Entries Tagged 'advertising copywriting' ↓

It’s been like a slow train coming – more and more marketing is being turned over to digital formats, whether that’s websites, emails, e-newsletters, QR codes, video or social media.

Although brochures and leaflets etc., still hold a valid place in your marketing armoury, you do begin to wonder how long that will remain so. After all, if we look at consumer behaviour, it would suggest they will soon become a dim and distant memory like the humble pound note or vinyl.

The consumer leads the way

That’s where it all started (well, in my world anyway) – with music. I started off buying tapes of my favourite bands or vinyl singles. They were the best as far as I was concerned; that was until the CD arrived.

It wasn’t long before I was seduced by those shiny discs and my vinyl and tapes were consigned to the history books (and our loft). I thought CDs were the pinnacle – nothing could surpass their sound quality. But a few years down the line and I was confronted by the iPod and digital music downloads.

So, you guessed it, eventually I converted to downloading my music.

The same is happening to books.

A staunch lover of an actual book, I have vowed never to go over to the digital side. I love the feel and smell of a book; the ability to thumb through pages. I don’t care how cluttered my house gets (I simply can’t part with my books), I love browsing through book shops and buying books.

But, the other day I really wanted to read. Not having a book to hand (one that I hadn’t previously read), unable to wait for Amazon to deliver one, and certainly unwilling to brave the pre-Christmas crush in town, I did the unthinkable.

I reached for my iPad and, yes that’s right, downloaded a book.

Expecting to hate the experience, I have to say it’s not a bad way to read. Granted, I don’t have the physical book to touch or smell, but I can use a digital book mark, turn the pages almost as I would in real life, and enjoy it

That illustrates how consumers are embracing new technology and paving the way for change simply by accepting it.

We’ve already seen more and more people engage in online shopping rather than hitting the High Street, online banking, video calling, and social media – so perhaps the era of print marketing is drawing to a close.

The online way

Perhaps now companies should be investing more into their online presence. With the search boom continuing, their budgets may well be more wisely spent on search engine optimisation, professional copywriters, mobile websites, video and social media.

It would certainly appear that the effectiveness of print adverts is dwindling. So is this the beginning of the end?

What do you think?

Do you think we’re coming to the end of the print advertising era?

Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear your views.

From 1st March marketing communications on websites will be covered by the ASA

The Advertising Standards Authority will soon be covering marketing communications on your company’s website and other non-paid-for space under your control. It will cover all organisations operating from  the UK.

Basically it will bring online marketing in line with the high standards that have to be adhered to in other media.

The areas it will cover are:

• Your company’s own marketing messages on its websites, regardless of sector, type of business or size of organisation
• Your company’s marketing communications in other non-paid-for space which is under your control. This includes social networking sites line Facebook and Twitter

So what does that mean?

Basically the ASA is looking to maintain and improve the standard of digital marketing communications and build consumer trust. All marketing should be legal, decent, honest and truthful.

So if your website promises a guarantee claim of delivery of goods within 2 working day, you must do that. If you offer a product at a specific price, that’s what you must charge. Similarly if you are offering a service, your claims must be genuine and truthful, we all remember the exaggerated broadband speed claims of recent months.

Probably the most difficult part of the remit to understand is that relating to social networking sites. In a nut shell, any claims published by companies on their Facebook pages or Twitter accounts must be adhered to as they will come within the realms of the ASA ruling.

Of course, one of the main aspects of social networking is encouraging user generated content – things like comments and tweets. If these are generated by the public they won’t fall within the new guidelines but if they are adopted by a company and incorporated within their own marketing campaigns, they will. For example if you use photos of customers enjoying your product, they will fall within the remit of the ASA. If you, as a company, re-tweet a comment by a follower on Twitter (e.g. regarding the availabilty of a certain item in store that day), it will fall within the ASA’a remit.

As you can see this could have far reaching consequences for many businesses so it’s well worth taking the time to visit the ASA website for more information to make sure all your marketing communications comply.

It is a debate that has been raging for centuries – so does anyone out there really know which came first?

Well, a slightly easier question to answer is when should you write your headline? Before the body of your article or after?

Think of your headline as a promise. Through it, you signal to your reader what you are going to tell them. It will identify what the benefit to them will be for reading your article.

If you think about life in general, you always make your promise first. The same therefore goes for your headline. If you write your content first you’ll end up with a rather dull and uninspiring headline that simply won’t work.

Writing a fantastic headline isn’t always easy – it has to convey the essence of your article, it has to be catchy and have ‘read me’ written all over it. Formulating the perfect headline isn’t easy but there are ways you can get a bit of a leg-up from the experts.

Ok, perhaps Shakespeare wasn’t exactly renowned for catchy headlines – but he did write some fantastic plays and sonnets.

Headlines can be a real killer sometimes. I bet you’ve sweated for hours staring at a blank screen waiting for inspiration to hit. No matter how hard you screw your face up, that illusive super-sales-generating-headline just won’t pop into your mind.

Shall I let you into a secret?

Most copywriters have a headline creating tool.

It works 100% of the time and helps them produce killer headlines everytime.

Want to get your hands on it? What to know what it is?

It is a swipe file. I hate that name as it sounds rather underhand, but basically that is what it is.

It is a collection of winning headlines, sales letters, adverts, magazine cuttings – in fact anything that uses a headline, phrase or sentence that is a real attention grabber.

But shouldn’t your headline be completely original?

Is there really any piece of writing out there that is 100% original?

Every writer in the world gets their inspiration from somewhere so, consciously or subconsciously, their work is influenced by an outside source.

Tried and tested formula

Headlines that work have been constructed in certain was to be effective. They have followed the same structure for years generating thousands or even millions of pounds. The same formula is adapted and put into different contexts and is used over and over again. So why change it?

Is a swipe file cheating?

No. All it means is that you write great headlines in a way you know will work. As your confidence and experience grows you can try an original approach – although as I said above, whatever you try will never be 100% original (I’m happy to be proven wrong there if anyone has any examples of something totally original).

Starting with these tried and tested templates you can immediately improve your blog post titles which should gain more readership and traffic.

Give it a go – start compiling your own swipe file today and start generating more traffic.

One of the most important aspects of your company’s marketing is its continuity.

Brand identity is key to gaining your customers’ confidence. If your marketing materials are the same across the board, your clients will be able to instantly recognise you.

• Take a look at your website – do your brochures and flyers share the same colour scheme?
• Is your logo consistent throughout your marketing materials?
• Are the fonts the same?
• Do you use the same tone of voice?

If you get your brand identity right and consistently provide an excellent service, your brand will be immediately associated with trust and credibility.

Review everything

Every now and then it pays to take stock of your marketing materials to ensure the message they are giving is still relevant and consistent with your company’s goals. When you update your website content check your other materials against it – are they still the same style?

Frequently when one item is updated it makes your other materials look staid and out of date. Therefore to keep your image constant update everything together.