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Copywriting - Winning With Online Press Kits

July 30th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

One of the most interesting tasks you’ll take on in public relations (PR) copywriting is developing an online press kit.

In days gone by, press kits were lavish productions, packed into glossy folders, with equally glossy photographs and brochures. They usually contained a goodie for journalists too. In my tech journalism days, a particularly memorable goodie was a pair of Ray-Bans sunglasses.

Those days are over. Nowadays, journalists expect press kits to be delivered on the Web. Press kits contain PDF files, high resolution photographs, audio interviews and transcripts, and even videos.

In the past, a physical press kit was part of a media event, these days however Web 2.0 social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook are used to win not only journalists’ interest but also the interest of bloggers prior to the launch of the press kit, so it needs to contain all the information those audiences need.

So how do you construct an online press kit?

Let’s look at a step by step process.

1. Firstly, find out what the goal is for the press kit. A press kit is created to launch a product, highlight an initiative of a company, or explain (spin, that is) a blunder.

Once you know what the press kit’s goal is, you’ll have an idea of the kind of information you need to include.

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2. Your next step is to gather the material. If you’re writing for a long-established company, much of the material for the press kit will be available, but it may not be in a suitable format for the Web. For example, company backgrounders and biographies of the company’s principals may be in brochure and booklet format.

You’ll need to rewrite these, repurposing the content for the Web, ensuring that the Web pages include keywords and page titles and descriptions, so that they can be indexed by the search engines.

The online press kit will also offer key documents in downloadable PDF format, so these documents need to be created, ready to be put online.

You’ll also arrange for company principals to be interviewed, so the audio files and transcripts can be added to the online material.

3. Do you need to include video? Chances are that you will, so you need to script the video, and arrange for it to be shot, and edited. The full length video file will be added to the online press kit, but a snippet will be used on video sites like YouTube, in the media campaign to launch the press kit.

So there you have an outline for creating a winning online press kit. What the kit contains is up to you, and using multimedia tools will ensure that your kit meets your client’s goals.

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Copywriting - Get Paid, Even as a New Copywriter

May 5th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

If you’d like to develop a great career with unlimited opportunities, look no further than copywriting. It’s ideal for anyone with marketing and/ or writing experience.

Copywriting is a business writing: writing to promote and persuade. It’s been called salesmanship in print, and that’s precisely what it is. I’m often asked by people considering copywriting whether they have the talent for it.

Do you have the talent to become a copywriter? Talent isn’t as important as application. If you enjoy writing, and you’re prepared to practice your skills you can become a copywriter. I should warn you however, that when you start writing copy you’ll never look at advertising in the same way again. You’ll develop a critical eye for what makes good copy and what doesn’t.

Let’s look at the two requirements for copywriting first, and then we’ll discuss how you can get started.

* You enjoy writing

It’s important that you enjoy writing. In your copywriting career you’ll do a lot of it, and if you enjoy it, you’ll be more creative. You’ll also enjoy practicing your skills.

* You’re prepared to practice your skills

Copywriting is fascinating because you get feedback for your writing. That feedback is almost instant in Web copywriting.

As a new copywriter, you’ll get lots of practice when you write copy to promote your own business. If you can sell yourself, you’ll know how to sell others’ goods and services too.

Please notice that I said “practice YOUR skills.” Especially online, there’s a huge tendency to turn out cookie-cutter copy. While modeling your copy on what’s worked in the past will show you structure, it’s fatal to use this as a blueprint for writing copy.

The best copywriters past and present are aware of famous pieces of copy, but they don’t follow them slavishly. Your aim is to lead the read (or listener or viewer) to take action; use your own instincts based on research of your audience and product.

How to Advertise Yourself As a New Copywriter

When you’re just starting out, you have an advantage over an established copywriter. Many clients prefer to work with someone new for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, as a new copywriter, you don’t have a big stable of clients to keep happy, so you can focus on those clients you do have - you’ll get the copy written quickly. This is appealing to clients who’ve worked with copywriters before and are told that their favorite copywriter won’t be able to tackle the job for three months because he’s too busy.

