Beyond Blah, Blah, Blah - Bart Butler

Beyond Blah, Blah, Blah

… writing people respond to

Bart ButlerBart Butler CommunicationsEmail: [email protected]: @bartbutler

Today’s Session1. Our common challenges2. Approaching a writing assignment

– one principle3. Advertising: Lessons from master

copywriters… and from you4. Writing tips & resources5. Exercise: A headline for your

product or service

Our Common ChallengesGetting people’s attentionGetting them to read/listenGetting them to understand & believeGetting them to take actionEarning their trust & loyalty, long-term

The 8 “Cs” of Captivating Customer Communication

The 8 “Cs”Getting people’s attentionCATCHY & CREATIVEGetting them to read/listenCONCISEGetting them to understand & believeCLEAR & CREDIBLEGetting them to take actionCOMPELLINGEarning their trust & loyaltyCHARISMATIC

CUM

ULAT

IVE

CUM

ULAT

IVE

Approaching a Writing Assignment

Listening is more important than writing!Listen to everyone involved


Help Desk & Customer ServiceGoogle is your audience, too

Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“If you can’t turn yourself into your customer, you probably shouldn’t be in the ad writing business at all.”

Leo Burnett

Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters

Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“You can say the right thing about a product, and nobody will listen. You’ve got to say it in such a way that people will feel it in their gut. Because if they don’t feel it, nothing will happen”

Bill Bernbach, DDB

Phyllis Robinson

Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“If nobody notices your ad, everything else is ‘freaking’academic!”

Bill Bernbach, DDB

Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“If you don’t get noticed, you don’t have anything. You just have to get noticed, but the art is in getting noticed naturally, without screaming.”

Leo Burnett

Leo Burnett

Copywriting with staying power

You’re in Good Hands with Allstate

The Best to You Each Morning

Fly the Friendly Skies

Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“Advertising is the ability to sense, interpret, to put the very heart throbs of a business into type, paper and ink.”

Leo Burnett

Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.”

Leo Burnett

David Ogilvy

American ExpressShellSearsMaxwell HouseRolls RoyceDove

The Man in the Hathaway Shirt

Schweppes Tonic Water

Rolls Royce Ad Copy

At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in the new Rolls Royce comes from the electric clock.

Dove Soap

Only Dove is ¼ moisturizing cream.

Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“Every advertisement is part of the long-term investment in the personality of the brand.”

David Ogilvy, Ogilvy & Mather

Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters

“…the best ads come from personal experience. Some of the good ones I’ve done have come out of the real experience of my life, and somehow this has come over as true and valid and persuasive”

David Ogilvy,

Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“On the average, five times as many people will read the headline as read the body copy. When you’ve written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”

David Ogilvy

Ad Effectiveness: Your Take








Writing Tips & Resources1. Know your purpose

Writing Tips & Resources2. Get right to the point

Writing Tips & Resources3. Tell people what you

want them to do

Writing Tips & Resources4. Keep it simple

--Write like you talk

Writing Tips & Resources

“If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think.”

David Ogilvy,

Writing Tips & Resources

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”

Elmore Leonard, Author

Writing Tips & Resources4. Keep it simple

--Write like you talk--Read it aloud--Write like other

people talk

Writing Tips & Resources5. Use Quotes


“We were as nervous as whores in church.”


“Now I don’t have to go around playing ‘Nancy Drew…”


Only REAL quotes from REAL people

Writing Tips & Resources6. Be Brief

6a. Use Active v. PassiveVoice

6b. Minimize PrepositionalPhrases

Writing Tips & Resources7. Eliminate/explain

company jargon & weird acronyms…people don’t get it.

Writing Tips & Resources8. Avoid Clichés

Let your ideas percolate ‘til you’ve got something newSee @TheOnion on

Twitter

Writing Tips & Resources9. Edit…rewrite…re-

edit…repeat as needed

Writing Tips & Resources10. Proofread

everything before hitting the send button!--Get proofing help if you need it

Writing Tips & ResourcesBonus Tip: It’s not all

about the words.

--Collaborate with graphics, video & web specialists

Writing Resources

Basic Tools:DictionaryThesaurusStyle/Usage GuideSpell/Grammar check

Writing Resources

Grammar Classes:Community CollegeUniversity Life-Long Learning Programs

The 8 “Cs”Getting people’s attentionCATCHY & CREATIVEGetting them to read/listenCONCISEGetting them to understand & believeCLEAR & CREDIBLEGetting them to take actionCOMPELLINGEarning their trust & loyaltyCHARISMATIC & CUMULATIVE


Listening is more important than writing!

Lessons from Master Ad Copywriters“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.”

Leo Burnett




Headline Writing Exercise

Invent Something

ImmigrantsDesignerSeattle

Job Success

IrrelevanceTea Party Activist

Scottsdale65 plusFameRejectionPolicemanNew Delhi45

Self Improvem’t

SicknessLandscaperGuadalajara35FitnessLonelinessNurseDubuque25WealthPovertySmall BizNYC15Hopeful forFearful ofOccupationFromAge

E.D.C.B.A.




Education

Beyond Blah, Blah, Blah - Bart Butler