About
An Intensive Copywriting course for Marketing, PR & Advertising Executives
COURSE OBJECTIVES
• Learn how to create marketing copy that is powerful, direct and persuasive
• Communicate your product or service benefits and connect with your customers’ needs and desires
“I was extremely impressed with Write with Power, Impact and Persuasion and appreciated the opportunity to learn from someone of Paul’s calibre. He created a relaxed, enjoyable atmosphere and kept things moving at a good pace, maintaining my interest the whole way through. This is one tutor who knows his stuff and knows how to engage his audience. An extremely valuable course and a top experience all round.”
Steph Bell-Jenkins, Corporate Media Advisor, Environment Waikato
“Good, practical tips. Easy ideas to implement, good industry knowledge to pass on that only comes with experience.”
Melanie Llyod, Marketing Communications, Actronic Ltd
“Very entertaining and informative. Valuble industry experience and expertise demonstrated throughout the course. Practical exercises provided opportunity to put learning into practice.”
Ana Matsis, Communications Executive, AJ Park
Are you stuck in a rut when it comes to writing effective copy?
We all struggle to write effective copy after awhile – and seasoned copywriters are not spared either.
While many of us are capable of producing effective copy, somehow, after awhile, things may start to look the same. It’s a constant struggle to develop copy that is captivating and effective.
When the writing gets tough, the writer gets going. If you find yourself in that inevitable situation, help is at hand. Write with Power, Impact & Persuasion: An intensive course for Marketing, PR & Advertising Executives has been designed to help you constructively create marketing, PR & advertising copy that is powerful, direct and persuasive.
While Write with Power, Impact & Persuasion: An intensive course for Marketing, PR & Advertising Executives may suit some beginners with raw but evident talent, this course is also well-suited to those of you who have some copy writing experience but could do better with some grooming tips to give your copy writing the star rating it deserves.
8 GREAT REASONS TO ATTEND
1. Constructively understand what makes powerful and persuasive writing
2. Learn to create emotive headlines that people respond to every time
3. Apply copy writing principles effectively to win without overstatements and hype
4. Learn to write persuasive and engaging copy for various media
5. Be able to use language that engages and compels the reader
6. Understand and be able to write for different audiences and generations
7. Learn to write effectively in the B2C context and B2B context
8. Be aware of marketing/advertising laws you need to factor in your copy
Outline
Day One
Introduction
• Powerful writing – key elements
• What makes powerful and persuasive writing?
Headlines not Deadlines
• How to make your headlines more than just bigger and bolder
• Powerful emotions - 17 triggers that people respond to every time
• Techniques that work every time
• Headlines and illustrations , how do they work together?
• The cosmetics of a headline
Practical exercise:
Using the same product/brand, create one headline for each of the 17 emotional triggers
Practical exercise:
Create a separate headline for a product/brand using each of the taught techniques
Practical exercise:
Here’s the picture, what are the best words to match it?
Don’t just Fill a Page, Make Contact
• The effective writing process
• General marketing/PR copy writing rules
• Great openings
• Better middles
• The best endings
• Applying copywriting principles to business and expressive writing
• The power of active verbs
• Writing to win without overstatements and hype
• Useless adjectives
• Language you must avoid at all costs
Practical exercise:
Rewrite the first line of a number of advertisements or marketing documents in a way that compels the reader to read on
Practical exercise:
Given a list of copy points, construct copy that includes all of the necessary points in a persuasive and engaging way
What are you Writing? And Why that Matters
• The epitome of persuasion – press advertisements
• Writing for the ear – radio advertisements
• You’re writing a TVC, not a screenplay
• Press releases, not company statements
• Editorial or advertorial, what’s the difference?
• The best writing for product labels
• The difference between writing for the web and writing for print
• Let’s get technical
* The above may vary depending on attendees’ requirements
Practical exercise:
Delegates will be asked to choose at least two media they
normally write for and then produce a piece that demonstrates
and takes account of the topics covered above
Day Two
Is There Anybody out There?
• You’ve written it, but will they read it?
• How to evaluate and assess your copy
Be Hard on Yourself, Easy on Your Reader
• Using language that engages the reader
• Sentence length versus paragraph length
• When and how to use subheadings
• Discerning benefits from features and choosing those which appeal most to the reader
• Hard-selling copy vs. persuasive copy
• Clichés and alternatives that work
• Writing for different audiences – e.g. youth vs baby boomers vs grey markets, etc
• Jargon or inside knowledge, which is better for effective writing?
• Business to Consumer writing
• Business to Business writing
• Technical writing in marketing/advertising context
Practical exercise:
Take an advertisement or marketing document that is largely bullet points and turn this into engaging and effective copy
Practical exercise:
Write the same piece twice, each with two different target audiences in mind
Writing in Highly Regulated Environments
• Information for financial services/products
• Pharmaceuticals
• Marketing/Advertising Laws you need to be aware of in Copy Writing
• Legal compliance: Do’s and Don’ts in copy writing for Marketing, PR & Advertising
• Examples of common pitfalls
Facilitator
Paul White, Auckland University of Technology
Older than he looks, younger than he feels and still trying to figure out why, Paul White has been a copywriter for over 25 years.
Right
now he’s also running NZ’s first and only university Ad Creativity
course at AUT University, as well as writing ads for his own clients.
Paul
has been creative director of four leading advertising agencies (Cogent
in UK; Walkers, HKM - now Colenso BBDO , Short Brown White in NZ) and
founding partner of two (Walkers and Short Brown White).
Paul’s work has been highly awarded in New Zealand, Australia, USA, UK and at the Cannes Festival.
Corbans
Wines, the Breast Cancer Foundation, Royal New Zealand Navy, Dunlop,
ANZ Bank, AMP, Lion Nathan, Dominion Breweries, De Longhi, Pepsi, Mazda
Cars, Gillette, SmithKline Beecham, Smeg, Wella, Coppertone, Camera
House, Avis, Epson Computers and the New Zealand Herald are among the
many clients with whom Paul has worked with successfully to date.
