important demographic to marketers because they have their own purchasing power, they influence their parents' buying decisions and they're the adult consumers of the future. Marketer tries to draw children’s attention through various means like TV, Magazines, Stickers, etc.
Advertisers recognize that brand loyalties and consumer habits formed when children are young and vulnerable will be carried through to adulthood.
Factors to keep in mind while writing copy for children
1. Effective Theme for Children: To feel safe
a. To be allowed the freedom to explore
b. To play
c. Girls & boys have different patterns of growth & development (genetic factors)
d. Freedom of expression through art
e. Opportunities to exercise autonomy
2. Strong visual images and animation: It has also been found in research that children do not focus much upon the product information which includes product features, price, or product performance (Van Evra 1998). Instead, advertisers rely on strong visual images, including both live action and animation, to reach children.
3. Swift action and attractive child models: children get attracted to advertisements with up tempo music, swift action and attractive child models. Entertainment has also been found to be a function of the use of humour, catchphrases and jingles. In the literature, it has been noted that children have a liking towards TV advertisements due to the animated characters which engages children's attention.
4. Parents are considered as the primary socialisation agents for children: Most aspects of parental influence continue well into adulthood (Ward et al., 1977). Among all the social entities from which children might learn, parents appear to be the most instrumental in teaching their children consumer behaviour . Virtually majority of the children make purchases for themselves while accompanying their parents to the marketplace.
5. Like parents, peers can affect child consumer choices: Peers appear to be an important socialisation agent, contributing to the learning of the expressive elements of consumption .Several studies have speculated that children learn “expressive elements of consumption” (i.e. materialistic values and social motivations) or “affective consumption” (i.e. styles and moods of consumption) from their peers and the findings also supported such speculations. It seems clear that both parents and peers are important facilitators of children’s learning of socialisation as consumers; parents contribute greatly to the formation of children’s consumer behaviour in the earlier phases of a child’s growth, and the peers’ socialising influence increases with age as the parental influence wanes .
6. "Pester power”: Today's kids have more autonomy and decision-making power within the family than in previous generations, so it follows that kids are vocal about what they want their parents to buy. "Pester power" refers to children's ability to nag their parents into purchasing items they may not otherwise buy. Marketing to children is all about creating pester power, because advertisers know what a powerful force it can be.
7. Child like Approach: There are two approaches a writer can adopt when writing for children. One way is to write about the thoughts, actions and feelings of a child. While this works sometimes, it often does not appeal to children as it sounds unrealistic, overly sentimental and nostalgic. The second approach is spending time with children and listening closely to them can also be of great help in understanding their view of the world.
8. Themes for different age groups: A six or eight-year-old’s concerns are different from say, a ten-year-old. For a younger age group, stories with simple, positive themes, happy experiences with life’s lessons woven into them unobtrusively, work well. Older children are ready to explore more complex themes and darker experiences – relationships, fear of failure, death, competing for success, popularity and sexual identity. It must be said however, that precisely segmenting age groups is not always necessary.
9. The story is the key element in any children’s copy: A quick pace and a clear-cut course of action are essential elements of good writing. Lengthy descriptions of scenery, though couched in the most beautiful language, will not cut much ice, as this slows down the movement of the story. Neither will excessive gloom nor moralising work well. Children by and large, have an optimistic outlook on life and can be rewarding readers, eagerly accepting new ideas and thoughts.
10. Location: Be it a haunted castle, a suburban school, outer space or a tribal village, the setting of a story creates the mood for what’s to come. Done well, it also serves to ‘hook’ the reader’s interest at the start. A word of caution, though. Children dislike long descriptions, so it’s necessary to swiftly sketch in your background before your reader gets bored.
11. Characters: The characters who inhabit the story are one of its most important elements, more so than the physical background. Heroic, conflicted, adventurous, or plain nasty, the main characters need to be sketched in with strong personality traits – people who make things happen in the story. The characters could be children themselves or adults.
12. Don't preach: Preachy themes don’t work effectively, at any age. A good story will have its message built in, allowing the children to discover it on his own.
13. Language: Every generation adds its bit to language tweaks old rules and has its favourite expressions. This is especially true for teenagers. The writer aspiring to reach out to this group of readers must strike a balance between the essential rules of good grammar and contemporary expression.
4. Writing copy for senior or mature market
Three groups of senior citizens. People who are 55 and older "mature adults,"; those 68 to 74 are the "young elderly"; and those older than 75 are the "older elderly."
Growing old is a physical as well as an emotional condition.
Research shows that some attitudinal or psychographic segments in the mature market are more brand loyal than others and their loyalties are to specific classes of products, not to all products across the board
The mature market is extremely varied and will only reward marketers who are willing to deal with its complexities and pursue a targeted strategy.
The characteristic of senior citizens are:
1. Special needs
2. High discretionary incomes
3. Spare time
Factors to keep in mind while writing copy for seniors or mature market
But how can copy effectively target senior market?
1. "The key elements are to keep message direct: The over-50s are experienced consumers, so they don't want to read flowery language. Don't think you need to use short, simple-minded, condensed-book-style sales messages. On the contrary, older consumers are known to appreciate story-telling, in-depth marketing messages over hard-sell, fast-sell messages.
2. You also need to give them a lot of information: Seniors have a lot of time on their hands and so you must be prepared for answering many more detailed questions than you would for 20-year-olds. Older customers generally like and can handle detail. Contrary to conventional wisdom, their attention spans are longer and their focus more intent than with younger people if they really want to learn a topic. Explain them in detail. And tell why it is that they will benefit the older customer.
3. Don’t mention their age: You may not need to mention age in your ads. Instead, dwell on the positive aspects of their products and services. Don't bring up your customer's age unless you have a good, positive, carefully thought-out reason for doing so.
