Radio is among the most economically viable mediums of mass communication. It is also regarded as a powerful medium as its reach is universal. However, in order to exploit radio’s true potential you must know how to use it effectively.

1.    Know Your Tools: A radio copywriter only has limited tools at his disposal like emphasis, tone, pitch and pace. Writing intended for radio can only be vivid and emotive by utilising these tools well. Variation in tone helps to break the monotony and animate the radio copy. The pitch must complement and illustrate the key message of the copy as retention value of radio is low.

2.    Opening and Closing act: For radio copy to be effective, the opening words must grab the attention and the closing words must have a lasting impression on the listener. As radio is a passive medium i.e. it does not commands full attention of a person, the writer must compensate for this shortcoming.

3.    Economy of Words: This principle applies to all writing but it is all the more critical for radio copy. A lengthy radio copy has little or almost no effect, as it not possible for the listener to remember long details by listening to them just once.

4.    Kindle Imagination: Radio is a medium which lacks visuals but that does not means that it cannot paint a visual picture. Creative use of sound effects and adjectives will grant a unique vividness to the radio copy.

5.    Humour:  Humour is something which if well used can establish a rapport with the listener and can effectively propagate the message. Humour also helps to augment the retention value of radio advertisement.

Writing for radio warrants a slightly different approach as you are writing for the ear not the eye. The aim is to influence the listener which can only be achieved by offering something interesting to listen.

Image courtesy: Traffic Coleman

In the world of consumerism advertising is the biggest marketing tool. An advertisement can make or break a marketing campaign. It not only helps in getting your product/service heard but it can actually persuade a consumer into buying the product. Given its huge impact a lot of thought process goes into writing an advertising copy making it one of the most difficult tasks of the advertising world.

To write a successful ad copy you need to keep a lot of things in mind.

Knowing you prospective clientele: It is very essential to know who your prospects are as it is to know about the product/ service you are selling. These would help in conceptualizing the idea behind the copy.

Stick to the constraints: Before writing an ad copy one needs to understand the constraints of the media for which the advertisement is being developed. While for a television or radio advertisement time is the man constraint, for a billboard campaign word limit becomes the constraint.

Understanding the objective: One needs to be very clear about the objective of the campaign. A clear understanding of the objective generally leads to a focussed copy.

Focus on the elements of a good ad: Keep in mind the elements of a good advertisement:

Attention: Getting noticed is half the battle won. In our chaotic world the hardest thing to do is to draw attention. So there has to be something about the advertisement—-the punch line, the illustration, the layout–that would make the viewer or the reader sit up and take notice.

Clarity: In the clamour to vie for attention one should never forget to make the message underneath crystal clear. The viewer should not keep wondering about the functionality of the ad.

Persuasiveness: the ad should be persuasive. It should be able to convince the viewer of the necessity of the product or service being offered.

Keeping the above points in mind you can conceptualize your idea and start to write the ad copy. Finally some tips which may further help you:

Play with words to your heart’s content. Be innovative. You can paint your canvas with words, but always sticking to the constraints given.

Use short sentences without wasting words.

Instead of preaching or declaring talk to you reader or viewer or listener in active voice and present tense.
Avoid clichés and make the copy as unique and innovative as possible.

Writing on various electronic gadgets is very different from writing on general products. While writing on various electronic gadgets we need to mention their technical specifications as well. However, many readers may not be familiar with all of these technical specifications. So if the review of an electronic gadget does not describe the functionalities of all these specifications in detail, then the review may not attract more readers. Thus, it is necessary to write a review on any electronic gadget in a layman’s language where all technical features of the products will be mentioned in a simple yet an attractive way.

For example, you are writing on a LCD television. Your review on a LCD television will remain incomplete if its technical nitty-gritty is not mentioned. Now, if you just mention the features, then many readers won’t understand how all these features will improve their entertaining experience. And here comes the tactic of explaining all these technical details in a simpler way. For example, if you are writing on the contrast ratio of a television, you should say what the function of the contrast ratio is, how it will improve the picture quality. Definitely, it will make your review readers’ friendly.

You may think that writing a review on any electronic gadget is a difficult job and for that, sound technical knowledge is required. However, it is not true. You do not need to be a rocket scientist if you are planning to write on electronic gadgets. The main thing which is required for this job is your research skill. You should research on the product as much as possible and it will enable you to collect more information on the particular product. And after that, you just need to pen down all those details in an interactive way.

It’s an auto-responder series, a marketing collateral that has caught up in an age when time is short and the impact on the consumer’s mind has to be quick and powerful. The trick that content writers play often when writing an auto-responder mail series is to ‘literally’ chop the client requirement into logical solutions and then providing a copy for each solution with minimum words but maximum effect.

Auto-responders, as they are auto-generated with customized content offer a very cost effective and time managed solution to developing marketing copy for a product. They work almost always in creating an impact because they are scripted such that they hold the reader’s attention instantly and if the copy is well written the idea stays in the reader’s mind longer. A good auto-responder series will always have the following taken care of:

The sequence of the auto-responders- Before writing the content for the auto responder, it is important that the content writer and the client reach the same page with regard to the number of mails they would need to sequence in a series. Auto-responders could vary from five to seven to more depending on how long the client would want to engage with his target customers before targeting conversion. It is generally not the method and neither is it advisable to have more than 7 or 10 mails in a series.

