Conciseness is most important in advertisements, when a passerby has only a few seconds to read and understand the copy alongside the image.
Whether the copy is intended for a print ad, online ad, radio ad, or TV commercial, there are a few writing secrets that can ensure effective copy when applied to any medium. Anyone who has ever been persuaded to laugh, cry or buy from an ad knows that the copy is just as important as the accompanying image or audio. A successful copywriter knows that while some writing secrets are simply inherent in good copywriting, others are drawn from some of the marketing basics.
One of the most important copyright secrets is to keep your copy as concise as possible. This involves omitting extraneous words and communicating the necessary information using sentences that are as short as possible. Conciseness is most important in advertisements, when a passerby has only a few seconds to read and understand the copy alongside the image. Brevity is also critical in print, online, radio, and TV ads to save money, as many ads are billed per word or per second. Advertising professionals often refer to concise copy as “cutting,” meaning it packs the most punch with the fewest words.
Engaging your ad’s target audience is one of the secrets of copywriting, requiring marketing and demographics, as well as strong writing skills. Whether the copywriter is employed as a freelancer or with an agency, he needs to acquire a clear mental picture of the ad’s target audience. Once the copywriter has acquired details such as the average age, gender, and buying patterns or behavior of the target group, he can begin to present concepts that can attract the attention of that specific group. Engaging the target audience can also mean “speaking the language” of the target audience, literally. For example, a cell phone ad targeting teens might include abbreviations and emoticons that that age group typically uses when texting.
One of the most common writing secrets used in recent years is intelligence. Unlike the strong language skills and demographic knowledge required to write, there is a creative element to writing that cannot always be taught. Clever writing also tends to appeal to non-target audiences, creating a fun or memorable ad that can become part of popular culture. However, when it comes to radio or television commercials, translating the copy into a clever ad largely depends on the artists’ delivery of the script.