4. Copy writers must avoid depicting older consumers in negative ways: Even Matures who are not as active and healthy as they would like to be dislike advertising assaults that remind them of their problems. Don't be downbeat with older people. Be upbeat. Seniors are generally more optimistic than younger people. Also, they're less prone to depression, and are more confident about themselves and the future. They tend to have been there, and done that, and they tend to be pretty realistic about the way the world works, including the fact that everybody, sooner or later, dies.
5. Don't count on using peer pressure or herd instinct methods for persuading older consumers: The majority of older expect you to show them and prove your point. Seniors tend to not care too much about following the leader, being politically correct, doing the proper thing. They're more self-directed than other-directed.
6. But they won't turn into recklessly wasteful spendthrifts: Their style of spending, however, reflected the more cautious, disciplined values of their savings-focused outlook. Even as Matures spent, they actually saved a lot of money. And much of this spending was for others anyway, especially their children. As they age, satisfied and secure, Matures will begin to spend more money on themselves. But they won't turn into recklessly wasteful spendthrifts in the mold of their Boomer children.
7. Matures interest in pleasurable or exciting experiences for their own sake is low: They want to enjoy life, but they don't want to go overboard. The overriding attitude here is that they have enough money to enjoy their retirement, and they plan to do so - wisely and responsibly.
8. Mature consumers are persuaded by very different elements: The most persuasive element for this group are convenience in use, product results demonstrated, brand differentiating, ‘indirect comparison, and actor playing ordinary person. There were also several elements that were detrimental to persuasion. Mature consumers did not seem to respond favorably to humorous advertisements, (37 per cent decrease in persuasion), ‘nutrition/health decrease) or advertisements which had a very short time until the product/package was shown.
9. Seniors typically see themselves as 10 to 15 years younger than their age: one of the challenges copy writers faces in marketing to senior citizens is to treat them equally in advertising, almost to the point of not calling attention to them at all. This is a group that wants to be made to feel that they are part of the mainstream.
10. The more mature adult, while aging – still prefers to feel young and have youthful experiences: They have earned and expect to maintain an active, healthy lifestyle accompanied by all of the perks that go with it. Savvy advertisers can capitalize on this expectation by pointing out how the benefits of their products and services lend themselves very well to an active lifestyle. For instance, luxury items are basically a reward to the older adult that should be enjoyed to the fullest because “they deserve it.”
In general, copy for seniors should be extra clear, simple steps, preferably with lots of labeled illustrations and a minimum of jargon.
5. Writing copy for Executives
How do you get your message through the clutter and into the minds of the busiest people in the world – the C-suite? For b-to-b marketers, reaching high-level executives is about engage¬ment through personalization and through thought leadership initiatives. The C-suite audience is passionate about their careers, hobbies and causes. Your methods of reaching them must be as passionate and creative as they are. Before reaching out to the C-suite, make sure you do your homework and understand your prospects' busi¬ness enough to truly know if your prod¬uct will fulfill their important needs.C-level executives have seen the world, so it is much more difficult to capture their attention
5. Factors to keep in mind while writing copy for Executives:
1. Copy has to be relevant, engaging and impactful: You also have to fully understand the senior level executives' roles, responsibilities and concerns, and pro¬vide a personalized and customized offer that they can't find elsewhere. Missing any of these areas can result in a one-way ticket to the recycle bin.
2. Getting Them Engaged: When dealing with upper management, remind them of things they already know in a way that makes them feel smart and trust you at the same time. In business, you start with conventional wisdom and then walk them, carefully, toward the new information you want to sink in.
3. Do your homework. There is no substitute to being prepared. Take time to research what products or services the company is already using and match that to your product or services. Take it one step farther and scope out the competition! This one simple step will have you prepared and looking like a pro when asked why doing business with your small business will be better for the company.
4. Be ready with your short VP pitch. Copy writer should be able to deliver the “elevator pitch”. However, in Corporate India, the typical decision maker is bombarded with pitches all day, everyday. Copywriter must make its copy stand out and capture their attention by being ready to explain what the company does and why you’re a better alternative within 30-60 seconds. Capture the decision maker’s attention with a value proposition that delivers tangible, measurable results you know they cannot resist.
5. Be able to deliver. Big companies want to form ongoing relationships, not make spot buys, and so be sure copy mention the highlight of long term benefits.
6. Focus on the executive company need: Too often, service communications begin with a marketing message or irrelevant detail that turns off existing customers. Focus on what’s importance to executive’s company, what they need to know and do. This demonstrates that you really do put the executive company first.
7. Make it easy for executive to contact you: Your communication may raise questions or require a response, so it’s most helpful to provide clear contact information within your letter or email. Let customers know who to contact, how, and when –including days and office hours of contacts and call centers. Make it easy for customers to get help from you – they’ll appreciate that.
8. Offer Useful Information - Senior-level executives are by and large information junkies and Type-A, driven people who are always on the lookout for ways to get an edge on the competition and advance their careers. So well reviewed, top-selling business books, especially on the subjects of leadership and management, make good offers for them. In addition, offering them information they can't get anywhere else, such as a timely white paper or just released survey can be a great way to get their attention - and, a response.
9. Testimonials from peers: Senior executives value the insights of their peers. A senior executive would rather learn from the opinions of other senior executives-peers than a survey canvassing 5,000 individuals who have little in common with them. Make sure you copy give enough testimonials of other executives positive responses.
10. Connecting to outcomes: Tangible outcomes matter to executives. There has to be a “so what” that comes out of the copy. Insights connected to outcomes make the case much more compelling and give a line of sight for actions to take. Outcomes can be tangible or intangible; they can be highly or partly measurable; they can be simple or complex. The more tangible, measurable and clearly defined your results, the more they resonate with the senior executives.
BMM-Semester-V
BY: M H LAKDAWALA
Revised Notes 2014 for 20 marks test
Edition V
CHAPTER 1.
