Writing for Advertising & Marketing

Writing for
Advertising &
Marketing

Defining Advertising
Advertising mixes information and
persuasion elements in an attempt to
convince audience members to act.
The desired action can take many forms,
including purchasing a product, supporting a
candidate or forming an opinion.
In addition, some advertising is geared
toward preventing action, such as buying
some other company’s product, supporting a
different candidate or changing an opinion.
Dynamics of Media Writing, Vincent F. Filak

Key Traits of Advertising
Paid Communication: Advertisers buy a chunk of media space and place a message
they deem important into that space.
Known Sponsor: The source of the advertisement is key to understanding how it
will attempt to persuade you and the underlying values associated with those
attempts.
Information Plus Persuasion: Advertising law also requires that companies back
their claims with information as they attempt to persuade people.
Delivered to an Audience: An ad must be seen for it to be effective.
Promotes Products, Services or Ideas: Should demonstrate to interested audience
members why a product, a service or an idea is worth their time.

Careers in Advertising
As an advertising professional, you will face daily pressure to create innovative
messages with fresh approaches to selling your clients’ products, services, and
overall brand.
You can put your talents to work in job settings including advertising agencies,
corporations, hospitals, universities, nonprofits, media organizations, and small
businesses.
As a writer, you will produce creative copy ranging from outdoor slogans and web
page ads to radio and television commercials and print newspaper ads.

Writing Advertising Copy:
General Guidelines

Professional Strategy Triangle: Situation
First, research and evaluate:
● your employer’s or client’s advertising objectives
● how your message can maximize their profit or return on
investment (ROI)
● what you are selling - a product, service, brand or a combination
● what you are really selling - an image, a feeling, a solution, safety,
love, etc.
● your client’s brand position compared to competitors
● what you want your audience to think, feel, or do as a result of
seeing your advertisement
● whether you should use an emotional appeal, a logical one, or a
combo
● how you should structure your argument and its appeals
● which media you are using - print, broadcast, online, outdoor, etc.

Professional Strategy Triangle: Audience
Next, research and evaluate:
● who your audience is, and whether they are retail, institutional, or
business-to-business customers
● what your audience needs, wants, and desires
● credibility of your brand in the mind of the audience
● who is already loyal to your brand, who is undecided, and who you
still need to win over
● audience research you have in hand, and what research is needed
● relevant demographic factors
● relevant psychographic factors
● likely audience needs according to the fifteen Motive Appeals
● audience likes, dislikes, or biases
● unique media characteristics likely to impact your audience’s
reading, viewing, or listening behavior

Professional Strategy Triangle: Message
After careful consideration of everything above,
it’s time to start drafting your rough ad copy.
Here, you can put the fifteen Motive Appeals to
work.
1. The need for sex
2. The need for affiliation
3. The need to nurture
4. The need for guidance
5. The need to aggress
6. The need to achieve
7. The need to dominate
8. The need for prominence
9. The need for attention
10. The need for autonomy
11. The need to escape
12. The need to feel safe
13. The need for aesthetic sensations
14. The need to satisfy curiosity
15. Physiological needs

Don’t Forget to Use FAJA
When trying to decide which facts are the
most important, and what to include in
your lead, use FAJA.
Answering key questions from each of the
FAJA Points will enable you to begin any
type of persuasive piece.

Focus on Benefits and Characteristics
A characteristic can be a physical attribute, a societal reputation or a historical
attachment that you can use to draw in consumers. You can promote characteristics
such as the longevity of the company, the commitment the company has made to
quality or the innovative nature of a company’s products.
A benefit is something that will enrich the life of the consumer. It can be as simple as
“This is cheaper than the product you are currently buying, therefore allowing you
to save money.”
You need to have a good answer to the “What’s in it for me?” question your readers
and viewers will likely ask. Highlight the benefits to help your audience members see
what you have for them and why it matters.

