LECTURE NOTES WEEK 9:

PROMOTIONAL WRITING

BMC 1154 / COM 60704 Media Writing

Promotional Writing

Writing that:

Promotes

Sells

Persuades

Educates

Promotes, sells, educates and persuades… what?

Good image / branding / values

Products / services

Information / events

Examples

Sales letters / donation letters

Newsletters

Brochures / leaflets / flyers / catalogues – on events, on sales, on products

PR press releases

Web content for a particular organisation / product / brand

Company profiles / branding documents

Advertisements

AID(C)A

FEATURES VS BENEFITS VS VALUES

SOME CONCEPTS

Mission of Writing to Promote

“The mission of an advertisement is to attract a reader, so

that he will look at the advertisement and start to read it;

then to interest him, so that he will continue to read it; then

to convince him, so that when he has read it he will believe

it. If an advertisement contains these three qualities of

success, it is a successful advertisement.” - E. St. Elmo Lewis

AI(C)DA is an acronym that extends what Lewis said

above. It is a concept commonly used in marketing,

promotion and advertising to describe the objectives a

piece of promotional writing needs to achieve in its target

prospects/audience.

AI(C)DA

A - Attention

I - Interest

C - Credibility / Conviction

D - Desire

A - Action

attracts prospect‟s attention

stimulates interest for them to read on

conveys a strong selling message, with credible support

connects with the right prospects and offer them a benefit

leads to decision-making or achieving of objective

Features vs Benefits vs Values

Product = actual product / service / company / brand

Product features – describe the product and what it does.

Product benefits – how do these features become benefits to the consumer?

2-in-1 toothpaste-mouthwash Cleaner teeth and breath all at once.

A convenient diet drink An easy way to lose weight.

A super tire A safer ride

Youth mobile library easy access to books, reading pleasure, knowledge etc.

Determining the product features / benefits/

values

Factors that influence purchase behaviour:

Why do people buy this type of product?

Feature = size, shape, ingredients, colour, weight etc.

Benefit = durable (batteries), healthy (drink), anti-(dandruff

shampoo), long-lasting (fragrance), clean (skin) etc.

Value = beauty, image, pride, trend etc.

Think about:

Advantages of your product/company/brand

Unique Selling Points (USP)

A unique combination of factors

Using the Laddering Process

Every product we use relates in some way to values that are important to use.

This relationship may not be very obviously linked. To help determine the product benefit, we can use:

The Laddering Process

Positive self image

Glossy hair

Special formulation

Shampoo

Highest values

Lowest product

The Laddering Process (cont)

Tip:

Ask “WHY IS THE FEATURE/BENEFIT IMPORTANT?”

The answer will generally move you up the ladder.

Look for unique strengths.

Find the most meaningful feature.

Keep looking.

Don‟t discount the fact that there may be more than one place on the

Ladder.

This means you can have unique combinations of features,

benefits or values that may be powerful to the consumer.

2.2 The Laddering Process (cont)

So….a product feature leads to a product benefit which leads

to a consumer benefit which leads to a consumer value.

Both product benefit or consumer benefit can be the basis of

your strategy for your promotional writing.

The “lower” the ladder you are, the more product-specific your

message and the more you differentiate your product (super-

flouride toothpaste, air-pillow shoes, intelligent massage chair, fun

youth camp, mountain biking adventure group etc.)

The “higher” the ladder you are, the more you are dealing with

what‟s important in a consumer‟s life – and the more generic

your benefit (health, image, contentment, camaraderie,

friendship).

Principles of Good Promotional Writing

Be Accurate

There‟s nothing more damaging than bloated claims,

inaccurate information, exaggerations or outright lies.

Be sure of your facts. Double, triple check.

Everything you write should be accurate and true.

Avoid hype – do not promise something you/the

organisation cannot deliver.

Always check that quotations are approved for publication.

Be Appealing

Consider the positive or negative influence (intentional or

unintentional) that your copy may have on your target

audience.

Test its appeal, ideally on a sample of your target audience,

before you commit to publishing – especially materials that

could reach the general public.

Did they understand the message as you intended?

Did the copy have the desired effect?

Did it offend unintentionally?

Be Benefit-focused

Focus on the benefits instead of the form and functionality.

Communicate what a particular proposition, product or

service:

can do for your readers

how it will benefit them

what they will be able to achieve with it

What they could lose without it

Be Concise

Readers tend to scan and skim a piece of text initially.

Most only return for a more in-depth read if their interest is

captured.