INTRODUCTION
Syllabus Unit 1:
Copywriting, Introduction, Responsibility of Copy writer.
• Attributes of a good copywriter
• Principles of copywriting
What is Copywriting?
Copywriting is the composition of headings, sub-headings and the body copy of advertisements, catalogues or brochures. Therefore, copywriters help promote businesses, ideas and opinions by writing advertisements for organisations. This is an art of writing and compiling creativity in writing content.
WORDS HAVE THE POWER TO INFLUENCE READERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF MESSAGES
WHAT IS COPY?
In advertising, copy refers to the text, or words, used in an advertisement. The body copy is the actual paragraphs of supporting text adding additional facts and benefits to the headline and greater concept, in the instance of a print ad. Where a television ad is concerned, the body copy would manifest in dialogue, the announcer's script, etc.
A copywriter verbalizes concepts in ways that inform audiences and move them to action. Their words define brands and become part of our cultural language. They play a vital role in all advertising agencies world-wide, creating the language that drives consumerism.
Copywriting is probably the most creative and demanding branch of writing. You start with a blank sheet of paper. You may have only a couple of days to meet the client’s deadline. And your work could be read by millions of people.
Who needs copywriters?
The market is vast. Every business, small and large, has to promote itself. Every company needs leaflets or direct mail letters. And every new product needs a pack that will entice us to buy it.
These days all organizations need to communicate. That includes hospitals, local authorities and charities. So the opportunities for the copywriter are infinite.
Because organizations constantly alter, their literature and ads need regularly changing, too. That keeps copywriters busy.
Attributes of a good copywriter
Distinguishing good copywriters from average copywriters involves looking at more than just the work that he or she produces. You have to take into account the entire copywriting process from receiving the brief, conceptualizing, to the finished product. Attitude and personality to are as important as their writing skill.
These are seven characteristics that make a good copywriter:
1. Creative: They have the ability to approach a copywriting project from many different angles.
2. Smart: They have a distinct curiosity about the world around them and how things work and fit together. They have a hunger for knowledge in any and all its forms.
3. Good Communicators: They are able to express, exactly, the key benefits of a product using only words and pictures. They are intrigued by language and the ability of using words to create an image.
4. Congenial: They understand the needs and struggles in people’s lives and are able to recognise both sides to an argument. They are fascinated by how people’s minds work and what makes them tick.
5. Good Readers: Copywriters are avid readers. They engage in the reading of many subjects and genres. They have a keen interest in the written word.
6. Trendy: They are always on the lookout for the latest trends and happenings in the world, so they can keep up to date.
7. Disciplined: They are experts at multi-tasking. Their ability to think outside the box allows them to take on many projects simultaneously and not miss a deadline.
PRINCIPLES OF COPYWRITING
1. You Vs We: Good copywriters will always focus on what benefits YOU will enjoy as the purchaser, not what features WE, as the company, are providing. So, to create effective advertising copy using the words ‘you’ and ‘your’ a lot and using ‘our’ and ‘we’ or ‘us’ less often is a good rule to employ. It keeps the copywriter focused on the reader rather than switching the focus back to the business. Effective sales copy must always:
• focus on the reader
• play on their hopes and fears and explain how the product or service will address them
• highlight the benefits of the product or service the purchaser will enjoy
2. WAYS: This is the least well-known of the copywriting principles explained here. Its basic premise is that copywriters should Write As You Speak. Most people do not want to be wowed with vocabulary they’ve never heard before, confused by complex sentence construction or amazed by literary style. In most circumstances the best way to approach writing sales copy is to write as you would speak to someone in a friendly, face-to-face conversation.
So, the copywriter should concentrate on:
• keeping it simple
• giving the facts needed to make an informed decision
• keeping the prospect’s question ‘What’s in it for me?’ in mind
• showing the benefits
• engaging his emotions
• creating an image in the prospect’s mind
• addressing his concerns
3. Use Attention Getting Headlines: For example – print ad for DHL uses only one word as it’s headline – “URGENT”, which is underlined in red, and is enough to attract anyone’s attention.
Star TV print ad for The Big Fight does not use words, but uses a pair of boxing gloves as headline.
4. Expand Headline with Lead Paragraph: Follow up the headline immediately with the first paragraph. If you ask a question, answer it. If you propose a thought, explain it. Don't leave them hanging too long; you may end up hanging yourself.
The ad for Maruti N2N fleet solutions uses the headline “ Who says managing a huge fleet of company cars is hard work? This is followed by the lead paragraph which explains how Maruti N2N works
5. Focus on the Reader, not the Product: Of course your copy must contain information and facts about your product or service, but that is not your focal point. You must focus the reader. Use their needs, wants, desires, fears, weaknesses, concerns, and even fantasies to sell your product or service.
The ad for Lakme Deep Pore Cleansing begins with the headline “There's a lot that shows on your face”.
The body copy includes - Now, one-and-a-half minutes is all it takes to uncover the real you. Presenting the complete Deep Pore Cleansing Regimen from Lakme. Simply because your face says it all.
6. Be Sincere: What's the number one fallback for sales on the web? Fear! Fear of being scammed or ripped-off. The more sincere you are the better your chance of building a "selling" relationship. The sincerity and genuineness of Air Sahara comes across in its ad where the body copy says – as hard as we may try at this time of the year (winter), there are chances of flight delays due to weather conditions. Every step is taken to help passengers get to their destinations on time. To make this process easier, we need your help too.
7. Make Your Product Irresistible: Dress it up. Your product should sound like the cream of the crop. Focus on your selling point (price, quality, etc) and make it impossible for the reader to imagine another in comparison.