Show, Don’t Tell
The more you try to tell people something, the less effective you will be.
Writing in a way that shows people how something works or that outlines how you
determined the benefits you are espousing has a strong “don’t take my word for it”
feel.
This will allow the readers to come to their own conclusions and thus internalize the
messages you deliver.
You will want strong research and clear information to support you as you outline
those benefits. If you have a set of facts at the ready to back your claim, you will be
much more convincing.

Write Clearly and Plainly
People won’t buy things they don’t understand.
This is where language comes into play.
Clarity is crucial in helping people see both the tangible benefit of an item as well as
the argument you are making in your advertisements.
Simplicity tends to lead to clarity, so you are in much better shape if you can find a
way to put your pitch into simple, straightforward language.

Embrace the Platform
What works for a standard print ad or 30-second television spot won’t necessarily
work for an ad on a website or one sent via social media.
Shovelware, the concept of just moving content from traditional media to digital
media without altering, isn’t only a news journalist’s problem.
Advertising professionals must adjust their approach to telling stories and reaching
audience members as well when working on a digital platform.

The Creative Brief
Before you can launch an advertising campaign for the public, you need to pitch it to
a number of other people inside and outside of your organization.
The creative brief is an organized format that allows you to put your ideas before
other members of your agency, your boss and eventually your client.
Most creative briefs include the following:
● Project Overview
● Deliverables Needed
● Company Background
● Audience
● Message
● Tone
● Additional Information Dynamics of Media Writing, Vincent F. Filak

Project Overview
Describe project information, goals, measurable objectives.
Include a brand statement of the company - a general overview of who they are.
Outline what you are trying to accomplish. You can explain simply that X is
happening, and you want X to occur more or less.
Describe the evidence that explains why your approach to this promotion makes
sense. You can show how others have succeeded at this task or why your research
suggests this approach should work.
Finally, provide an overview of the campaign, with goals and measurable objectives.

Focus on Desired Outcomes
You need to figure out what you want your writing to do in terms of the advertising
message. This is where you must have a discussion with your client to determine
what the ad should do.
You need to lay out your objectives in a clear and concise fashion. This will help you
determine if you have succeeded in your campaign.
Most campaigns have multiple objectives, such as trying to increase brand
awareness as well as improving the audience members’ intent to purchase.
Whatever your goal is, everyone involved should have a clear understanding of the
advertising objectives before, during and after the campaign.

Understand How to Measure the Outcome
Be idealistic but be practical
Set the bar at a challenging and yet reasonable level
Establish a concrete benchmark: If you don’t set the goals with your clients, you
might have a serious disconnect that costs you your job.
Don’t confuse measurements: Establish your measurement option at the same time
you start working with your client on the overall campaign.
Figure out a time frame: The product type, the audience and the price are just a few
of the factors that will inform upon your time frame for success.

Deliverables Needed
What will you be producing? Print ads? Radio Commercials? Make sure to answer
what and how many.
(Copy, design, web development, mobile app, PR, printed materials, and/or
newsletter.)

Company Background
What do they do? How did they start the company?
Everyone has a story of their business journey. What’s theirs?
Who are their competitors or who they might be compared with? How do they differ
from them?
What’s their position in the marketplace? What are their competitors up to?
Where do they want to place yourself relative to their competition?

Audience
You need to figure out who is likely to be interested in your product, service or idea.
This will allow you to shape your message to fit their needs and wants.
Who is the primary audience you are trying to reach?
● Include demographic information (gender, age, race, sexual orientation,
location, education, etc.)
● Include psychographic information (attitudes, dispositions, life stages, hobbies
What do they currently think and how do they feel about your company?

Determining Your Audience
Target Audience: the group of people you have in mind for an advertisement or an
ad campaign. Other people might see the advertisement, but they aren’t the
intended consumers.
Actual Audience: in some cases, advertisers market their products to one group—
the target audience—and draw a different group of consumers. This is known as the
actual audience, or the actual consumers.

