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Archive for December, 2010

How Writing Radio Can Help You Become A Better Writer

Knowing how to write and write well is a skill that will come in handy in all sorts of situations. And if you combine good writing skills with the persuasive selling tactics found in say copywriting you’ll be that much more ahead of your competition.

Of all the different types of writing I’ve done in my life and believe me I’ve tried practically all of them writing radio has made one of the bigger impacts on my writing style.

Below are three ways writing radio can help strengthen your writing style. Oh and these tips will also help you write better radio copy too.

1. Follow the rules. Sometimes rules are good especially rules that force you to write a certain way. Think poetry mastering those rules can have an amazing effect on your writing style. Rules require you to slow down and think to analyze your word sentence grammar punctuation etc. choices. And that can be very beneficial to your development as a writer.

Radio is short. You have to write something that fits into a 30 or 60second slot. Not a lot of time or a lot of words. In that 30 or 60 seconds you need to capture the listener’s attention explain why they should be interested in buying what you’re selling then let them know what you’d like their next step to be. Oh and did I mention you need to have the business name in there at least twice and probably a tag line as well? And don’t forget about music. Or sound effects.

Now the beauty of this is once you’ve mastered radio rules you can apply it to all sorts of things. A 30second pitch for your business you can tell people at networking events. A 15second introduction before a speech. A quick product spiel for your voice mail. A 15second pitch for your novel to spit out at agents and editors at writers’ conferences. The possibilities are endless.

2. Forces you to write tight. Remember radio is short. Yet there’s still a lot you have to shove into it. So what’s the solution? Absolutely no extra words allowed.

Be brutal. Cut out anything you don’t need. In fact radio is where I first learned to start cutting “that” out. Most “thats” you don’t need and nothing shows you this like radio.

Here’s how I write radio. I start with a first draft. I read it over. I think it’s pretty good I have all the salient points in there. I read it out loud.

Now the fun begins.

Usually it’s too long. You see I time myself reading. So I have to start chopping words.

When you have to make a script fit into a certain time frame it’s amazing how many words you suddenly discover can be deleted. Or replaced with simpler shorter words. Or how many sentences can be trimmed. Or phrases made more concise.

As you can imagine writing radio has really honed my editing skills.

3. Writing for the ear. Writing for the ear is different than writing for the eye. The eye is far more forgiving. Oh that sentence is a bit too long but it’s okay. Hmm yes I do see that awkward phrase but I’m fine with it.

Not the ear. The ear is brutal. It’s like one of those headmasters from a Dickens’ novel standing in front of the classroom with a stick and banging it every time a student stutters on an answer.

The ear catches everything sentences that are too long and don’t allow you to take a breath; sentences that don’t flow properly; long complicated fivedollar words that twist the tongue in a knot and much much more.

Focus on writing shorter sentences. Simpler sentences. Vary your sentences. Use simple words.

And that’s just plain good old writing advice no matter what you happen to be writing.

Creativity Exercises Write a Radio Ad

Now it’s your turn. Time to sit down and write a radio ad.

First choose something you want the ad to be about. Maybe one of your products or services. But choose only one. More than one and you’re just asking for trouble. Rule of thumb one message per ad. No more. Otherwise you run the risk of losing your target market. Pick one message and make it very simple and very clear.

Now do what I do. Write the ad. Start by keeping it under a general word count 100 words for a 30second ad and 190 words for a 60second spot.

Finished your first draft? Great. Now read it. And time yourself. Those clocks on the computer desktop are great for this.

What you went over your limit? Better start cutting. See how many words you can take out and sentences you can tighten. Or replace words and phrases with something shorter.

Now read it again. Still too long? Or maybe now it’s too awkward. See previous paragraph. Keep repeating until you end up with something that sounds smooth and fits in the allotted time.

About the writer:  Michele PW Michele Pariza Wacek is your KaChing! marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC a copywriting and marketing agency. She helps entrepreneurs become more successful at attracting more clients selling more products and services and boosting their business. To find out how she can help you take your business to the next level visit her site at http://www.MichelePW.com. Copyright 2008 Michele Pariza Wacek.

How To Write Effective E-mail SUBJECT Lines

If you’re using email to generate leads or make sales you’re probably spending a lot of time honing your message and making sure that it’s persuasive. But do you give equal time thought and attention to the short “SUBJECT” line that introduces your main message?

If you don’t then be afraid. Very afraid. You see it doesn’t matter how compelling your email offer is or how brilliantly your message is written. If your subject line isn’t working right your email will never get opened and your campaign will be a failure.

That’s right. The humble little subject line that announces your email to the world has an enormous influence on campaign results and can make or break you.

Want to handle subject lines the right way? Here are some thoughts that might prove extremely useful . . .

1. Think of the subject line as if it were an envelope.
When you’re creating a paper direct mail package you know you have to come up with a killer envelope. If the envelope doesn’t get opened the letter doesn’t get read and you don’t make the sale. Same thing with the subject line. It determines whether the prospect will read your message or trash it.

Of course getting someone to open a paper envelope is a heck of a lot easier than getting past the subject line. Why? Because with a paper envelope you have plenty of space to write teaser copy and add photography or illustration if it’s appropriate. You can create something unique that stands out from all the other mail in the pile and screams out benefits that will get the prospect to read the letter within.

Subject lines all look the same and have to be kept short. Never exceed forty characters including spaces. This means that every subject line must communicate extremely quickly. We’ll take a look at how to do that in a minute but for now start thinking of the subject line as one of the keys to email marketing success not an afterthought!