8. Use Fear as Motivation: Fear is both a weakness and strength, but also a powerful selling tool. Fear of injury, death or missed opportunity. If you sell a safety product you would use this fear to your advantage. If you're offering an opportunity, the fear of missing their chance is a strong seller. Many ads for financial services use fear to motivate their target.For example in the ad for New India Assurance – Shop Owners Policy, a shop owner imagines a riot occurring near his shop, which causes damage to his shop I.e. the physical property. Thus fear is used to motivate shop owners to get their shops insured under the policy offered by NIA.
9. Be Personable: Let them know that there is a kind, honest and real person behind the page. People would rather deal with people, not companies, corporations or conglomerates. Add the "Human Touch" to your copy. Ex: the institutional ad for Eureka Forbes which shows model Aditi Gowatrikar with her child has a human touch to it, what with the body copy saying – “…times have changed. Yet your dreams remain the same. So open up. Say ‘yes’ to life…”
Use "Power"ful Words: "Power" words are words that move a buyer by enhancing and reinforcing your presented idea. Certain words have proven to be movers and shakers in the advertising world.
Examples of persuasive and attention-grabbing words
Easy Convenient Exclusive Indulge
Genuine Advantages Comfortable Dependable
Immediate Instant WANTED WARNING
More Biggest Oldest Original
10. Check Your Spelling : Take the time and spell-check your work. Finding misspelled words in copy leaves the reader wondering how competent your product or service could be, if you cannot take the time to be sure you spelled the words in your web copy correctly.
11. Use Photo's to Demonstrate: Use photos to demonstrate your product or service. If used correctly a picture really is worth a thousand words. Ads for cosmetics generally use photographs to demonstrate the benefits of using the product – smooth skin, fairness, etc.
12. Use Graphics to get Attention: Using buttons, icons and arrows can help direct the reader's attention to important details. If organized correctly they can also help sort facts or messages into categories. The ad for Toyota Qualis uses arrows to draw the readers’ attention to the unique features of the vehicle such as integrated bumper; wood finishes paneling, captain seats, etc.
13. Offer Testimonials : Offer short, reputable testimonials. People want to hear what others have to say about your product or service. Diana Hayden – Miss World 1996 offers testimonial for Loreal Hair color.
14. Create a Memorable Logo: Create a simple, but memorable logo or custom graphic that your visitor can easily relate to your product or service. Examples: McDonald Golden Arches
15. Create an Unforgettable Slogan: Use a short, easy to remember slogan that a reader will walk away with on his or her lips.
Nike – Just Do It.
Visa – Go get it
Pepsi – Yeh Dil Maange More
Asian Paints – Merawalla….
16. Get a response : There are many techniques for getting a prospect to respond. Spell it out for them. Tell them to respond. Tell them why they should respond. Give them a reason they should respond now. Offer a bonus or freebie if they respond. This can be done by using words like – order now, order today, for a short time only, last chance, etc. Ex: Service – ICICI Bank – Two Wheeler Loans,
Marketing Brief or Marketing Communications Brief:
Def:
Marketing brief is a document outlining the expectations by a company's marketing team regarding a finished project. The marketing team can clearly define what they want the creative team to create. Follow these tips to create a marketing brief so all parties involved will know what work is expected of them.
The purpose of marketing brief:
a. To help assess client’s current situation, both internally and relative to its competition. It’s the starting point for any work agency do for their customers.
b. Marketing brief provide the foundation for refining clients marketing message and revising and updating their marketing and advertising program.
c. To clearly lay out a framework for the creative team. The process can be driven by either side - creative or marketing - but both sides need to agree on the brief before the work can commence.
a) Where are we? (Situational analysis - the market, trends, competitive analysis, etc.)
b) Where are we going? (opportunities, objectives & strategy)
c) How are we going to get there? (actions, plans & controls)
The process begins with the benefit of a client brief advertising brief or Agency Brief, over the phone, via email or at a face-to-face meeting. The aim of the first briefing is to get to know the marketing objectives, to confirm the budget and establish the critical timings.
There are many different ways of creating a written briefing format for marketing brief. The format should reflect the company’s beliefs about how communications work and therefore what is important enough to be included in the brief. Some advertisers may use versions of their agencies’ creative brief formats as a basis for their own. Whilst this may initially look as if it is encouraging a collaborative way of working, it does demonstrate a lack of belief in the company’s own practices. An agency’s internal creative brief usually serves the fundamentally different purpose of inspiring their own creative people. A client marketing communications brief needs to inspire the whole agency team to deliver the best communications. Most marcoms briefs also act as a business process document to initiate a job start – in effect it’s a purchase order and since large sums of money will be involved in both time and resources it needs to be taken very seriously.
The most marketing communications briefs have three broad areas of heading:
1. Those that describe the background,
2. The brief itself, and an implementation and
3. Process section.
Format of a Marketing Brief
The background headers might include
1. Background Background: Usually covers the business and marketing context and why the task is important
2. Marketing or Sales Objectives: This sometimes includes the business case for the activity
3. Brand:
Remarkably this is often overlooked. It might include brand identity/brand capsule/brand vision/brand architecture/brand status/brand values/brand personality
4. Previous Learning: Again a section which is only used occasionally, but may have wider potential
The main communications brief section headers might include
5. Communications objectives: Sometimes they might be expressed as communications imperatives/ challenges/barriers
6. Target audience: Usually this section asks for more than simple demographics and specifically prompts for attitudes or other motivators
7. Consumer insights: Sometimes specifically linked to the objective
8. Key message/proposition: Often phrased as the single-minded proposition/the one thing we want to say
9. Consumer takeout: Or consumer take away/what they will think or do
10. Tone of voice: As distinct from brand personality
The implementation and process headers might include
11. Timings/key dates: May include project timelines as well as timing for response
12. Budget: May specify if production is included or not
13. Evaluation/success criteria: A critical element for most disciplines
14. Mandatories /guidelines: May include what must be included and executional considerations
15. Approvals: Signatures of both those issuing/approving the brief and the agency
I. Understanding the psychographics of target audience
Psychographics are a way to measure consumers’ beliefs, opinions, and buying habits. Rather than demographics which use age, income, gender and other quantitative data, psychographics provide a way to understand more qualitative data. Psychographics can be extremely helpful to predict differences in buying patterns and stimulating ideas for communicating with the target group.