Secondly, new copywriters are less expensive than established pros. While it’s true that you get what you pay for, many people are happy to work with someone new and save money.

As a new copywriter, you’ll charge less than someone who’s been writing for years. You can use these initial jobs for your a portfolio, to help you to get highly paid copywriting gigs as your experience develops.

Therefore, don’t be shy about admitting that you’re new - people will be glad to hire you, for precisely that reason. Go ahead and advertise yourself as a new copywriter.

Here’s a fast way to get started. Write some sample copy: just write some copy either for existing products, or for fictitious products. Then get in touch with a graphics’ design company. They’re always looking for copywriters, and will be glad to give you a try.

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Developing a copywriting services business makes sense if you want to write from home.

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Copywriting - Write for Performance for High Income

April 25th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Did you know that performance copywriting offers big dollars? Not only can you make a high income, but much audio-visual (AV) copywriting is short - think radio advertising, for example.

Performance copywriting includes writing audio-visual scripts for radio and TV, for DVDs, writing speeches, writing presentations and a new form of AV copywriting - writing YouTube scripts.

If you enjoy TV advertising, you’ll enjoy writing it too, for small companies which don’t have the budget to hire an advertising agency and are looking for a skilled copywriter.

How to Break in to Performance Copywriting

The easiest way to break in to audio-visual copywriting is to write for radio. This is because at many local radio stations, the DJs write the majority of the advertising for smaller companies which don’t go through an agency, and they hate it.

So just tape a few ads on your favorite local radio station, and then transcribe them to see how they’re written. You should now be able to write some samples, using the transcriptions as models.

Then take your courage in both hands, and go along to your local radio station and ask to see the program director. Just explain you’re a new copywriter, and ask whether they have any on-going work.

Once you’ve written some radio scripts, you’ll find that AV copywriting projects come to you - the people at the radio station will pass on your name, as will those people for whom you write.

Easy Tips for Writing Copy for Performance

Here are some AV copywriting tips to keep in mind:

1. Performance copywriting is still copywriting to sell, so you need to focus on triggers which will lead the viewer or listener to take action. Use outlines to ensure that you cover everything you need to cover in a script;

2. In radio, remember to include the advertiser’s name and address a couple of times - people don’t listen to radio advertising with much attention;

3. Read your scripts aloud - record them yourself on your computer or on a digital recorder. If you find yourself stumbling over words, change the script;

4. Time yourself, while reading your script at a normal pace. All AV copywriting has to fit into a time constraint.

Promoting Yourself As an AV Copywriter

If copywriters are rare birds, AV copywriters are even rarer. This means that if you take the time to build yourself a decent portfolio, you’ll become known for this skill, and will have all the work you can handle. What’s more, you’ll be able to charge whatever you please, because other copywriters stick to small print and display advertising, search engine marketing on the Web, and direct response; this means there’s little to no competition.

Your portfolio is the key to your success, so take the time to build it, by taking on local AV jobs for businesses, and at your local radio and TV stations.

Once you’ve created your portfolio, go along to your local Chamber of Commerce meetings, and make yourself known. Business people always need speeches and other scripts, so these jobs are easy to get.

You should also set up a small Web site so you can promote your skills, and do some online advertising. The success of the online video sites, like YouTube, means that many companies are looking for AV copywriters.

Good luck with your AV copywriting career - it’s a lot of fun, and highly profitable too.

Become a copywriter and get paid to write

Did you know that most business people struggle with their writing? It’s true. If you enjoy writing and find it easy, you can write for money, for business. In short, you can become a copywriter.

Copywriting is writing for business: promotional writing. Copywriters write material like advertisements and compared to most writers, they’re VERY highly paid.

The explosion of the influence of the Web means that copywriters are flooded with offers of work. Even new copywriters find it easy to get copywriting gigs and to build their copywriting services business.

If copywriting intrigues you, join me in my Copywriting Master Class. I’ll take you from copywriting novice to pro.

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Copyright © 2008 Seven Days To Easy-Money: Copywriting Success

Credits: Seven Days To Easy Money: Copywriting Success | Matteo Turchetto | Andreas Viklund