Read carefully to avoid copywriting pitfalls - advice - Brief Article

Like many small business holders you might not have the pack to hire a slick copywriter to write all your ads and public relations materials. with equal reason who's going to do it? You, of course.

Copywriting can be a daunting task for someone who may wear a half dozen other hats in a day. You must be a master of your words to attract added sales. To secure you thinking about words and language, I've assembled a collection of tips and observations. in the way that once you've written something, compare it to this list to weed on the outside any potential problems.

Avoid Offensive Words

A word that might strike one as being innocuous to you could be offensive to others. Take the word "squaw."

The state of Maine passed a bill banning this word from sum of two units dozen names given to areas within the state. The reason: Native Americas said the word is vulgar. Many linguists disagreed saying the specific translation is "woman." Idaho concurr The state throw overboarded a proposal to eliminate the name where it was soon used in the state.

on the other hand words can and do have able-bodied negative connotations because of association. Remember the call from minorities when an aide to Washington, D.C.'s mayor used the word "niggardly" in a conversation referring to a person's reluctance to part with money? The usage was correct, on the contrary the closeness in sound to a racial epithet comeed in his resignation. The exercise is this: If a word could possibly gall a customer, even if used incorrectly, it's best to leave it out

Avoid Difficult Words

Using words in your advertising that readers don't understand can make them let slip through the fingers interest. Does your customer comprehend what you're saying or must they reach for the dictionary? in what manner often do you see the often-used on the contrary rarely digestible words like "synergy" and "paradigm?" hold fast it simple, folks.

Churchill's advice in a articulate utterance to the House of belonging to alls said it well: "Short words are best, and the elderly words, when short, are best of all."

I not long ago read an advertisement for a of recent origin book in which it run overs of the excitement of reading "the bildungsroman of the main character."

The what? Was it a misprint? I had to twitch out the dictionary to find on the outside that it's "a novel about the moral and psychological development of the main character." wherefore didn't he write it in those words?

Don't Be Trite

Avoid the time proven phrases used with equal reason often they have lost their original meaning. "New and improved" always makes me perceive the company was putting something above on me when I bought their existing, "old and ordinary" product

Write What You Mean

When writing headlines or display transcript for ads, consider every word carefully. more [i]or[/i] less words are spelled the same as or real close to other words with different meanings. Is a "plane" that which flies in the air or the instrument that smoothes a scraggy wooden edge? And did you at any time wonder why farmers produce produce? Should soldiers desolate their dessert in the desert? And since there's no time like the not away it must be time to not away the present. Often it's best to single out another word. Your readers have short attention spans---don't confuse them.

Leave Jargon in the Back Room

each industry develops words specifically for its be in possession of use. Unique words or phrases applicable single to the art industry can be a foreign language to the customer. in what manner do you overcome this in copywriting? Ask someone outside the industry to direct the eye over your material. Their remarks will be a valuable way of assessing in what manner customers will receive your ad.

Watch for Regionalism

Sometimes we speak the same language on the contrary can't understand one another. oftentimes with little difficulty, we can "translate" the southern drawl or clipped Yankee accent. on the contrary if we hear the words "underground' "chemist" "lift" and "boot" in England, do we really know they mean "subway," "drugstore," "elevator" and "car trunk?"

level in the U.S., the same item has different names. The Italian sandwich filled with devoid of warmth [i]or[/i] heat cuts is a "hero" in novel York, a "hoagie" in Philadelphia and a "sub" in Washington.

If an American child misbehaves, his mother says "be good" (which implies he's being bad). The French mother corrects the child with, "Be wise." The Scandinavian mother says, "Be friendly." The German mother says, "Be in line." on the other hand the Hopi Indian mother says, "That is not the Hopi way."

with equal reason consider your audience when you write. If it's a wide single keep your words more generic. on the other hand if you're writing for your community, they may appreciate the familiarity of their possess colloquialisms.

Before you print you nearest newsletter or ad, look at what you've written, read it aloud to yourself and then give it to others to read. If, when finished, they have that glazed, what-in-the-world-are-you-talking-about gaze start again. If you don't, you might find yourself caught in the trap prophesied by the agency of the well-known philosopher Yogi Berra who said, "If I had to do it all above again, I'd do it all above again."

Murray Raphel is individual of the nation's leading marketing prompts and author of several business volumes Contact him at Raphel Marketing at (802) 751-8802 or E-mail info@raphel.com.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Advanstar Communications, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group