Psychographics of various audiences and writing Copy for them
1. Writing copy for Youth
Youth Marketing is a term used in the marketing and advertising industry to describe activities to communicate with young people, typically in the age range of 12 to 34. More specifically, there is the Tween Marketing, targeting people in the 8 to 12 year-old range, Teen Marketing, targeting people age 13 to 19, College Marketing, targeting college-age consumers, typically ages 18 to 21, Young Adult Marketing, targeting young professionals, typically ages 22 and above.
The youth market is critical because of the demographic's buying power and its members' influence on the spending of family members. In addition, teens and young adults often set trends that are adopted by other demographic groups. Nonetheless, many brands market to youth by offering relevant products and services while communicating a brand message in an appropriate voice and tone. Successful brands marketing to youth have a foundation in or association with key interests and drivers among youth: music, sports, fashion, video gaming and technology, among others.
Today young people expect to be able to learn about, interact and be entertained by with brands or services targeting them online. Other common youth marketing tactics include entertainment marketing, music marketing, sports marketing, event marketing, viral marketing, school and college programs, product sampling and influencer marketing.
Youth don’t want better content—more memes—they want a better social experience. Developing successful youth copy depends on this. It isn’t enough to speak to youth; they must be engaged in a way that allows them to share and to contribute—with your brand and with each other
The essentials of writing a good copy for writing copy for youth:
1. EXCLUSIVE ATTENTION: The most important factor is the never-ending desire to be accepted, to belong. For many members of Generation Y (now aged around 12–20 years), this is by far one of the most pressing issues confronting them in daily life. Thus the copy should not focus on the product, instead copy place the young buyer in a position of exclusive attention during conversations. For instance, a growing number of iPhone users are beginning to purchase unique applications, despite the availability of many free ones.
2. CONNECT: At the end of the day, youth don’t want a dialogue with the brand and they don’t want to be your friend on Facebook. All they want is that the brand help them connect with each other. Copy should not interrupt their conversations, but support them.
3. CONNECT WITH THEIR PARENTS: Younger generations (both Z and their older counterparts, Y) tend to be very close to their parents and often consult them on life decisions, large and small
4. CONTEXT: It’s not just about content—context matters, too. Content is the product—the “what” we buy. Context is the feeling we get when. We buy something—the “why” we buy. Content is driven by logic while context is driven by emotion. Content is advertising, sponsorship, thought leadership, emails, blog posts, public relations. Context is community, contribution, events, crowd-sourced projects. Companies create content. Customers create context.
5. DETAILED COPY: To fulfill youth need to enhance and continuously update an online presence through website, multimedia, content and social networks.
6. PERSONALIZATION: The copy should focus on personalization and relationships as opposed to sales pitches.
7. UTILITY: The copy should highlight the products and features long-term utility, particularly when it comes to high-end purchases.
8. SUBSTANCE: Yes, enticing packaging is no longer enough. Youngsters today have evolved and place a higher currency on the content. It might not glitter, but it better be gold!
9. CONVERSATIONS: At the point of sale, the youth make a choice easily if prior conversations about the brand have taken place within their friends/peer group. The copy should include references of peer groups.
10. ENGAGEMENT: Given the high level of clutter, young people's choices tend to tilt towards brands that engage them in a sustained manner. The target group also responds more positively on activations. For instance, games/events in college festivals where the product is strategically embedded in their environment stand a better chance of achieving higher brand recall.
11. HUMOUR: Young adult consumers feel less threatened by the brand as its motives appear more sincere and less commercially charged on the surface. It is no wonder that youth respond positively to advertisements that amuse them. Highly attuned to entertainment and popular culture, youth are familiar with the puffery i.e. exaggerated or false praise, that is in circulation and distrust it. Longing for authenticity, they seek refuge in humor and straight talk, the powerful tools they implement to communicate with their friends. Therefore, advertisers tap into this avenue acting as consumers’ confidantes to regain this group’s trust.
12. VALUES: If the brand can successfully channel the values praised by the youth, the brand is believed to have deserved their loyalty. “Entertaining copy, produced on the youth own terms, proved to be the olive branch marketers needed to gain legitimacy. Youth are willing to strike a pact with the brands, and that pact is, if creative humor and entertaining copy is design then the youth will stay, watch, and even actively engage with the ad.
13. TALKING WITH: The copy approach should be oriented towards “talking with” as opposed to “talking at” the youth.
14. NEW 'MARKETING ECOSYSTEM: Youth of all ages now find themselves in what the Berkeley Media Studies Group and the Center for Digital Democracy call "a new 'marketing ecosystem' that encompasses cell phones, mobile music devices, broadband video, instant messaging, video games and virtual three-dimensional worlds," all of which provide the knowledge and information that young people use to navigate their place in families, schools and communities. Thus the copy should be customized for these new marketing ecosystems.
The copy should be written after understanding the needs, desires, tastes, preferences, social relations and networks that characterize youth as a potential market.
2. Copy for Women- Home makers, modern women
Women are the world’s most powerful consumers. They are the big spenders, whether
you’re talking about households, corporate purchasing, or small businesses. Their purchase decision process is radically different. And they respond differently to marketing media and messages, language, and visuals. Any marketer who wants to capture a substantial share of a woman’s wallet has some gender learning to do in order to understand this previously overlooked consumer.
Men’s Marketing Doesn’t Work with Women:
Gender-based differences in perceptions, attitudes, and communication styles generate
Gender-differentiated responses in priorities, decision processes, and purchase outcomes.
