The Copywriter's Toolbox

  Looking for inspiration for your next marketing communication? Try the children’s bookshelf. Dr. Seuss has entertained young (and old) audiences for nearly 50 years with titles such as The Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop and Green Eggs and Ham. The reason why his books remain so popular says something about what makes for good writing (and reading), no matter who or where the audience is. Nouns and Verbs Nothing keeps readers moving like strong noun-verb combinations. If the sentence were a train, nouns and verbs would be the engine. Adjectives, adverbs and the other parts of speech make the train longer and slower. Dr. Seuss' sentences have strong engines pulling light loads to keep readers moving down the tracks. Lots of Periods A byproduct of eliminating the extraneous words is shorter sentence length. Lots of periods. Paradoxically, more sentences of shorter length increase reading speed and comprehension. Dr. Seuss, as are many children's authors, is a champion of the short

 To write successful copy, you need to know as much as you can. It goes beyond reading background materials, reviewing old marketing pieces and doing some cursory research on the Web. You need to get inside people’s heads. Start with your clients. They know their business and their customers better than you do. (If they don’t, they should. You can help them learn more.) How? Use a marketing/creative brief to get the information you need to ace the copywriting (and marketing) assignment. (A marketing/creative brief is a tool used by ad agencies and corporate marketing and creative departments.) Following is a marketing/creative brief adapted from one I used during my stint at a Seattle ad agency. Even though I now work solo, I still use it today. (Begin form) Marketing/Creative Brief (Note: Designed for B2B; much of this brief is also applicable to B2C.) Good input is key to a successful project, campaign, or marketing program. This marketing/creative brief is designed to elicit good in

  Nothing can turn strong copy into a 97-pound weakling faster than a flawed review process. The result is severely handicapped marketing efforts and, alas, fewer sales. Find out how you can avoid this dire marketing situation. Nothing can turn strong copy into a 97-pound weakling faster than a flawed review process. The result is severely handicapped marketing efforts and, alas, fewer sales. How can you avoid this dire marketing situation? By having a smart and consistent review process that preserves the selling power of your marketing communications. Following are 7 essential tips for reviewing and approving copy. 1. Review the copy from the customers’ perspective. On the first pass, read the copy (all of it) without your red pen in hand or editing hat on. That’s how your customers or audience will read it. Now, what do you think? Does the concept work? Did the headline grab your attention? How was the tone? Does the copy flow? If you begin by editing the first sentence or sweating