Use short sentences and statements to engage your readers

without putting them off with too much to digest too soon.

Remove any words that are superfluous/extraneous.

Write “just right”.

Be Direct

Your message should be direct and to the point in order to be credible and effective.

Beating around the bush and writing long preambles with no particular intent can only add to the confusion of your readers and turn them away.

Use strong, simple messages that say what they mean.

Use uncluttered language to prevent misunderstandings.

Avoid colloquial words, clichés or overly formal language.

Use first and second person (“you”, “we”) to sound less distant.

Be Purposeful

Write with your objective in mind. At all times.

Make your intentions clear right from the start.

Present the salient or most important points first.

Repeat the important points if necessary – this can be

product name, call to action, specific benefits.

Present details later or in supplementary materials.

Be Persuasive

Allow your words to persuade your readers to feel that you

understand their wants and needs and that what you are

promoting/selling relates to them.

To persuade means to get your reader to do what you wish

them to do –

buy / try / use your solution

take action / take the first step

believe in / support you (or your cause)

change their minds

reinforce their thinking, etc.

Make your writing: (1) stimulating and (2) empathetic.

Be Structured

Good writing depends largely on good structure and organisation of your points.

This means coherency (do not go out of topic) and cohesion (points arranged in logical order).

Put key messages at the beginning.

Content should run in a logical order.

Would changing the order of the content improve comprehension and/or the flow?

What about adding subheadings to aid navigation (of points) and/or understanding?

Do I need transition words to help?

Be Targeted

Always keep your target audience/readers in mind.

Try to get inside the reader‟s head and appeal directly in a

way that takes account of their specific needs, desires,

preferences, interests and tastes.

How?

Know their age, gender, education and social background,

likes, dislikes, interests and hobbies, urban or rural etc.

In other words, research on their demographics and

psychographics.

One final principle…

Use the good language to fix your message in your reader‟s mind.

Paint a picture through effective writing – appeal to the senses.

Use the right words to convey your message most effective – have a strong vocabulary bank.

Convey the right image with the right tone - sound enthusiastic, professional, business-like etc. depending on who/what you are promoting.

Write well, write evocatively, write creatively.

Most importantly – write grammatically.

Preparing to Write

Know Your Audience

The first step to getting it right is understanding your audience.

How much does your target audience already know? Avoid

repeating content provided before.

Can you tell your audience something new? New

information? New results? New events? If yes, do so.

What are your target audience‟s needs? Focus on the

benefits.

What do you want them to do as a result of reading your

material? Buy before? Hurry and join? Get free gift? How to

be a member? Include a call for action. And make it clear.

What will have the most appeal to obtain the desired

response? Consider different appeals for different types of

audience/readers.

Purpose and Proposition

Define a clear brief to focus your thinking and sharpen your

writing. What‟s the objective you wish to achieve with this

piece of writing? Appeal? Inform? Sell? Reinforce? Share?

Promote?

What do you want it to achieve? What are your main

messages?

Focus on the top three or four main messages.

What are the features, benefits, values – in other words, the

selling points – that you can harness on?

Present one or more unique selling propositions (USP) to

set your company / product apart from others.

Content and Structure

Consider carefully what your reader wants to know and the

most logical order for the information.

First, create an outline:

Compile all the raw information.

Sieve through and select the items most relevant and

important to your target audience.

Put in order the points to connect them into a clearly

reasoned „pitch‟/argument.

Content and Structure (continued…) A sample outline structure:

Include an introductory short paragraph which contains the

benefit statements or summary of the key messages in the

document.

Use short paragraphs or bullet points to present the main

messages – in the order of importance and relevance i.e. most

important first.

Use short subheadings to highlight subject changes and help the

reader navigate his or her way through the text.

Close with a final „call to action‟ line or paragraph.

Don‟t forget to add the relevant contact details.

If writing a sales letter, use a postscript (p.s.) to re-state your

main message. P.s.'s always get read (an average of 7 times

more than body copy).

You know the drill… but do you do it

consciously?

Writing Well – Language Use

Here we go again…

Use good language – this means correct grammar, sentence

structure, spelling and punctuation. Please.

Use inclusive language – remember these? Details in previous

notes on writing skills.

Use engaging language – active vs passive voice; precise

choice of words; avoid jargon, cliches & pompous language;

writing creatively etc. We have gone through these in detail

before.

Use the right tone and voice – professional? Friendly? Target

your audience and the objective of your article.

EDIT. EDIT. EDIT.

Next week

Writing for the web