We can address these differences in our marketing to great advantage, or we can ignore them at our peril. Two dimensions of the women’s buying process make them more profitable customers than men in the long run: loyalty and referrals. First, because women are more demanding in making the initial purchase in a category, they recoup their time investment by staying more loyal to the brand they’ve chosen in subsequent purchase cycles. Second, because word of mouth is more prevalent among women, they are more likely to recommend to others those brands or salespeople that impress them favorably.
It's no secret that men and women have different communication and decision making styles as well as different priorities and preferences.
Factors to keep in mind while writing copy for women
1. Few themes for writing for women:
a. Unity and safety of family
b. Care , concern and Upbringing children
c. Marriage
d. Sacrifice
2. Women pick up on details and nuances: In study after study, women pick up on details and nuances better than men. It seems that men notice or care about only the big important things, while women notice and care about the big important things and the details. To men, the smaller differentiating details either don’t register or don’t make as much difference as they do to the women. For example, women are more sensitive to interpersonal nuances – tone of voice, facial expression, and similar details then men are. Details, details. Provide plenty of specific information in various long-format media. Although credit card companies like MasterCard and American Express focus their TV ads on a single benefit, they always back them up with detailed newspaper ads and fairly lengthy direct mail contacts.
3. Men are Soloists, Women are Ensemble Players: Men look at the world from the perspective of the individual. Their core unit is “me”; and it’s important that the othe “me’s” recognize that this “me” is different, special. They take pride in self-reliance and self- determination. Women look at the world from the perspective of the group. Their core unit is “we” and the best feeling in the world is being with people with whom you have a lot in common. They take pride in their caring, consideration, and loyalty, and one way they demonstrate that is by looking out for the others in their informal tribe – family, neighbors, friends, and coworkers. One of women’s highest values is a feeling of closeness and connection with another person. As far as women are concerned, when two people are really close, they want to know everything about each other. Instead of assuming that super-clean, streamlined copy and visuals are by definition the best way to engage and motivate her, consider and test richer, more involving executions.
4. Headline versus Body Copy: Consistent with men’s inclination to simplify and strip away extraneous detail, they believe in starting with the main point and supplying specific detail only if the listener asks for it. Conversely, women will often start with a lengthy background and build up to the summary conclusion – an approach consistent with their belief in context and richness of detail. To women, the details are the good part. The guys are patient up to a point. But a woman wants the full story and “making a long story short” is not usually the best way to get and keep her attention. To engage her with your message in the first place, she needs some specifics to work with. And to serve her in her search for the Perfect Answer, she’ll require a lot of product and service information to compare against her longer list.
5. “Report Talk” versus “Rapport Talk:” Sociolinguist Dr. Deborah Tannen characterizes men’s conversation as “report talk,” whose role is to transmit information, solve problems, and establish or defend individual status. She calls women’s conversation “rapport talk,” whose purpose is to transmit information, solve problems, and create connections among individuals. If you want to have a good conversation with a woman customer, either face-to-face or via your marketing materials, you need to build in some rapport. Both genders have their own “social currency.” For men – it’s facts and figures. For women – it’s stories and personal details.
6. Personalize the communications: Use anecdotes and personal details to introduce a person or convey a situation or highlight a set of values your female audience can identify with. Use everyday language; stay away from corporate-speak and abstractions. Instead, use a lot of first-person and second-person language.
7. Focus on human benefits, not facts and features: Even the most high-tech, rational product translates into human situations with human benefits. Facts and features may be important to the final sale, but that won’t be relevant to your brand unless you capture a woman’s attention favorably first.
8. Show some emotion: Showing that somebody cares one way or another is always going to be more powerful – and memorable – to women than a sterile, high-tech presentation.
9. Things Women Don’t Want / Don’t Do / Don’t Care About:
a. Isolation, loneliness – Nobody wants isolation and loneliness, however, women don’t like it more than men. Remember, for women, freedom almost always takes a back seat to friendship. Many marketers who think they’re expressing independence and self-sufficiency need to check their communications explicitly to make sure they’re not casting shadows of solitude and distance.
b. Gloating – Women may be resigned to men’s self-reinforcing statements and carefulness to claim credit where credit is due, but they are quite uncomfortable with this behavior from themselves or from another woman. They may feel boastful inside, but strutting around shouting their virtues to the world is definitely not their style.
c. Facts and Features – Women’s people-first orientation causes them to see life problems and purchasing solutions in terms of how they impact people; facts and features are strictly secondary.
a. How the thing works – You can give women all the wonderful mechanical drawings and blueprints you want; just don’t get your hopes up that they will ever look at them. Their interest is in what benefits the products deliver, not how they work
10. BE SENSITIVE: The copy should be need to be sensitive to them. Your services need to reassure a woman that you will be around in a predictable way when she needs help.
11. Small things matter to women. These could be matching of colors, co-ordination of accessories, a texture, or a pretty hairclip. Take care of those small things, and they will shower you with their favors.
3. Writing copy for children
Young children are increasingly the target of advertising and marketing because of the amount of money they spend themselves, the influence they have on their parents spending (the nag factor) and because of the money they will spend when they grow up. Whilst this child-targetted marketing used to concentrate on sweets and toys, it now includes clothes, shoes, a range of fast foods, sports equipment, computer products and toiletries as well as adult products such as cars and credit cards. Marketers pay special attention to children, who are considered as the most vulnerable audiences because they enjoy advertisement to the maximum extent.
Children initially take advertisement as entertainment and having soft heart; force their parents for product purchase. This is called as a ‘Nag Factor’.