2. Subject lines are well worth testing.
Robert Mendez www.nethawk.net is an email list broker/manager who handles countless emailings and is a great source of information. I asked him about his take on subject lines. Here’s what he said “You should always test subject lines if you have enough names. Five thousand names is the minimum you need for an email test cell. It’s worth doing some testing because a strong subject line can double the response.”

Let’s look at that again on instant replay! “A strong subject line can double the response” increase it by 100. In other words a 4 response rate can turn into an 8 response rate just by using the right subject line!

3. Some thoughts about saying “FREE” in the subject line.
Some people hesitate to use the word “free” in the subject line because they’re afraid they will turn people off. For example in an issue of Softletter Michael D’Arrigo Direct Marketing Manager at ScanSoft is quoted as saying”For us we’ve found that a subject line with ‘free’ is the kiss of death. It will be viewed as spam and won’t be opened.”

Email marketers also have the related concern that if they use the word “free” in the subject line a filter will kick out their message and it will never get read. I personally believe that this is just another suburban legend and that you really don’t have to sweat it. True. There is some filtering based on IP numbers that takes place at the ISP level. And some corporations do some filtering. And yes some packaged applications let consumers use filtering. BUT this is only a big problem if you’re selling businesstoconsumer junk!

I believe that if you use “free” in the subject line in welltargeted B2B emails that offer the prospect something of value your message will sail right through unfiltered. Let me add that I know as a personal FACT that one of hightech’s most aggressive emailers uses the word “free” in the subject line and that this line is the consistent winner against other subject lines in rigorous headtohead tests.

The bottom line? I would not give up on one of the most motivating words in our language because of spam or filter fears. You should definitely do some testing!

4. The right way to write subject lines.
Here’s a mini case study that shows you how to think about putting a subject line together. Here’s the subject line from an email sent by a major marketer that targets small and growing businesses.

SUBJECT: Who’s minding the store?

If you click through to find out more you get to the message: “Small businesses are more vulnerable to crime than is generally realized yet the risks to them are not publicized and too few take steps to protect themselves says a new study. Don’t wait until you are a victim of a crime take steps now to thwart the bad guys. Here are a few tips” . . . etc.

So what’s going on here? Well the message itself certainly goes on to provide valuable information that small business managers should know. But instead of saying so directly in the subject line the writer went for a “teaser” approach: “Who’s minding the store?” This teaser subject line might be O.K. in an ad or flyer but is I would argue a big loser as a subject line. Why? Because no benefit is mentioned.

Let’s rewrite the subject line and see if we can do a better job of motivating the reader. We could slice it and dice it a bunch of ways:

SUBJECT: Five ways to prevent store theft
SUBJECT: How to improve store security
SUBJECT: Stop store thieves in their tracks
SUBJECT: Don’t let thieves steal you blind
SUBJECT: Crime prevention basics
SUBJECT: How to prevent store theft

You get the idea. The takeaway message? The subject line is a vitally important part of email campaign success and should be the subject of your close attention!

About the writer:  Ivan Levison is an awardwinning direct response freelance copywriter. Download a free copy of his new report “101 Ways To Double Your Response Rates!” at http://www.levison.com/subscribe. Contact Ivan any time at ivanlevison.com

How To Write Blog Posts When You Are Blogging To Market A Novel

Publishing a nonfiction book will usually make it easy for you to write a blog dedicated to your book. The nonfiction subject of your book and related topics can provide ample blogging material.

For example if you wrote a book on cooking lowfat diets you could post one lowfat recipe a day along with insider tips to ensure the recipe turns out well. Or if you wrote a book on new social media platforms you could write each post about one new social media platform and probably never run out of new posts.

The problem of writing ongoing book blog posts really presents itself to fiction writers. If youve written a romance novel or a mystery novel what are you going to write about in your blog posts?

With a little imagination and you are a fiction writer arent you? you can come up with interesting posts for your books blog. Lets look at some examples:

You write a novel that takes place in 1970 during the Vietnam War yes such as my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT. Because the Vietnam War plays an important role in the novel you could write posts about historical events that took place during that era or historical events that led to that era. And you could write about the military today fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan and about military families back home. Theres no need to mention your book in every post; the overall context of the blog is about your book.

Now lets stretch our imagination farther. You write a mystery novel about a series of medicalrelated murders. You could write posts about deaths that were not murders but were actual medical mysteries. You could also write posts about new hospital procedures that are being implemented to reduce medicalrelated deaths. And you could write posts telling the family of hospital patients what to look for in suspected medical malpractice.

What if youve written a childrens picture book about family members learning to get along? Children are not going to read your blog and their parents arent going to read your blog aloud to their children. You could write posts about parentchild issues; if youre not an expert you can quote other experts. You could review other childrens picture books on similar topics. You could write posts about childrens literacy issues.

The truth is that you can cast your imagination net far and wide for subjects on which to blog. Just remember that every few posts you should mention your book in connection with that post. For example if you were writing a post about childrens literacy issues you could mention that a specific secondgrader in your book could read long words but not short words and that her teacher suspected dyslexia.

Or you could quote an entire short scene from your novel to illustrate a point youre making. And yes its okay that people reading your blog may not know who the characters and situation are. If you choose an appropriate scene most readers will be able to understand the context of the excerpt.

Fiction authors should be as active as nonfiction authors in the use of blogs to market books. Give your blog readers interesting and wellwritten posts and they will read your blog and hopefully buy your book.

About the writer:  For a free report 7 DYNAMIC REASONS FOR TAKING A VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR by Phyllis Zimbler Miller and for other book marketing information visit http://www.queensofbookmarketing.com. Follow Phyllis Zimbler Miller on Twitter at ZimblerMiller and connect with her on Facebook and LinkedIn as Phyllis Zimbler Miller.