A few things journalists need to know about copywriting

The crisis in the country-the crisis and reflect on any additional sources of income has become absolutely normal. Regular spin doctors begin to advise and do work on the side, journalists are beginning to write commercial texts. But what is interesting: despite the fact that copywriters and journalists create texts, often from copywriters get so disgusting journalists, but from journalists and copywriters. It’s like a gymnast who came to the pop dances: it would seem that stretching is and some basic knowledge of the choreography, and it’s still not working as it should.

Still, the ability to write commercial texts can be a powerful financial tool for a journalist, so we have compiled a list of recommendations for those journalists who are going (to begin) to write advertising copy. And Yes, it all suffered their own experience and reason do not talk about it.

1. Good artistic or journalistic text did not necessarily selling

When you’ve been in journalism, you have created a kind of deformity, which, oddly enough, prevents you from becoming a good copywriter. Reveling in the imagery and style of the text, it is easy to forget that commercial text still needs to sell. A delightful exception is when you are asked to write promotional text a La an editorial for your magazine or newspaper. You know the style of publication and, if you’ll get adequate customer (although, I wouldn’t count on your place), he will insist that the article was an interesting read, even to the detriment of the mentions of the brand.

2. Not even grasp the lyrics for machines

Another big problem of the journalists you used to write for people, not for cars. So the first time is not even worth it to take the text that should raise your client’s website in search results. First, if you read the texts for SEO that are considered good, your sense of beauty inside will die — from the point of view of style they are just indescribably awful. But with its task handle. Second, in order to write texts for SEO, you must know a lot of very boring technical stuff and to learn at least a couple of tools online Analytics. Until you learn the ropes, do not dare to promise the customer that he write the text for search engine optimization.

3. That is, does not mean that it should not be interesting

There is another extreme — for some reason many journalists who write advertising copy, I believe that to try to ensure that the text was interesting, not necessary. It’s, like, EW. The same is beneath the dignity of any journalist.

That’s only if you undertake some work, it should be done efficiently. If you have the opportunity to make an advertisement captured, captivated and entertained the reader, do everything you can. And hope that the customer will appreciate your efforts. Still to write interesting texts for the people the journalist is often better than the seasoned copywriter.

4. Forget about information style

Of course, if you are not asked to write a press release or advertising news. Rather, the fact information style that many of us were taught in universities — the style news.

The fact that in (any) the text should be scored advertising scrap stamps — is itself. But if you do not write a sensational investigation, and entertaining an advertisement for an insurance company, it is necessary to forget the language, that from all possible sides demonstrate your objectivity, impartiality and fairness. You need, for example, in a fascinating way to talk about the benefits of life insurance. I had to switch the language of the consumer who will read this.

5. Every brand has its own voice

If you are working with a brand that has released dozens of advertising texts, this unique voice of the brand can be differentiated from previous material. There are youth brands that are not shy to be arrogant and to turn everyone on the buoy. There are conservative brands that focus on family values, reliability, stability, and all that. You have to understand that it is impossible to write ad copy for food in the same style as for the insurance company. The texts on the mood must be very different, because different, as a brand, client and consumer. Not to mention text format, which should be different for write Facebook, post to company blog, newsletter and article in the magazine “Lisa”. If you are a good journalist, has just embarked on smeared with Vaseline track a copywriter, study the texts, which the customer took before and introduced himself as well.

6. Ask the customer stupid questions

Copywriting services 80% of success depends on your skilled skills to clothe the indistinct bleating of the customer in tolerable words, and the understanding of the task. If the writing of the editorial material, you have only to open with the foot door in the editor’s office and say something like, I’m in the next room will prepare material about the insurance companies in a crisis? Yes? Well, OK,” in the case of custom-made text we have to figure out on the shore all the details. Really everything.

In editorial text, you rarely can predict what material will eventually collect, but in advertising you have from the start very clearly see the ultimate goal. Therefore, immediately ask the customer all the boring questions: why write, how many characters (with spaces or without? how is it important?), are there any examples of already written texts, whether it is necessary to integrate the brand into every line or not, to whom you can refer to, who not, where to get information, whom may I ask whether it is necessary to work with the designer to design text? If the customer is adequate and experienced, he will easily answer all these questions, and you will end up all the background information and the chance to sculpt a good text.

7. The customer, unfortunately, is always right

It’s one thing when the rights of the customer which matters advertising you smarter. Another thing, when the rights of the customer, who does not know what is what. If you manage to agree to write the text for some hardcore B2B (type of production BHA), consider that you hit.

Because firstly, these people are very rarely advanced customers and will not be able to answer most of the questions that you will need to ask them in the text (see previous paragraph). Second, they rarely know why they need text. Thirdly, they often have rather strange ideas about the quality of the text. For example, for them to be really important hell and the company was mentioned in every line. And they will REWRITE your text in the best traditions of the editorials. Just accept it. Fourth, often, how good your text is, the customer will still think you are the idiot because you don’t know what the calibrators are different from downhole protectors.

And Yes, the customer is always right — in the end you still have to do the text that will appeal to the customer, and not the one that will complete its task or that (in your opinion) will be read. Even if you have bleeding from the eye.

But seriously, the best advice to journalists starting out, the copywriter, is to start with the texts that you most familiar style of news journalism, interviews and columns. Try doing to same thing, but with refraction on customer interests. If you master the genre of image-based texts for the media, you can slowly move in the direction of texts for advertising layouts, brochures, websites, newsletters, and much more. But if you decided to take copywriting seriously, you will have a lot to learn. After all, the bread of copywriter is very difficult.