Industry spending on advertising to children has exploded in the past decade. Parents today are willing to buy more for their kids because trends such as smaller family size, dual incomes and postponing children until later in life mean that families have more disposable income. As well, guilt can play a role in spending decisions as time-stressed parents substitute material goods for time spent with their kids. Children represent an important demographic to marketers because they have their own purchasing power, they influence their parents' buying decisions and they're the adult consumers of the future. Marketer tries to draw children’s attention through various means like TV, Magazines, Stickers, etc.
Advertisers recognize that brand loyalties and consumer habits formed when children are young and vulnerable will be carried through to adulthood.
Factors to keep in mind while writing copy for children
1. Effective Theme for Children: To feel safe
a. To be allowed the freedom to explore
b. To play
c. Girls & boys have different patterns of growth & development (genetic factors)
d. Freedom of expression through art
e. Opportunities to exercise autonomy
2. Strong visual images and animation: It has also been found in research that children do not focus much upon the product information which includes product features, price, or product performance (Van Evra 1998). Instead, advertisers rely on strong visual images, including both live action and animation, to reach children.
3. Swift action and attractive child models: children get attracted to advertisements with up tempo music, swift action and attractive child models. Entertainment has also been found to be a function of the use of humour, catchphrases and jingles. In the literature, it has been noted that children have a liking towards TV advertisements due to the animated characters which engages children's attention.
4. Parents are considered as the primary socialisation agents for children: Most aspects of parental influence continue well into adulthood (Ward et al., 1977). Among all the social entities from which children might learn, parents appear to be the most instrumental in teaching their children consumer behaviour . Virtually majority of the children make purchases for themselves while accompanying their parents to the marketplace.
5. Like parents, peers can affect child consumer choices: Peers appear to be an important socialisation agent, contributing to the learning of the expressive elements of consumption .Several studies have speculated that children learn “expressive elements of consumption” (i.e. materialistic values and social motivations) or “affective consumption” (i.e. styles and moods of consumption) from their peers and the findings also supported such speculations. It seems clear that both parents and peers are important facilitators of children’s learning of socialisation as consumers; parents contribute greatly to the formation of children’s consumer behaviour in the earlier phases of a child’s growth, and the peers’ socialising influence increases with age as the parental influence wanes .
6. "Pester power”: Today's kids have more autonomy and decision-making power within the family than in previous generations, so it follows that kids are vocal about what they want their parents to buy. "Pester power" refers to children's ability to nag their parents into purchasing items they may not otherwise buy. Marketing to children is all about creating pester power, because advertisers know what a powerful force it can be.
7. Child like Approach: There are two approaches a writer can adopt when writing for children. One way is to write about the thoughts, actions and feelings of a child. While this works sometimes, it often does not appeal to children as it sounds unrealistic, overly sentimental and nostalgic. The second approach is spending time with children and listening closely to them can also be of great help in understanding their view of the world.
8. Themes for different age groups: A six or eight-year-old’s concerns are different from say, a ten-year-old. For a younger age group, stories with simple, positive themes, happy experiences with life’s lessons woven into them unobtrusively, work well. Older children are ready to explore more complex themes and darker experiences – relationships, fear of failure, death, competing for success, popularity and sexual identity. It must be said however, that precisely segmenting age groups is not always necessary.
9. The story is the key element in any children’s copy: A quick pace and a clear-cut course of action are essential elements of good writing. Lengthy descriptions of scenery, though couched in the most beautiful language, will not cut much ice, as this slows down the movement of the story. Neither will excessive gloom nor moralising work well. Children by and large, have an optimistic outlook on life and can be rewarding readers, eagerly accepting new ideas and thoughts.
10. Location: Be it a haunted castle, a suburban school, outer space or a tribal village, the setting of a story creates the mood for what’s to come. Done well, it also serves to ‘hook’ the reader’s interest at the start. A word of caution, though. Children dislike long descriptions, so it’s necessary to swiftly sketch in your background before your reader gets bored.
11. Characters: The characters who inhabit the story are one of its most important elements, more so than the physical background. Heroic, conflicted, adventurous, or plain nasty, the main characters need to be sketched in with strong personality traits – people who make things happen in the story. The characters could be children themselves or adults.
12. Don't preach: Preachy themes don’t work effectively, at any age. A good story will have its message built in, allowing the children to discover it on his own.
13. Language: Every generation adds its bit to language tweaks old rules and has its favourite expressions. This is especially true for teenagers. The writer aspiring to reach out to this group of readers must strike a balance between the essential rules of good grammar and contemporary expression.
4. Writing copy for senior or mature market
Three groups of senior citizens. People who are 55 and older "mature adults,"; those 68 to 74 are the "young elderly"; and those older than 75 are the "older elderly."
Growing old is a physical as well as an emotional condition.
Research shows that some attitudinal or psychographic segments in the mature market are more brand loyal than others and their loyalties are to specific classes of products, not to all products across the board
The mature market is extremely varied and will only reward marketers who are willing to deal with its complexities and pursue a targeted strategy.
The characteristic of senior citizens are:
1. Special needs
2. High discretionary incomes
3. Spare time
Factors to keep in mind while writing copy for seniors or mature market
But how can copy effectively target senior market?
1. "The key elements are to keep message direct: The over-50s are experienced consumers, so they don't want to read flowery language. Don't think you need to use short, simple-minded, condensed-book-style sales messages. On the contrary, older consumers are known to appreciate story-telling, in-depth marketing messages over hard-sell, fast-sell messages.
2. You also need to give them a lot of information: Seniors have a lot of time on their hands and so you must be prepared for answering many more detailed questions than you would for 20-year-olds. Older customers generally like and can handle detail. Contrary to conventional wisdom, their attention spans are longer and their focus more intent than with younger people if they really want to learn a topic. Explain them in detail. And tell why it is that they will benefit the older customer.
3. Don’t mention their age: You may not need to mention age in your ads. Instead, dwell on the positive aspects of their products and services. Don't bring up your customer's age unless you have a good, positive, carefully thought-out reason for doing so.
