Advertorial/Hybrid Copy Writing

Transcription

1 Advertorial/Hybrid Copy Writing Know Your Audience You can t write anything if you don t know who is going to read your article and what would motivate your target audience to read it. You also have to know what kind of publication your piece will appear in. Writing a piece for a consumer publication versus an industry-only publication will impact the tone, format and scope of your message. Industry-only publications, for example, usually require more benefits-focused messages; whereas, consumer publications prefer more life-style kinds of copy. So the language you would use for an industry piece would be more matter of fact and direct, e.g. increase sales or improve customer satisfaction. A consumer publication piece would focus on life-style improvements, e.g. You can train harder or From concept to production, these boots incorporate skatestyle aesthetics and functionality Both contexts require stressing benefits to the reader, but what is emphasized and how the copy captures these benefits is specific to each audience and genre. Overall, you want to reflect the needs and expectations of your audience. Remember the theory of community and identification. Watch your tone Article Level: Set the right tone for the whole piece, e.g. serious, funny, light, ironic, scientific, etc. Choose a tone that reflects your message, e.g. use language that creates a serious tone for a piece on politics. You use words like responsibility or commitment. Sometimes you can break this rule, especially if you are trying to portray a positive side about an opinion leader, e.g. show that a CEO is human and fun loving. Here, you can use language that is light and expressive. You can also take a trivial topic, like a hobby or sport and infuse it with language that elevates it to a serious level or heroic level, e.g. feat, challenge, passion, hallmark, etc. 1

2 Sentence Level: Stay away from the passive of voice and use the active voice as much as possible. Passive e.g. The food was cooked. Active e.g. John cooked dinner. Passive e.g. The game was won by the Rockets. Active e.g. The Rockets won the game. Make Succinct Points & Sentences Be clear and use short sentences. Aim to write sentences in words and keep it to one point. Break up a complex idea into several sentences. Watch for redundant words and phrases. Break these rules if your audience and context warrants it, e.g. Technical pubs or highbrow magazines like The New Yorker. Watch Your Level of Diction Does your message, story and tone work better with certain levels of language? E.g. do you use apprehend, or obtain or get. They all mean the same thing, but convey different social/economic meanings, i.e. symbolic meanings. Jargon and slang are controversial topics in copy writing. Some schools of thought argue it s ok to use them depending on the audience or the message you are conveying, e.g. Whaz up line from ****beer commercial. Critics, in this case, would argue this Pop reference is too closed for the majority of our culture to understand. Proponents would argue that this is precisely the point, i.e. you have to be in on the reference to get it, which is just like the product, i.e. it s for a select group of consumers, or drink our beer and you are part of this community of cool. You can use language to include or exclude. Just ensure whatever level of language you use supports the message in your copy. 2

3 Adjectives & Adverbs Rule You can create an image or feeling in the reader s mind by using simple but descriptive adjectives and adverbs. e.g. and began making the same solitary promises he made to himself while skating. Why not just same promises? What does solitary convey to and evoke in the reader? Maybe individualism the same quality found in pro athletes and the American dream? This word has symbolic weight if interpreted within this framework. Adjectives describe, or give more information about, nouns person, place or thing. E.g. solitary promise. Adverbs describe, or give more information about, verbs actions. E.g. I seriously hated it. Stay on Message Follow the notes you created at the brainstorming/briefing stage. Keep on asking yourself, how does this word, sentence, idea or image support the message that I want to convey and the reader to understand. Use Skills from PR Writing and Interviewing Use what you ve already learned about writing a PR and take a look at an interview piece that your target audience would read. Borrow the language and structural parts of each genre that would give your piece authenticity. Use Quotations Like the press release and TV endorsements, hearing from the horse s mouth gives the sense of first-hand experience. It s like your buddy turning to you and saying, you gotta try these out they re so cool. Use quotations from recognized experts in the area or evangelical consumers. You must create authenticity with your message. 3

4 Keep It Subtle Focus on an opinion leader. Write your piece like a feature article or an interview piece. Model your piece on an already established model, or take it up a notch and subvert an already established model. Weave A Story No one will read your piece if it doesn t have a story. Make sure the story reflects the message you are on. In journalism, the story has to have an angle, e.g. boy meets girl, prodigal son, utopia/distopia, rags to riches, or overcoming the odds. Just think of most Hollywood movies and you will understand this idea of story archetypes. Archetypes and myths are the basic ways that humans understand the world, e.g. Burke s ideas around symbols at both language and narrative levels. People identify with stories and characters within them, e.g Mac Superbowl Ad. Example from Todd Richards Reinventing Himself All the leaves have fallen from the trees. An autumn breeze carries a chill, and the light of day is fading. Youth Brigade cranks from the battered radio while Wachusett High sophomore Todd Richards, alone on a backyard skateboard ramp of plywood and pool coping, gives himself three more tries to make the trick, and then he s heading home he took his skating to the ski slopes strapped into a snowboard and began making the same solitary promises he made to himself while skating. Get the tricks down, one by one. When I tried it, I seriously hated it, because I thought I was going to be able to do all the tricks I could do on my skateboard, straight off. I was wrong. I fell on my head. The on-going relationship between Richards and DC has been another natural step in his progression. DC knows what they are doing, he says. So well, in fact, that I don t even have to think about it. They transfer their skate influence into snowboard boots, which is exactly where I m coming from. That makes it easy for me to concentrate on riding. 4

5 Says veteran snowboard photographer Jon Foster, Todd Richards is the hardest-working man in the business. He started out as a shy kid. But has become one of the most consistent and confident riders the sport has ever seen. 5