Message
After you conceptualize your approach to your message, you need to outline how
best to build that message.
What’s the main message the audience should be left with? Is it the main benefit
(not a feature) that the customer receives from your product or service? If you could
add one or two other points what would those be?
For immediate-action items, you want to provide people with basic information
about how to buy a product or purchase a service.
For delayed-action items, you want to create a broader sense of what to do when
the time comes to act.

Tone
Funny and casual, or formal - what do target audiences believe before your company
communicates with them?
What tone and imagery will be most effective?
Any specific visual goals?

Additional Information
This may include the following:
● Mandatory elements (logos, company colors, etc.)
● High-resolution photos of the author(s) and signature
● Reputable testimonials.
● Inspirational quotes from authors.
● Media exposure.
● Consumer insights or data.
● Description of the brand personality.
● Tag lines

Elements of a Print Ad
In general, the print advertisement includes one or more of the following elements:
1. Promise of the benefit (headline)
2. Explanation of the promise (subhead)
3. Elaboration of the story (body copy)
4. Proof of the claim (body copy, tagline, or slogan)
5. Call to action (at the end of the ad)

The Headline
The headline is one of the key elements in a print advertisement and is just as
important as the visual element. If written well, the headline grabs attention and
conveys the main message behind the advertisement. If written poorly, it will not
attract prime prospects, who in turn will probably not read the rest of the ad.
Copy writers create headlines designed to do one of several things. The headline
may promise a benefit of a product or service. It may challenge an existing
assumption or invoke curiosity. It may set the mood for the rest of the ad.
Your headline should usually be short and simple, narrowly targeted to prime
prospects, invite the prospect into the ad, and use vivid language with an action
verb.

The Subhead
The subhead enables you to expand upon the promise you made in the headline.
Use it to present new material to invite the reader into your ad.
Subheads are written in smaller type than the headline and usually run longer.
Think of the subhead as the transitional link between the headline and the body
copy.
You may not always need a subhead. Let your logic and creativity guide you here.

The Body Copy
Body Copy must state the ad’s main argument, advance the sales message, explain
and prove the product’s benefits, and answer any questions raised in the headline.
There are several different approaches:
1. Factual/straightforward: Basic information about the product or service.
2. Narrative: Tells the product’s story; may be written in the first or third-person.
3. Explanation: How does the product or service work?
4. Dialogue: Creates a conversation for the reader to observe.
Your first paragraph must be compelling because the reader will quickly decide here
whether they want to read the ad any further. The last paragraph should be tied to
your original creative concept.

The Call to Action
The call to action may run at the end of the body copy or as a line of its own.
It prompts the reader to respond to the ad and provides information on how to take
action.

Taglines and Slogans
Taglines and slogans usually appear at the end of the body copy.
A tagline is a brief phrase that summarizes the creative concept.
A slogan is a unique phrase or motto that an organization uses consistently for its
brand across many different settings.

How Are Online Ads Different?
Consumers can initiate two-way communication, directly responding to the ads they
see, making contacts, and perhaps even purchasing on the spot.
The web also enables consumers to provide instantaneous feedback on what they
like, don’t like, and are willing to purchase.
Web analytics can show an advertiser immediately how many people clicked on an
ad or even potentially saw it.
Finally, web advertisements provide immediacy, enabling you to quickly produce,
distribute, and update advertisements.

Applying the Professional Strategy Triangle
Think about the unique characteristics
(interactivity, speed, and immediacy) of the
web and how your client or employer can best
exploit them in an advertisement.
Consider your audience and how online media
create a different reading experience for them.
Unlike print, reading online is a nonlinear,
point-and-click experience. On the average
web page visit, users read no more than 28
percent of the words.