4. Copy writers must avoid depicting older consumers in negative ways: Even Matures who are not as active and healthy as they would like to be dislike advertising assaults that remind them of their problems. Don't be downbeat with older people. Be upbeat. Seniors are generally more optimistic than younger people. Also, they're less prone to depression, and are more confident about themselves and the future. They tend to have been there, and done that, and they tend to be pretty realistic about the way the world works, including the fact that everybody, sooner or later, dies.
5. Don't count on using peer pressure or herd instinct methods for persuading older consumers: The majority of older expect you to show them and prove your point. Seniors tend to not care too much about following the leader, being politically correct, doing the proper thing. They're more self-directed than other-directed.
6. But they won't turn into recklessly wasteful spendthrifts: Their style of spending, however, reflected the more cautious, disciplined values of their savings-focused outlook. Even as Matures spent, they actually saved a lot of money. And much of this spending was for others anyway, especially their children. As they age, satisfied and secure, Matures will begin to spend more money on themselves. But they won't turn into recklessly wasteful spendthrifts in the mold of their Boomer children.
7. Matures interest in pleasurable or exciting experiences for their own sake is low: They want to enjoy life, but they don't want to go overboard. The overriding attitude here is that they have enough money to enjoy their retirement, and they plan to do so - wisely and responsibly.
8. Mature consumers are persuaded by very different elements: The most persuasive element for this group are convenience in use, product results demonstrated, brand differentiating, ‘indirect comparison, and actor playing ordinary person. There were also several elements that were detrimental to persuasion. Mature consumers did not seem to respond favorably to humorous advertisements, (37 per cent decrease in persuasion), ‘nutrition/health decrease) or advertisements which had a very short time until the product/package was shown.
9. Seniors typically see themselves as 10 to 15 years younger than their age: one of the challenges copy writers faces in marketing to senior citizens is to treat them equally in advertising, almost to the point of not calling attention to them at all. This is a group that wants to be made to feel that they are part of the mainstream.
10. The more mature adult, while aging – still prefers to feel young and have youthful experiences: They have earned and expect to maintain an active, healthy lifestyle accompanied by all of the perks that go with it. Savvy advertisers can capitalize on this expectation by pointing out how the benefits of their products and services lend themselves very well to an active lifestyle. For instance, luxury items are basically a reward to the older adult that should be enjoyed to the fullest because “they deserve it.”
In general, copy for seniors should be extra clear, simple steps, preferably with lots of labeled illustrations and a minimum of jargon.
5. Writing copy for Executives
How do you get your message through the clutter and into the minds of the busiest people in the world – the C-suite? For b-to-b marketers, reaching high-level executives is about engage¬ment through personalization and through thought leadership initiatives. The C-suite audience is passionate about their careers, hobbies and causes. Your methods of reaching them must be as passionate and creative as they are. Before reaching out to the C-suite, make sure you do your homework and understand your prospects' busi¬ness enough to truly know if your prod¬uct will fulfill their important needs.C-level executives have seen the world, so it is much more difficult to capture their attention
5. Factors to keep in mind while writing copy for Executives:
1. Copy has to be relevant, engaging and impactful: You also have to fully understand the senior level executives' roles, responsibilities and concerns, and pro¬vide a personalized and customized offer that they can't find elsewhere. Missing any of these areas can result in a one-way ticket to the recycle bin.
2. Getting Them Engaged: When dealing with upper management, remind them of things they already know in a way that makes them feel smart and trust you at the same time. In business, you start with conventional wisdom and then walk them, carefully, toward the new information you want to sink in.
3. Do your homework. There is no substitute to being prepared. Take time to research what products or services the company is already using and match that to your product or services. Take it one step farther and scope out the competition! This one simple step will have you prepared and looking like a pro when asked why doing business with your small business will be better for the company.
4. Be ready with your short VP pitch. Copy writer should be able to deliver the “elevator pitch”. However, in Corporate India, the typical decision maker is bombarded with pitches all day, everyday. Copywriter must make its copy stand out and capture their attention by being ready to explain what the company does and why you’re a better alternative within 30-60 seconds. Capture the decision maker’s attention with a value proposition that delivers tangible, measurable results you know they cannot resist.
5. Be able to deliver. Big companies want to form ongoing relationships, not make spot buys, and so be sure copy mention the highlight of long term benefits.
6. Focus on the executive company need: Too often, service communications begin with a marketing message or irrelevant detail that turns off existing customers. Focus on what’s importance to executive’s company, what they need to know and do. This demonstrates that you really do put the executive company first.
7. Make it easy for executive to contact you: Your communication may raise questions or require a response, so it’s most helpful to provide clear contact information within your letter or email. Let customers know who to contact, how, and when –including days and office hours of contacts and call centers. Make it easy for customers to get help from you – they’ll appreciate that.
8. Offer Useful Information - Senior-level executives are by and large information junkies and Type-A, driven people who are always on the lookout for ways to get an edge on the competition and advance their careers. So well reviewed, top-selling business books, especially on the subjects of leadership and management, make good offers for them. In addition, offering them information they can't get anywhere else, such as a timely white paper or just released survey can be a great way to get their attention - and, a response.
9. Testimonials from peers: Senior executives value the insights of their peers. A senior executive would rather learn from the opinions of other senior executives-peers than a survey canvassing 5,000 individuals who have little in common with them. Make sure you copy give enough testimonials of other executives positive responses.
10. Connecting to outcomes: Tangible outcomes matter to executives. There has to be a “so what” that comes out of the copy. Insights connected to outcomes make the case much more compelling and give a line of sight for actions to take. Outcomes can be tangible or intangible; they can be highly or partly measurable; they can be simple or complex. The more tangible, measurable and clearly defined your results, the more they resonate with the senior executives.