Brevity of content- How effective a unit of an auto-responder would be will to a large extent depend, not on the length of the mail but what engages the reader’s attention. It could be a length of two brief lines that could very efficiently convey the seller’s thought across to the buyer and hold his interest for a while.

Focus of content- It is always important to draft the series in terms of priority as to what goes first and what goes next and then sit down to writing the mails. Each auto-responder mail is like a rung of a ladder, the progress is only forward or upward as you may. Each Auto-responder is like a quintessential mini soap-opera in itself, always ending on a note that keeps the reader wanting to know what happens next.

Import of timing- Marketers who use the auto-responder technique will tell you that timing is the name of the game when it comes to auto-responder series. The intent is to hit the iron when it’s hot and keep the suspense in the content just about that much that will hold the reader’s attention but not be so vague as to misdirect him. The right words put across at the right time almost always make the right impact.

Structure of content- An auto-responder is the most cost effective way of potentially engaging with the customer and nurturing him with the future prospect of a conversion. Hence, it is imperative that the brief content is put up in a manner that draws attention at once. Placement of content with the design, deciding on the font size and style and finally making sure that the structure follows a gradual logical pattern are the fundamentals to keep in mind when working on an auto-responder series.

A hint of humor- Though an auto-responder is invariably toned with a sales pitch, it is always good to have it colored with a dash of humor. This is an approach that goes down well with almost everyone, and in a time when unidentified mails hit the trash it is always good to have an edge in terms of what you are offering the reader.

It’s important to acknowledge the fact that what makes one auto-responder different from another though both may be marketing the same product is the CONTENT that goes into it. So keep it short, but hit the target with the content that you script for auto-responders.

Two very commanding promotional tools for all kind of businesses are print media and the web. What you say in these tools is what makes the difference. Words have the power of conveying the precise idea behind a product or a service. The prospective client is already flooded with scores of advertisements of the same product, service or idea of your competitors. What can be the persuasive factor about your ad copy that he wants to spend his precious time reading it? To be able to grab the attention of a reader in a few seconds, you have to put the point across in as few words as you can manage and then stimulate enough the reader to act on your words. There are no set rules or guidelines for making a revolutionary ad copy just that it needs to catch the reader’s eye without letting it wander away. If you follow some fundamentals rules to start with, your campaign might just be a success.

To be able to write a convincing copy, you need to know what it really wants to achieve. Having clarity of thought before embarking onto the creative aspect, is what serves you in the long run. Once the purpose and objective of the job at hand is clear, you can proceed to putting it in words. Without grasping this information, your copy is going to be sloppy and talking about everything under the sun except for what it was actually written for.

Once you achieve the understanding of the campaign, the task thereafter is to catch the attention of the prospective buyer. For your message to reverberate, your Headlines need to be very attractive and crisp so as to force the audience to read on. Let’s say you are selling a pack of 4 Nursery Rhyme CDs online. There are so many out there to choose from. Will this attract you: “Buy a pack of 4 Nursery Rhymes VCDs at Rs.555/- only”. Chances are that it won’t!! What if we add a little spice: “Do you want to encourage your little one towards some fun based education!!” Sounds better, doesn’t it? Well begun is half battle won!!

Coming now to the body of the ad copy, you need to zero down [H1] the specific utilities and the advantages of what you are selling.

• The reader is here to be benefited someway or the other by the product, service or the idea you are selling. It’s a good plan to straight away come down to telling him the benefits he is going to get rather than beating about the bush!!
• The language you are going to use in the complete format should not be colloquial. We tend to use slang when we are talking but in written format they are a big no.
• Keep the text explicit with no spelling errors, as it can lead to a complete loss of interest on the reader’s part. A company which is not able to write correctly about its products might not be selling a correct product.

Emphasize on your ad’s appearance? Is it easy to read? Use capital letters or boldface type for prominence. If everything is caps or bold, then nothing stands out

No one can measure the depth and intensity of ad copywriting as it is much more than just advertising and marketing. Ad content surely is meant to sell a product but it plays a very vital role in grabbing potential customers. Each and every word included in Ad content must be powerful and influencing. In Ad copywriting a copywriter can show his/her creativity at large as compared to other forms of copywriting. So ad content writing is all about creativity from top to bottom. We are sharing few tips with you regarding how to write Ad content? Tips are mentioned below:-

Relevant and Concise

Ad copy writer must refrain writing too much otherwise it’ll turnoff your readers. They must keep their copy relevant, crisp and concise. The content should be properly organized with complementary captions and sub headings.

Avoid Technicalities

Your content should not be too much technical otherwise you will loose your readers. But if your product includes technicalities then use reader friendly words and phrases. Always try to include powerful and dominating words.

Carefully Proofread

The content should be grammatically correct and should not include any spelling mistakes. In short, proofread your content carefully otherwise it will expose you as an amateur writer.

Contact Information

Your Ad content should specify the contact information. The contact information could be of distinct forms such as mailing address, websites, URL. And the mode of payment should also be mentioned on the same.

Catalog

Once you are through with your copy, you can design the catalog. In the catalog each and every product should be mention with the description. Your catalog should be catchy and attractive so that it will get the rightfully deserved attention.