Types of Online Ads
Generally speaking, online ads fall into
one of the following categories:
Banner Ad: horizontally formatted and
runs along the top or bottom of a web
page
Sidebar Ad: runs in vertical or block
formats along the side of a web page
Pop-up Ad: runs in any size and format.
Although they tend to annoy readers,
they are nearly impossible to ignore. Dynamics of Media Writing, Vincent F. Filak

Online Copywriting
Be brief, precise, and concise: Reduce your print text by half and stick to one idea
per paragraph.
Be direct and conversational: Reach out and tell them what to do next.
Grab reader attention: Make a compelling statement or ask a provocative question.
Feature your brand, product, or company name prominently.
Highlight keywords: Use boldface or italics, and hyperlinks.
Use bulleted lists.
Take advantage of interactivity. Dynamics of Media Writing, Vincent F. Filak

The Four Types of Radio Ad Sounds
The human voice: Announcers and actors supply the human voice in radio. You set
up the personality of radio ad characters solely through actors’ manipulations of
their voices.
Natural sounds: Set the scene for your commercial and gives the audience a sense of
context for your action.
Music: Underbed refers to music heard underneath the audio action. Music can also
be up front in your commercial, playing a key role in its concept.
Sound effects: Sound effects modify other sounds. They might be an echo, a pitch
variation, or filtered sound, which creates special effects based on the original
sound. Dynamics of Media Writing, Vincent F. Filak

Radio Copywriting
Much like classic radio dramas focused on the theater of the mind, radio commercials
draw upon sound to inspire imagery in people.
Here, you should use natural sounds to set the scene.
Give instructions to vocal actors and actresses to employ accents and vocal tone to
stress characterizations.
Use sound effects to enliven the sounds of voices and natural audio.
Music underbeds help to warm up or soften the mood of a radio ad.

Radio Script Formatting
Formatting guidelines vary across the radio industry. Here are general guidelines:
1. Use one-inch margins for your paper.
2. List your agency or organization name and date across the top.
3. List client, product, title, length, writer, and medium single-spaced and left aligned.
4. Line up announcer and character cues in the left-hand column, and dialogue in the right-hand
column.
5. Write sound cues in ALL CAPS and single-space them.
6. Write music cues in ALL CAPS. Single-space and underline them.
7. Write all dialogue in upper and lower case, and double-space it.
8. Place sound or music cues within dialogue where they are to be heard in the copy.

TV Copywriting
By their nature, television ads must be brief. You usually have sixty seconds at most
to make your appeal and bring your audience to action.
Emphasize only one or two appeals in your television ad.
Make sure that your television ad copy clearly identifies your product’s brand or
company name. Place the brand front and center in the commercial at least twice—
usually, the more the better—and always end with visuals and audio that directly
represent the client’s brand.
Show the audience familiar brand representations including logos, signage,
buildings, and products or services associated with your client.

Television Script Formatting
As with radio, television formatting guidelines vary across the industry.
1. Use one-inch margins for your paper.
2. List your agency or organization name and date across the top.
3. List client, product, title, length, writer, and medium single-spaced and left aligned.
4. Set up a two-column format with descriptions of video content on the left and the audio
content on the right.
5. On the video side, write video instructions in ALL CAPS and single-space them.
6. On the audio side, write all dialogue in upper and lower case and double-space it.
7. Place sound or music cues within dialogue where they are to be heard in the commercial.
8. Write sound instructions in ALL CAPS and single-space them.
9. Write music instructions in ALL CAPS. Single-space and underline them. Dynamics of Media Writing, Vincent F. Filak

Key Takeaways
1. Advertising is about reaching people: The most creative ads or the most
innovative pitches won’t matter if you can’t figure out how best to reach
audience members and grab them by the eyeballs.
2. Plan first, then write: A lot of hard work needs to happen before you craft your
message. In addition, that planning phase can help you set goals for your
advertising campaign and assist you in determining whether you were
successful in your efforts.
3. Focus on benefits, not hyperbole: Avoid superlatives and inflated claims. You
can do this through comparisons with other products, accentuating the
product’s key characteristics and showing consumers how it will benefit them.

Writing for Advertising & Marketing

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